NationalWatch

FIRST ON FOX: A first-term House Republican and military veteran is eyeing a bid for Sen. Thom Tillis’ North Carolina Senate seat after the GOP lawmaker announced he would not run for re-election, a source close to the congressman told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., a former Army Special Forces Officer who was deployed to Afghanistan, was elected to represent North Carolina’s 10th congressional district in November 2024.

It comes after President Donald Trump pledged to find a primary challenger for Tillis over the senator’s decision to vote “no” on a key procedural hurdle to advance the commander-in-chief’s “big, beautiful bill.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ THROUGH KEY TEST VOTE

Harrigan was elected to replace former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

He’s among the first to express interest in Tillis’ seat in what could shape up into a crowded Republican primary race ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Rep. Tim Moore, R-N.C., another first-term House Republican, is also considering a bid for Tillis’ Senate seat, a source familiar with his plans told Fox News Digital.

Moore is the former speaker of the North Carolina state House of Representatives.

Tillis revealed he would not run for re-election in a bombshell statement on Sunday afternoon, criticizing the current political environment.

“Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who really don’t give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail. After they get elected, they don’t bother to do the hard work to research the policies they seek to implement and understand the consequences those policies could have on that young adult living in a trailer park, struggling to make ends meet,” Tillis said.

“As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term. That is true since the choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home.”

The statement came on the second continuous day that senators are wrestling with the “one big, beautiful bill,” a vast piece of legislation advancing Trump’s agenda on tax, immigration, energy, defense, and the national debt.

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT

Tillis said he had objections to the bill’s spending cuts targeting Medicaid, arguing they would be damaging to rural communities and hospitals in North Carolina.

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The senate voted 51-49 to begin debate on the legislation late on Saturday. Tillis and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., were the only two Republicans to vote “no.”

Trump posted on Saturday, “Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the primary against ‘Senator Thom’ Tillis. I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

EXCLUSIVE: New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa slammed the door on any talk of him dropping out of the race, and blamed incumbent Eric Adams for the rise of socialist Zohran Mamdani.

Prominent donors are exploring ways to get Sliwa to drop out of the race to open up the GOP nomination – with Adams being touted to replace him, according to a New York Post report. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani last week, could also be on the ticket in November.

But Sliwa, a lifelong New Yorker and founder of the Guardian Angels crime-prevention group, insisted to Fox News Digital that he is the man for the job. He also spoke about his fractured relationship with President Donald Trump and said he would welcome the president’s endorsement, should it come.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI REPEATEDLY PRESSED ON WHETHER HE CONDEMNS ‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA’ TERM IN NBC INTERVIEW

He said the city needs a fighter and he has already risked his life to make the city safer – and has the battle scars to prove it. The Brooklyn-born 71-year-old famously survived a mob hit in 1992 in which he was shot twice inside a moving taxi before jumping out through a window.

“The only way you get me out of this race before Nov. 4 is in a coffin, in a pine box,” he said. “And people know the Gottis and Gambinos tried that in 1992, and it didn’t work and this won’t work either. Be prepared to see Curtis Sliwa on the Republican line on Nov. 4.”

Sliwa has led the Guardian Angels since 1979 and said what separates him from the field is simple: He rides the subways, talks to the people and knows the neighborhoods by heart. 

“I’m the only real tried and true New Yorker. Andrew Cuomo hasn’t lived in the city since 1990. Mamdani goes back and forth to Uganda. Eric Adams? He lives in Fort Lee,” Sliwa said in a dig at Adams owning a property in New Jersey. “As goes the subway, so goes New York City. That’s our veins and arteries. None of these other guys are in the system. I live there.”

Political experts consider Sliwa’s election bid as a long shot. He ran against Adams in the 2021 election and lost by 66.1% to 27.4%. But the chips could finally fall Sliwa’s way in November if the left and center vote splits – with voters balking at Mamdani’s far-left agenda and both Adams and former Cuomo siphoning off Democratic votes with Independent runs. 

WASHINGTON POST BASHES SOCIALIST ZOHRAN MAMDANI AS POTENTIAL DISASTER FOR NEW YORK CITY

“Oh, I don’t care how many candidates are in the race. Look, we wouldn’t be in this situation, people wouldn’t even know who Zohan Mamdani is if Eric Adams had fairly been a successful Democratic elected mayor… Republicans don’t trust him, Democrats don’t want him… He is corrupt.”

Adams’ tenure was marred by federal corruption charges brought under the Biden administration, including accusations of wire fraud and solicitation of campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Adams denied the charges, which were later dropped by the Trump administration.

Adams’ spokesperson, Kayla Mamelak Altus, blasted Sliwa’s characterization of the mayor, telling Fox News Digital Sliwa is becoming “more detached from reality every day and nothing he ever says should be taken seriously.” 

In the interview, Sliwa also took aim at Mamdani’s socialist policies, which include a citywide rent freeze, free public bus service and higher property taxes on wealthy neighborhoods – all ideas that critics say have already strained budgets and backfired in Chicago under Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“Just go to Chicago and see the results of what a socialist mayor will not be able to do for you,” Sliwa said. “There’s a lot of promise, but there’s no delivery.” Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Sliwa said his campaign is focused on public safety and housing affordability, embracing the slogan “improve, don’t move,” which taps into disgruntled voters who may seek to join the exodus of people fleeing the city in recent years. 

He also thinks his no-kill policy for the city’s animal shelters will bring in moderate Democrats, women voters, younger generations and animal advocates who might not typically support a Republican candidate. Sliwa is known for his deep love of cats, often highlighting his devotion to rescuing and caring for strays.

Sliwa scoffed at the notion that Mamdani’s social media influence could be a deciding factor, arguing the race will be won by connecting with people on the ground. The assemblyman has nearly 2 million followers on Instagram, compared to Sliwa’s 66,000, while the socialist candidate has more than 910,000 followers on TikTok compared to Sliwa’s 183,000.

‘DELUSIONAL’ NYC POLITICIANS CALLED OUT BY GUARDIAN ANGELS FOUNDER OVER SUBWAY VIOLENCE: ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’

“I already know how to appeal to young people,” Sliwa said, noting he’s been recruiting young people for decades to lead the Guardian Angels. “My Baby Boomer generation talks about Gen Z like they’re lazy or stupid… They couldn’t be more wrong. That just pushes them into Mamdani’s camp.”

A Trump endorsement could also shift momentum in Sliwa’s favor. Though he called his relationship with the president a “love-hate” one, Trump’s rallies in the Bronx and at Madison Square Garden last year suggest a shifting political tide in the city – and a joint appearance with Sliwa could prove a game-changer.

“I don’t talk to President Trump on the phone. I haven’t been to Mar-a-Lago or gone to Washington,” Sliwa said. “He seems to talk to Eric Adams. Look, he saved him from going to prison, I understand that. In the last election, I voted for him and I encouraged people to vote for him.”

But Sliwa said he is open to receiving Trump’s backing, even if the race is not on the president’s radar. 

“Well, if it comes, that’s fine. If it doesn’t come, remember I ran the last time, I was not endorsed by President Trump,” Sliwa said. “[Trump] did not endorse Eric Adams. He basically stayed out of the race. He’s got enough issues to deal with – Ukraine, Russia, Iran, obviously his beautiful bill and everything else that he’s got on his plate that has geopolitical significance. Who’s the next mayor of New York City should be last on his priority list.”

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Sliwa’s campaign thus far has lacked much visibility, given in part to him winning the GOP nomination uncontested. But he said the win unlocks vital matching funds that will turbocharge his campaign in the general election.

“So now I have the resources. I’m in the streets and the one place that Zohan Mamdani is not, nor any of the other candidates. I live in the subways and that is the melting pot for all people in New York City.”

“The blue-collar working class, the hipsters, the millennials, Gen Z and people who are baby boomers. And if you’re not in the subway, which is a great focus group, you’re not dealing with regular average everyday people, because as goes the subways, so goes New York City.”

“It’s our veins and arteries.”

Senate Republicans and Democrats remain divided on the Medicaid issue hours after President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” passed a key Senate vote Saturday night.

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., both appeared on “Fox News Sunday” to discuss Trump’s legislation in the wake of the 51-49 vote.

Banks argued that the Medicaid reforms would only affect certain people.

“The Medicaid reforms would affect able-bodied Americans, those who are sitting at home who can work, who don’t work, who don’t have a sick kid or a sick mom, they shouldn’t receive Medicaid without working,” he said. “And on top of that, the bill would take Medicaid away from illegal immigrants.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ THROUGH KEY TEST VOTE

Coons conceded there are states that are using their state funding to provide healthcare “for people who are undocumented,” though argued that Trump’s $900 billion cuts to the program “are not about throwing people off of Medicaid who are not here legally.”

“They are about imposing more and more requirements on the beneficiaries of Medicaid,” the Democrat said.

Banks argued that taxes for everyday Americans will go up if the bill doesn’t get passed.

“If we don’t pass this bill, everyone’s taxes on average will go up $2,000 a household, and that’s not fair to the regular Americans who work hard every day,” he said.

Lingering concerns in both chambers about Medicaid — specifically the Medicaid provider tax rate and the effect of direct payments to states — energy tax credits, the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and others proved to be pain points that threatened the bill’s survival.

TRUMP, LAWMAKERS REACT AFTER ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ CLEARS SENATE HURDLE

Coons, however, said that Americans who don’t believe the Democrats’ standpoint should listen to Sen. Tom Tillis, R-N.C., who, along with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against the bill.

“Don’t believe me. Listen to Senator Tom Tillis,” Coons said. “He’s been saying loudly this bill is a bad deal for the middle class. It’ll raise healthcare costs and throw millions off of needed health care.”

On Sunday morning, Trump slammed both Tillis and Paul on social media. 

Hours later, Tillis announced he would not seek reelection.

Following the vote, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded that the text of the behemoth bill be read aloud before debates begin. After 14 hours, Senate clerks were still about 120 pages short of finishing reading aloud the 940-page text.

Once the reading is finished, the two parties will each get about 10 hours to debate on the bill. 

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The timeline puts a likely Senate vote-a-rama on the bill in the early morning hours of Monday. A final passage vote could happen between late morning and late Monday night.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller and Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Sen. Thom Tillis, one of the two Republicans to vote against advancing President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” plans to retire from the Senate at the end of his term.

The North Carolina Republican announced on Sunday that he would not seek reelection in the 2026 cycle. Tillis would have been among the most vulnerable Republicans running next year, and faced threats from Trump to find a challenger after his vote against the president’s agenda Saturday night.

KEY GOP SENATOR DEFECTS ON CRUCIAL VOTE, IMPERILING TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ IN NARROW MAJORITY

The lawmaker voted against advancing the bill, and is likely to vote against final passage, because deep Medicaid cuts inside the colossal bill brought on the changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate.

Tillis railed against the slow death of bipartisanship in Washington in a statement.

“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,” he said.

SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ THROUGH KEY TEST VOTE

Tills gave a shout-out to former Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for their unwillingness to not “cave to their party bosses to nuke the filibuster for the sake of political expediency.”

“They ultimately retired and their presence in the Senate chamber has been sorely missed every day since,” he said.

“It underscores the greatest form of hypocrisy in American politics. When people see independent thinking on the other side, they cheer,” he continued. “But when those very same people see independent thinking coming from their side, they scorn, ostracize, and even censure them.”

He said that the choice broke down to spending time with his family, or spending another six years in Washington navigating the “the political theatre and partisan gridlock.”

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT

“It’s not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election,” he said.

His decision to retire tees up what will likely be a competitive race in North Carolina, and ones that Democrats will look to pounce on quickly.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

It also comes after Trump spent much of Saturday evening, while Vice President JD Vance, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and his leadership team worked over holdout fiscal hawks, blasting Tillis as a “grandstander” and vowing to interview potential primary challengers.

“Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against ‘Senator Thom’ Tillis,” Trump said on Truth Social. “I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The House Oversight Committee heard testimony this week from a key Biden official as part of its investigation into the former president’s health decline and issued a subpoena to former first lady Jill Biden’s top aide after he refused to appear voluntarily.

Biden left office in January, but questions about his mental acuity and decline while in office continue to mount after the release of audio of his interview with former special counsel Robert Hur and his cancer diagnosis, drawing attention to a number of actions taken in his final days in office and beyond. 

Here’s a look at the known, active investigations into the former president and his team: 

HOUSE GOP SECURES FOUR KEY WITNESSES IN BIDEN MENTAL-DECLINE PROBE AS FORMER AIDES AGREE TO TALK

House Oversight investigation into alleged cover-up of Biden’s mental decline

The House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is leading an investigation into an alleged cover-up of Biden’s mental decline. 

The investigation is looking into whether those inside Biden’s inner circle knowingly colluded to hide the former president’s declining mental acuity and used methods to circumvent the former president when it came to the issuance of important orders, particularly through the use of an autopen tool used to mimic the president’s signature. 

Some Biden aides agreed to voluntarily testify for transcribed interviews, including the director of Biden’s former Domestic Policy Council, Neera Tanden; Biden’s assistant and senior advisor to the first lady, Anthony Bernal; former special assistant to Biden and Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations, Ashley Williams; and Annie Tomasini, Biden’s deputy chief of staff.

Tanden appeared before the House Oversight Committee Tuesday. She told lawmakers she had “minimal interaction with Biden despite wielding tremendous authority,” Comer said. 

“She explained that to obtain approval for autopen signatures, she would send decision memos to members of the president’s inner circle and had no visibility of what occurred between sending the memo and receiving it back with approval,” Comer explained. “Her testimony raises serious questions about who was really calling the shots in the Biden White House amid the president’s obvious decline.” 

Bernal had confirmed his appearance for a voluntary transcribed interview June 26. But after the White House counsel’s office informed him it was waiving executive privilege for the Oversight Committee’s investigation, he refused to appear. 

LONE BIDEN OFFICIAL BREAKS SILENCE ON COGNITIVE DECLINE AS CABINET STAYS MUTE

Comer has now subpoenaed Bernal to compel his testimony. 

“Given your close connection with both former President Biden and former first lady Jill Biden, the Committee sought to understand if you contributed to an effort to hide former President Biden’s fitness to serve from the American people,” Comer wrote in a letter to Bernal Thursday with the subpoena attached. 

“You have refused the Committee’s request. However, to advance the Committee’s oversight and legislative responsibilities and interests, your testimony is critical.” 

Comer said the committee “seeks information about your assessment of and relationship with former President Biden to explore whether the time has come for Congress to revisit potential legislation to address the oversight of presidents’ fitness to serve pursuant to its authority under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment or to propose changes to the Twenty-Fifth Amendment itself.” 

Williams will testify July 11, and Tomasini will testify July 18. 

Biden’s former White House doctor, Kevin O’Connor, declined an invitation to sit for a transcribed interview scheduled for June 27. 

Comer subpoenaed O’Connor to compel that testimony. 

Comer sent letters to five more top former Biden staffers, putting his total outreach in the investigation to 10 people so far.

The latest round of letters are being sent to former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, former senior communications advisor Anita Dunn, former top advisors Michael Donilon and Steve Ricchetti and former deputy chief of staff for policy Bruce Reed.

SCOOP: GOP PUSH FOR NEW HOUSE COMMITTEE TO PROBE BIDEN DECLINE ‘COVER-UP’ GAINS STEAM

Senate Judiciary Committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday morning, “Unfit to Serve: How the Biden Cover-up Endangered America and Undermined the Constitution.” 

The hearing included testimony from three experts, including University of Virginia law professor John Harrison, Heritage Foundation fellow Theodore Wold and a former White House press secretary from the first Trump administration, Sean Spicer. 

The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project first investigated the Biden administration’s use of an autopen earlier in 2025 and found that the same signature was on a bevvy of executive orders and other official documents, while Biden’s signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature.

Wold testified before the committee and described the alleged cover-up of Biden’s declining health a “constitutional crisis.”

Republican senators blasted their Democratic colleagues for boycotting and walking out of the hearing. 

“I will note that few of my Democratic colleagues are here today,” Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn said Wednesday. “Thank you to Sen. Welch from Vermont for being here, leaving us with no other option than to take the boycott of this hearing as an admission of guilt for their role in this crisis.

“We must not turn away from the search for answers, and it is not an overstatement to say that the future of our country could one day hinge on how we choose to act or not act on this very issue.”

Vermont Democratic Sen. Peter Welch and Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin did attend the start of the hearing, with Durbin abruptly walking out after describing the hearing as a distraction and accusing Republican colleagues of being “asleep at the wheel” with other legal issues within the Trump administration due to their focus on Biden. 

BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEW

“In the last week alone, several events have demanded this committee’s immediate attention,” Durbin said Wednesday. “The horrific assassination in Minnesota, the treatment of our colleague Sen. Padilla by federal agents in Los Angeles and President Trump’s unprecedented deployment of the U.S. military in Los Angeles.

“We should hear without delay from Attorney General Bondi and FBI Director Patel about what they are doing to address the unacceptable political violence in our country, including threats to Article III judges and justices, as well as members of Congress,” Durbin added. “And we need to hear from the Homeland Security Secretary Noem about the treatment of our colleague, Sen. Padilla, and this administration’s mass deportation campaign against immigrants.” 

Welch also left the hearing after declaring it would not benefit his constituents. 

Justice Department investigation into Biden pardons 

Biden used his final weeks as commander in chief to grant clemency and pardon more than 1,500 people in what the White House described at the time as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president.

The Justice Department is reviewing the list of people granted pardons by Biden amid concerns about his use of an autopen to automatically sign documents. 

DOJ Pardon Attorney Ed Martin is reviewing the list of Biden-era pardons granted during the former president’s final weeks in office, including the one granted to his son, Hunter, and the preemptive pardons granted to Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Gen. Mark Milley, Biden family members and members of the House Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 riots. 

BIDEN ONLY HAND-SIGNED ONE PARDON DURING FINAL SPREE, AND IT WAS HIS MOST CONTROVERSIAL ONE

But Biden only signed one pardon by hand during his final weeks in office, and it was his most controversial, for his son, Hunter. 

Biden pardoned his son Hunter in December 2024 after vowing to the American people for months he would not do so. 

Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony gun offenses during special counsel David Weiss’ investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes over his alleged failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. 

Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. 

In December 2024, the former president announced a blanket pardon that applies to any offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.

“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” the former president said. 

HERE ARE BIDEN’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL PARDONS, MAINLY SIGNED USING AUTOPEN

“There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough,” he said. 

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.” 

House Oversight investigation into alleged cover-up of Biden’s cancer diagnosis

Biden was diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer in May. 

“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” Biden’s team shared in a statement. “On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.

“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”

JOE BIDEN DIAGNOSED WITH ‘AGGRESSIVE FORM’ OF PROSTATE CANCER WITH METASTASIS TO THE BONE

During his presidency, Biden had a cancerous skin lesion removed from his chest, the White House said at the time. 

Biden, during a 2022 speech discussing pollution in his home state, said, “That’s why I and so damn many other people I grew up (with) have cancer.”

But Comer has expanded his investigation into Biden’s mental decline to include an investigation into the timeline of when Biden learned he had cancer. 

BIDEN’S WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN SUBPOENAED AS REPUBLICANS DIG DEEPER INTO ALLEGED COGNITIVE DECLINE COVER-UP

“If you’ll remember, Joe Biden did an interview several years ago and said he had cancer. The White House quickly issued a statement saying, ‘Oh, he misspoke,’” Comer said during an appearance on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria.” 

“Now, how many people do you know in the history of the world that have misspoke saying they had cancer when they really didn’t?

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“So, there’s evidence out there that would suggest that there’s been a cover-up with respect to his cancer for many years, just based on Joe Biden’s own words.” 

Comer has subpoenaed O’Connor, the former White House physician who gave Biden several clean bills of health. 

Fox News’ Alec Schemmel and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

A leaked Defense Intelligence Agency report is casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s claim that recent U.S. airstrikes “completely and totally obliterated” three Iranian nuclear facilities, instead concluding the mission only set back Iran’s program by several months.

The report, published by CNN and The New York Times, comes just days after Trump approved the strikes amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran. In a national address immediately following the operation, Trump declared the sites “completely and totally obliterated.” 

While members of the Trump administration have waged a new war to discredit the initial report from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, multiple experts told Fox News Digital that there is too little information available right now to accurately determine how much damage the strikes did. 

Piecing together a thorough intelligence assessment is complex and time-consuming, they said. 

FBI INVESTIGATING IRAN STRIKE LEAKER, LEAVITT SAYS: ‘THEY SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE’

Dan Shapiro, who previously served as the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for the Middle East and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said he didn’t put a lot of stock in both overly pessimistic or overly optimistic assessments that emerged quickly, and said that the initial assessment from DIA was likely only based on satellite imagery. 

“That’s one piece of the puzzle of how you would really make this assessment,” Shapiro, now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told Fox News Digital. “You’d really want to have to test all the other streams of intelligence, from signals intelligence, human intelligence, other forms of monitoring the site, potentially visits by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, potentially visits by other people. So that’s going to take days to weeks to get a real assessment.” 

“But I think it’s likely that if the munitions performed as expected, that significant damage was done, and would set back the program significantly,” Shapiro said. 

Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday that initial battle damage assessments suggested “all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” but he acknowledged that a final assessment would “take some time.” 

Still, media reports based on the DIA report painted a different picture, and CNN’s reporting on the initial report said that Iran’s stash of enriched uranium was not destroyed in the strikes, citing seven people who had been briefed on the report. The findings were based on a battle damage assessment from U.S. Central Command, according to CNN. 

Other members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, have subsequently pushed back on the DIA report’s conclusions, claiming that the report was labeled “low confidence.” 

TRUMP SLAMS RUSSIA’S CASUAL THREAT TO ARM IRAN WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS: ‘THAT’S WHY PUTIN’S THE BOSS’

The term is commonly used when labeling initial assessments, and means that conclusions are based on limited data, according to experts. 

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, who previously served as the director for transnational threats at the National Security Council for former President Bill Clinton, said the low confidence description is commonly used in early assessments. 

“Low confidence means the analyst is not sure of the accuracy of their assessment,” said Montgomery, now a senior fellow at the Washington think tank the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “This is frequent when with a Quick Look 24-hour assessment like this one.”

Montgomery’s colleague, Craig Singleton, also a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that the low confidence label is used in cases with thin evidence and serves as a warning to policy-makers to seek additional information. 

“Most importantly, low confidence assessments are usually issued when key facts have yet to be verified, which certainly applies in this case,” Singleton said.

Rob Greenway, former deputy assistant to the president on Trump’s National Security Council, told Fox News Digital that it will take one or two months to get a more thorough assessment with higher confidence. 

IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER REITERATES ‘SERIOUS DAMAGE’ TO NUCLEAR FACILITIES, DESPITE AYATOLLAH’S COMMENTS 

Greenway also said that the strikes were designed to create damage underground, which will complicate the assessment of damage, because it is not immediately available and will require multiple sources of intelligence, such as signals or human intelligence, to draw conclusions. 

Israel had also previously conducted strikes targeting the sites, adding to the web of analysis that must be evaluated, Greenway said. 

“Each of these are one piece of a much larger puzzle, and you’re trying to gauge the ultimate effect of the entirety of the puzzle, not just one particular strike,” said Greenway, now the director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation. “All of that means it’s going to take time in order to do it.” 

Even so, Greenway said that the amount of ordnance dropped on the sites – including more than 14 30,000-lb. bombs – means that the targeted facilities have been so heavily compromised they are no longer serviceable. 

“We were putting twice the amount of ordnance required to achieve the desired effect, just to make sure that we didn’t have to go back,” Greenway said. 

EX-CLINTON OFFICIAL APPLAUDS TRUMP’S ‘COURAGEOUS’ IRAN CALL, DOUBTS HARRIS WOULD’VE HAD THE NERVE

“There’s virtually no mathematical probability in which either facility can be used again by Iran for the intended purpose, if at all, which again means that everything now is within Israel’s capability to strike if that’s required,” Greenway said. 

And Michael Allen, a former National Security Council senior director in the George W. Bush administration, said that even though a final judgment from the intelligence community won’t be ready soon, the intelligence portrait will become “richer” in the coming days. 

“Stuff is pouring in, and we’re out there collecting it, and they’re trying to hustle it to the White House as soon as possible,” Allen, now the managing director of advisory firm Beacon Global Strategies, told Fox News Digital. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that very few people had access to this report, and those who leaked it to the media will be held accountable as the FBI investigates who shared the document with the press. 

“That person was irresponsible with it,” Leavitt told reporters Thursday. “And we need to get to the bottom of it. And we need to strengthen that process to protect our national security and protect the American public.”

Lawmakers from across the aisle are reacting to President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” passing a key Senate vote on Saturday night.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who flipped his vote from a ‘no’ to ‘yes’ in dramatic fashion, said in a statement that the mammoth bill is a “necessary first step” to fiscal sustainability and cleaning up the mess left by the Biden administration.

“Biden and the Democrats left behind enormous messes that we are trying to clean up – an open border, wars, and massive deficits,” Johnson said. “After working for weeks with President Trump and his highly capable economic team, I am convinced that he views this as a necessary first step and will support my efforts to help put America on a path to fiscal sustainability.”

The 51-49 vote went along party lines, with only Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voting against unlocking a marathon 20-hour debate on the bill.

SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ THROUGH KEY TEST VOTE

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was among the Democrats against what he called a “radical” bill.

“Senate Republicans are scrambling to pass a radical bill, released to the public in the dead of night, praying the American people don’t realize what’s in it,” Schumer said in a statement. “If Senate Republicans won’t tell the American people what’s in this bill, then Democrats are going to force this chamber to read it from start to finish.”

The bill will not immediately be debated thanks to Senate Democrats’ plan to force the reading of the entire, 940-page legislative behemoth on the Senate floor.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., however, said he was “proud” to work with Trump on the bill and “put our nation on a path to balance the budget after years of Democrats’ reckless spending.”

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT

Trump has said that he wants the bill, which must pass the Senate before being sent to the House for a vote, on his desk by July 4.

Trump called the Senate vote a “great victory” and directly praised Sens. Johnson, Scott, Mike Lee, R-Ariz., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“They, along with all of the other Republican Patriots who voted for the Bill, are people who truly love our Country!” Trump wrote. “As President of the USA, I am proud of them all, and look forward to working with them to GROW OUR ECONOMY, REDUCE WASTEFUL SPENDING, SECURE OUR BORDER, FIGHT FOR OUR MILITARY/VETS, ENSURE THAT OUR MEDICAID SYSTEM HELPS THOSE WHO TRULY NEED IT, PROTECT OUR SECOND AMENDMENT, AND SO MUCH MORE. GOD BLESS AMERICA &, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

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In a second post, Trump wrote, “VERY PROUD OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TONIGHT. GOD BLESS YOU ALL! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.

A New Jersey Republican has proposed legislation to change the Delaware Bay to “The Bay of New Jersey,” appearing to be inspired by President Donald Trump’s executive order changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The measure, introduced Thursday by GOP state Sen. Michael Testa, would order state agencies to use “The Bay of New Jersey” in publications, signage, websites and materials to reflect the new designation and notify relevant federal entities, NJ.com reported.

“I look at the robust fishing industry – commercial fishing industry and recreational industry of the State of New Jersey,” he told the outlet. “I think that the fact that we have to call the bay that we fish in the Delaware Bay – they’ve had a claim to that long enough.”

Testa represents Cape May County, which the bay borders.

MEXICO SUES GOOGLE FOR CHANGING ‘GULF OF MEXICO’ TO ‘GULF OF AMERICA’ AFTER TRUMP’S ORDER

“It’s time to Make New Jersey Great Again!” Testa wrote on X.

The bay is a vital body of water for New Jersey tourism, commerce and travel that has had the name of its southern neighbor since 1610, according to the Delaware government’s website, and was named after the third baron de la Warr, Thomas West, who governed the Virginia colony.

The proposed legislation comes after Trump signed an order in January renaming the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico, and Trump’s order only carries authority within the U.S.

Last month, U.S. House Republicans passed the Gulf of America Act, marking the first step in codifying Trump’s order in the U.S. The legislation is now awaiting consideration in the Senate.

GOOGLE MAPS, FAA OFFICIALLY ACKNOWLEDGE GULF OF AMERICA AFTER TRUMP DECLARATION: ‘ISN’T IT BEAUTIFUL?’

Trump’s order also prompted Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, to jokingly suggest amending the Long Island Sound to the “Connecticut Sound.”

“While the maps are changing, here’s an idea,” Lamont posted on X in February, tagging New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul with an altered map with the sound renamed.

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Another bill Testa introduced this week seeks to reclaim a slice of land along Salem County’s shore claimed by Delaware in a decades-old border agreement with New Jersey, according to NJ.com.

President Donald Trump on Saturday said he is looking for a GOP candidate to mount a primary challenge against Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., after the lawmaker announced he would not support the president’s “big, beautiful bill.”

“Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against ‘Senator Thom’ Tillis,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America,” he continued. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Tillis, who is up for re-election in 2026, came out against Trump’s spending bill earlier on Saturday over concerns about deep cuts to Medicaid.

KEY GOP SENATOR DEFECTS ON CRUCIAL VOTE, IMPERILING TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ IN NARROW MAJORITY

The senator vowed not to support the measure through a procedural hurdle needed to kick off a marathon of debate and amendment voting that would eventually lead to a vote on the measure’s final passage.

As he was leaving the Senate GOP’s closed-door lunch on Saturday, the North Carolina lawmaker said he has a “great relationship” with his colleagues, but that he could not support the colossal bill.

“We just have a disagreement,” he said. “And, you know, my colleagues have done the analysis, and they’re comfortable with the impact on their states. I respect their choice. It’s not a good impact in my state, so I’m not going to vote on the motion to proceed.”

The Senate cleared the hurdle late Saturday to start debate on the bill by a 51-49 vote. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was another Republican who joined Tillis in voting no.

“Did Rand Paul Vote ‘NO’ again tonight? What’s wrong with this guy???” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Senate Republicans hold a slim 53-47 majority and can only afford to lose three votes. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said earlier that she would help advance the bill through the first step, but was leaning against voting to pass the bill’s final passage unless the legislation was “further changed.”

Collins and other initial GOP holdouts, Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., voted to at least advance the legislation through the first key procedural hurdle.

SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM THROUGH TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ THROUGH KEY TEST VOTE

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The latest version of the bill pushed back the provider rate crackdown by one year and also added another $25 billion for a rural hospital stabilization fund over the next five years.

During a closed-door lunch earlier this week, Tillis reportedly warned that North Carolina could lose as much as $40 billion in Medicaid funding if the changes were codified. He is also planning to unveil further analysis on the impact of Medicaid cuts on his state that he said no one in the “administration or in this building” has been able to refute.

“The president and I have talked, and I just told him that, ‘Look, if this works for the country, that’s great. And if my other colleagues have done extensive research and concluded it’s different in their states, I respect that,'” he said. “We just have a disagreement based on the implementation in our respective states.”

Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans rammed President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” through a procedural hurdle after hours of tense negotiations that put the megabill’s fate into question. 

Speculation swirled whether Republicans would be satisfied by the latest edition of the mammoth bill, which was released just before the stroke of midnight Saturday morning.

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT

Nearly every Republican, except Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., all voted to unlock a marathon 20-hour debate on the bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could only afford to lose three votes.

Though successful, the 51-49 party line vote was not without drama. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., flipped his vote from a ‘no’ to ‘yes’ in dramatic fashion, as he and Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, made their way to the Senate floor accompanied by Vice President JD Vance.

Vance was called in case he was needed for a tie-breaking vote, but only his negotiating services ended up being used.  

No lawmaker wanted to be the fourth and final decisive vote to kill the bill. Republican leadership kept the floor open for nearly four hours while negotiations, first on the Senate floor and then eventually in Thune’s office, continued.

The bill won’t immediately be debated thanks to Senate Democrats’ plan to force the reading of the entire, 940-page legislative behemoth on the Senate floor – a move that could drain several hours and go deep into the night.

The megabill’s fate, and whether it could pass its first test, was murky at best after senators met behind closed doors Friday, and even during another luncheon on Saturday.

Lingering concerns in both chambers about Medicaid — specifically the Medicaid provider tax rate and the effect of direct payments to states — energy tax credits, the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and others proved to be pain points that threatened the bill’s survival.

ANXIOUS REPUBLICANS TURN TO TRUMP AMID DIVISIONS OVER ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

However, changes were made at the last-minute to either sate holdouts or comply with the Senate rules. Indeed, the Senate parliamentarian stripped numerous items from the bill that had to be reworked.

The Medicaid provider tax rate was kept largely the same, except its implementation date was moved back a year. Also included as a sweetener for lawmakers like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and others was a $25 billion rural hospital stabilization fund over the next five years.

Collins said that she would support the bill through the procedural hurdle, and noted that the rural hospital stabilization fund was a start, but whether she supports the bill on final passage remains to be seen.

“If the bill is not further changed, I will be leaning against the bill, but I do believe this procedural vote to get on the bill so that people can offer amendments and debate it is appropriate,” Collins said.

Tillis, who is also concerned about the changes to Medicaid and would like to see a return to the House GOP’s version, said that he would not vote in favor of the bill during final passage.

GOP SENATOR CALLS FOR PARLIAMENTARIAN’S FIRING AFTER SERVING MEDICAID BLOW TO TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The SALT deduction included in the House GOP’s version of the bill also survived, albeit the $40,000 cap will remain intact for five years. After that, the cap will revert to its current $10,000.

Other sweeteners, like expanding nutrition benefit waivers to Alaska and a tax cut for whaling boat captains, were thrown in, too, to get moderates like Murkowski onboard with the bill.

Lee announced that he withdrew his open lands sale provision, which proved a sticking point for lawmakers in Montana and Idaho. 

Still, Republicans who are not satisfied with the current state of the bill will use the forthcoming “vote-a-rama,” when lawmakers can offer an unlimited number of amendments, to try and change as much as they can before final passage. 

Democrats, however, will use the process to inflict as much pain as possible on Republicans.

Once the amendment marathon concludes, which could be in the wee hours of Sunday morning, lawmakers will move to a final vote to send the bill, which is an amendment to the House GOP’s version of the “big, beautiful bill,” back to the lower chamber.

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From there, it’s a dead sprint to get the package on the president’s desk by July 4.

In a statement of administration policy obtained by Fox News Digital, Trump signaled that he would sign the bill.

“President Trump is committed to keeping his promises,” the memo read. “And failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal.” 

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned Saturday of the dangers of politicians using heated rhetoric against judges. 

“It becomes wrapped up in the political dispute that a judge who’s doing his or her job is part of the problem,” Roberts said in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Judicial Conference of the Fourth Circuit, a gathering of judges and lawyers. 

“And the danger, of course, is somebody might pick up on that. And we have had, of course, serious threats of violence and murder of judges just simply for doing their work. So, I think the political people on both sides of the aisle need to keep that in mind.”

Roberts didn’t name anyone but appeared to be referencing President Donald Trump and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer when he said he’d felt compelled to speak out against rhetoric by Democrats and Republicans in the past. 

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS DOUBLES DOWN ON DEFENSE OF COURTS AS SCOTUS GEARS UP TO HEAR KEY TRUMP CASES

Trump has criticized judges many times over the years, including calling for the impeachment of a judge who ruled against a deportation policy earlier this year, referring to him as “radical left” and a “lunatic.” 

Roberts responded at the time, saying, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

In 2020, Roberts condemned Schumer for saying that Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch would “pay the price” regarding an abortion rights case during Trump’s first term. 

EX-SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY PLEADS FOR CIVIL POLITICAL DISCOURSE, WARNS, ‘DEMOCRACY IS AT RISK’ 

“You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” Schumer said at a rally outside the Supreme Court at the time. “You will not know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

Schumer later said he was referring to the political price he believed Senate Republicans would pay, but he said, “I shouldn’t have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat. I never, never would do such a thing, and Leader McConnell knows that.” 

Roberts, at the time, said of Schumer, “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All members of the court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”

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In April, an armed man who was arrested outside of Kavanaugh’s home pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate the justice. 

Roberts’ remarks came after the Supreme Court issued the final decisions of its term, handing the Trump administration a win Friday by limiting judges’ ability to block his agenda through court orders. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A vulnerable Senate Republican put his foot down against President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” over concerns of deep Medicaid cuts inside the megabill.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital that he would not support the measure through a procedural hurdle necessary to kick off a marathon of debate and amendment voting that would eventually culminate in the measure’s final passage.

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT

Tillis, who is up for reelection in 2026, said after exiting the Senate GOP’s closed-door lunch that he has a “great relationship” with his colleagues, but that he couldn’t support the colossal bill.

“We just have a disagreement,” he said. “And, you know, my colleagues have done the analysis, and they’re comfortable with the impact on their states. I respect their choice. It’s not a good impact in my state, so I’m not going to vote on the motion to proceed.”

ANXIOUS REPUBLICANS TURN TO TRUMP AMID DIVISIONS OVER ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

He also won’t support the bill during the final stretch. Tillis is part of a cohort of Senate Republicans who have expressed reservations over the Senate GOP’s changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate.

Tillis’ resistance to the bill is a bad sign for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who can only afford to lose three votes. So far, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has vowed to vote against the procedural test, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is expected to follow suit. 

Trump was meeting with Johnson and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fl., another possible holdout, during the lunch. 

Lawmakers are expected to vote to advance the bill at 4 p.m. on Saturday. 

The mounting resistance could force Thune to go back to the drawing board. Further complicating matters is Collins, who is also up for reelection in 2026, who said that while she would support the bill through the first step, she was leaning against voting to pass the bill in the final stretch unless the legislation was “further changed.”

SENATE GOP EYES MEDICAID SWEETENER TO SAVE TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The latest version of the bill, which dropped near the stroke of midnight, included tweaks to the Senate’s offering that would push back the provider rate crackdown by one year, and also added another $25 billion for a rural hospital stabilization fund.

While others in the group, like Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., are on board to at least see the legislation move through the first key procedural hurdle, Tillis has argued that his state would be harshly affected by the crackdown.

Indeed, during a closed-door lunch earlier this week, the lawmaker reportedly warned that North Carolina could lose as much as $40 billion in Medicaid funding if the changes were codified.

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For now, Tillis is unlikely to budge, even after conversations with Trump. He is also planning to unveil further analysis on the impact of Medicaid cuts on his state that he said no one in the “administration or in this building” has been able to refute.

“The president I have talked, and I just told him that, ‘Look, if this works for the country, that’s great. And if my other colleagues have done extensive research and concluded it’s different in their states, I respect that,’” he said. “We just have a disagreement based on the implementation in our respective states.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday said alleged calls in Iran for the arrest and execution of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi are “unacceptable and should be condemned.”

Rubio’s warning came after Iranian parliament vice speaker Hamid Reza Haji Babaei banned Grossi and removed surveillance from its nuclear facilities, accusing Israel of acquiring “sensitive facility data,” according to a report from Mehr news.

“We support the lAEA’s critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran and commend the Director General and the lAEA for their dedication and professionalism,” Rubio wrote in an X post. “We call on Iran to provide for the safety and security of IAEA personnel.”

RUBIO SLAMS ‘FALSE’ INTELLIGENCE LEAKS DOWNPLAYING SUCCESS OF TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKES

The lAEA this week commented on damage at Iranian nuclear facilities, following U.S. airstrikes on key nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

While speaking on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Grossi said Isfahan and Natanz were damaged, with Natanz showing “very serious damage” in one of the centrifuge halls where enrichment was being performed.

IAEA DIRECTOR SAYS IRAN’S ENRICHED URANIUM CAN’T BE LOCATED FOLLOWING US MILITARY STRIKES

Though a ceasefire agreement was made between Israel and Iran, Grossi alleged 900 pounds of potentially enriched uranium had been taken to an ancient site near Isfahan.

“I have to be very precise, Martha,” Grossi said. “We are the IAEA, so we are not speculating here. We do not have information of the whereabouts of this material.”

He claimed Iranian officials had told him they were taking protective measures, which could include moving the material.

UN NUCLEAR CHIEF SAYS IRAN HAS MATERIAL TO BUILD BOMBS, BUT NO PLAN TO DO SO

“My job is to try to see where is this material, because Iran has an obligation to report and account for all the material that they have, and this is going to continue to be my work,” Grossi said.

President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal Tehran signed with the U.S., U.K., European Union, France, Germany and Russia in 2018, prompting Iranian threats to remove cameras and limit access to its facilities.

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Rubio did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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

The top Democrat in the Senate plans to inflict maximum pain on Senate Republicans in their march to pass President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” before lawmakers even get a chance to debate the legislative behemoth.

Indeed, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to force clerks on the Senate floor to read the entirety of the GOP’s 940-page megabill. His move to drain as much time as possible will come after Republicans vote on a key procedural test to open debate on the legislation.

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT

“I will object to Republicans moving forward on their Big, Ugly Bill without reading it on the Senate floor,” Schumer said on X. “Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the bill

“So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish on the floor,” he said. “We will be here all night if that’s what it takes to read it.”

KEY GOP SENATOR DEFECTS ON CRUCIAL VOTE, IMPERILING TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ IN NARROW MAJORITY

Indeed, staffers were seen carting the bill onto the Senate floor in preparation for the all-night read-a-thon.

Schumer’s move is expected to take up to 15 hours and is designed to allow Senate Democrats more time to parse through the myriad provisions within the massive legislative text. Ultimately, it will prove a smokescreen as Senate Republicans will continue to march toward a final vote.

Once the bill reading is done, 20 hours of debate evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans will begin, likely early Sunday morning. Democrats are expected to use their entire 10-hour chunk, while Republicans will go far under their allotted time.

Then comes the “vote-a-rama” process, where lawmakers can offer an unlimited number of amendments to the bill.

ANXIOUS REPUBLICANS TURN TO TRUMP AMID DIVISIONS OVER ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Democrats will again look to extract as much pain as possible during that process, while Republicans, particularly senators that have lingering issues with key Medicaid and land sale provisions, will continue to try and shape and mold the bill.

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The last time clerks were forced to read the entirety of a bill during the budget reconciliation process was in 2021, when Senate Democrats held the majority in the upper chamber.

At the time, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., demanded that the entire, over-600-page American Rescue Act be read aloud. Schumer, who was the Senate Majority Leader attempting to ram then-President Joe Biden’s agenda through the upper chamber, objected to the reading. 

A key New York Republican said he’s pleased with a tax provision in the Senate’s version of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” after weeks of tense back-and-forth over the matter.

“I think it’s a very good deal. We were able to keep the House language intact,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital, adding that he was pleased “we were able to solve” differences on tax deductions for certain pass-through businesses, which are companies smaller than corporations whose taxes are “passed through” the business owner’s personal returns.

“I think at the end of the day, it’s a [four-times] increase on [state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps]. And despite the Senate’s best efforts to whittle down the language, we were able to keep it.”

Lawler is one of several blue state Republicans who threatened to sink the bill if it did not sufficiently raise SALT deduction caps.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES GO TO WAR WITH SENATE OVER TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

SALT deductions are aimed at providing relief for people living in high-cost-of-living areas, primarily in big cities and their suburbs. 

There was no limit on SALT deductions until Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which capped that federal tax benefit at $10,000 for both single filers and married couples.

The House’s bill raised that cap to $40,000 for 10 years, with households making up to $500,000 eligible for the full deduction.

Senate Republicans, who released their text of the bill just before midnight on Friday night, reduced the benefit window to five years instead of 10. 

After that, the maximum deduction would revert to $10,000 for the next five years.

“Yes, the time was shortened, but at the end of the day, people are going to immediately be able to deduct them to $40,000, which is a massive win,” Lawler told Fox News Digital.

“Democrats promised to fix this when they had complete control in ’21 and ’22 and failed to deliver. We’re delivering on it. So you know to me this is a big win for New York. It’s a big win for taxpayers all across the country.”

Blue state Republicans, primarily those in New York and California, have pushed hard in favor of lifting that cap. They’ve painted it as an existential political issue in their districts, where Republican victories were critical to the GOP winning and keeping its House majority.

They’ve also argued that their states sending more money back to the federal government effectively subsidizes lower-tax states that do not bring in as much revenue.

But Republicans in more GOP-leaning states have dismissed SALT deductions as a reward for high-tax Democratic states to continue their own policies.

“SALT deductions allow blue states to export their political mistakes (electing high-tax, crazy socialists), Americans shouldn’t subsidize,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X.

Lawler would not say if his support for the deal meant he would vote for the final bill – noting there were other provisions he had to read through in the 940-page legislation.

TOP TRUMP HEALTH OFFICIAL SLAMS DEMOCRATS FOR ‘MISLEADING’ CLAIMS ABOUT MEDICAID REFORM

But he said he believed most of his Republican colleagues in the SALT Caucus would be supportive of the compromise.

“I think there’s broad consensus among most of us about how important this is, and what a significant win it is,” Lawler said.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., the only member of the SALT Caucus who sits on the tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee, told Fox News Digital of the deal on Friday, “I can live with this but, quite frankly, the $30,000 over 10 years that I negotiated out of Ways & Means would’ve protected my constituents for a longer period of time.”

“But alas, this is a group exercise and there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen,” she said.

Not everyone is on board, however. Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., signaled to Fox News Digital that he is rejecting the deal.

“While I support the president’s broader agenda, it would be hypocritical for me to back the same unfair $10k SALT cap I’ve spent years criticizing. A permanent $40k deduction cap with income thresholds of $225k for single filers and $450k for joint filers would earn my vote,” he said in a written statement.

Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., did not comment on the SALT deal itself but more broadly said her support for the bill is contingent on how decisions on SALT deduction caps, Medicaid measures, and small business taxes play out.

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A source familiar with her thinking told Fox News Digital she would vote against the bill back in the House if the Senate’s more severe Medicaid cuts remained in place.

The Senate is aiming to begin considering the legislation on the floor late afternoon on Saturday, though the final vote could come in the early hours of Sunday, if not later.

The bill could also change between now and then, with various Republican lawmakers still expressing their concern.

Fox News Digital reached out to SALT Caucus co-chair Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., and Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J. for comment.

Amid a legal battle between President Donald Trump and several Democratic-run states over birthright citizenship, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., is introducing a constitutional amendment to “immediately put an end to this debate” by clarifying that children of illegal immigrants are not eligible for citizenship.

Barr called the amendment an important step in helping the president “protect America.”

If passed, Barr’s amendment would clarify the meaning of the 14th Amendment’s clause that persons must be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States to be citizens.

The 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 to guarantee citizenship rights to former slaves, states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

TRUMP ADMIN ENDS TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR HAITIAN MIGRANTS CURRENTLY IN THE US

Barr’s amendment would clarify that “a person born in the United States may only be considered ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States’ if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is — (1) a national of the United States; (2) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States whose residence is in the United States; or (3) an alien with lawful status under the immigration laws performing active service in the armed forces.”

This comes as the Supreme Court on Friday delivered a major victory in President Donald Trump’s quest to block lower courts from issuing universal injunctions that had upended many of his administration’s executive orders and actions, including his order ending birthright citizenship.

Justices ruled 6-3 to allow the lower courts to issue injunctions only in limited instances. However, the ruling leaves open the question of how the ruling will apply to the birthright citizenship order at the heart of the case.

37 HOUSE DEMS VOTE WITH GOP TO DEPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT DRUNK DRIVERS

The Supreme Court agreed this year to take up a trio of consolidated cases involving so-called universal injunctions handed down by federal district judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state. Judges in those districts had blocked Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship from taking force nationwide, which the Trump administration argued in its appeal to the Supreme Court was overly broad.

The Supreme Court’s arguments in May focused little on the merits of those universal injunctions. On Friday, the court made clear that it is not ruling on whether the birthright citizenship orders are constitutional.

In a statement emailed to Fox News, Barr said, “I applaud SCOTUS for limiting injunctions, but we cannot wait on ending birthright citizenship.”

RUBIO ANNOUNCES NEW VISA RESTRICTIONS ON FAMILIES OF FENTANYL TRAFFICKERS

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“Radical District Judges have been stopping the MAGA agenda with nationwide injunctions, preventing President Trump from cleaning up the damage done under 4 years of Joe Biden,” Barr said. “I’ll be introducing a Constitutional Amendment in Congress immediately to put an end to this debate and END birthright citizenship once and for all.

“We must do whatever it takes to help President Trump protect America.”

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch and Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A House Republican representing part of Southern California will oppose President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” if it returns to her chamber without the House’s original language on Medicaid, a source familiar with her thinking told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., is one of several moderates who are uneasy on Saturday after the Senate released updated text of the massive bill advancing Trump’s agenda on tax, immigration, defense, energy, and the national debt.

Two other sources told Fox News Digital that as many as 20 to 30 moderate Republicans are reaching out to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., with serious concerns about the Senate’s bill.

The source familiar with Kim’s thinking said, “As she’s said throughout this process, ‘I will continue to make clear that a budget resolution that does not protect vital Medicaid services for the most vulnerable, provide tax relief for small businesses, and address the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions will not receive my vote.'”

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES GO TO WAR WITH SENATE OVER TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The Senate released the nearly 1,000-page bill minutes before midnight on Friday night.

It makes some notable modifications to the House’s version of the bill – which passed that chamber by just one vote in May – particularly on Medicaid and green energy credits.

Among their issues is the difference in provider tax rates and state-directed payments, both of which states use to help fund their share of Medicaid costs.

Whereas the House bill called for freezing provider taxes at their current rates and blocking new ones from being implemented, the Senate’s bill went a step further – forcing states to gradually phase down their provider tax rates to 3.5%, if they adopted the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion.

That would include 40 states and Washington, D.C. The Senate’s most recent bill text shows that phase-down happening between 2028 and 2032.

Sixteen House GOP moderates wrote a letter to congressional leaders sounding the alarm on those Medicaid provisions earlier this week.

They said it “undermines the balanced approach taken to craft the Medicaid provisions in H.R. 1—particularly regarding provider taxes and state-directed payments.”

“The Senate version treats expansion and non-expansion states unfairly, fails to preserve existing state programs, and imposes stricter limits that do not give hospitals sufficient time to adjust to new budgetary constraints or to identify alternative funding sources,” the letter read.

To offset Senate Republicans’ concerns about their chamber’s proposed limits on state-directed payments and provider tax rates, the Senate Finance Committee included a $25 billion rural hospital fund in their legislation.

It was enough to sway Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who told reporters on Saturday that he would support the bill after expressing earlier concern about the Medicaid provisions’ impact on rural hospitals.

But in the House, sources are signaling to Fox News Digital that moderate Republicans could still need convincing if the bill passes the Senate this weekend.

TOP TRUMP HEALTH OFFICIAL SLAMS DEMOCRATS FOR ‘MISLEADING’ CLAIMS ABOUT MEDICAID REFORM

It could pose problems for House GOP leaders given their thin three-vote majority, though it’s worth noting that the legislation could still change before it reaches the lower chamber.

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But one senior House GOP aide told Fox News Digital they believe the moderates will ultimately fall in line, even if the text doesn’t change.

“Moderate Republicans can plead and beg with House leadership all they want – the reforms to Medicaid made in the Senate are here to stay,” the senior aide said. “And ultimately, these lawmakers will roll over and vote for the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ because the wrath of President Trump is far worse than a lower provider tax.”

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

For his part, Johnson, R-La., has publicly urged the Senate on multiple occasions to change the bill as little as possible – given the fragile unity that must be struck in the House to pass it.

Rep. John McGuire, R-Va., welcomed 21-year-old Seth McCready home from Israel this week, as the State Department issued a security alert for U.S. citizens traveling worldwide and the conflict between Israel and Iran raged on. 

McCready talked to Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the Washington Dulles International Airport on Tuesday after he traveled from Israel to Jordan to Egypt before catching his final flight home. 

The Virginia native was greeted by his father and two brothers at the International Arrivals Gate, all sporting big smiles and embracing as their congressman stood by with red, white and blue balloons and an American flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol. 

“God protected me and the people I was with, and he’s protecting Israel too,” McCready said. “I 100% believe Israel’s gonna pull through, no problem.”

REPUBLICANS CONGRATULATE TRUMP AMID IRAN CEASEFIRE AS DEMS HOLD BACK APPLAUSE

McGuire’s office was in constant contact with McCready during his days-long journey home from Israel, according to the young American. 

TUGBOATS, CRUISE SHIPS AND FLIGHTS: ISRAEL BEGINS EMERGENCY EVACUATION OF CITIZENS AMID IRAN WAR

When the Jewish state launched its initial attacks on Iran, which President Donald Trump has referred to as the “12-day war,” McCready was visiting family in Israel. He told Fox News Digital that he was later able to volunteer with a ministry group, preparing rooms and even delivering food to those in need as the strikes continued. 

“We did get a couple impacts. There was one that was like a kilometer away from me, and the whole building shook,” McCready said, describing a strike that slipped through Israel’s defenses.

McGuire, who joined McCready’s family to welcome him home on Tuesday, said, “I’m just so happy for his family. You can’t always help somebody, but when you can, that’s the best part about this job.”

The freshman Virginia congressman said he worked with the State Department to secure McCready’s path home. Both McCready and McGuire thanked his political director, Ramona Christian, for her vital role in getting McCready home. 

“It’s just a big team effort, and this is the second young person we helped get home in a week. And now we’ve got a couple of other folks that have reached out to our office, and we’re hoping to be able to help them as well,” McGuire told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

McGuire celebrated McCready’s homecoming as the fragile ceasefire deal between Iran and Israel had just begun. 

Questions remained about whether the ceasefire would hold when Trump announced on Monday evening that “It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE.”

Trump said the U.S. successfully struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday night, but questions remain on Capitol Hill as to what degree the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program. 

McGuire, a Trump loyalist who secured his endorsement in 2024, said the “ability for Iran to project power has been greatly diminished.”

“We had an imminent threat of a nuclear weapon in Iran, and we just couldn’t have that,” McGuire added. “That threat has been eliminated.”

Israel had launched a series of coordinated attacks on Iran on June 13, which Iran retaliated against, prompting the countries to exchange strikes for 12 days. After the U.S. struck Iran, the Islamic Republic launched retaliatory attacks on a U.S. air base in Qatar. 

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But McGuire affirmed he is “very hopeful” that the ceasefire between Israel and Iran will hold and that there will be peace in the Middle East. 

The Virginia Republican is a member of the House Oversight Committee and the House Armed Services, bringing his 10 years of experience as a Navy SEAL to the position. 

The Justice Department, under Attorney General Pam Bondi, has abruptly fired at least three federal prosecutors involved in cases stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, according to multiple reports.

Among those dismissed were two supervisory attorneys who oversaw Capitol riot prosecutions in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., and a line prosecutor directly involved in trying several related cases, according to the Associated Press, citing sources familiar with the matter. NBC News is also reported to have independently confirmed the firings.

BONDI’S DOJ DAY 1 DIRECTIVES: FIGHT WEAPONIZATION OF JUSTICE, ELIMINATE CARTELS, LIFT DEATH PENALTY BAN

The prosecutors received termination letters signed by Bondi. According to both outlets, the letters provided no specific reason for the removals, citing only “Article II of the United States Constitution and the laws of the United States.” That phrase is often used in federal employment law to indicate the executive branch’s constitutional authority to appoint or remove personnel.

Fox News Digital contacted the Justice Department for confirmation and comment but did not immediately receive a response.

President Trump has repeatedly referred to the Jan. 6 defendants as political prisoners. On his first day back in the White House in January 2025, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of approximately 1,500 individuals who had been convicted or were incarcerated in connection with the Capitol attack.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIRES MORE THAN A DOZEN KEY OFFICIALS ON FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S TEAM

The latest terminations follow a broader reshuffling of senior DOJ personnel.

In January, the department dismissed more than a dozen officials who had worked on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump. Then–Acting Attorney General James McHenry justified the removals by stating those individuals could not be trusted to “faithfully implement the president’s agenda.”

During his time as interim U.S. attorney in Washington, Ed Martin also demoted several prosecutors in the Capitol Siege Section, including two attorneys who had helped secure seditious conspiracy convictions against Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio.

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In February, Attorney General Bondi ordered a review of the federal prosecution of Donald Trump and launched a broad internal audit aimed at “realigning the Justice Department’s priorities” in line with the White House agenda. That effort included the creation of a “weaponization working group” tasked with examining perceived “politicized justice” across federal law enforcement.

The group is also reportedly reviewing the actions of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought civil and criminal cases against Trump and his family.

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

Republican senators told Fox News Digital that after receiving a fuller intelligence report on airstrikes authorized by President Donald Trump against Iran’s nuclear facilities that they believe the initial leaked reports underestimating the damage were inaccurate and politically motivated.

“I think the leaked intelligence report was not accurate, and given the 14 bunker-buster bombs that were dropped on the Iranian nuclear weapons facility, I think that the clear evidence is the damage was overwhelming,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

In response to why so many media outlets ran with the leaked story, Cruz told Fox News Digital that “clearly there was a political agenda at play.”

Earlier this week, CNN, citing people familiar with the assessment, reported that the early consensus within the Defense Intelligence Agency is that the strikes on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan didn’t destroy key components of Iran’s nuclear program nor destroy its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. 

TRUMP TOUTS ADMINISTRATION’S PROGRESS ON PEACE DEALS, SAYS WORLD LEADERS ‘RESPECT OUR COUNTRY AGAIN’

The outlet also reported that the strike likely only set back Iran’s nuclear program by several months, not years, as touted by the Trump administration. 

Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth railed against the “fake news” media during a NATO summit press conference for casting doubt that the U.S. strikes on Iran obliterated the country’s nuclear program. 

“A statement came in from the Atomic Energy Commission of Israel,” Trump said during a Wednesday press conference from The Hague as he wrapped up his NATO summit trip in the Netherlands. “They’re very serious people, as you know.” 

“‘The devastating U.S. strike on Fordow destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable,'” Trump read from the letter. “‘It was devastated. We assessed that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities had set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons for many years to come. This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.'” 

HEGSETH TEARS INTO REPORTERS, ALLEGING THEY ‘CHEER AGAINST TRUMP’ AND IRAN STRIKES

Senators received a classified intelligence briefing on the strikes from top national security officials on Thursday.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital that widespread reporting on the leaked report was to “try to undermine Trump, of course.”

“Listen, we walked through this in the briefing, without getting into things I shouldn’t talk about. Basically, that is not an accurate picture, and it didn’t purport to be,” said Hawley. “What they were quoting was actually not a full intelligence report; it was more akin to an after-action, early assessment guess. So, without saying more, basically it was very misrepresented.”

“And the thing is,” he went on, “any reporter who covers the Pentagon and covers national security, they would know that. So, I have to say, kind of bad faith, I think, by our reporter friends in the liberal media who are clearly just trying to undermine the president.”

TRUMP ACCUSES AYATOLLAH OF ‘LIE’ ON IRAN STRIKE: ‘HIS COUNTRY WAS DECIMATED’

At least one Democratic senator, meanwhile, was also pleased with what was said during the briefing.

“Most of my questions were answered. I think it was a good briefing,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. “I think Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. Hopefully, this has set back that program dramatically. And ultimately, we will see them go to the negotiating table, because that’s the real long-term solution.”

While many Democrats have called the strikes an unconstitutional move by the president, Shaheen said, “it was a limited, contained strike” and “I think if it dramatically set back Iran’s nuclear program – initial reports are that it has – that’s a good thing.”

Other Democratic senators, however, were still not so mollified by the briefing.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told Fox News Digital that the briefing “has not changed” his prior assessment that the strikes were a “clear violation of our Constitution” and that “Trump is yet again betraying Americans by embroiling the United States directly in this conflict.” 

TRUMP WOULD STRIKE IRAN ‘WITHOUT QUESTION’ IF IT RESTARTS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Fox News Digital that the briefing “didn’t change my view, but I think I’d rather just leave it there, because it’s all classified.”

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Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., was more vague on whether his opinion had been changed.

“I can’t tell you what I learned in a classified briefing. I can tell you that it was destructive,” said Coons. “We do not yet have a full and complete picture of exactly what capabilities were degraded or destroyed and what additional risks we may face or what decisions the Iranian regime may make.” 

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