NationalWatch

City commissioners in Miami, Florida, voted 3-2 on Tuesday to allow police officers to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The city entered a 287(g) partnership with ICE, which various cities use to assist with federal enforcement using different methods. It’s a sharp contrast to some governments throughout the United States, especially in major cities, which do not allow local or state authorities to help enforce immigration laws.  

“We value our partnerships with state and local law enforcement, and the success of the 287(g) program allows for a force multiplier in enforcing immigration laws,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement. “This whole-of-government approach enables law enforcement partners to protect cities across the nation from public safety and national security threats, and we encourage others across the country to join.”

ICE PARTNERSHIP WILL BUILD ‘PUBLIC TRUST,’ VICE MAYOR OF TOWN WITH LARGE VENEZUELAN COMMUNITY SAYS

In February, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an Executive Order for state-level law enforcement to establish agreements with ICE to assist in the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.

“Florida is setting the example for states in combating illegal immigration and working with the Trump Administration to restore the rule of law,” DeSantis said at the time. “By allowing our state agents and law enforcement officers to be trained and approved by ICE, Florida will now have more enforcement personnel deputized to assist federal partners. That means deportations can be carried out more efficiently, making our communities safer as illegal aliens are removed.”

However, there was opposition to entering the agreement from some residents and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Florida Immigrant Coalition.

FLORIDA OFFICIALS DIVIDED OVER ICE DEPORTATION DEAL AIMED AT CRIMINAL ALIENS: ‘EMBARRASSED FOR OUR CITY’

“This is a shameful day for Miami,” Dariel Gomez, Statewide Organizer with the ACLU of Florida said in a press release. “With their vote, commissioners chose fear over facts, and division over unity. This agreement will not make us safer – it will only spread fear and isolate the very people who make our city strong.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“287(g) doesn’t belong in any city, but especially not in Miami – a place shaped by immigrants, built by immigrants, and powered by immigrants,” Tessa Petit, Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said in a statement. “More than half of our residents are foreign-born. The commissioners who voted to implement this ruthless program have turned their back on the very community they were put into office to protect. They are turning our diversity into a target.”

However, the White House told Fox News Digital the city’s decision was ultimately the right move.

BLUE STATE SHERIFFS COMBINE FORCES TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST SANCTUARY LAWS

“President Trump’s promise to deport illegal aliens is a key plank of his agenda to Make America Safe Again. The Administration is always grateful to work with state and local officials to get dangerous criminals off the streets and keep the American people safe.” Abigail Jackson, White House spokeswoman, stated.

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In April, a massive ICE operation in collaboration with Florida authorities led to the arrest of 1,120 illegal immigrants, and the agency said 63% of them had “existing criminal arrests or convictions,” and many had alleged gang affiliations.

A federal judge on Friday ordered anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil to be released on bail while his immigration and civil cases proceed through the courts, citing the “extraordinary circumstances” of his case.

Judge Michael Farbiarz, a Biden appointee, assessed during a hearing in New Jersey that Khalil was not a flight risk or a danger to the community and that his detention was therefore “highly unusual.”

Khalil’s attorneys had said in a letter to the court that his imprisonment in an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, was an “exceedingly rare” decision on the part of the government and amounted to unconstitutional retaliation.

Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was arrested in March outside his apartment at Columbia University and immediately filed a habeas corpus lawsuit challenging his detention. He has asked the court to be released on bail or transferred to an immigration facility in New Jersey, where he would be closer to his family and legal team.

DOJ SEEKS TO KEEP ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST KHALIL DETAINED IN LOUISIANA IMMIGRATION JAIL

An immigration judge found Khalil was removable based on a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that said Khalil’s activism on campus was at odds with U.S. foreign policy interests.

Rubio cited an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to justify his finding, and Farbiarz later enjoined the secretary from using that determination.

But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later added a second reason for keeping Khalil detained and attempting to deport him. The DHS said Khalil allegedly omitted key information from his green card application about groups with which he was affiliated, including the Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

Khalil’s case has become a lightning rod for anti-Israel protesters and immigration rights advocates. They have argued the Trump administration is retaliating against him for opposing the Israeli government and chilling free speech of those who oppose Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip and conflict with Iran. The government has countered that Khalil violated immigration law by allegedly signaling support for the terrorist group Hamas through his activism.

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Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys argued to the judge that the federal court did not have authority to free Khalil from detention because the second claim, about his green card papers, is pending before an immigration judge.

“Khalil remains detained because he is currently charged as removable for fraudulently or willfully misrepresenting material facts on his adjustment of status application,” the attorneys wrote in court papers this week.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

Fox News’s Kirill Clark contributed to this report.

Former President Joe Biden slammed critics of Juneteenth as he spoke Thursday at an AME church service in Galveston Island, Texas – the city where, on June 19, 1865, Gen. Gordon Granger issued the final federal orders enforcing emancipation at a time before telephones.

Biden criticized the idea that Juneteenth is not worthy of federal holiday status. He also recalled visiting the Black community in Northeast Wilmington often while growing up in Claymont – suggesting he visited the underserved neighborhood after attending early-morning Catholic Mass in Greenville, Del.

He also appeared to stop himself before slamming President Donald Trump by name – mentioning “this guy” – then pausing to make the Sign of the Cross to applause from the congregants.

“I used to chair the African Affairs subcommittee,” Biden claimed. “I’ve been to the origins of where slavery started [in Africa]. And to listen to them talk about it now, how things are changing. We have to remember, our country is founded on the promise of freedom; freedom for everybody,” he said.

ALASKA SENATOR LITERALLY TEARS UP BIDEN’S ENERGY ORDERS, BOOSTS WH EFFORTS TO LEVERAGE ARCTIC LNG IN ASIA TRADE

“So, the events of Juneteenth are of monumental importance to the American story,” he said, calling slavery “America’s original sin.”

Of the holiday’s critics, he said, “They don’t want to remember – but we all remember the moral stain. . . . “

“Well, I took the view as president, we need to be honest about our history, especially if there’s been any time going ever to erase our history. Not just here, but, this guy–” he added, trailing off and signing himself.

“Too many people are trying to erase our history, especially in the face of ongoing efforts to erase history from our textbooks and our classrooms.”

He went on to implicitly criticize Trump for returning southern military bases to their former names. However, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently noted in congressional testimony that the rescission of the base renamings does not return them to the namesakes of the Confederate generals but to other U.S. military heroes with the same surname.

“[D]arkness can hide much but can erase nothing,” Biden said. “The Scripture tells us faith without work is dead.”

SPEAKER JOHNSON QUESTIONS WHETHER BIDN KNEW WHAT HE WAS SIGNING WITH TRANS VISIBILITY DAY PROCLAMATION

Biden then suggested Black Americans and other minorities are still facing roadblocks to the ballot box six decades after the Civil Rights Act.

“Stop those who try to make it more difficult to vote, and help people register to vote. Let’s reach out to our families, our friends, our neighbors, remind them how critical it is,” Biden said.

For his part, Trump said Thursday the additional federal holiday enacted by Biden is costing the U.S. “billions of dollars to keep all of these businesses closed.”

“Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every working day of the year.”

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Some other leaders, like West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, issued Juneteenth proclamations but kept state offices open on the nation’s newest federal holiday.

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

Former vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., is facing criticism after claiming China could be the voice of “moral authority” in the Israel-Iran conflict. 

During a “What’s Next: Conversations on the Path Forward” event hosted by the Center for American Progress (CAP) last week, Walz responded to a question from former Biden White House advisor, Neera Tanden, about the “escalatory” nature of the strikes between the two countries.

“Now, who is the voice in the world that can negotiate some type of agreement in this? Who holds the moral authority? Who holds the ability to do that? Because we are not seen as a neutral actor, and we maybe never were,” Walz said of the United States’ role in deescalating tensions in the Middle East. 

As the United States weighs striking Iran and war in the Middle East rages on, Danielle Pletka, a distinguished senior fellow in Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI), told Fox News Digital that Walz’s comments are “ignorance on display.”

TIM WALZ FLOATS CHINA AS ‘NEUTRAL ACTOR’ WITH ‘MORAL AUTHORITY’ TO NEGOTIATE MIDDLE EAST PEACE

According to Walz, the United States once attempted “to be somewhat of the arbitrator” in the Middle East, but Americans must face the reality that the “neutral actor” with the “moral authority” to lead negotiations in the Middle East “might be the Chinese.”

TIM WALZ LETS LOOSE IN RANT-FILLED TALK WITH LIBERAL THINK TANK

Walz didn’t elaborate on why China would be that world leader. 

“It’s so staggering to me that Tim Walz was within a heartbeat of the presidency,” Pletka said, before adding, “We don’t need a neutral player here,” and urging him to “stick to local politics.”

Andy Keiser, senior fellow at the conservative National Security Institute and former senior advisor on the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News Digital that someone should “remind Governor Walz that China is far from a moral authority on much of anything,” and said China is committing “cultural genocide.” 

“The Chinese government has reportedly arbitrarily detained more than a million Muslims in reeducation camps since 2017,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). “Most of the people who have been detained are Uyghur, a predominantly Turkic-speaking ethnic group primarily in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang.”

In addition to the detentions, “Uyghurs in the region have been subjected to intense surveillance, forced labor, and involuntary sterilizations, among other rights abuses,” according to the CFR. 

According to Human Rights Watch, President Xi Jinping has “detained human rights defenders, tightened control over civil society, media, and the internet, and deployed invasive mass surveillance technology” in Xinjiang and Tibet, which the human rights watchdog likened to “crimes against humanity.”

“I would strongly beg to differ that China has a moral authority on much in the world,” Keiser said, and added, “I would not see them as a neutral arbiter here.”

“Obviously, we are not going to be a neutral broker between a terrorist and a democratic state,” Pletka said. “That’s just not how it works. You threatened to kill the President of the United States, but we’re then meant to think of you in a balanced way with the state of Israel, our most important ally in the Middle East?” 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News’ Bret Baier on Monday that President Donald Trump remains a target of the Iranians. “They want to kill him. He’s enemy No. 1.”

“I don’t know how anybody could have said what [Walz] said about the role that China plays. The idea that there is some neutral interlocutor in this world, that anybody is an ‘honest burger’ is nothing other than grad school silliness,” Pletka said. 

Pletka added that “Of course, China can’t play that role. China is an authoritarian communist [state] that is supporting Russia in its war on Ukraine, that is threatening Taiwan, that has broken its word over Hong Kong.”

And she said, “This is not a playground in which you need somebody who can talk to both Bobby and Billy about why it is you don’t smack your friends.”

“The idea that it should be reduced to something where you have an arbiter who sees the arguments on both sides, no. This is a situation where there’s a right and a wrong, and there’s a winner and a loser. That’s how it should be, by the way, because Iran has fashioned itself as an enemy, not just to the state of Israel, but to the United States.”

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Nikki Haley – former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, who sounded off on China’s threat to the United States on the campaign trail – was quick to criticize Walz’s viral comments last week. 

“This is absolute insanity. Democrats think that we need the Chinese to be the negotiators between Iran’s nuclear production and Israel…God bless Tim Walz. Totally tone deaf,” Haley posted on X. 

The Trump administration is giving California’s federally funded sex education program 60 days to remove all references to gender identity or face potential termination of its funding. 

California’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant has been under scrutiny by the Trump administration since at least March, when the HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF) requested the federally funded state-operated program send copies of its curriculum and other relevant course materials to them for review. 

According to ACF, the probe was initiated to ensure the state’s sexual education programming is medically accurate and age-appropriate.  

The agency said in a Friday notice sent to California’s PREP program, reviewed by Fox News Digital, that following its examination of the program’s curriculum and other teaching materials, it found a litany of subjects and language within the course materials deemed to fall outside the program’s “authorizing statute,” in particular references to “gender ideology.” As a result, ACF said it halted their review for “medical accuracy,” since the content it found is not statutorily allowed in the first place.  

4-H FEDERALLY FUNDED CAMPS UNDER FIRE FOR CABINING KIDS, ADULT COUNSELORS BY ‘IDENTITY’

“The Trump administration will not tolerate the use of federal funds for programs that indoctrinate our children,” said ACF’s acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison. “The disturbing gender ideology content in California’s PREP materials is both unacceptable and well outside the program’s core purpose. ACF remains committed to radical transparency and providing accountability so that parents know what their children are being taught in schools.”

Among the materials ACF found, which it now wants to be removed, was a lesson for middle school-aged students that seeks to introduce them to the concepts of transgenderism.

“We’ve been talking during class about messages people get on how they should act as boys and girls—but as many of you know, there are also people who don’t identify as boys or girls, but rather as transgender or gender queer,” the lesson states to students. “This means that even if they were called a boy or a girl at birth and may have body parts that are typically associated with being a boy or a girl, on the inside, they feel differently.”

DOJ CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION SETS TITLE IX DEADLINE FOR CALIFORNIA ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS

ACF flagged parts of the curriculum for high school-aged students as well, which gets into topics like differentiating between “social transitioning” and “medical transitioning.” The high school-aged materials also include instruction on what it means to be “non-binary” and language that tells students “gender-identity” is “essentially a social status.” 

Teacher training materials part of the California PREP program were among other aspects of the California sex-ed curriculum that were flagged by ACF. 

“All people have a gender identity,” the teacher training materials state. They also instruct educators to refer to people who follow the biological marker they are “assigned at birth” as “cisgender” and adds that those who are not “cisgender” may identify as “non-binary, agender, bigender, genderfluid, [or] genderqueer.”

In ACF’s notice, the agency pointed out that under the authorizing statute that established California’s PREP program, it is defined as a program designed to educate young people mainly on abstinence, contraception and avoiding sexually transmitted infections, like HIV/AIDS. 

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS PRAISE TRUMP ADMIN’S PROBE INTO STATE ALLEGEDLY HIDING KIDS’ ‘GENDER IDENTITY’

“The statute neither requires, supports nor authorizes teaching students that gender identity is distinct from biological sex or that boys can identify as girls and vice versa,” ACF’s notice to California PREP states. 

“We are aware that this curricula and other program materials were previously approved by ACF,” the notice continues. “However, the prior administration erred in allowing PREP grants to be used to teach students gender ideology because that approval exceeded the agency’s authority to administer the program consistent with the authorizing legislation as enacted by Congress.”

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California now has 60 days to remove all gender ideology references from its PREP curricula and other program materials, and then it must resend its materials for approval by ACF.  

If California fails to make the necessary changes requested by the Trump administration, the agency says it has the authority to withhold, disallow, suspend or terminate the federal grant currently funding California’s PREP program.

EXCLUSIVE: Vice President JD Vance will travel to Los Angeles Friday morning to visit the city amid anti-ICE riots, Fox News Digital has learned.

Upon arrival, the vice president is expected to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a Federal Mobile Command Center.

There, the vice president is expected to meet with leadership and U.S. Marines.

TRUMP SAYS ‘DISRESPECT’ TOWARD NATON GAURD IN LA ‘WILL NOT BE TOLERATED’: ‘IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT’ 

An official familiar with the plans told Fox News Digital that the vice president is expected to deliver brief remarks.

Vance’s trip comes in the midst of anti-ICE riots in the city.

ALLEGED CHINESE SCHEME TO INFLUENCE 202 ELECTION FOR BIDEN BEING PROBED BY FBI, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

The vice president is expected to discuss how Los Angeles was destroyed in the midst of the violent protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement.

Vance also is expected to discuss how California politicians had a choice, and chose to disregard federal laws and turn their backs on law enforcement.

President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier in June to aid law enforcement amid the violent protests. 

The Trump administration also sent hundreds of Marines to support law enforcement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration for taking command of the National Guard, but a unanimous ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday said Trump is allowed to keep control of National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles.

The ruling stays the lower court order that ordered command of the troops back to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

A president hasn’t made a decision about the deployment of a National Guard without the permission of the state’s governor since 1965.

Trump, in a Thursday night post to Truth Social, praised the Court of Appeals for its decision and said the decision was a win.

“BIG WIN in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the President’s core power to call in the National Guard! The Judges obviously realized that Gavin Newscum is incompetent and ill prepared, but this is much bigger than Gavin, because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done. This is a Great Decision for our Country, and we will continue to protect and defend Law abiding Americans. Congratulations to the Ninth Circuit, America is proud of you tonight!,” he posted.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., issued a press release on Thursday in which he declared that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “wrong” in the past and is again now.

In the statement, Sanders pointed to comments Netanyahu made while speaking about Saddam Hussein at a U.S. congressional hearing in 2002. 

Netanyahu said at the time that “if you take out … Saddam’s regime,” the move “will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.” He said that there was “no question whatsoever” that the Iraqi leader was pursuing the “development of nuclear weapons.”

ISRAEL VOWS VENGEANCE AFTER IRAN TARGETS HOSPITAL WITH BALLISTIC MISSILE THURSDAY

“Netanyahu was wrong. Very wrong. The war in Iraq resulted in 4,492 U.S. military deaths, over 32,000 wounded, and a cost of roughly three trillion dollars. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis also died as a result of that tragic war. Netanyahu was wrong regarding the war in Iraq. He is wrong now. We must not get involved in Netanyahu’s war against Iran,” Sanders asserted in his statement.

President Donald Trump has not ruled out the prospect of U.S. military intervention as Israel targets Iran in a bid to stop the rogue regime from achieving its nuclear weapons ambitions.

US TROOPS IN THE MIDDLE EAST COULD FACE INCREASED THREATS AMID IRAN CONFLICT: ‘IRREPARABLE DAMAGE’

“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” President Trump said, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who read out the president’s comment during a press briefing on Thursday.

Trump has been clear that he opposes the prospect of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

TRUMP TO MAKE IRAN DECISION ‘WITHIN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS’ GIVEN ‘CHANCE’ OF NEGOTIATIONS, LEAVITT SAYS

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“AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” he declared in a Truth Social post on Monday.

Democrats in Washington, D.C., are misrepresenting major criticisms of President Trump’s “big beautiful bill” with incorrect facts, according to an expert who spoke to Fox News Digital this week as Trump’s budget reconciliation package is debated in Congress. 

“The bill doesn’t cut benefits for anyone who has income below the poverty line, anyone who is working at least 20 hours a week and not caring for a child, and people who are Americans,” Jim Agresti, president and cofounder of Just Facts, told Fox News Digital in response to criticisms from Democrats and a handful of Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley, that Trump’s bill will cut Medicaid and disproportionately hurt the poor. 

“In other words, it cuts out illegal immigrants who are not Americans and fraudsters. So that narrative has no basis in reality. See, what’s been going on since the Medicaid program was started? Is that it’s been expanded and expanded and extended. You know, it got its start in 1966. And since that time, the poverty rate has stayed roughly level around 11% to 15%. While the portion of people in the United States on Medicaid has skyrocketed from 3% to 29%. Right now, 2.5 times more people are on Medicaid than are in poverty.”

Medicaid cuts and reform have been a major sticking point with Democrats, who have merged data from two new reports from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to back up claims that nearly 14 million would lose coverage. The White House and Republicans have objected, as not all the policy proposals evaluated were actually included in Republicans’ legislation, and far fewer people would actually face insurance loss. 

HOW JOHNSON PULLED OFF ANOTHER IMPOSSIBLE WIN WITH JUST 1-VOTE MARGIN ON $9.4B SPENDING CUT BILL

Instead, Republicans argue that their proposed reforms to implement work requirements, strengthen eligibility checks and crack down on Medicaid for illegal immigrants preserve the program for those who really need it. 

“I agree,” Dem. Rep. Jasmine Crockett said in response to a claim on CNN that Republicans “want poor people to die” with Medicaid cuts. 

Agresti told Fox News Digital that the Medicaid cuts are aimed at bringing people out of poverty and waste. 

“It’s putting some criteria down to say, ‘Hey, if you want this, and you’re not in poverty, you need to work,'” Agresti said. “You need to do something to better your situation, which is what these programs are supposed to be, lifting people out of poverty, not sticking them there for eternity. So the whole idea is to get people working, give them an incentive. Hey, if you want to do better in life, and you want this Medicaid coverage, then you have to earn it.”

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has claimed the bill is a “death sentence for the working class,” because it raises health insurance “copayments for poor people.”

DEMS ‘DELIBERATELY OBFUSCATING’ TRUTH ABOUT ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ WITH THIS CLAIM: WATCHDOG

Agresti called that claim “outlandish.”

“First of all, the Big Beautiful Bill does not raise copayments on anyone who’s below the poverty line,” he explained. “Now, for people who are above the poverty line, it requires states to at least charge some sort of copayment, and it also reduces, actually, the max copayment from $100 per visit to $35 per visit.”

Agresti went on to explain that under the current system, “people have basically free rein to just go to a doctor or an emergency room or any other place without any co-payment, and they’re not in poverty.”

“What ends up happening is they waste a ton of money,” Agresti said. “This has been proven through randomized control trials, which are the gold standard for social science analysis, where you have people in a lottery system, some people get the benefit, and some people don’t, and what you end up seeing is that people who don’t have to have skin in the game, abuse emergency rooms, they go there for a stuffy nose, rack up all this money, and it does nothing to improve their health. It’s just wasteful.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Sanders Communications Director Anna Bahr said, “Mr. Agresti’s facts here are simply incorrect.”

Sanders’ office added that “nearly half of all enrollees on the ACA exchanges are Republicans” and pointed to the House-passed reconciliation bill that Sanders’ office argues “says that if a worker can’t navigate the maze of paperwork that the bill creates for Medicaid enrollees, they are barred from receiving ACA tax credits as well.”

“But workers must earn at least $15,650 per year to qualify for tax credits on the ACA marketplaces – approximately equal to the annual income for a full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage.”

Sanders’ office also pointed to “CBO estimates that 16 million people will lose insurance as a result of the House-passed bill and the Republicans ending the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits.”

Sanders’ office also reiterated that the House-passed bill makes a “fundamental change” to copay for Medicaid beneficiaries, shifting from optional to mandatory.

“While claiming that I’m ‘incorrect,’ Sanders’ staff fails to provide a single fact that shows the BBB cuts health care for poor working Americans,” Agresti responded. 

“It’s especially laughable that they cite expanded Obamacare subsidies in this context, because people in poverty aren’t even eligible for them,” Agresti continued. “After this ‘temporary’ Covid-era handout expires, people with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level — or $150,600 for a family of five — will still be eligible for this welfare program, although they will receive less.”

Agresti argued that the claim a “max $35 copay (for people who are not poor) ‘hurts working families’” is not supported by research “which makes generalizations and merely cites ‘associations.'”

“As commonly taught in high school math, association doesn’t prove causation,” Agresti said. 

Sanders’ office told Fox News Digital, “Mr. Agresti seems to believe that a working family of four earning only $32,150 per year doesn’t deserve help affording their health care. Health care in the United States is more expensive than anywhere in the world. Terminating health care coverage for 16 million Americans and increasing health care costs for millions will make it harder for working people to afford the health care they need, even if Mr. Agresti doesn’t agree.”

Agresti also took issue with the narrative that cuts cannot be made to Medicaid without cutting benefits to people who are entitled to them.

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“The Government Accountability Office has put out figures that are astonishing, hundreds of billions of dollars a year are going to waste,” Agresti said. “So, yeah, some criteria to make sure that doesn’t happen is a wise idea. Unfortunately, there is a ton of white-collar crime in this country, and this kind of crime is a white-collar crime. It’s not committed with a gun, or by robbing or punching someone, it’s committed by fraud, and there’s an enormous amount of it. 

“And the big, beautiful bill, again, seeks to rein that in by putting a criteria to make sure we’re checking people’s income, we’re checking their assets. A lot of these federal programs, government health care programs, they’ve stopped checking assets. So you could be a lottery winner sitting on $3 million in cash and have very little income. And still get children’s health insurance program benefits for your kids.”

Hawley said on Monday that he did not have a problem with some of the marquee changes to Medicaid that his House Republican counterparts wanted, including stricter work requirements, booting illegal immigrants from benefit rolls and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the program that serves tens of millions of Americans.

However, he noted that about 1.3 million Missourians rely on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and contended that most were working.

“These are not people who are sitting around, these are people who are working,” he said. “They’re on Medicaid because they cannot afford private health insurance, and they don’t get it on the job.”

“And I just think it’s wrong to go to those people and say, ‘Well, you know, we know you’re doing the best, we know that you’re working hard, but we’re going to take away your health care access,’” he continued. 

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

Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Ken Martin stopped in one-time battleground-turned-red state Ohio this week, as part of his “50-state strategy” to help Democrats try and win elections from coast to coast.

“We can’t be a party that’s just focused on national power, because elections aren’t won in D.C., they’re won in states like Ohio,” Martin said in Cleveland at a forum on the future of the Democratic Party. “Ohio is a huge swing state in 2026.”

Martin, who was elected as DNC chair at the beginning of February, is on a mission to help Democrats escape the political wilderness, following stunning setbacks in last November’s elections, when the party lost control of the White House and the Senate and fell short of winning back the House majority.

But while Democrats are now energized to resist President Donald Trump’s sweeping and controversial agenda during his second tour of duty in the White House, Martin’s tenure so far steering the national party committee has been anything but smooth sailing.

TWO TOP LABOR LEADERS QUIT DNC IN LATEST BLOW TO DEMOCRATS

“There is a huge vacuum of leadership in the Democratic Party and Ken is proving to be a weak, ineffective leader who isn’t ready for any of this,” a former DNC official, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely, told Fox News.

Bitter infighting has hampered Martin – who was the longtime chair of the Minnesota Democrats when he won the DNC chair election – during his first four and a half months on the job.

DISTRACTION: DEMOCRATS HOPING TO LEAVE HOGG CONTROVERSY BEHIND

David Hogg, the 25-year-old activist and school shooting survivor who was elected a DNC vice chair the same day Martin won the chair election, ignited a civil war within the party by pledging to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to support primary-challenges some older House Democrats in blue districts that he said were “asleep at the wheel.”

Hogg’s threat to spend money against fellow Democrats, which was unprecedented at the DNC, eventually led to his exit from the national party committee earlier this month.

The party’s clash with Hogg included embarrassing audio of Martin – that was leaked to the press – of the chair questioning his ability to lead the DNC.

“You essentially destroyed any chance I have to show the leadership that I need to,” Martin said of Hogg in the recording, which was first reported by Politico. “I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S FAVORABLE RATINGS DROP TO HISTORIC LOWS

Days later – more bad news – as two top national labor leaders quit their roles at the DNC.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, declined offers to stay on as at-large members of the DNC as they questioned the party’s direction under Martin. The news was first reported by the New York Times.

Meanwhile, in the crucial fundraising battle with the rival Republican National Committee, the DNC is falling behind, according to the latest campaign cash figures.

The latest filings with the Federal Election Commission show the RNC with $67 million cash on hand as of the end of April, far ahead of the DNC’s $17 million in their coffers.

While the infighting over the past few months may subside, the party’s fundraising could be a concern as Democrats aim to win back the House and possibly the Senate in next year’s midterm elections.

A DNC committee member, who also asked to remain anonymous, told Fox News that Martin’s tenure so far “has been underwhelming.”

Meanwhile, Maria Cardona, a longtime Democratic strategist and current DNC committee member, told Fox News “DNC members are absolutely frustrated and sick of the in-fighting and wish that everyone would just get over themselves and focus on helping Chairman Martin and the party defeat Republicans instead of attacking each other. 

FIRST ON FOX: REPUBLICAN PARTY SHOWCASES MASSIVE HAUL

“We have no time for this bullsh-t. Our country and our democracy is facing existential threats every day, and that is where 1000% of our fight needs to be,” Cardona argued.

A former DNC official, who was granted anonymity, acknowledged that “the Democratic Party is in a rebuilding phase. “Everyone knew it was going to be a difficult task.”

But the official added “that is also why the Party overwhelmingly elected Ken and trusted him to lead the way. Instead of creating needless distractions that make his job harder, Democrats should work together and focus on the only thing that matters: winning.”

Cardona told Fox News that “everything that Ken has done, regardless of the drama that it has caused, has been the right moves.”

She and others in support of Martin noted the Democrats’ success in recent months in off-year and special elections, as well as the DNC’s increased investments in the state parties.

Another committee member, who was granted anonymity, pointed to the traditional powerful role of a national party chair when their party is out of power in the White House. 

“Ken is the boss,” the committee member told Fox News. “Ken is rebuilding the house…he still has some major renovations to do.”

But the committee member added that that role can often ruffle feathers with others within the party.

Both Weingarten and Saunders supported Martin’s competitor in the race for DNC chair, now-former Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler. As chair, Martin later removed Weingarten from the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, which is the group responsible for drafting the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating calendar and election process. 

The DNC committee member told Fox News Digital it was “not surprising” the union leaders decided to step down from the DNC, “given they both supported another candidate.”

Martin, in an interview this week with the New York Times, said “I know there’s a lot of people that are carrying grudges, that are still litigating the campaign that their person didn’t win.”

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And Martin, in a statement to Fox News, said that “some people in DC just want to win an argument, but I’m focused on winning elections. This year, Democrats have an unprecedented track record of 32 wins and overperformances in races across the country. That’s what I was elected to do.”

The chair highlighted that “we have to cut through the noise and focus on what works” and that the “American people don’t care about beltway chatter, and neither do I – they want to know that Democrats are fighting for them. Under my leadership, that’s what the DNC is doing.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clapped back against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, after she accused President Donald Trump supporters of being “sick” and mentally ill.

Speaking with reporters in the White House briefing room on Thursday, Leavitt said, “It’s incredibly derogatory to accuse nearly 80 million Americans of mental illness.”

“The last time I checked, Jasmine Crockett couldn’t dream of winning such a majority of the public as President Trump did,” she said.

“The America first movement, which President Trump has built, is filled with hardworking patriots. The forgotten men and women, business owners, law enforcement officers, nurses and teachers and Middle America, as we all know from where you all grew up outside of this Beltway. That’s who makes up this president’s movement,” said Leavitt. “And Jasmine Crockett should go to a Trump rally sometime, and she can see it for herself.”

KAROLINE LEAVITT PRESSED ON RAMIFICATIONS OF TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST FOREIGN POLICY

Leavitt also quipped that she hopes Crockett will continue to be a “rising star” in the Democratic Party, “for the Republican Party, at least.”

During a recent interview with Katie Couric, Crockett, one of the leading Democratic voices in the Trump resistance movement, explained Trump’s reelection as being made possible by a national mental health crisis.

“We’ve got a mental health crisis in this country because everyone, no matter how you affiliate yourself, should be against Trump, period. This is not partisan for me,” said Crockett.

The congresswoman also went on to claim that former Vice President Kamala Harris was more qualified to be president than Trump and that he was elected simply on the basis that he is an “old white man.”

LEAVITT BALKS AT REPORTERS’ LA RIOT COVERAGE, ‘DISINGENUOUS ATTACK’ IN BRIEFING: ‘WHAT A STUPID QUESTION’

She also said her “heart breaks for service members” in the military under Trump because “the very thing that they signed up to fight against is now their commander-in-chief.”

“It is really sick and anybody that supports it is also sick,” said Crockett.

During the same interview, Crockett also defended former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity, claiming that she “never saw anything” from Biden that would have made her wonder about his mental sharpness, and argued that his mental acuity was “supreme” to President Donald Trump’s.

WHITE HOUSE RIPS ‘SHAMEFUL’ LA RIOTS AS TRUMP STEPS IN WHERE NEWSOM, BASS FAILED, LEAVITT SAYS

“We all slow down. But I will tell you that I will take a broken — or however they want to describe Joe Biden — over Donald Trump any given day, because, number one, I know Joe Biden’s heart,” Crockett said.

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Crockett has also recently taken heavy criticism for other comments against Republican leaders, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, whom she mocked as “governor hot wheels.” This comment garnered her wide condemnation given the fact that Abbott is a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair to move about.

Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.

Inside President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” are policy tweaks that would remove taxes and regulations on certain guns, but Senate Democrats aim to gut the changes from the bill.

Tucked into the Senate Finance Committee’s offering to the mammoth bill, which was unveiled earlier this week, are policy changes that would delist short-barrel rifles, shotguns and suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA).

That means those particular guns and accessories would no longer be subject to a $200 federal tax and would no longer need to be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

TOP TRUMP ALLY PREDICTS SENATE WILL BLOW PAST ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ DEADLINE

The changes come from the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act, a bill pushed by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., in the upper chamber, and Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., in the House.

Marshall told Fox News Digital he believed the gun language would make Trump’s megabill “even more beautiful,” while Clyde said in a statement the changes would “restore our Second Amendment rights.”

‘IT JUST BAFFLES ME’: SENATE REPUBLICANS SOUND ALARM OVER MEDICAID CHANGES, SPENDING IN TRUMP MEGABILL

However, Democrats have vowed to inflict as much pain as possible on their Republican colleagues through the “Byrd Bath” process, which is when lawmakers and their staff work behind the scenes to ensure the litany of policy within the “big, beautiful bill” comports with the Byrd Rule that governs reconciliation.

And the gun language is likely high on the chopping block for Senate Democrats.

“Taxation and registration of firearms under the draconian NFA are inseparably linked,” Clyde said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I’m confident our pro-2A provision will survive the Byrd Rule, and I look forward to delivering this constitutional victory for the American people.”

Marshall, similarly, wasn’t too concerned the provision would be scrubbed by Democrats in their Byrd Bath pursuit and noted, “That’s what reconciliation bills are supposed to deal with, is taxes.”

SENATE PANEL NAVIGATES DELICATE COMPROMISES ON MEDICAID, TAXES IN LATEST CHUNK OF TRUMP’S MEGABILL

He argued the Supreme Court upheld the NFA, which, despite being primarily a regulatory framework, does include an excise tax. The court upheld the NFA and the excise taxes it imposed as constitutional in the 1930s. More recently, the regulatory framework was upheld by the court in the Bruen decision in 2022.

Still, Marshall viewed the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process, which allows Republicans to pass Trump’s mammoth bill with only 51 votes, as the only chance he and the GOP have to codify the changes to the NFA.

“I don’t see another way to do it,” he said. “I mean, obviously it would take 60 votes. And, you know, I don’t see any other way to make this actually happen.”

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Meanwhile, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., declined to get into detail on the exact strategy he and other Democratic lawmakers would use to go after provisions buried in the broader reconciliation text.

But he noted that the point of reconciliation is to focus on spending and budgetary effects and that “a lot of times you see Republicans, very conservative Republicans, try to convince the parliamentarian that something really is spending when it’s really an ideological trophy.”

“I can tell you this, the Byrd Bath is the legislative equivalent of prolonged root canal work,” Wyden told Fox News Digital. “It’s detailed, we’ve begun it, I’m practiced in it. I’ve worked in this area for some time, and my staff is expecting to spend the whole rest of next week digging into it.”

The White House on Thursday praised the Supreme Court’s ruling that a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and other treatments for transgender minors did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment.

During the daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared it “a huge victory for America’s children.”

“And it’s obviously something this administration believes strongly in that young, minor children should not be allowed to be subjected to chemical castration and mutilation.”

Leavitt said Trump has signed “very strong executive orders” on the subject and that the administration is “grateful” for Nashville’s efforts to protect Tennessee youth.

SUPREME COURT RULING ON TRANS TREATMENTS FOR MINORS DECRIED BY MEDIA AS ‘HUGE SETBACK FOR TRANSGENDER RIGHTS’

“And we are grateful the Supreme Court ruled on the side of the law [and] on the side of protecting America’s innocent children.”

The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, was brought by three transgender minors and their families. The Biden administration was able to join as namesake plaintiff due to a law allowing the president to be party to lawsuits regarding the Equal Protection Clause.

Then-Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued for the administration — while later, the ensuing Trump administration opposed the Biden position, but the case continued.

‘WE WON’: SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS OVER SCOTUS RULING DEALING ‘FATAL BLOW’ TO TRANSGENDER SURGERIES ON MINORS

On Wednesday, a 6-3 ruling upheld TN SB 1, which “prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow ‘a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex’ or to treat ‘purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.”

Chief Justice John Roberts said the law in question did not “classify on any bases that warrant heightened review.”

“This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” he said. 

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti – the defendant — said in a statement that the law had been supported by a “bipartisan supermajority of Tennessee’s elected representatives” who “carefully considered the evidence and voted to protect kids from irreversible decisions they cannot yet fully understand.”

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“I commend the Tennessee legislature and Governor Lee for their courage in passing this legislation and supporting our litigation despite withering opposition from the Biden administration, LGBT special interest groups, social justice activists, the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, and even Hollywood,” he said.

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch and William Mears contributed to this report.

Governor Gavin Newsom said in an official statement that he is disappointed in the Ninth Circuit Court’s decision to allow President Trump to retain control of the California National Guard, but is touting one aspect of the court ruling as a victory. 

Writing on X early Friday morning, the Democratic governor proclaimed that Trump is “not a king and not above the law.” 

“The court rightly rejected Trump’s claim that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and not have to explain himself to a court. The President is not a king and is not above the law. We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of U.S. military soldiers against citizens,” he went on to say in a press statement later.

JUDGE MULLS TRUMP’S AUTHORITY OVER NATIONAL GUARD, WARNS US IS NOT ‘KING GEORGE’ MONARCHY

The court rejected Trump’s claims that he can federalize the California National Guard at will and still avoid judicial scrutiny, the governor noted. 

“The Ninth Circuit rejected Trump’s sweeping claim that he can federalize the National Guard for any reason and avoid judicial scrutiny, even as it stayed an emergency district court order. This is a critical check on presidential overreach and confirmation that the President is not above the law,” Newsom’s press office stated.

Newsom’s office said that both Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta remain committed to holding the president accountable for using the military as domestic law enforcement – actions, they argued, were in violation of federal law.

Although Newsom says the ruling is a win, there is still an ongoing conflict as the unanimous ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday allowed President Trump to keep control of National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles earlier this month to quell riots during demonstrations against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  

TRUMP SCORES MAJOR WIN AGAINST NEWSOM IN BATTLE FOR NATIONAL GUARD CONTROL

Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard was the first by a president of a state National Guard without the governor’s permission since 1965.

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In the filing, the court stated that they believed the president had made a lawful decision.

Even though the president failed to notify the governor before deploying the National Guard as required by law, the court cited that Newsom had no power to veto the president’s order.

Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla is no stranger to conflict, especially in the Middle East. 

Two decades ago as a lieutenant colonel, he was at the front lines of combat fighting off insurgents in Mosul, Iraq, while leading the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment. The battalion’s mission was to conduct security patrols and coordinate offensive attacks against anti-Iraqi insurgents targeting Iraqi security forces and Iraqi police stations. 

During Kurilla’s tenure leading the battalion, more than 150 soldiers earned the Purple Heart for injuries, and the battalion lost at least a dozen soldiers, The New York Times reported in August 2005. 

“There will always be somebody willing (to) pick up an AK-47 and shoot Americans,” Kurilla told The New York Times in August 2005. 

TRUMP WEIGHS STRIKING IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES: ‘I MAY DO IT, I MAY NOT DO IT’

Kurilla did not complete that deployment unscathed. Later, in August 2005, Kurilla found himself caught in a Mosul, Iraq, firefight, where he sustained multiple gunshot wounds, earning him a Bronze Star with valor and one of his two Purple Heart awards. 

Now, Kurilla is facing another battle as the commander of U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, serving as the top military officer overseeing U.S. military forces based in the Middle East.

That means Kurilla, who attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, is at the forefront of military operations as President Donald Trump contemplates whether to engage in military strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites. 

CENTCOM is one of the U.S. military’s 11 combatant commands and encompasses 21 nations in the Middle East in its area of operations, including Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Those familiar with Kurilla claim he’s the perfect person for the job, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described Kurilla as an uplifting leader. 

“General Kurilla is a bold, dynamic, and inspiring leader who strikes fear into the hearts of America’s enemies,” Hegseth said in a statement Thursday to Fox News Digital. “He’s a warrior through and through who always puts his country, mission, and troops first. It has been an honor to serve alongside him in defense of our great nation.”

Retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in 2022 when Biden nominated Kurilla for the role that Kurilla is the ideal CENTCOM leader. 

“If there ever was some way to feed into a machine the requirements for the perfect leader of CENTCOM — the character traits, the attributes, the experiences, the knowledge and the personality that would be ideal — that machine would spit out Erik Kurilla,” Milley said in 2022, according to the Defense Department. “Erik’s got vast experience in combat (and) on staffs.

“He’s a visionary, he’s a thinker and he’s a doer,” Milley said. “He understands both the physical and human terrain and is able to identify root causes of problems and develop systems. He’s not at all a linear thinker. He’s actually a very gifted problem-solver.”

TRUMP SAYS ‘SOMETHING’S GOING TO HAPPEN VERY SOON’ WITH IRAN AS HE PUSHES TO NEGOTIATE NUCLEAR DEAL

Retired Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie, Kurilla’s CENTCOM predecessor, voiced similar sentiments. 

“I can’t think of anybody better qualified to lead CENTCOM’s next chapter than Erik Kurilla,” McKenzie said in 2022, according to the Pentagon. “He’s no stranger to the CENTCOM (area of operations). He’s no stranger to the headquarters.”

Notable figures who’ve previously filled the job leading CENTCOM include former defense secretaries, retired Gen. Jim Mattis, who served during Trump’s first term, and retired Gen. Lloyd Austin, who served during former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Fox News Digital reached out to CENTCOM, McKenzie and Milley for comment and did not get a response by the time of publication. 

The region is familiar territory for Kurilla. The general spent a decade between 2004 and 2014 overseeing conventional and special operations forces during consecutive tours in the Middle East that fell under the CENTCOM purview. 

TRUMP REINSTATES ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN 

Additionally, Kurilla has served in key CENTCOM staff and leadership positions, including serving as the command’s chief of staff from August 2018 to September 2019. Prior to leading CENTCOM, the general also commanded the 2nd Ranger Battalion, the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 82nd Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps, according to his official bio. 

In addition to deploying to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve, he deployed to Afghanistan with Operation Enduring Freedom. Other awards he’s earned include the Combat Infantryman Badge, awarded to Army infantry or special forces officers who’ve encountered active ground combat. 

Kurilla, who the Senate confirmed to lead CENTCOM in February 2022 and will exit the role later in 2025, told lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee June 10 that, since October 2023, when Hamas first attacked Israel, American service members have faced increased threats in the region. 

Specifically, he said, U.S. troops have come under direct fire by nearly 400 unmanned aerial systems, 350 rockets, 50 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles launched by Iranian-backed groups. 

He said CENTCOM has encountered the “most highly kinetic period than at any other time in the past decade.”

“We have been at the brink of regional war several times with the first state-on-state attacks between Iran and Israel in their history,” Kurilla told lawmakers. “In the Red Sea, Houthi attempts to kill Americans operating in the Red Sea necessitated an aggressive response to protect our sailors and mariners and restore freedom of navigation. This is while Tehran is continuing to progress towards a nuclear weapons program — threatening catastrophic ramifications across the region and beyond.” 

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As a result, Kurilla said CENTCOM is prepared to use military force to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed state. Kurilla said he has provided Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth a host of options to employ to eliminate the threat of a nuclear Iran. 

Since Kurilla’s testimony, tensions have escalated even further in the Middle East after Israel kicked off massive airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear sites that Israel claims have killed several high-ranking military leaders. Likewise, Iran also launched strikes against Israel as the two ramp up military campaigns against one another.

Trump is still navigating whether the U.S. will conduct direct strikes against Iran. Trump told reporters he may order strikes targeting Iranian nuclear sites and that the “next week is going to be very big.”

“Yes, I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” Trump said. “I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.” 

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…

– Netanyahu declares Israel ‘will exact the full price’ after Iranian strike hits hospital in Israel

– 1,500 Jewish Americans evacuated from Israel as DeSantis sponsors rescue flights to Tampa

– GOP rep says pro-Palestinian supporter ran him off the road

Trump Iran Decision to Come ‘Within the Next Two Weeks’: White House

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on the U.S. becoming involved in Israel’s conflict with Iran within the next two weeks. 

“I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, ‘based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,'” Leavitt said at a White House briefing quoting Trump.

“That’s a quote directly from the president for all of you today…” READ MORE.

White House

QUIET RIFFS GROW: Trump downplays signs of MAGA unrest over possible military strike on Iran

KILLER STAYS PUT: Trump admin fights to deport convicted murderer shielded by Biden-era torture protection

Israel-Iran Conflict

TRIAL BY FIRE: Flaring Iran nuclear crisis provides first major test for pivotal Trump trio

REFUGE BY AIR: 1,500 Jewish Americans evacuated from Israel as DeSantis sponsors rescue flights to Tampa

HOMELAND THREAT: America could be hit with ‘high-impact’ cyberattack targeting energy grid, fmr WH tech chief says

TURNING POINT: Israel’s ‘resounding’ military campaign against Iran could be historic turning point, experts say

SUPREME THREAT: Everything you need to know about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran 

TYRANTS ON NOTICE: Netanyahu declares Israel ‘will exact the full price’ after Iranian strike hits hospital in Israel

REGION ON ALERT: Arab allies recognize Iran’s danger, lawmakers say, as region views regime change cautiously

World Stage

END OF MANDATE?: Decision day approaches for Trump admin on controversial UN force that failed to disarm Hezbollah

Capitol Hill

CITIZENS LAST: Discounted college tuition for illegal immigrants policy leads DOJ to sue Kentucky

HOME FRONT DANGER: After Minnesota killings, Capitol Hill representatives face stark reality about family safety

BUDGET BATTLE: Top Trump ally predicts Senate will blow past ‘big, beautiful bill’ deadline

POWER PLAY SHOWDOWN: ‘Instincts for restraint’: Senate divided on who gets to declare war

Across America 

BALLOT BETRAYAL: Two men convicted in Pennsylvania mayoral race election fraud case hit with harsher sentences than expected

‘DANGEROUS AND DEADLY’: ‘Globalize the intifada’ phrase stirs tensions on NYC campaign trail as Middle East conflict rages

LAW AND ORDER: Portland anti-ICE riot crushed by federal agents

TARGETED TERROR: Boulder terror suspect used Israeli flags to hunt victims, FBI testimony reveals

‘HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED’: Border Patrol agents shut down massive drug smuggling tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego

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

In a unanimous ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, President Trump was allowed to keep control of National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles.

The ruling stays the lower court order that ordered command of the troops back to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard was the first by a president of a state National Guard without the governor’s permission since 1965.

In the filing, the court stated that they believed the president had made a lawful decision.

“Affording the President that deference, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority under § 12406(3), which authorizes federalization of the National Guard when the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States,” the court stated.

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The court also stated they disagreed with Governor Newsom’s argument that the president’s decision to federalize members of the California National Guard under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 is completely insulated from judicial review.

Even though the president failed to notify the governor before deploying the National Guard as required by law, the court cited that Newsom had no power to veto the president’s order.

Voters say they were aware of former President Joe Biden’s decline, and believe the administration lacked honesty and transparency about his mental fitness, with many wanting Congress to investigate the matter.

A new Fox News survey finds more than half, 52%, think it is important to investigate whether Biden advisors used an autopen without the president’s awareness, while 46% say it’s time to move on. 

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is pursuing investigations against former Biden administration staff for allegedly covering up Biden’s mental decline and using an autopen for executive actions.

Views are split on whether advisors should be scrutinized for making key presidential decisions on behalf of Biden (50% investigate vs. 49% move on), while a majority opposes investigating whether Biden advisors covered up his decline (44% investigate vs. 55% move on).

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS THINK IRAN POSES A REAL THREAT TO US SECURITY, BUT SPLIT OJ ISRAEL’S STRIKE

Among Democrats, one in five supports investigating whether there was a cover-up, while roughly one in four feels that way about using the autopen and making presidential decisions.

Overall, 68% of voters believe the previous administration was dishonest about Biden’s condition, including 52% of Democrats, 75% of Independents, and 81% of Republicans.

FOX NEWS POLL: ECONOMIC PESSIMISM ABATES SLIGHTLY AS VOTERS REFLECT ON THE ECONOMY

Yet, while a majority agree there was a cover-up, they weren’t fooled.

Nearly 7 in 10 say they were aware of Biden’s cognitive condition even before his jaw-droppingly bad debate performance in June 2024. Some 28% say they knew he was in decline as soon as he took office, 21% say a couple of years into his term, and 19% after he started running for re-election.

Another 20% knew of Biden’s decline after his debate with Donald Trump. Fewer than 1 in 10 say he wasn’t in decline (9%).

These numbers are consistent with what voters said throughout Biden’s term. 

As early as November 2021, only one year after Biden was elected, Fox News surveys found that a 53% majority thought his age was interfering with his job as president, including more than one-quarter of Democrats. By the 2022 midterms, our Fox News Voter Analysis election survey found 57% of voters felt Biden lacked the mental capability to serve and, by July 2024, that grew to 65%.

“Somewhat lost in the kerfuffle about the exact timing of Biden’s decline is the fact that most knew he was losing it and had factored this into their vote choice long before the presidential debate,” says Daron Shaw, a Republican who conducts the Fox News survey along with Democrat Chris Anderson. “Still, Biden’s reputation and legacy are clearly taking a hit as the real history of his administration is revealed.” 

Biden’s current personal favorability is underwater by 13 points (43% favorable, 56% unfavorable), compared to -19 points in January. During the early days of his presidency, his ratings were net positive by 10 points (54% favorable, 44% unfavorable, April 2021).

Today, 75% of Democrats have a positive view of Biden, down from 95% four years ago. 

CLICK HERE FOR CROSSTABS AND TOPLINE

Conducted June 13-16, 2025, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,003 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (149) and cellphones (566) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (288). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is contemplating whether to order U.S. on Iran and will make a decision within two weeks, White House officials said Thursday, capping days of intense speculation about the president’s plan in the region—and touching off new fears of escalation, retaliation, and long-term engagement in another foreign conflict.

Trump spent much of the week musing publicly about the prospect of involving the U.S. more directly in the Israeli-Iranian conflict, as the two countries continued to carry out deadly strikes against one another. As the week went on, Trump continued to break with attempts by Cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had attempted to distance the role the U.S. played in helping Israel.

Trump warned on social media Wednesday that the U.S. has “complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” and demanded an “unconstitutional surrender” from Iran. 

He has also repeatedly refused to rule out the prospect of carrying out a direct strike on Iran. “I may do it. I may not do it,” he told reporters Wednesday. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.

That statement, more than any others, illustrates the central question thrumming through much of Washington this week, as Trump continues to huddle with advisers for meetings in the Situation Room, including at least one meeting where he reportedly approved attack plans against Tehran, in the event they failed to put an end to their nuclear program, as the administration demanded. (News of that meeting was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.)

TRUMP TO MAKE IRAN DECISION ‘WITHIN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS’ GIVEN ‘CHANCE’ OF NEGOTIATIONS, LEAVITT SAYS

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to elaborate on the nature of U.S.-Iranian talks on Thursday, telling reporters only that Trump planned to make a decision on how to proceed within the two-week period. 

Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected negotiations with the U.S. on Wednesday, warning that if it attacked Iran, the U.S. “without doubt, will face irreparable harm.”

Here’s what we know about Trump’s options, should he choose to order U.S. strikes on Iran— and the risks, legal and otherwise, the U.S. could encounter as a result.

War Powers Resolution

Trump has been weighing ordering the U.S. to conduct a strike against Iran, including the possibility of targeting the country’s nuclear enrichment facility at Fordow, a key nuclear facility located south of Tehran.

But while Trump huddles with his advisers at the White House, lawmakers have been convening on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue for closed-door meetings of their own. 

Trump’s remarks have done little to quell mounting fears of escalation in the Middle East— both from some MAGA supporters, who rallied around his promises of ending “forever wars,” and Democrats, who fear retaliation that an offensive would bring.

Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., announced new bipartisan legislation this week that would require Trump to obtain congressional approval before signing off on any meaningful engagement in Iran, such as offensive strikes on its nuclear facilities. 

The bill has attracted the support of an odd coalition of bipartisan lawmakers, including Trump supporters who are opposed to U.S. engagement in more foreign wars, and Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. 

Those lawmakers argue that Trump, in acting unilaterally, would violate standing U.S. laws— namely, limitations enumerated in the War Powers Resolution, or the law passed by Congress in 1973 aimed at codifying the instances in which a president can authorize the use of force in foreign conflicts without a formal war declaration.

‘INSTINCTS FOR RESTRAINT’: SENATE DIVIDED OVER WHO GETS TO DECLARE WAR

“The ongoing war between Israel and Iran is not our war,” Massie said in announcing the bill. “Even if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.”

But in the decades since the law was passed, presidents have expanded their powers here significantly absent congressional authorization, including under both Democrat and Republican presidents. This has, to some degree, been reflected by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which has taken a broader view of the Article II powers granted to presidents when initiating the use of force— especially when it is in the “national interest” to do so. 

These broader powers have been used by Republican presidents, and during both the Obama and Biden administrations, officials told Fox News Digital. 

Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, stressed this in an interview with Fox News. 

“There’s lots of precedents of presidents ignoring the technicalities” of the War Powers Regulation, he said in an interview Thursday.

Ultimately, Rubin said, the president “has the ability to act without it for a set period of time. And so [the law] really only applies if we’re going to be going into a major operation rather than a one-time bombing.”

“The fact of the matter is, the worst option for American security is allowing Iran to reconstitute its program because of what it has buried in Fordow,” said Rubin, a former Pentagon official whose work at AEI focuses largely on issues in the Middle East.

Fears of escalation

In the interim, however, Trump’s threats have sparked concerns from some critics, who see his remarks as both dangerous and potentially rife for possible retaliation from Tehran. 

Critics have suggested they could also endanger U.S. officials stationed overseas, including those within the strike range of Iran.

“It should be the interest of the White House to use U.S. leverage to stop the fighting,” Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, told Fox News in an interview. 

“The U.S. is assisting Israel with missile defense right now,” he said. The business of defense “is to stop the fight,” he said.

International law

There are also fears that the U.S. could be acting in violation of international law, including the United Nations charter that “prohibits the threat or use of force except in certain limited circumstances, such as self-defense,” according to a white paper published in 2019 by Just Security. 

In this situation, critics say the U.S. has no pretext to authorize a strike against Iran.

“I don’t think there’s any plausible self-defense argument for U.S. military action against Iran,” Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, told Fox News in an interview. 

“So any U.S. military action against Iran would violate the UN Charter and thus breach the president’s duty of the Constitution to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,” he said.

Others on the Hill and beyond have taken a more supportive posture as Trump weighs his next steps.

Speaking in an interview Thursday morning on “Fox & Friends,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., praised Trump’s actions so far in the region, saying Trump is “doing absolutely the right thing to keep America safe.”

“He has been very consistent for 10 years saying Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” Barrasso said. “He said it strongly. He’s read it repeatedly because he knows that Iran with a nuclear weapon is a threat to the people of the United States. We stand with the people [of] Israel.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham has been among Trump’s most vocal supporters, and said in interviews earlier this week that he believes Trump has a desire to “finish the job” in destroying Fordow.

“I don’t think Israel can finish Fordow without our help, and it’s in our interest to make sure this program is destroyed, as much as it’s Israel’s,” he said in an interview. 

“And so if there’s something you need to do to help Israel, do it,” he said.   

Rubin, the AEI fellow, also sought to differentiate Trump’s actions from other presidents who have engaged in lengthy foreign conflicts.

“The issue with Iran is we’re not entangling the United States in war,” Rubin said. “We’re taking an opportunity to end a crisis once and for all. It seems to be a one-shot deal.”

Next steps

Still, it’s unclear what Trump’s end game will be, should he choose to strike Iran. 

That’s in part by design, said Finucane, the adviser at the International Crisis Group, who previously spent a decade in the Office of Legal Counsel for the State Department.

 “The Constitution, very deliberately, gives the power to declare war to Congress,” he said.

“And it does so to make going to war hard,” he said. “It requires collective decision-making, and prior public debate; deliberation [of] the cost and benefits of the most consequential decision that the U.S. government can make, in terms of blood and treasure,” he said.

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“Therefore, if the U.S. wants to minimize the risk of getting dragged into an unnecessary war in the Middle East, and at least minimize risks to people in the region, including Americans in the region, then it should be in the interest of the White House to put a stop to the fighting— whether or not it wants to get involved,”

A federal judge in Rhode Island issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday, blocking the Trump administration from denying federal transportation funds to states that do not cooperate with immigration enforcement authorities.

Twenty Democratic-led states brought a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration, challenging a new Department of Transportation (DOT) policy of withholding or terminating federal funding to any state or local government that does not comply with immigration-enforcement policies.

During Trump’s first day in office, he issued a sweeping executive order that would deny federal funds to “so-called sanctuary jurisdictions.”

U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. issued the preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s efforts on Thursday, saying it is “unconstitutional and/or unlawful” because it violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

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McConnell also said the Trump administration’s action is ultra vires – or done beyond one’s legal authority – and exceeds Congress’s powers under the Spending Clause.

Under the preliminary injunction, the Trump administration is “prohibited from implementing or enforcing the Immigration Enforcement Condition as set forth in the Duffy Directive,” McConnell wrote.

He also said the defendants are “prohibited from withholding or terminating federal funding based on the Immigration Enforcement Condition as set forth in the Duffy Directive absent specific statutory authorization.”

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“Defendants are prohibited from taking adverse action against any state entity or local jurisdiction, including barring it from receiving or making it ineligible for federal funding, based on the Immigration Enforcement Condition, absent specific statutory authorization,” the ruling continued. “The Court forbids and enjoins any attempt to implement the Immigration Enforcement Condition, and any actions by the Defendants to implement or enforce the Immigration Enforcement Condition.”

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

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, even this week, has warned “rogue state actors” who do not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal immigration enforcement that they may be on the hook to clean up their own mess.

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Most recently, Duffy directed his comments toward California officials who have distanced themselves from immigration enforcement while riots and protests continue to break out in places like Los Angeles.

Duffy has suggested political leaders work better with the Trump administration.

“The USDOT will not fund rogue state actors who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,” Duffy said Monday. “And to cities that stand by while rioters destroy transportation infrastructure — don’t expect a red cent from DOT, either.”

Duffy said in April that federal grants come with the obligation to adhere to federal law.

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“It shouldn’t be controversial – enforce our immigration rules, end anti-American DEI policies, and protect free speech. These values reflect the priorities of the American people, and I will take action to ensure compliance,” he said.

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

After a week of intense speculation about whether President Donald Trump will launch a strike on Iran in support of Israel’s efforts to eliminate the country’s nuclear weapons program, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced there is a “substantial chance” for renewed negotiations.

This comes as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is reportedly scheduled to meet with European leaders in Geneva Friday.

Speaking with reporters in the White House press briefing room Thursday, Leavitt confirmed U.S. and Iranian officials have engaged in six rounds of direct and indirect negotiations during the conflict with Israel, which broke out June 13.

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Leavitt, however, did not say whether U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been leading the president’s negotiations with Iran, would be present for the meetings in Geneva.

Asked by Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich whether the fact that Iranian officials had found a way to get to Geneva meant they could also get to the White House to engage in negotiations, Leavitt responded: “I am not going to get into hypotheticals, but as you heard from the president yesterday, they have expressed interest in doing so.”

Addressing the possibility of the U.S. becoming directly involved in the conflict, Leavitt read a message from the president saying, “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”

While she said Trump is hoping to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict, she said he has simultaneously been very “direct and clear” that the terms of any deal with the country must include no enrichment of uranium, which would contribute to the Iranian nuclear program the president has long opposed.

She stressed the U.S. faces a serious threat due to Iran’s nuclear program, saying, “Iran has never been closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon.” 

“Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that,” said Leavitt. “And it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon, which would, of course, pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the United States and to the entire world.”

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Nonetheless, Leavitt said, “Iran is absolutely not able to achieve a nuclear weapon. The president has been very clear about that. And, by the way, the deal that Special Envoy Witkoff proposed to the Iranians was both realistic and acceptable within its terms, and that’s why the president sent that deal to them.”

Leavitt emphasized Trump’s stance that Iran “can and should make a deal” to end the conflict or “they will face grave consequences.”

“Iran is in a very weak and vulnerable position because of the strikes and the attacks from Israel,” she said. “We sent a deal to them that was practical, that was realistic.”

According to French outlet RFI, the talks Friday with the Iranians will include French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

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The outlet reported Barrot saying, “France, Britain and Germany stand ready to bring our competence and experience on this matter” and “we are ready to take part in negotiations aimed at obtaining from Iran a lasting rollback of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Lammy Thursday. According to a statement by State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, the two discussed the Israeli-Iran conflict and “agreed Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.

In response to additional questions about potential U.S. negotiations with Iran, a representative for the White House directed Fox News Digital to Leavitt’s comments in the briefing room.