NationalWatch

The White House released President Donald Trump‘s MRI results on Monday amid mounting scrutiny over the president’s health and his age of 79 while serving as commander in chief. 

Four years ago, however, the media was overwhelmingly silent on the topic of presidential health when the then-oldest sitting president during his term, Joe Biden, led from the Oval Office in a health saga that has continued long after Biden dropped out of the 2024 federal election and exited 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. on Jan. 20. 

Media outlets and others heightened scrutiny of Trump’s health earlier in 2025 when he was spotted with swollen legs in July while attending the FIFA Club World Cup final in New Jersey, as well as other photos stretching back to February showing bruising on his hand. 

The media has most recently been focused on an MRI scan Trump received during a checkup at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland in October, which was described as routine by the administration, with Trump’s physician reporting that Trump is in “exceptional health.” The checkup was Trump’s second in 2025, following an April visit that Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, said found Trump “remains in excellent health.”

WHITE HOUSE PROVIDES TRUMP HEALTH UPDATE AFTER MRI SCAN CONCERNS SWIRLED

The White House railed against left-leaning media outlets’ recent focus on Trump’s health as “garbage narratives,” accusing them of having previously downplayed “Joe Biden’s severe mental health decline” while he was in the Oval Office.

“No one believes the failing legacy media’s disingenuous obsession about President Trump’s health because we all just watched them actively cover up Joe Biden’s severe mental health decline for the past four years,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital on Monday.

“The facts are clear: President Trump has shared several comprehensive medical updates, in the effort of total transparency, all of which show he is in excellent health. The fake news media pushing garbage narratives about President Trump’s energy levels while they get to publicly question him nearly every single day is why Americans’ trust in the media just hit a new all-time low.”

Fox News Digital took a look back at the mainstream media’s coverage of Biden’s health before dropping out of the 2024 presidential race at the 11th hour amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity, and the media’s recent focus on Trump’s health and evaluations. 

TRUMP’S HEALTH REPORTS

Trump has railed against the media for their focus on his health that he said is cast in a negative light despite the administration releasing details to the public on Trump’s check-ups. Trump, for example, slammed The New York Times in November for publishing a piece focused on him serving in the Oval Office at 79 years old while facing the “realities of aging.” Trump described the article as a “hit piece” that follows years of the media reportedly publishing “purposely negative” articles. 

Following reporters questioning White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about details surrounding the MRI in November, Trump told the media on Sunday evening when pressed about the scan that he would release the MRI results to the public amid media scrutiny. 

The White House released Trump’s MRI results on Monday when Leavitt read the report to the media that found Trump was in normal and good health. 

“The purpose of this imaging is preventative to identify any issues early, confirm overall health, and ensure the president maintains long-term vitality and function,” Leavitt said. “… Overall, his cardiovascular system shows excellent health.” 

TRUMP REVEALS HE HAD ‘PERFECT’ MRI DURING RECENT WALTER REED PHYSICAL

Left-leaning and mainstream outlets have pressed the White House about Trump’s health for months, a shift that intensified after photos of his swollen legs and a bruised hand surfaced online. While Trump entered his second term as the oldest person ever inaugurated at 78, the questions did not escalate until this summer. The White House attributed the bruising to frequent handshakes and said the swelling stemmed from chronic venous insufficiency — “a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70,” according to Leavitt.

ACCUSATIONS OF BIDEN HEALTH ‘COVER-UP’

The media has previously come into the White House’s line of fire over its heightened focus on Trump’s health after Biden’s presidency, which reached a crescendo in July 2024 when Biden dropped out of his re-election race at the 11th hour amid mounting concern that his mental acuity had slipped. 

“I can tell you there was certainly a lack of transparency from the former president, from the entire former administration,” Leavitt told reporters in April. “And frankly, a lot of people in this room, when it came to the health and the competence of the former president of the United States, Joe Biden.”

The Trump administration, as well as conservative critics and liberal journalists, have repeatedly slammed the reported cover-up of Biden’s declining health after a wave of political memoirs recounting the 2024 and Biden presidency, including alleging that Biden staffers were aware of and fretted about the president’s mental decline, but publicly promoted him as physically and mentally fit to serve as president.

Biden’s mental acuity had been under conservatives’ microscope since before the 2020 election. Concerns among the mainstream media, however, did not heighten until February 2024, when special counsel Robert Hur, who was investigating Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents as vice president, announced he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, calling Biden “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” 

Conservatives railed that the report proved Biden’s mental acuity was, in fact, on a steady decline, pointing to the president’s increasingly mumbled public remarks, a high-profile fall while boarding Air Force One in 2021 and another fall while on a bike ride in Delaware in 2022. 

Biden has denied that he suffered a cognitive decline while in the White House, including during a May interview on “The View,” when he said new books detailing an alleged mental decline were “wrong.” 

The media did grill then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in June 2023 over Biden’s repeated public falls, including when he fell during the Air Force Academy’s graduation ceremony in Colorado and stumbling on a flight of steps in Japan that year. But it wasn’t until 2024 that the White House press corps repeatedly pressed the administration on the president’s health. 

TRUMP DECLARED IN ‘EXCELLENT OVERALL HEALTH’ BY DOCTOR AFTER WALTER REED VISIT

The final year of Biden’s presidency included a handful of public gaffes and missteps, including former President Barack Obama seen taking Biden’s wrist to seemingly lead him offstage at a fundraiser in Los Angeles in June 2024 and another viral video showing the then-president standing relatively motionless during a Juneteenth concert event at the White House. 

The Biden White House brushed off concern surrounding the videos by describing the footage as “cheap fakes,” which the administration described as real videos that are cropped or edited in an allegedly deceptive manner. 

2024 DEBATE PERFORMANCE OPENS FLOODGATES TO BIDEN HEALTH COVERAGE 

Concern over Biden’s mental acuity hit a fever pitch in June 2024 after he took the debate stage to face off against Trump in the election cycle. Biden’s debate performance was seen as a failure, with traditional allies soon joining conservatives in their concern over the president’s health in the context of encouraging Biden to pass the mantle to a younger generation of U.S. leaders. 

“Is anyone in the White House hiding information about the president’s health or his ability to do the job day to day?” a journalist asked Jean-Pierre during the first press briefing after the disastrous debate. 

Another said: “You’ve said a couple of times now that the White House has provided thorough medical records for the president. The White House released a six-page summary back in February. I don’t think that was a full accounting, necessarily. And Dr. O’Connor, in that memo, described the president as quote, ‘a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.’

“I think that is clearly not what the majority of Americans are seeing,” the reporter added. 

While yet another pressed: “Why not release more about his medical — his physical and mental health? Why not?”

The 46th president ultimately dropped out of the race at the end of July 2024, giving his successor for the nomination, former Vice President Kamala Harris, just over 100 days to rally support.

Concern over Biden’s health has carried into the Trump administration, with the Biden team announcing in May that the former president was undergoing treatment for advanced prostate cancer that had not been detected when he was in the Oval Office. In addition, Trump has railed against his predecessor’s use of an autopen to sign official presidential documents, including executive orders and pardons, and announced he would terminate all documents signed by the autopen. 

The lack of media coverage over Biden’s health was underscored during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April, when an Axios reporter who authored a book on Biden’s health decline ripped the Biden administration and his media colleagues for a “cover-up.”

AXIOS REPORTER HITS MEDIA FOR WHIFFING ON COVERAGE OF BIDEN’S DECLINE AT WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER

“President Biden’s decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception,” Alex Thompson, Axios reporter and co-author of “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” said during the dinner. 

“But being truth tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story. And some people trust us less because of it. We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows,” he added. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office for any comment and update on his health and recent media focus on Trump’s health but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes launched his campaign for governor Tuesday in a “Reality Check” campaign video posted on YouTube.

Barnes, who narrowly lost a race to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in 2022, jumped into the race to fill Gov. Tony Evers’ seat after he announced in July that he would not seek a third term.

“The only way for our state to move forward is to reject the Washington way and get things done the Wisconsin way. It isn’t about left or right. It’s not about who can yell the loudest. It’s about whether people can afford to live in the state they call home,” said Barnes in his campaign video.

He focused on the issue of affordability and took aim at President Donald Trump for “distraction” and “chaos to avoid accountability.”

THE ONLY GOP GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES RUNNING IN 2025 ELECTIONS LEAN INTO TRUMP’S MAGA CAMPAIGN TACTICS

“It’s not about the real world. It’s a show. Outrage. Performances. Everybody trying to go viral. Meanwhile, families doing everything right are still falling behind,” Barnes added. “I served Wisconsin in our legislature and as your lieutenant governor. I know how to bring people together. And I know how to get things done.”

The 2026 race for governor is already crowded on the Democratic side, with at least six major candidates — including Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, state Sen. Kelda Roys, state Rep. Francesca Hong, former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes and ex-State Rep. Brett Hulsey — all in the running.

Several Wisconsin Democrats told Politico that Barnes’ entry isn’t likely to narrow the field, like it did in his 2022 Senate primary.

STUDENTS FIND MORE VIOLENT IMAGERY NEAR UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN CAMPUS AFTER ANTI-ICE DISPLAYS PROBED

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The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2026, and the race is currently rated as a “toss up” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Republican candidates so far include Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann.

The White House is reopening its doors to Americans for public tours of the 2025 Christmas decorations designed by first lady Melania Trump for the first time since 2020.

Every year, the first lady — regardless of whether the president is a Republican or Democrat — enjoys the annual tradition of transforming the White House into a winter wonderland, filled with the magic of Christmas and holiday cheer. And each first lady has the opportunity to determine what that magic is, and how it fits with the administration’s messaging. 

During the first Trump administration, first lady Trump ensured her decor had a classic, patriotic theme.

FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP DECORATES THE WHITE HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS: ‘HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS’

In 2017, the first year of the Trump administration, all eyes were on the first lady. Her theme was “time honored traditions,” which included classic decorations exuding national pride, support for the military and traditional Christmas — a nod at President Donald Trump’s “America First” messaging. Melania Trump was criticized that year for using an all-white theme, with House Beautiful magazine saying she used “a terrifying amount of white.” 

In 2018, Melania Trump’s theme was “American treasures,” which again, highlighted American history with a gingerbread version of the National Mall, a Fraser fir tree decorated with state ribbons in the Blue Room and more. In the East Colonnade, the first lady decorated with bold red trees, and the Green Room featured American folk art.

MELANIA TRUMP UNVEILS WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS, THEME FOR 2020

Melania Trump was criticized for her use of all red Christmas trees. 

In 2019, the theme was “The Spirit of America,” which again focused on states, with state flowers and symbols as ornaments on the trees in the Blue Room; the U.S. military, with a tree honoring Gold Star families; and gingerbread houses designed like American landmarks.

The first lady’s decor also frequently highlighted her “Be Best” campaign, which raises money for foster children. 

And in 2020, during the final year of the first Trump administration, and during the end of the first year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Melania Trump’s theme was “America the Beautiful,” which featured patriotic decorations consistent with President Trump’s “America First” theme, like Gold eagles, mini model trains in the State Dining Room and gingerbread houses replicating national parks.

By 2021, then-first lady Jill Biden had the opportunity to put her mark on the Christmas decor, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with her first theme of “Gifts from the Heart.” 

The theme sought to emphasize unity and faith, by focusing on “gifts.” One tree featured book-shaped ornaments to celebrate learning; military medallions and volunteer patches as ornaments to celebrate service; and the gift of hope and faith with stars and white doves as ornaments.

In 2022, Biden’s theme was “We the People,” which reinforced the Biden administration’s focus on democracy — with gold doves, olive branches and ornaments shaped like local landmarks from all 50 states.

In 2023, Biden shifted to the theme “The Magic, Wonder, and Joy of the Holidays,” which featured oversized toy trains, nutcrackers and characters to encourage imagination.

Biden was criticized for the video shared by the White House featuring the 2023 decorations, which featured dancers tapping around the decorated White House.

In 2024, first lady Biden’s theme was “A Season of Peace and Light,” featuring crystal orbs in the East Colonnade to represent “light in darkness.” The trees were decorated in the Blue Room with paper stars and signs of peace, with trees wrapped in white and gold garlands and more.

The Christmas decorating tradition began in 1961, when then-first lady Jackie Kennedy began the tradition of selecting a theme for the official White House Christmas tree. Kennedy chose a “Nutcracker” theme, with ornaments made by disabled volunteers and senior citizens throughout the country.

But even before the first lady took over the responsibility of selecting the theme, the White House decorated for Christmas. First families decorated with greens and Christmas trees.

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According to the White House Historical Association, the first known White House Christmas tree was decorated just with candles and was set in the Oval Room on the second floor in 1889.

President Donald Trump is continuing to advocate for the Senate GOP to nix the filibuster.

In a Monday Truth Social post, the president shared a video featuring clips of former Attorney General Eric Holder, who opined that if Democrats win a “trifecta” in the 2028 elections, the prospect of expanding the Supreme Court should be under consideration. 

Holder made the comment while speaking with Ben Meiselas, co-founder of MeidasTouch, which posted the video last month.

SENATOR RON JOHNSON WARNS GOP WILL BE IN ‘BIG TROUBLE’ IF PARTY IGNORES DEMOCRATS’ PLAN TO ‘NUKE’ FILIBUSTER

In the Monday Truth Social post, Trump referred to Holder, who served under Democratic President Barack Obama, as an “Obama sycophant” and said that “Eric Holder (known as ‘FAST AND FURIOUS’) just gave a Speech where he emphatically stated, above all else, that Democrats will PACK the Supreme Court of the United States if they get the chance. The word is, he wants 21 Radical Left Activist Judges, not being satisfied with the heretofore 15 that they were seeking.”

Trump suggested that eliminating the filibuster would enable Republicans to win in the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 White House contest.

FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER CALLS ON DEMOCRATS TO FOCUS ON SUPREME COURT EXPANSION, TERM LIMITS

“It will be 21, they will destroy our Constitution, and there’s not a thing that the Republicans can do about it unless we TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, which will lead to an easy WIN of the Midterms, and an even easier WIN in the Presidential Election of 2028,” he asserted.

JOHN FETTERMAN RIPS JAMES CARVILLE OVER COURT-PACKING PLAN, TELLS DEMOCRATS TO ‘WIN MORE ELECTIONS’

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“Why would the Republicans even think about giving them this opportunity? The American People don’t want gridlock, they want their Leaders to GET THINGS DONE — TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, AND HAVE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FOUR YEARS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY, BY FAR, WITH NOT EVEN THE HINT OF A SHUTDOWN OF OUR GREAT NATION ON JANUARY 30TH!” Trump declared in the post.

FRANKLIN, TN – Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Joe Gruters says that the Democrats’ momentum following their sweeping victories in last month’s 2025 ballot box showdowns will come to an end in Tuesday’s special election for a hotly contested GOP-controlled vacant House seat in a ruby red Tennessee congressional district.

“Tennessee is the red wall. So they’re not getting past Tennessee. We’re going to win this race. This is our territory,” the RNC chair told Fox News Digital after speaking at a rally for Matt Van Epps, the GOP congressional nominee in a must-win race for Republicans.

Van Epps is facing off against Democratic nominee Aftyn Behn in the race to succeed former GOP Rep. Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.

TOP SURROGATES HIT CAMPAIGN TRAIL ON EVE OF CRUCIAL CONGRESSIONAL SHOWDOWN

President Donald Trump carried the 7th Congressional District — which is located in central and western Tennessee, stretches from Kentucky to Alabama, and includes parts of Nashville — by 22 points in last year’s presidential election. And Green won the district by over 20 points in his 2022 and 2024 re-elections.

But Democrats are energized following the 2025 elections and polls suggest a close contest between Van Epps and Behn in a race that’s seen as a key barometer ahead of next year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its razor-thin House majority.

WATCH: WHAT AFTYN BEHN TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL ON ELECTION EVE

Pointing to New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia, where the Democrats scored high-profile victories last month, Gruters said they are “a lot different than Nashville, Tennessee and these communities out here.”

“From a registration perspective and from a party perspective, this is our home turf….We’ll get right back on track to the 2026 midterms with a victory,” Gruters predicted.

Outside groups aligned with both parties have shelled out millions of dollars to run ads in the race and pour resources onto the campaign trail.

And on Election Eve, Gruters and House Speaker Mike Johnson joined Van Epps at a series of campaign stops.

“We’re going to win this seat, but we cannot take anything for granted,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, GO ALL IN ON FINAL 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BALLOT BOX SHOWDOWN

“Special elections are strange because a lot of people take for granted in a deep red district like this that the Republican is just going to win automatically. Nothing’s automatic. So we’re here to help turn out the vote and make sure we get this great candidate right over that line,” Johnson said.

Aiming to motivate low propensity Trump supporters, who often don’t vote when the president’s not on the ballot, Johnson emphasized that “we take no vote for granted. We need everybody to turn out.”

Before introducing Van Epps at Monday’s first rally, Johnson called Trump on his cell phone and the president spoke to the crowd for over four minutes.

“Let’s make it a sweeping victory,” Trump said. “The whole world is watching Tennessee right now. And they’re watching your district. The whole world. It’s a big vote. It’s going to show something.  It’s got to show that the Republican Party is stronger than it’s ever been.”

Trump joined Van Epps later in the day for an evening tele rally.

In another sign of the importance of holding the seat, Republican Gov. Bill Lee, GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, as well as Republican members of Congress from Tennessee, state GOP lawmakers, and rival candidates who lost to Van Epps in last month’s primary showed up in support.

Van Epps, a military combat veteran and former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services who was backed by Trump in the primary, told Fox News Digital that “we’re going to win decisively.”

The RNC spent nearly half-a-million dollars to support Van Epps. The national party committee deployed full-time RNC field staff to the district and launched get-out-the-vote and persuasive mail efforts in partnership with the Tennessee GOP.

The rival Democratic National Committee (DNC) also poured plenty of resources into the race. And DNC chair Ken Martin campaigned with Behn late last month.

“If a Trump +22 seat is where Republicans are drawing the line and making their final stand, they should get ready to be in the minority after the midterms next year,” DNC Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman told Fox News Digital.

MUSIC CITY MIRACLE: A LOOK AT AN UNUSUALLY CONTENTIOUS ELECTION IN THE VOLUNTEER STATE

Behn, a state representative, former healthcare community organizer, told supporters at a canvassing launch event on Monday that “this race is a lot closer than they [Republicans] ever expected.”

And Behn, speaking with Fox News Digital, argued that “we’ve been building, we’ve been organizing, they’ve [Republicans] been scapegoating.”

And Behn also enjoyed support from high-profile surrogates on Election Eve.

Progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York headlined a virtual rally on Monday evening for Behn, a rising progressive star who some have dubbed the “AOC of Tennessee.”

Ocasio-Cortez was joined by Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, who chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus the past four years, Black Voters Matter Fund co-founder LaTosha Brown and former Vice President Al Gore, a Tennessee native.

Behn has faced repeated attacks that she’s out of step with voters in the district.

“She does not represent the values of Tennessee or of America. She is as far left as you can get. She’s a radical,” Van Epps claimed in his Fox News Digital interview. “We have to reject that ideology. And we’re going to do that tomorrow.”

Johnson argued at the Franklin rally that Behn was a “radical” and “a dangerous far leftist. And she will be a rubber stamp for Hakeem Jeffries and AOC and all the radicals in Congress.”

And Trump, repeating comments he made over the weekend on social media, charged that Behn “hates Christianity” and “hates country music.”

Trump was referring to past comments Behn made from a 2020 podcast.

“I hate the city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music, I hate all of the things that make Nashville apparently an ‘it’ city to the rest of the country. But I hate it,” she said in the podcast.

TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE CAUGHT SAYING ‘I HATE NASHVILLE’ AND ‘COUNTRY MUSIC’ IN RESURFACED CLIP

The district is solidly red, but includes parts of the Democratic stronghold of Nashville, Tennessee’s capital and its most populous city, and a major national center for the country music industry. The district encompasses parts of north and west Nashville, including the downtown area which has long been a very popular tourist destination.

Behn, in a CNN interview on Sunday, noted that she was a “private citizen” when she made the comments. “Nashville is my home. Do I roll my eyes at the bachelorette parties and the pedal taverns that are blocking my access to my house? Yeah. Every Nashvillian does. But this race has always been about something bigger. It’s about families across middle Tennessee that are getting crushed by rising prices.”

Republicans are also taking aim at Behn over an op-ed titled, “Tennessee is a racist state, and so is its legislature,” that appeared in a 2019 edition of The Tennessean newspaper.

The RNC, pointing in a recent social media post to the six-year-old opinion piece, asked, “If Behn hates Tennessee so much, why is she trying to represent it?”

Also resurfacing in recent weeks are anti-police comments Behn made on a now-deleted social media account.

“Clearly, I’m living rent-free in President Trump’s mind,” Behn told supporters on Monday.

And asked by Fox News Digital about the incoming verbal fire from Republicans, Behn joked, “I always love to hear from my fans.”

She touted that “I have a track record of showing up in the hard fights and small fights in between, not only as an organizer and as an activist, but as a legislator.”

And sticking to her key issue of tackling the high cost of living, Behn said she’s “running on a very simple message of addressing the affordability crisis that Tennesseans are facing, and they [Republicans] don’t have a remedy for it.

Should Behn pull off an upset and win, the GOP House majority would become so fragile the Democrats could have a shot of taking back the chamber next year ahead of the midterms if one or two more Republicans leave Congress early. Republicans were rattled last month when MAGA rock star and top Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she would step down in January following a falling out with the president.

“Since I became speaker, I presided over some of the smallest majorities in history. Every seat counts,” Johnson told Fox News Digital.

The showdown in Tennessee isn’t the only ballot box showdown capturing national attention on Tuesday.

In New Jersey, a disgraced former Democratic governor is seeking a political comeback, but may be blocked by a younger progressive candidate who’s gaining momentum.

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Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, the 68-year-old who resigned more than two decades ago, is facing off against 41-year-old Councilmember James Solomon in a runoff election for mayor in Jersey City, which is the Garden State’s second most populous city.

The election comes a month after former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned amid multiple scandals four years ago, was defeated by now-Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s high-profile mayoral showdown.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff is in Moscow is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday after a whirlwind weekend of negotiations with Ukraine aimed at securing a peace deal.

All eyes are on Putin as Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and occasional foreign policy envoy, feel out whether Putin might agree to the 19-point proposal they finalized with Ukrainian counterparts following initial U.S.-Russian talks.

The latest round of diplomacy represents the most active push toward a potential settlement since the full-scale invasion in 2022, but negotiators acknowledge that significant obstacles remain. Core disputes over territory, Ukraine’s long-term security arrangements, and the conditions for any ceasefire are unresolved, and officials say progress will depend on whether Putin shows flexibility during this week’s meetings.

After an initial 28-point plan brokered by Witkoff and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev was viewed by Kyiv as too favorable to Moscow, U.S. and Ukrainian officials went back to the drawing board. They met in Geneva at the end of November to work through a trimmed-down version of the plan and again over the weekend in Florida to hammer out additional details.

MOMENTUM BUILDS IN UKRAINE PEACE PUSH, BUT EXPERTS FEAR PUTIN WON’T BUDGE

Both sides said the talks were productive but offered no specifics on which issues still divide them.

“So much work remains,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the meeting. “But today was again a very productive and useful session where I think additional progress was made.”

“There’s a good chance we can make a deal,” Trump said.

PUTIN’S A ‘LITTLE BIT SCARED’ OF TRUMP AS NATIONS BEGIN PEACE TALKS, ZELENSKYY SAYS

Despite the momentum, the two sides remain far apart. Several of the most sensitive issues were left for a meeting between principal leaders.

Russia insists Ukraine cannot join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — even though Ukraine amended its constitution to make NATO membership a national objective. In the original 28-point plan, Russia also demanded Ukraine reduce its peacetime armed forces to 600,000.

European and Ukrainian officials instead floated an 800,000 cap, according to the Financial Times. Ukraine currently fields around 880,000 troops, up from about 209,000 before the 2022 invasion.

STATE DEPARTMENT SAYS UKRAINE READY TO ACCEPT 30-DAY CEASEFIRE DEAL: ‘BALL IS NOW IN RUSSIA’S COURT’

The largest impasse remains territorial concessions. A draft of the earlier proposal suggested recognizing Crimea and large parts of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as de facto Russian.

Complicating the process is the sudden removal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff and chief negotiator, Andriy Yermak, who resigned after a corruption probe led to a raid of his home. Yermak had publicly insisted days earlier that Ukraine would not give up land for peace. 

“Not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory,” he told The Atlantic magazine. 

Putin said at the end of November he was ready for “serious” talks but also asserted that Russia has the upper hand and would halt fighting only if Ukrainian forces withdraw from territory it has recaptured on the front lines.

“If they don’t withdraw, we will achieve this by force,” he said.

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Analysts say Washington still has levers it could use if negotiations stall, including tightening sanctions and expanding military assistance to Ukraine. But many of the most powerful economic measures — such as penalties on major Russian energy and financial entities — are already in place, and the U.S. has provided Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in military aid since 2022. 

That leaves a narrower set of options if the talks reach an impasse.

Trump has voiced frustration with the slow pace of diplomacy in recent days, saying publicly that he believed a resolution “should have happened a long time ago,” though officials have not indicated that Washington is preparing to walk away from the talks.

FRANKLIN, TN – President Donald Trump told Tennessee Republicans to “get out and vote” and “show the world something” the day before Tuesday’s special congressional election for a hotly contested GOP-controlled vacant House seat in a solidly red congressional district.

Trump’s campaign pitch, the first of two on Election Eve, came as House Speaker Mike Johnson was spending all day at a slew of campaign stops with Republican nominee Matt Van Epps, who is facing off against Democratic nominee Aftyn Behn in the race to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District to succeed former GOP Rep. Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.

“We’re going to win this seat, but we cannot take anything for granted,” Johnson said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital ahead of a rally with Van Epps in Franklin, Tennessee, just south of Nashville.

Trump carried the district — which is located in central and western Tennessee, stretches from Kentucky to Alabama, and includes parts of Nashville — by 22 points in last year’s presidential election.

DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, GO ALL IN ON FINAL 2025 CONGRESSIONAL BALLOT BOX SHOWDOWN

But Democrats, energized following the party’s sweeping victories last month in high-profile ballot box showdowns from coast to coast, are spending big bucks in a race that’s seen as a key barometer ahead of next year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will be defending its congressional majorities.

Republicans, working to protect the GOP’s current razor-thin 219-213 majority in the House and aiming to avoid a major upset in the high-stakes showdown, have been showering Van Epps with resources and support in the final stretch of the campaign.

“Special elections are strange because a lot of people take for granted in a deep red district like this that the Republican is just going to win automatically. Nothing’s automatic. So we’re here to help turn out the vote and make sure we get this great candidate right over that line,” Johnson said. “We take no vote for granted. We need everybody to turn out.”

Van Epps, a military combat veteran and former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services who is backed by Trump, predicted that “we’re going to win decisively tomorrow.”

“We have over 50 local endorsements as well. We have a whole day of events today with incredible backing, and we’re going to get this done tomorrow,” he emphasized in the Fox News Digital interview.

TRUMP MAKES 11TH-HOUR PLEA FOR MATT VAN EPPS OVER AFTYN BEHN, WHOM HE CLAIMS ‘HATES CHRISTIANITY’

Minutes later, as Johnson spoke to a crowd of a couple of hundred GOP activists and supporters, the speaker called Trump on his cell phone.

“Let’s make it a sweeping victory,” Trump said. “The whole world is watching Tennessee right now. And they’re watching your district. The whole world. It’s a big vote. It’s going to show something.  It’s got to show that the Republican Party is stronger than it’s ever been.”

In a sign of the importance of holding the seat, Republican Gov. Bill Lee, GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, as well as Republican members of Congress from Tennessee and state GOP lawmakers all spoke ahead of Johnson at the rally.

Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Joe Gruters also spoke at the rally.

“Tennessee is the red wall. So they’re not getting past Tennessee. We’re going to win this race,” he told Fox News Digital. “From a registration perspective and from a part perspective this is our home turf. So I’m saying Tennessee is the red wall and we’ll get right back on track to the 2026 midterms with a victory tomorrow.”

MUSIC CITY MIRACLE: A LOOK AT AN UNUSUALLY CONTENTIOUS ELECTION IN THE VOLUNTEER STATE

Behn, a state representative, former healthcare community organizer and a rising progressive star who some have dubbed the “AOC of Tennessee,” is also getting a helping hand on Election Eve from top Democrats.

Progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, will headline a virtual rally for Behn on Monday evening.

Ocasio-Cortez will be joined by Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, who chaired the Congressional Progressive Caucus the past four years, Black Voters Matter Fund co-founder LaTosha Brown and former Vice President Al Gore, a Tennessee native.

Democrats were laser focused on spotlighting the issue of affordability in this autumn’s elections, and Behn is keeping to that script.

“Angry about high grocery prices? Worried about health care costs? Feeling burned by tariffs? Then Dec. 2 is your day to shake up Washington,” she says in her campaign’s final ad.

By casting herself as the candidate who will put a check on Trump’s party in Congress, Behn sees a path to victory.

While Democrats privately acknowledge that the path to victory is narrow, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin, who campaigned with Behn last month, argued that she has “an excellent shot to win.”

TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE CAUGHT SAYING ‘I HATE NASHVILLE’ AND ‘COUNTRY MUSIC’ IN RESURFACED CLIP

But Behn has faced repeated attacks that she’s out of step with voters in the district.

“She does not represent the values of Tennessee or of America. She is as far left as you can get. She’s a radical,” Van Epps claimed in his Fox News Digital interview. “We have to reject that ideology. And we’re going to do that tomorrow.”

Johnson, speaking to the crowd minutes later at the Franklin rally, argued that Behn was a “radical” and “a dangerous far leftist. And she will be a rubber stamp for Akeem Jeffries and AOC and all the radicals in Congress.”

And Trump, repeating comments he made over the weekend on social media, charged that Behn “hates Christianity” and “hates country music.”

“How the hell can you elect a person like that?” the president asked.

SCOOP: TRUMP-ALIGNED MAGA INC. JUMPS INTO HIGH STAKES BALLOT BOX CONGRESSIONAL SHOWDOWN

Trump was referring to past comments Behn made from a 2020 podcast.

“I hate the city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music, I hate all of the things that make Nashville apparently an ‘it’ city to the rest of the country. But I hate it,” she said in the podcast.

The district is solidly red, but includes parts of the Democratic stronghold of Nashville, Tennessee’s capital and its most populous city, and a major national center for the country music industry. The district encompasses parts of north and west Nashville, including the downtown area which has long been a very popular tourist destination.

Behn, in a CNN interview on Sunday, noted that she was a “private citizen” when she made the comments. “Nashville is my home. Do I roll my eyes at the bachelorette parties and the pedal taverns that are blocking my access to my house? Yeah. Every Nashvillian does. But this race has always been about something bigger. It’s about families across middle Tennessee that are getting crushed by rising prices.”

Republicans are also taking aim at Behn over an op-ed titled, “Tennessee is a racist state, and so is its legislature,” that appeared in a 2019 edition of The Tennessean newspaper.

The RNC, pointing in a recent social media post to the six-year-old opinion piece, asked, “If Behn hates Tennessee so much, why is she trying to represent it?”

Also resurfacing in recent weeks are anti-police comments Behn made on a now-deleted social media account.

Behn campaign manager Kate Briefs, pushing back, said last week,”The attacks from Washington Republicans are getting louder because their agenda is deeply unpopular — and because early vote returns show this race is a dead heat. They can’t talk about fixing healthcare, lowering costs, or protecting our hospitals because they have no plan. So instead, they’re throwing mud.”

Behn’s campaign is pointing to what it says is “a surge of first-time and infrequent voters” turning out for early voting.

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Should Behn pull off an upset and win, the GOP House majority would become so fragile the Democrats could have a shot of taking back the chamber next year ahead of the midterms if one or two more Republicans leave Congress early. Republicans were rattled last month when MAGA rock star and top Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she would step down in January following a falling out with the president.

“Since I became speaker, I presided over some of the smallest majorities in history. Every seat counts,” Johnson told Fox News Digital.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the Trump administration is “actively re-examining” all the Afghan nationals who entered the United States during former President Joe Biden’s administration.

“Any individual who threatens our national security or our citizenry will be subject to removal,” Leavitt told reporters during a White House press briefing. “President Trump has already permanently paused the migration of foreign nationals from third world countries that pose a very high risk to the United States. For too long, past American presidents supported self-destruction, self-destructive immigration policies that allowed foreigners who outright hate our country and have no interest in assimilating into our culture.”

The announcement comes after the death of 20-year-old National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom, who was allegedly shot in the nation’s capital last week by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national. 

A second National Guardsman, 24-year-old Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, is still in the hospital and fighting for his life.

TRUMP INVITES FAMILIES OF TWO NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS SHOT IN DC TO WHITE HOUSE, PLANS TO HONOR SOLDIERS

President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday that the Wolfe family are “unbelievably great people” who want the public to pray for their son.

“Sarah and Andrew are heroes, and we will never forget their sacrifice. That means ensuring the monster responsible for this atrocity is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and faces the most severe punishment possible. It also means reckoning with why this atrocity was allowed to happen in the first place, so that it may never occur again,” said Leavitt.

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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also announced Friday that the federal agency would conduct a reexamination of all green card holders from so-called countries of concern.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt released details on President Donald Trump’s MRI scan that was conducted in October, reading the results of the examination during Monday’s press briefing that showed he was in good health. 

Trump’s health has fallen under increasing scrutiny from the media in recent months, including when it was revealed that Trump underwent a second routine physical for the year in October, which included an MRI scan. Leavitt reported the medical imaging procedure found Trump as healthy. 

“As part of President Trump’s comprehensive executive physical advanced imaging was performed because men in his age group benefit from a thorough evaluation of cardiovascular and abdominal health,” Leavitt read from the report Monday. 

“The purpose of this imaging is preventative to identify any issues early, confirm overall health, and ensure the president maintains long-term vitality and function,” Leavitt continued. “President Trump’s cardiovascular imaging was perfectly normal. No evidence of arterial narrowing impairing blood flow or abnormalities in the heart or major vessels. The heart chambers are normal in size, the vessel walls appear smooth and healthy, and there are no signs of inflammation or clotting. Overall, his cardiovascular system shows excellent health.” 

WHITE HOUSE PROVIDES TRUMP HEALTH UPDATE AFTER MRI SCAN CONCERNS SWIRLED

Trump is the oldest man to be inaugurated president, with the media increasingly turning their attention to the president’s health after repeated photos since February show bruising on Trump’s hand, while photos from July showed the president with swollen legs. 

TRUMP TO UNDERGO ‘ROUTINE’ YEARLY MEDICAL EXAM AT WALTER REED WHILE VISITING TROOPS IN MARYLAND

Leavitt, as well as Trump, repeatedly have brushed off questions and concern surrounding his health, pointing to physical examinations in April, and then again in October, that found the president “remains in excellent health.”

“His abdominal imaging is also perfectly normal. All major organs appear very healthy and well perfused,” Leavitt continued Monday of Trump’s MRI. “Everything evaluated is functioning within normal limits with no acute or chronic concerns. In summary, this level of detailed assessment is standard for an executive physical at President Trump’s age and confirms that he remains in excellent overall health.” 

TRUMP DECLARED IN ‘EXCELLENT OVERALL HEALTH’ BY DOCTOR AFTER WALTER REED VISIT

“Again, we will provide that to you,” she added. “I think that’s quite a bit of detail. And in the effort of transparency, the president promised it last night and we have delivered today.” 

Trump was questioned about the MRI Sunday evening, saying he would release the report while underscoring it was “perfect” and adding that it did not focus on scanning his brain. 

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“If they want to release it, it’s OK with me to release it,” Trump said. “It’s perfect.” 

“If you want to have it released, I’ll release it,” he continued. 

Media concern over Trump’s health follows the current White House’s repeated criticisms of journalists over their lack of reporting on then-President Joe Biden’s mental acuity and physical fitness when he served in the Oval Office. 

The media did not have a large focus on Biden’s health until the election cycle, when he was pressed to drop out his re-election effort to retain the White House as political allies called on him to pass the torch to a younger generation. Biden ultimately dropped out of the race in July 2024. 

President Donald Trump threw himself in the middle of Honduras’ razor-thin presidential race on Monday, warning that there would be “hell to pay” if election officials altered the results.  

Writing on Truth Social, Trump, without offering evidence, accused Honduras of “trying to change the results.”

“If they do, there will be hell to pay! The people of Honduras voted in overwhelming numbers on November 30th,” Trump said.

The president’s remarks came hours after Ana Paola Hall, president of the National Electoral Council, wrote on X that the preliminary rapid reporting system that began providing results Sunday night had reached its conclusion with votes 57% tallied.

TRUMP PLANS ‘FULL AND COMPLETE PARDON’ FOR FORMER HONDURAN PRESIDENT CONVICTED OF DRUG TRAFFICKING

Their count showed a close race between two conservative candidates, Nasry Asfura of the National Party and Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, with Asfura holding a narrow lead of only a few hundred votes. Rixi Moncada, the democratic socialist LIBRE candidate, trailed roughly 20 percentage points behind.  

“It is imperative that the Commission finish counting the Votes,” Trump wrote. “Hundreds of thousands of Hondurans must have their Votes counted. Democracy must prevail!”

Officials have said the count would continue but did not specify when updated totals would be released, and parts of the council’s online system appeared to have been taken down.

AOC PUSHES BACK AFTER GOP LAWMAKER CALLS MAMDANI’S ARABIC CAMPAIGNING A ‘HUMILIATION’

Just before the freeze, Trump had endorsed Asfura, calling him the “only Honduran candidate his administration would work with and saying he would fight “narco-communists” alongside the U.S.

Both leading candidates have pointed to the close tally as evidence that they are ahead – though both men have stopped short of declaring victory.

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Trump’s announcement that he would pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is now serving a 45-year U.S. sentence – also loomed large over the race, underscoring how U.S. politics can intrude in the country’s politics.

Trump’s latest warning injects new pressure into an already hostile post-election environment. The outcome will determine whether the Latin American country shifts away from the ruling LIBRE party and have deep impacts on its future relationship with Washington.

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

-Trump, Speaker Johnson, AOC, blitz campaign trail on eve of crucial congressional showdown

-Trump hit with setback as court rules Alina Habba unlawfully served as top federal prosecutor in New Jersey

-Freedom Caucus joins progressives in rare bipartisan push targeting ‘insane’ federal laws

Trump admin ‘actively re-examining all of the Afghans imported into the country’ following DC shooting

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the Trump administration is “actively re-examining” all the Afghan nationals who entered the United States during former President Joe Biden’s administration.

“Any individual who threatens our national security or our citizenry will be subject to removal,” Leavitt told reporters during a White House press briefing. “President Trump has already permanently paused the migration of foreign nationals from Third World countries that pose a very high risk to the United States. For too long, past American presidents supported self-destruction, self-destructive immigration policies that allowed foreigners who outright hate our country and have no interest in assimilating into our culture.”

The announcement comes after the death of 20-year-old National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom, who was allegedly shot in the nation’s capital last week by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national…READ MORE.
 

White House

NEXT IN LINE: Trump says he has decided on next Fed chair as affordability crisis looms

MEDICAL UPDATE: Trump MRI results drop as White House confronts mounting questions over president’s health

FRANKLIN ATTACKS: War Sec. Pete Hegseth shares meme of children’s book character firing on narco terrorist drug boat

A NATURAL NO: Trump says he would ‘absolutely’ revoke citizenship from naturalized criminals — if he has the authority

World Stage

MADURO ON NOTICE: Venezuela White House meeting kicks off Trump’s high-stakes week as Cabinet huddle looms

‘VERY SATISFIED’: Trump declares importance of not derailing ‘Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State’

Capitol Hill

PICK A SIDE: GOP senator moves to end dual citizenship, says Americans must choose

UNDER FIRE: Lawmakers skeptical of alleged Hegseth kill orders in Venezuela — but issue stark warning

Across America 

BULLY PULPIT: Trump forces Indiana GOP into redistricting reversal in race to draw new MAGA map

HERO FIGHTS ON: WV gov gives update on wounded Guardsman, talks future of DC mission as general says troops are grieving

MINNESOTA MESS: Minnesota state government employees say they wrote to Kamala Harris, DNC, ‘warning’ about Walz as VP pick

‘I’M RUNNING’: Democratic DC councilmember Janeese Lewis George mounts mayoral bid to succeed Bowser

GUILTY NO MORE: Minnesota judge under fire for tossing $7.2M taxpayer-fraud conviction tied to alleged ‘lavish lifestyle’

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

The Women’s March is facing backlash online for releasing an “insane” ad attacking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including critics suggesting the group has turned its back on its feminist mission.

An ad, released by Women’s March last week, shows a fictional ICE agent returning home and being asked by his daughter, “How was your day?” Scenes of masked agents smashing windows and women and a little girl crying flash across the screen while screams can be heard.

A narrator says, “A mask can’t hide you from your neighbors, your children, from God. They’ll know.”

“You can walk away, before the shame follows you home,” the narrator continues, while text fills the screen, reading, “What will you say?”

SANCTUARY POLITICIANS’ RHETORIC LED TO 1,150% SURGE IN VIOLENCE AGAINST ICE AGENTS: DHS

In the video’s caption, Women’s March wrote, “A mask can’t hide your shame forever. ICE agents are being recruited everywhere online and in person. Immigrants are being kidnapped, families are being ripped apart, communities are living in fear. Before you accept the sign-on bonus to terrorize families, ask yourself: When your kids ask what you did at work today, what will you say? When your neighbor is dragged away in handcuffs, what will you say? When you’re asked what you did to protect your community from fascism, what will you say? Because history never forgets. And neither will we.”

The caption also includes a hashtag calling to end ICE.

Conservative commentator Matt Swol ripped into the Women’s March for airing the ad in Charlotte, North Carolina, while ignoring the recent killings of two women, Logan Federico and Iryna Zarutska, in North Carolina.

“This ad is BEYOND evil,” wrote Swol.

“The Women’s March org NEVER ran a single ad after Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on the light rail by a repeat offender. Nor did they run a single ad on Logan Federico who was murdered by a man with 39 previous charges,” said Swol.

NOEM SAYS AFGHAN NATIONAL ACCUSED OF SHOOTING NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS WAS RADICALIZED IN US

“What happened to the feminists? What happened to actually caring about women? I don’t understand,” he added.

GOP operative Sarah Fields pointed to large numbers of arrests of non-citizen sexual predators and the trafficking of women and girls by cartels, saying, “Ironically, this was paid for by Women’s March, a feminist group against s*xual oppression.”

“The Women’s March is running an INSANE ad that demonizes ICE with fictional scenes and emotional manipulation,” wrote California conservative commentator Elizabeth Barcohana.

“Defund the Police and police abolitionism never went away. It just took a new form,” added Barcohana.

“Feminists against those who protect women. Great call, ladies,” commented Los Angeles GOP leader Lisa Cusack.

BONDI DECLARES ‘NEW ERA OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE’ AS FEDERAL AGENTS DEPLOY TO ICE FACILITIES NATIONWIDE

Founded during the first Trump administration, the Women’s March rose to prominence due to its heavily covered marches in Washington, D.C. On its website, the group says it is working to build a “base of feminists to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.”

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It has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump during his second term, as well as ICE.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Women’s March for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that, following a meeting with President Donald Trump, she is recommending a sweeping travel ban on every country she claims is sending dangerous immigrants to the United States.

Noem made the announcement in a fiery post on X, denouncing certain immigrants as “killers” and “leeches.”

“I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every d— country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies,” Noem said.

She slammed certain immigrants as threats to public safety and accused them of draining resources meant for Americans.

ALLEGED DC SHOOTER ENTERED US UNDER AFGHAN RESETTLEMENT PUSH MAYORKAS VOWED WOULD BE DONE ‘SWIFTLY AND SAFELY’

“Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom—not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS,” she said.

“WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.”

AFGHAN SUSPECT IN NATIONAL GUARD ATTACK WAS ‘RADICALIZED’ AFTER ARRIVING TO US, NOEM SAYS

The announcement came after law enforcement officials reported that an Afghan immigrant allegedly attacked two National Guard members last Wednesday in Washington, D.C., just blocks from the White House.

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Authorities identified the suspect as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who entered the U.S. legally in 2021 under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome, a program that evacuated and resettled Afghan refugees as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Noem criticized the process, asserting that Lakanwal was not properly vetted and blaming the Biden administration for what she described as inadequate screening of Afghans and other foreign nationals during former President Joe Biden’s term.  

Recent U.S. military escalations involving Venezuela have halted flights carrying unlawful migrants from the United States back to the South American country, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said, prompting criticism from anti-intervention voices.

President Donald Trump warned pilots Saturday that the airspace “above and surrounding” Venezuela should be “closed in its entirety” as his administration weighs potential strikes on targets in and around Caracas.

“Through this action, the United States government has unilaterally suspended the Venezuelan migrant flights that were being carried out regularly and weekly as part of the repatriation of Venezuelans through the Plan Vuelta a la Patria (Return to the Homeland Plan),” the ministry said in a statement.

The deportation flights had been one of the only areas of cooperation between Washington and the government of Nicolás Maduro. Venezuelan officials say nearly 14,000 nationals have been returned on twice-weekly charter flights in recent months.

VENEZUELA AGREES TO RESUME DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN RESPONSE TO PRESSURE FROM TRUMP

At the same time, the Trump administration has continued moving forward with plans to end temporary protected status for roughly 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States.

“Genius. Enough with this immigration enforcement nonsense. Let’s get back to True MAGA — neocon wars that exacerbate and cause migration crises. About darn time,” said Curt Mills, executive editor of The American Conservative, criticizing the shift toward military action.

So far, U.S. strikes have targeted alleged narco-traffickers operating in the Caribbean near Venezuela. But officials have signaled that operations could expand to land-based targets as Washington increases pressure on Maduro to relinquish power.

VENEZUELA WILL FACE ‘SEVERE, AND ESCALATING SANCTIONS’ IF IT DOESN’T ACCEPT ITS CITIZENS, RUBIO SAYS

Dozens of U.S. bombers have deployed to the region alongside the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, underscoring the scale of the buildup. With U.S. bombers and the Ford already positioned in the region, much of the world is waiting to see whether Trump will green-light the next phase of strikes against Venezuelan targets.

Trump confirmed he spoke with Maduro by phone recently. 

“I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday. 

Trump presented Maduro with an ultimatum — step down or face potential U.S. military action. Maduro, the Miami Herald reported, sought global amnesty for himself, demanded to retain control of the military and resisted an immediate exit from power.

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Restraint-minded foreign policy analysts have sounded the alarm against a regime-change-driven intervention in Venezuela, arguing such a move could make migration patterns worse. 

“Escalatory dynamics could trigger regional instability and hostility, with migration flows among the most predictable consequences,” a report by Stimson Center analysts Evan Cooper and Alessandro Perri claimed. “Absent a credible transition structure inside Venezuela, external pressure is far more likely to deepen chaos — driving more Venezuelans to flee — than to produce political change.”

Analysts in the libertarian foreign-policy space have issued similar warnings. 

Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, argued that “U.S. militarized pressure on Venezuela is far more likely to worsen instability than to produce meaningful political change,” adding that history shows “coercion in Venezuela leads to unpredictable outcomes and episodes of mass flight.” 

“Escalation without a stable political alternative inside Venezuela risks accelerating the very migration pressures Washington is trying to contain,” said George A. López, a senior analyst at the Quincy Institute. 

The White House confirmed and defended conducting a second strike against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean in September, amid the Trump administration’s crusade targeting the influx of drugs into the U.S. 

The White House’s statement comes after the Washington Post reported Friday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth verbally ordered that a Sept. 2 attack kill everyone on board the alleged drug boat, drawing scrutiny from lawmakers who are requesting additional oversight into the strikes. The Post reported that a second strike was conducted to take out the remaining survivors on the boat. 

Although the Pentagon pushed back against the report, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not deny that a second strike occurred and told reporters Monday that the strike Sept. 2 was conducted “in self-defense” in international waters “in accordance with the law of armed conflict.” 

HEGSETH SAYS US CONDUCTED ANOTHER STRIKE IN EASTERN PACIFIC TARGETING ALLEGED NARCO-TRAFFICKERS 

The White House said Monday that Hegseth authorized the second strike, but the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, ordered and directed it. At the time of the strike, Bradley was serving as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, which falls under U.S. Special Operations Command. 

“On September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” Leavitt said. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”

When asked to confirm that Bradley was the one who ordered the second strike, Leavitt said that he was “well within his authority to do so,” but declined to disclose whether the second strike was ordered because there were survivors remaining from the first strike. 

Leavitt also disputed that Hegseth ever gave an initial order to ensure that everyone on board was killed, when asked specifically about Hegseth’s instructions. 

“I would reject that the secretary of War ever said that,” Leavitt said. “However, the president has made it quite clear that if narco-terrorists, again, are trafficking illegal drugs toward the United States, he has the authority to kill them.”

US MILITARY KILLS 2 SUSPECTED NARCO-TERRORISTS IN 16TH EASTERN PACIFIC STRIKE, HEGSETH SAYS 

The White House’s statements on the matter don’t completely align with the Pentagon’s. On Friday, the Pentagon denied the Post’s reporting in its entirety. 

“We told the Washington Post that this entire narrative was false yesterday,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a post on social media Friday. “These people just fabricate anonymously sourced stories out of whole cloth. Fake News is the enemy of the people.” 

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

TRUMP SAYS HE BELIEVES HEGSETH ‘100%’ ON VENEZUELAN DRUG BOAT STRIKE DENIAL AMID ALLEGATIONS 

Meanwhile, the report has prompted lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to ask additional questions about the operations, and press for additional oversight. 

“This committee is committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean,” Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., who lead the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement on Saturday. “We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question.”

Spokespeople for the committee did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the nature of these additional oversight efforts. 

Additionally, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said Monday that she is calling for an investigation into the matter as well, and said that Hegseth “owes answers to the American people immediately.”

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The Trump administration has carried out more than 20 strikes against alleged drug boats in Latin American waters, and has bolstered its military presence in the Caribbean to align with Trump’s goal to crack down on the influx of drugs into the U.S.

The White House also confirmed Monday that Trump is slated to hold a meeting on Monday evening to discuss future actions concerning Venezuela. 

The House unanimously passed a bill on Monday barring anyone linked to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel from moving to the United States.

It’s a rare moment of bipartisanship on the topic of Israel, an issue that’s otherwise exacerbated deep fractures within both parties in the House of Representatives — particularly for Democrats.

The Republican-led legislation is called the “No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act of 2025” and was introduced by Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif.

CHIP ROY AND OTHER REPUBLICANS PUSH BILL TO BLOCK AND DEPORT SHARIA LAW-ADHERENT ALIENS: ‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT’

It passed the House by voice vote on Monday afternoon, meaning it advanced with unanimous approval without lawmakers taking individual votes on the bill.

“There are still some things we can come together on in this body, and one of them is opposition to Hamas and the terrorism they unleashed on civilians in Israel more than two years ago,” McClintock told Fox News Digital.

“What this does is place them in the same category as Nazi collaborators in the Holocaust, which are also referenced in the Immigration Nationality Act.”

NEARLY 200 HOUSE DEMS VOTE AGAINST HIKING CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FELONS

The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate, where a parallel effort was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.

McClintock told Fox News Digital he was hopeful the Senate would take up the bill — while noting it passed the House last term as well without the upper chamber taking action.

“The repeated actions of the House in passing this bill, I think, will hopefully inspire the Senate to take it up this year and send it to the president,” he said. “It’s important for two reasons. Number one, to prevent a future Joe Biden from admitting such people, and to empower a future Donald Trump presidency to keep them out.”

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The legislation would amend existing U.S. immigration law to deem “any alien who carried out, participated in, planned, financed, afforded material support to, or otherwise facilitated any of the attacks against Israel initiated by Hamas beginning on October 7, 2023” inadmissible to the country.

It would also add Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to the list of terror groups whose members and supporters are barred from the U.S. under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

It comes after a Gazan native, Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, who was residing in Louisiana, was arrested earlier this year over his alleged involvement in the Oct. 7 attack.

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to end dual citizenship to require citizens to submit “exclusive allegiance” to the U.S. 

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, plans to introduce legislation on Monday that would require any U.S. citizen who has foreign citizenship to choose between the two countries, Fox News Digital has learned. It would also require that if a U.S. citizen seeks a foreign citizenship in the future, that person would effectively give up their U.S. citizenship. 

Moreno, who was born in Colombia, said in a statement to Fox News Digital, “One of the greatest honors of my life was when I became an American citizen at 18, the first opportunity I could do so.” 

“It was an honor to pledge an Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America and only to the United States of America. Being an American citizen is an honor and a privilege — and if you want to be an American — it’s all or nothing,” he said. “It’s time to end dual citizenship for good.”

NEARLY ALL REPUBLICAN AGS ADD FIREPOWER TO TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP PUSH

Moreno’s bill fits into the broader fabric of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration in the U.S., and it isn’t the first time that a lawmaker has sought to undo dual-citizenship laws in the country.

Current law allows for Americans to hold citizenship both at home and abroad and does not require that a person choose one allegiance over the other. 

Moreno’s legislation, dubbed the Exclusive Citizenship Act of 2025, is billed as a measure that would bolster the interests of the U.S. out of concern that holding dual citizenship creates “conflicts of interest and divided loyalties.”

It would change that immigration law to make current dual citizens choose between the U.S. and whichever country they hold citizenship in.

TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP FIGHT HEADS BACK TO SUPREME COURT AS NEW TERM BEGINS

The legislation would require that the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) create databases and rules to track and enforce the change in citizenship law. 

It would give Americans with dual citizenship one year after its enactment to either write to the secretary of state for a renunciation of their foreign citizenship or notify DHS of their intent to denounce their U.S. citizenship. 

If a person does not comply with the change within the year, they will automatically be considered to have relinquished their U.S. citizenship.

AS ‘SQUAD’ TURNS ASSIMILATION INTO ‘DIRTY WORD,’ EXPERT URGES US LEADERS TO RENOUNCE FOREIGN LOYALTIES 

And for those who do give up their U.S. citizenship, voluntarily or involuntarily, the DHS and attorney general will be required to ensure that those people are “appropriately recorded in Federal systems and treated as an alien for purposes of the immigration laws,” according to the bill text. 

There have been previous attempts to dismantle the country’s dual-citizenship law, most recently in the House, where Republican lawmakers have moved to ensure that their colleagues either disclose any foreign citizenship on their statement of candidacy or completely prevent anyone with a dual citizenship from serving in Congress.

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And though President Donald Trump has made moves to end birthright citizenship, which has been snarled in the courts and so far not taken up by the Supreme Court, the administration has not staked a position on dual citizenship. 

Moreno’s push may also face issues in court. The Supreme Court weighed in on the question of dual citizenship in the 1950s and has upheld the ruling ever since.

The White House is preparing to hold a meeting about its strategy regarding Venezuela — as it also is gearing up for Christmas and the administration’s ninth Cabinet meeting this week. 

The White House confirmed CNN’s reporting that Trump will hold a meeting Monday evening with members of his Cabinet and other national security leaders to discuss future actions regarding Venezuela. 

Trump admitted Sunday that he spoke to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the phone in late November, amid escalating tensions between the two countries as the Trump administration has waged a crusade against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America. 

WASHINGTON’S SHADOW WAR: HOW STRIKES ON CARTELS THREATEN TO COLLAPSE MADURO’S REGIME

The meeting comes after Trump announced Saturday that pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers should “consider” the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela closed, but he told reporters Sunday to not “read anything into it” when asked if an airstrike was imminent. 

The meeting also comes amid additional scrutiny from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about the strikes, following a Friday report from the Washington Post that claimed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth instructed that no survivors remain during an attack on an alleged drug boat in September, prompting a second strike. 

Hegseth denied the report, and labeled it “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory.” 

But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday that a second strike occurred, and said that commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, Adm. Frank Bradley, was within his legal right to do so. 

“On September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” Leavitt said. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.” 

Even so, she pushed back on the Washington Post’s reporting describing that Hegseth ordered that everyone aboard the ship be killed. 

“I would reject that the Secretary of War ever said that,” Leavitt said. “However, the president has made it quite clear that if narco-terrorists, again, are trafficking illegal drugs toward the United States, he has the authority to kill them.” 

Lawmakers, including the top Republican and Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, are seeking answers. 

“This committee is committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean,” Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a Saturday statement. “We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question.”

Spokespeople for the committee did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the nature of these additional oversight efforts.

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The Trump administration has carried out more than 20 strikes against alleged drug boats in Latin American waters, and has bolstered its military presence in the Caribbean to align with Trump’s goal to crack down on the influx of drugs into the U.S.  

Additionally, Trump is slated to hold a Cabinet meeting at the White House Tuesday before making an announcement about Trump Accounts, a new tax-advantaged savings and investment account established through the passage of Trump’s massive tax and domestic policy bill known as the one “big, beautiful bill” signed into law in July. 

No additional details were immediately available on the new Trump Accounts update. 

Likewise, Trump is slated to welcome the presidents of the Republic of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to sign a peace and economic agreement secured Thursday that seeks to end conflict in Congo between government forces and armed groups including Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. The armed group seized control of the Congo cities of Goma and Bukavu in 2025. 

Trump also is scheduled to attend the FIFA World Cup final draw at the Kennedy Center Friday. During the event, FIFA will divvy up all the soccer teams into 12 different groups.  

The FIFA World Cup will be held in June 2026 and July 2026 in Mexico, Canada and the United States. 

Meanwhile, the White House also unveiled its Christmas decorations for 2025 in keeping with the theme first lady Melania Trump selected: “Home is Where the Heart Is.” Christmas tours for the public are slated to begin Tuesday. 

The White House is outfitted with 25,000 feet of ribbon; more than 2,000 strands of light; more than 120 pounds of gingerbread; more than 2,800 gold stars; more than 10,000 blue butterflies; and more than 700 feet of garland. Additionally, the White House has more than 50 Christmas trees on display.

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“Every detail of the 2025 White House Christmas decorations was personally selected by Mrs. Trump to honor the heart of America and the theme ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is,’” the White House told Fox News Digital.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Senior Trump officials reiterated in recent days their plans to explore “all options” to proceed with criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey after a judge last week dismissed his case on the grounds that the interim U.S. attorney tasked with prosecuting the case had been unlawfully appointed. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed last week to “immediately appeal” the judge’s ruling, which also rendered invalid a separate case brought by the same prosecutor against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

In the interim, FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI and Justice Department are exploring other options to keep Comey’s case alive.

“The judicial process can make whatever determination it wants, but we at the FBI and our partners at the DOJ have numerous options to proceed, and we’re executing on all those options,” Patel told the Epoch Times in an interview Saturday.

COMEY SEEKS TO TOSS CRIMINAL CASE CALLING TRUMP PROSECUTOR ‘UNLAWFUL’ APPOINTEE

“And we’re executing on all those options,” Patel said. “We’re not done.”

Patel did not elaborate on what that process might entail. 

But his remarks are the latest indication that the Trump administration has no plans to stand down on Comey’s case, even in the face of what appears to be steep legal hurdles.

Here’s what we know about the dismissal of Comey’s criminal case and what obstacles the Trump administration might face in efforts to revive it.

Where things stand

Comey was indicted in September on one count of allegedly lying to Congress during testimony before a Senate subcommittee in 2020 and one count of obstruction stemming from the same event.

Trump announced days earlier that Halligan would be heading up the Eastern District of Virginia to replace interim U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert. Siebert resigned under pressure to indict Comey and New York Attorney General James, as Fox News and other outlets previously reported.

Comey’s lawyers quickly filed two motions to dismiss his criminal case, including on the grounds that Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney and former White House aide who presented the case to a grand jury, was unlawfully appointed.

That question was reviewed by U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie, an outside district judge who ultimately sided with Comey’s lawyers on the matter. 

“Because Ms. Halligan had no lawful authority to present the indictment, I will grant Mr. Comey’s motion and dismiss the indictment,” Currie said. 

​​JAMES COMEY SEEKS TO DISMISS HIS CRIMINAL CASE, CITING ‘VINDICTIVE’ PROSECUTION

The Trump administration is free to seek to appeal Currie’s dismissals to the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and Bondi vowed to do so “immediately” last week at a conference in Memphis.

Judge Currie also dismissed both Comey’s case and James’s case “without prejudice” — a detail that could leave the door open for the government to secure new indictments, should it choose to do so. 

But any attempts to bring new charges against either Comey or James would be held up further by appellate court review. It is unclear how long that process could take and many court watchers have declined to speculate on the process, given the many uncertainties that remain at play. 

Statute of limitations concerns

Comey’s case in particular has raised unique and potentially tricky questions for the Justice Department. 

Comey was charged with making false statements to Congress and for obstruction related to his testimony in September 2020. Both charges had a five-year statute of limitations that expired Sept. 30 — just three days after Bondi installed Halligan at the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

It is unclear whether the judge’s order “resets the clock” on the statute of limitations under a federal law, as Trump’s allies have argued it should. The statute would give the Trump administration six additional months from the date of Currie’s dismissal to re-indict Comey. 

Under the same law, a dismissal by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals would trigger a 60-day window for the Trump administration to re-indict Comey.

Currie’s ruling addresses just one of two major issues that Comey’s lawyers cited in their effort to toss his criminal case, however — and any attempt to revive the case or reverse the dismissal is widely expected to be featured heavily into the second  motion to dismiss.

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Vindictive, selective prosecution 

Comey’s lawyers filed not one, but two motions to dismiss his criminal case. The second filing seeks to do so as a result of what Comey’s lawyers argued is “vindictive” and selective prosecution by the Justice Department.

“President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to prosecute Mr. Comey because of personal spite and because Mr. Comey has frequently criticized the president for his conduct in office,” Comey’s lawyers, Patrick Fitzgerald and Jessica Carmichael, said in the motion to dismiss, filed in late October.

The motion ticks through the years-long, strained relationship between Trump and his onetime FBI director, which Comey’s lawyers said bolsters their claim that the indictment “arises from multiple glaring constitutional violations and an egregious abuse of power by the federal government.”

Unlike the motion to dismiss the case based on the unlawfulness of Halligan’s appointment, which was reviewed by an outside judge, Comey’s motion to dismiss was slated to be heard by U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, the district judge assigned to Comey’s case.

It would be expected to come into play immediately, should an appeals court reverse Currie’s ruling, since the motions to dismiss must be reviewed by a court before the start of a criminal trial.

It would also almost certainly involve witness testimony from Trump officials with knowledge of the case to speak to what steps the administration took in the run-up to Comey’s indictment, the timing of the charges brought against him, and who in the administration ordered certain actions. 

MAURENE COMEY SUES DOJ FOR ‘UNLAWFUL’ FIRING, DEMANDS REINSTATEMENT

Lawyers for Comey asked Judge Nachmanoff to dismiss the case with prejudice — an outcome that, if granted, would block the government from seeking to re-indict Comey for the same actions.

Still, it is notoriously difficult to have a case tossed on the grounds of selective or vindictive prosecution, and in order to do so, Comey’s legal team must prove to the court both that prosecutors were acting with genuine animus in bringing the case against him — and that prosecutors singled him out because of that animus. 

Still, his lawyers presented an abundance of evidence in their filing that they argued satisfies that burden, and which primarily includes statements and admissions made by Trump and by senior administration officials.

“Objective evidence establishes that President Trump directed the prosecution of Mr. Comey in retaliation for Mr. Comey’s public criticisms and to punish Mr. Comey because of personal spite,” his lawyers said.

Short of outright dismissal, the next steps would be expected to involve additional discovery and an evidentiary hearing.

Next steps 

In the meantime, Bondi told reporters that Halligan will also remain in her post at the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

As of this writing, neither the Trump administration nor Comey’s lawyers seem to think the case is mooted.

Comey’s lawyers vowed to continue the fight after his case was dismissed: “We will continue to challenge any further politically motivated charges through every lawful means available,” Comey’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement last week. 

And Comey himself also weighed in on the matter in a video posted last week to social media.

Trump “will probably come after me again, and my attitude’s going to be the same,” Comey said, shortly after his case was dismissed. “I’m innocent. I am not afraid. And I believe in an independent federal judiciary.”

Senior Trump administration officials have said much of the same. 

“This will not be the final word on this matter,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said last week.

And Patel, for his part, suggested in the interview on Saturday that the Trump administration is readying “multiple” responses, which could come sooner than later. 

As for timing, Patel said to “stay tuned for right after Thanksgiving,” though he declined to elaborate further, due to what he said was the appeals court process.

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The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Patel’s remarks, or on next steps in Comey’s case. 

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey and Maj. Gen. James Seward, adjutant general of the West Virginia National Guard, provided an update Monday on their operations in Washington as well as the condition of critically wounded guardsman SSgt. Andrew Wolfe.

Wolfe, of Inwood, W.Va., and Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, of Webster Springs, W.V., were shot – Beckstrom fatally — allegedly by Afghan evacuee Rahmanullah Lakanwal of Bellingham, Wash., on Wednesday as they patrolled outside the Farragut West Metro station not far from the White House.

Morrisey said Wolfe has been upgraded to serious condition, a step down from the previously reported “critical” status.

“I’m not the doctor, and I’m not going to try to pretend to be so,” Morrisey said of speculation about the future of Wolfe’s condition.

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Morrisey said Wolfe’s condition appears to be improving, telling reporters in Charleston that there had been some “positive news” from friends and family in the hospital.

“Andrew was asked if he could hear the nurse who asked the question to give a ‘thumbs up’ and he did respond,” the governor said, calling the soldier’s mother, Melody, “such a positive force” and that she and her husband, Jason’s top request of the public is to continue to offer prayers.

Morrisey said he attended a vigil for Beckstrom in Webster County over the weekend, and traveled to the Eastern Panhandle for a prayer service for Wolfe that was held in Martinsburg; only 80 miles from Farragut Square.

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Seward and Morrisey spent Thanksgiving Day with the National Guardsmen at the Armory. A video from Morrisey’s social media feed indicated he met with personnel at the Washington, D.C. base.

“Every single one of the people there are volunteering,” he said, confirming 170 remain active in Washington.

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He called the attack an “unspeakable evil,” and said West Virginia has not been asked to deploy additional troops beyond the rotations it has been contributing to-date.

“They’re volunteering because they believe in the mission — they want to support the state of West Virginia, and they want to support the country.”

As for the future of the Guard’s activities in the Mountain State, Morrisey said he has been in touch with President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, and will defer to them on their processes.

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He underlined, however, that service in the Guard’s Washington mission is all-volunteer.

Of the shooting itself, Morrisey condemned media pundits who have speculated and want to “wrongly go to different places.”

“We’re not going to do that. At this point, that investigation is ongoing. The most important thing I can [say is] the citizens of West Virginia are rightfully angry about what’s happened right now,” he said.

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“Justice must be done in this case. Justice will be meted out.”

Morrisey said he supports Trump’s call for new vetting proposals for “undocumented aliens” and loopholes to be closed in refugee vetting.

Seward said the Guard numbers about 6,000 statewide and that members have been shaken by Beckstrom’s killing and Wolfe’s injuries.

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“When we lose one of our family members, I can tell you that every Guardsmen I talk to is grieving,” he said.