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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on Wednesday it has decreased its annual non-defense federal obligations by an additional ~1.9% since last month.

As of June 8th, annual non-defense federal obligations are down 22.4%, or ~$25B, as compared to 2024, DOGE announced on X.

The cut marks an additional ~1.9% reduction from last month’s figures, which were announced on May 8. 

DOGE’S GREATEST HITS: LOOK BACK AT THE DEPARTMENT’S MOST HIGH-PROFILE CUTS DURING TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS

“Cash outlays will follow as obligations come due,” DOGE wrote in the post. “Our initiative to reduce wasteful spend, consistent with the DOGE Cost Efficiency Executive Order, continues to bear fruit.”

On May 14, DOGE announced the current year’s non-defense federal obligations were down 20.5% as compared to 2024. 

The announcement came minutes before Fox News Digital was first to report the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is rehiring more than 450 previously fired employees belonging to multiple divisions within the agency’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The rehired CDC employees came from the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; the National Center for Environmental Health; the Immediate Office of the Director, and the Global Health Center, according to an HHS official familiar with the matter.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News in April some personnel who were cut shouldn’t have been. 

DOGE ENDS 108 ‘WASTEFUL’ CONTRACTS, INCLUDING FOR AN ‘EXECUTIVE TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM’

“We’re reinstating them, and that was always the plan,” Kennedy said. “Part of the—at DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we’re going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we’ll make mistakes.”

In addition to the HHS rehires, the Internal Revenue Service, Food and Drug Administration, State Department, and Department of Housing and Urban Development started rehiring employees let go during DOGE cuts, the Washington Post reported.

DOGE TAKES A CHAINSAW TO FEDERAL SPENDING WITH 7 MAJOR VICTORIES THIS WEEK: ‘GOT TO BE DONE’

Another roadblock this week was a ruling from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York, who ruled to restrict the agency’s access to federal databases.

The Trump administration previously said DOGE could not work effectively with the limitations, noting DOGE needed to access Social Security information to root out fraud.

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Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The newly confirmed head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division sent out a memo hours after being sworn in on Wednesday in which he directed staff to focus on a slate of conservative priorities, including rooting out antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate’s internal memo, first obtained by Fox News Digital, also directed attorneys in the DOJ’s largest division to prioritize investigations and legal action that involved tightening restrictions on transgender medical care and denaturalizing citizens who “illegally procured” naturalization.

In addition to initiating lawsuits, the Civil Division is primarily tasked with defending the government in court in non-criminal matters, which includes the hundreds of lawsuits President Donald Trump and his administration have been hit with as Trump carries out executive actions that test the limits of presidential authority.

TRUMP ORDERS ATTORNEY GENERAL TO INVESTIGATE BIDEN’S AUTOPEN USE

Civil Division attorneys from the Federal Programs Bench have been fighting court battles on behalf of Trump related to his sweeping tariffs, birthright citizenship, activities by the Department of Government Efficiency, and, most recently, his use of the National Guard in California.

Shumate was confirmed by the Senate on Monday along party lines. The Civil Division head was seen during the confirmation as a Trump loyalist who previously worked as a partner at Jones Day, a Washington-based firm that has represented Trump during his campaigns. Shumate was a top official in the Civil Division for two years during the first Trump administration.

READ THE MEMO BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE

Shumate’s memo suggests he kicked off his first day in office by setting a tone for his wealth of attorneys that aligned with President Donald Trump’s and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s agendas.

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In an unusual move, the division will coordinate with the Civil Rights Division on its anti-DEI efforts. Trump has frequently described DEI as discriminatory.

“Consistent with these directives, the Civil Division will use all available resources to pursue affirmative litigation combatting unlawful discriminatory practices in the private sector,” Shumate wrote.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt balked at a handful of questions posed by the media during Wednesday’s press briefing regarding the anti-ICE riots that have spiraled in Los Angeles, including remarking that one prompt was “stupid” before quickly moving on. 

“Quick question, so if there were peaceful protests on Saturday for the military parade, President Trump would allow that,” one reporter asked Leavitt on Wednesday afternoon. 

“Of course, the president supports peaceful protest. What a stupid question,” Leavitt shot back before taking another question from another reporter. 

The press briefing comes after riots broke out in Los Angeles on Friday in response to federal law enforcement officials converging on the city to conduct immigration raids. 

ANTI-ICE RIOTS FORCE HUD OFFICES TO CLOSE WEEKS AFTER ‘SQUAD’ DEM, MAXINE WATERS SAID TRUMP WOULD CLOSE THEM

Reporters peppered Leavitt with a handful of questions regarding planned upcoming deportation efforts nationwide, and how the administration plans to handle any potential future riots in response to ICE raids, as well as another question on the riots that Leavitt quickly dismissed as a “disingenuous attack.”

“Everything that we’ve seen so far with the president’s response to the LA protests, there is criticism that seems to suggest that the president responded the way he did because it was a deliberate, calculated attempt to sort of shift focus away from his feud with Musk. How would you respond to that idea?” another reporter asked.

“That the president responded to the LA riots, condemning the violence … That’s an incredibly disingenuous attack,” Leavitt responded. 

‘DELUSIONAL’ HILLARY CLINTON SAVAGELY MOCKED FOR LA RIOTS RESPONSE: ‘ONLY LEFTISTS DISABLE COMMENTS’

Leavitt continued in her response that Trump saw footage first-hand of rioters targeting federal law enforcement officials such as ICE, before making the decision to activate the National Guard over the weekend. 

“The president saw images of Border Patrol and ICE agents being hit with rocks and Molotov cocktails. He saw vehicles being burned to the ground with illegal aliens flying foreign flags. And that’s what prompted the president to have this response that has clearly worked,” she continued. 

Riots broke out in the city after local leaders such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced the raids in public statements while offering words of support for illegal aliens in the state. 

Trump announced Saturday that he was deploying 2,000 National Guard members to help quell the violence, bypassing the governor, who typically activates the National Guard. The move sparked Newsom to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for efforts to allegedly “federalize the California National Guard,” while Democrats across the nation have attempted to pin blame for the violence on Trump’s activation of the National Guard while characterizing the anti-ICE riots as “peaceful” demonstrations. 

SEN KENNEDY TELLS DEMOCRATS TO ‘POP A ZOLOFT’ OVER TRUMP’S HANDLING OF LOS ANGELES ANTI-ICE RIOTS

“And I would add, the governor and the mayor need to actually do more. I know Gavin Newsom had a big address to the nation last night. … We haven’t seen action. California has been a mess for years because of the incompetence of Gavin Newsom. So, the president was responding to that only,” Leavitt continued. 

MUSK SAYS HE REGRETS SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS TARGETING TRUMP: ‘THEY WENT TOO FAR’

The riots unfolded in Los Angeles the day after Trump and former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk traded public barbs over the “big beautiful bill,” which is sweeping legislation that aims to fund Trump’s agenda. 

Musk attempted to rally lawmakers to “kill the bill” on Tuesday, arguing it was an “outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.” 

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The pair’s relationship appeared to be shattered as they traded repeated public barbs. Musk, however, posted to X on Wednesday that he regretted “some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is rehiring more than 450 previously fired employees belonging to multiple divisions within the agency’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an HHS official familiar with the matter.

The rehired workers come from four different operational divisions within the CDC. These divisions include the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention (NCHHSTP), the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), the Immediate Office of the Director (IOD) and the CDC’s Global Health Center (GHC). 

The move to bring these employees back follows the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to reorganize HHS and its sub-agencies during its first few months, which reports said included as many as 10,000 layoffs at various health agencies. It also follows multiple actions by the Trump administration following those layoffs to rehire some of the HHS staffers who were initially let go, such as those within the CDC’s World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Institutes of Health.

HHS SAYS IT WILL CUT WORKFORCE BY 10K, SAVING $1.8B ANNUALLY

“Personnel that should not have been cut, were cut,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News in April. “We’re reinstating them. And that was always the plan. Part of the — at DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we’re going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we’ll make mistakes.”

NCHHSTP will see the greatest number of its workers rehired out of the four divisions, with 214 returning. This HHS division consists of several smaller groups, including CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention, which media reports said was cut in half by the Trump administration. 

NCEH will see the next greatest number of returned employees, with 158 coming back. Similar to NCHHSTP, NCEH consists of multiple groups, including one titled the “Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice,” which the Trump administration initially eliminated altogether as part of its reforms.

HOW A DOGE REVIEW CAN ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE PROGRAMS THAT FIGHT HIV/AIDS

IOD will see the third most returning with 71 and CDC’s Global Health Center will see the least employees return out of the four divisions with 24 rehired workers.

HHS is just one of several agencies that have rehired employees following reductions in force spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the State Department, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have all taken actions to rehire employees that were initially fired as a result of the reduction in force, per the Washington Post. 

“Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the nation’s critical public health functions remain intact and effective. The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services—whether it’s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said. 

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“HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work. Enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans remains our top priority.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., launched an investigation into a left-wing group in California that he says may be financially supporting violent protests in Los Angeles.

Hawley wrote a letter to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) on Wednesday, saying the organization may have an “alleged role in financially and materially supporting” protests and riots in Los Angeles, which he described as “coordinated.”

“Who is funding the LA riots? This violence isn’t spontaneous. As chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime & Terrorism, I’m launching an investigation to find out,” Hawley announced on social media.

The letter, addressed to CHIRLA Executive Director Angelica Salas, notes that “credible reporting” has indicated that the organization has provided “logistical support and financial resources to individuals engaged in these disruptive actions.”

FEDERAL OFFICIALS SLAM DEMOCRATS FOR ‘DANGEROUS’ RHETORIC AS ICE AGENTS FACE VIOLENT MOBS IN LA, NYC

“Let me be clear: bankrolling civil unrest is not protected speech. It is aiding and abetting criminal conduct. Accordingly, you must immediately cease and desist any further involvement in the organization, funding or promotion of these unlawful activities,” Hawley wrote.

The letter additionally requests that CHIRLA provide internal communications relating to any protest planning or funding, as well as financial documents related to the same, including third-party contracts, vendor agreements and various other business relationships.

Hawley also requested travel records for individuals involved with the organization if they have been reimbursed by CHIRLA, as well as the organization’s donor lists.

NATIONAL GUARD TO BE DEPLOYED IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY AS ANTI-ICE PROTESTS RAGE: BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN

IRS records obtained by Fox News show that CHIRLA has received $34 million in government grants, including three from former President Joe Biden’s administration for $750,000.

President Donald Trump has already cut funding for the organization. Nevertheless, CHIRLA still receives state and city grant funds to support its lawyers fighting against deportations.

CHIRLA is also responsible for creating the so-called Rapid Response Network, the hotline immigrants use to report ICE raids. The network then sends text alerts, giving migrants an opportunity to hide.

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

Trump has been vocal about his belief that many of the rioters and protesters in Los Angeles are professional agitators rather than real protesters.

“The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They’re insurrectionists. They’re bad people. They should be in jail,” Trump said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom swiftly responded to Trump’s comments in a post on social media.

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“The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor,” Newsom wrote. “This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”

Vivek Ramaswamy said he sees parallels between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and another controversial Democratic governor who literally stood in the way of the National Guard and had well-known presidential ambitions.

Newsom is beginning to “resemble” former Alabama Gov. George Wallace in several aspects of his response to Los Angeles’ riots, Ramaswamy claimed Tuesday on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

The Ohio gubernatorial candidate noted how Wallace – an avowed segregationist who ran for president four times – forced the hand of President John F. Kennedy by preventing Black students from attending the University of Alabama.

“[Newsom’s] behavior is starting to resemble that of another Democratic governor from U.S. history by the name of George Wallace, who was the governor of Alabama, who famously stood in the way of federal desegregation,” Ramaswamy said.

MAXINE WATERS TAUNTS ARMED AGENTS AFTER FEDS SLAM DOOR ON HER DURING LA RIOTS: ‘YOU BETTER SHOOT STRAIGHT’

“The parallels are actually pretty striking, if you think about it: Democrat governors, when you look at George Wallace, he resisted desegregation. Gavin Newsom is resisting deportations. George Wallace wanted segregated cities. Gavin Newsom wants sanctuary cities. George Wallace stood in the school door, blocking the way. Gavin Newsom is blocking the ICE vans. It’s the same Democrat-governor playbook.”

The former DOGE co-leader said both Newsom and Wallace “dodge[d] the feds and rall[ied] the radicals.”

“What they were both doing is really carving their Democratic primary path for their presidential ambitions,” he added.

“Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions are going to end in the same place that George Wallace’s did: In the dustbin of history where it belongs.”

In June 1963, Wallace prevented two Black students – Vivian Malone and James Hood – from enrolling on the Tuscaloosa campus of the University of Alabama and made his infamous “stand in the schoolhouse door.”

NEWSOM SAYS LOS ANGELES RIOTERS WILL BE PROSECUTED, SLAMS TRUMP FOR ‘TRAUMATIZING OUR COMMUNITIES’

After Wallace refused Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach’s order to step aside, he delivered a pro-states-rights speech and did not budge.

Kennedy federalized the Yellowhammer State’s National Guard under the Insurrection Act. Gen. Henry Graham personally confronted Wallace, who ultimately relented.

The next year, Wallace primaried President Lyndon Johnson and notably won a few northern states he had targeted on his segregationist platform – but lost to the incumbent.

In 1968, he tried again on the American Independent line with a counter-civil-rights message – splitting the Democratic vote, winning five states and helping ultimate victor Richard Nixon. During his 1976 run, he apologized for his past support for segregation.

This week, Newsom objected to President Donald Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard and the ensuing deployment of 700 Marines to Los Angeles to assist in riot response.

Late Tuesday, Clinton-appointed federal Judge Charles Breyer rejected a Newsom request to block Trump’s military deployments.

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Newsom continued to lambaste Trump, saying in a video statement Tuesday that, “authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves, but they do not stop there.”

Newsom also took heat for his riot response strategy from some famous Los Angeles residents, including actor Jon Voight.

“You fool,” Voight fumed in an X video posted early Wednesday. 

“They [the rioters] would burn you down like they are burning the cars and the American flag.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom for comment but did not immediately hear back.

President Donald Trump quickly reacted to fledgling riots in Los Angeles County over the weekend by activating the National Guard, a response that drew comparisons to the summer of 2020, when widespread violence and destruction arose from Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots.

Trump’s decision to federalize 4,100 National Guard soldiers and deploy hundreds of Marines came in the face of forceful objections from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is now suing Trump over the move. Trump’s deputies, however, say the National Guard was a necessary step to quash riots lest they reach the scale of the ones that occurred across the country in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Trump’s decision would prevent a scenario like the one in Minnesota that year, when Democratic Gov. Tim Walz waited two days to call upon the National Guard to address unrest in his state.

“That’s one of the reasons why these National Guard soldiers have been federalized, so they can use their special skill set to keep peace,” Noem said in a recent television interview. “We’re not going to let a repeat of 2020 happen, and if you remember, it all happened in Tim Walz’s state, in Minneapolis… and Governor Tim Walz made very bad decisions.”

DAVID MARCUS: TWO WAYS TRUMP 2.0 QUELLED THE WOULD-BE LA RIOTS

Walz tried to get Trump to “bail him out” after the governor “let his city burn for days on end,” Noem said.

Walz activated the National Guard in Minnesota on May 28, after looting and arson had already cropped up in the state in response to Floyd’s death. Within hours of Walz announcing he had mobilized National Guard soldiers, rioters set ablaze Minneapolis’ Third Precinct police station.

Although Walz ended up activating Minnesota’s entire National Guard, his hesitancy prompted Trump to threaten on May 29 to federalize the soldiers “to get the job done right.”

‘STATE OF REBELLION’: EXPERT WEIGHS IN ON NEWSOM CHALLENGE TO TRUMP DEPLOYING NATIONAL GUARD

By May 30, Minnesota’s National Guard announced that the governor had fully mobilized it, marking the “largest domestic deployment” in its history.

During these riots, Trump was far more deferential to governors, several of whom saw their cities ravaged by rioting, looting, arson, violence and death. The Democratic governors struggled at times to balance a law-and-order posture with their sympathy for those frustrated by police brutality.

The National Guard is a military force based in each state, and governors and presidents have shared authority over it. Governors typically have purview over their respective National Guard units, but presidents can call them into federal service in certain scenarios.

On June 3, 2020, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pressured the Trump administration in a New York Times op-ed to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow the president to federalize the National Guard. The prospect was so controversial at the time that the newspaper retracted the op-ed, citing fierce blowback from its readers.

JONATHAN TURLEY: DEMOCRATS’ RABID ANTI-ICE RESISTANCE IN LA AGAINST TRUMP COULD BACKFIRE

By June 4, governors in 32 states and Washington, D.C., activated a total of more than 32,000 National Guard soldiers as the chaos transpired across the country.

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DHS Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar echoed Noem’s remarks in a statement online on Monday, saying Trump moved so quickly because he did not want the same level of violence and damage as in 2020.

Trump and Noem “will not allow violent radicals to intimidate and shut down law enforcement in LA,” Edgar said. “This isn’t the Summer of 2020 2.0. I thank the brave men and women of the National Guard defending federal buildings so that immigration officials can keep us safe.”

FIRST ON FOX: A national security-focused nonprofit organization has released a comprehensive report detailing the workings of a well-funded nominally U.S.-based organization that it says is undermining American energy, pushing left-wing green initiatives, and ultimately advancing Chinese interests. 

The report, published by State Armor, outlines the money trail of Energy Foundation China, registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is technically headquartered in San Francisco but with employees mostly based in Beijing.

“Energy Foundation China used to be known as the Energy Foundation before it spun off most of its U.S.-based operations in 2019 into a separate organization called the U.S. Energy Foundation,” the report explains. “While still formally organized as the Energy Foundation, since 2019, the organization has used the alias ‘Energy Foundation China’ or ‘EF China’ to differentiate from the now-separate U.S. Energy Foundation. The group was founded by Hal Harvey, a climate activist and entrepreneur with deep ties to numerous left-wing organizations and to China.”

State Armor found that EFC has “spent millions each year to bankroll climate advocates who promote phasing out fossil fuels and implementing green energy alternatives like the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the latter of which was the target of a 2018 Congressional inquiry into whether it should register as a foreign agent based on its Chinese funding.”

FORMER TOP HOCHUL AIDE’S UNEARTHED FAMILY CONNECTIONS TO CCP RAISES ALARM BELLS

The Rocky Mountain Institute produced one of the most prominent studies used by many Democrats to justify cutting down on gas stoves and was cited by President Biden’s Department of Energy. 

Earlier this year, multiple committees joined to begin an investigation into EFC, and requested files from EFC President Zi Chou about financial resources given to American organizations after Fox News Digital reporting on the group funneling millions of dollars to fund climate initiatives and environmental groups in the U.S.

The report details how EFC “led a U.S. state-level legislative drive” against Bayer, the leading Western fertilizer company, that pushed for lawsuits against the company over a potentially carcinogenic pesticide with the aim of driving the company out of the U.S. and in turn forcing reliance on Chinese suppliers. 

The report goes on to outline how the organization has “provided millions” to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) to support “a clean energy future” and how ICCT was an “active supporter” of climate initiatives in the Inflation Reduction Act targeting increased battery electric trucking infrastructure. 

Fox News Digital reported in 2023 that The Energy Foundation sent $480,000 to the Washington, D.C.-based International Council on Clean Transportation, which advocates for widespread EV adoption and policies decarbonizing the transportation sector broadly. It also wired grants — one to the University of Maryland and another to the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs — worth a total of $450,000 and earmarked for projects to phase out coal power reliance.

BOMBSHELL REPORT SUGGESTS ‘CHINESE SPIES’ INFILTRATING PRESTIGIOUS US UNIVERSITY: ‘WIDESPREAD CAMPAIGN’

Josh Hodges, Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and former National Security Advisor to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and NSC Senior Director in the first Trump Administration, told Fox News Digital that EFC is a “textbook example of the CCP’s asymmetric warfare strategy and drive to deepen its dominance over American companies.”

“Communist China is manipulating a supposed philanthropic network to steer the U.S. away from reliable domestic energy sources and into dependence on Chinese supply chains,” Hodges said. “Whether it’s solar panels, mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, or agricultural chemicals, Beijing’s fingerprints are all over the ‘green transition’ being pushed on America.”

The report quotes Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin who suggested that Biden’s green energy policies will remain even under a more skeptical Trump administration and said, “even if the new Trump administration reverses climate change policies, it is unlikely to completely change the green transition actions that have already begun in various parts of the U.S.”

“In other words, the CCP’s penetration of the U.S.’ political and industrial systems runs so deep that CCP officials believe that not even a skeptical White House could halt America’s growing dependence upon Chinese technologies,” the report states. 

‘COMING FOR US’: EXPERT SOUNDS ALARM ON CCP’S MISSION TO ‘KILL AMERICANS’ AFTER FBI MAKES SHOCKING ARRESTS

Will Hild, Executive Director of Consumers’ Research told Fox News Digital that the report “exposes a disturbing truth” that EFC is part of a broader push to undermine American energy independence and “stifle” the Trump energy agenda to benefit the CCP. 

“EFC is weaponizing woke ideology to pull off this scheme and force American consumers to rely on the Chinese Communist Party for energy sources,” Hild said. “Americans deserve to know the truth about our foreign adversary’s campaign that is poisoning our economy and reshaping our energy future. We applaud organizations like State Armor that are working to expose these grifts against consumers.”

In addition to the EFC’s climate activism, the report focuses on how, by “co-opting climate activism and dominating new so-called green supply chains, Beijing converts a domestic weakness into a global strength” while also detailing the ties between EFC and the CCP. 

For example, EFC’s CEO Zou Ji has served in previous roles at top leadership positions in China’s official National Center for Climate Change Strategy within the National Development and Reform Commission of the State Council. 

“He was so deeply tied into CCP leadership that he was included as a part of China’s delegation to the 2015 Paris Climate Talks,” the report says. “Zou’s other affiliations include a position at Tsinghua University at a center where his colleagues include a retired senior PLA officer and a former deputy director of an MSS think tank.”

Zou is not the only EFC figure with ties to the CCP, the report says, pointing to EFC Board Member and Washington, D.C. based attorney Hongjun Zhang, who serves as a member of China’s Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and was previously a legislative director for the China National People’s Congress. 

Zhang, according to his law firm’s bio page, spent “many years in the Chinese government” that included work at the “Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), State Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), and National Development and Reform Commission.” 

The report states that EFC’s operations in China are overseen by the CCP’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and that the organization’s Beijing headquarters are located in a building owned by a state-owned investment corporation tied to Chinese state media propaganda. 

Rep. John Moolenar, R-Mich., who is the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, sounded the alarm over the report, telling Fox News Digital “This report confirms what we’ve long warned: the Chinese Communist Party is using seemingly innocuous nonprofits to influence American policy and undermine U.S. interests — in this case, our energy independence.”

“Energy Foundation China operates at the direction of the CCP and is exploiting our charitable system to push policies that benefit Beijing, not the American people,” Moolenar continued. “The Select Committee continues to investigate how CCP-linked organizations infiltrate U.S. institutions, shift critical supply chains toward China, and shape environmental agendas that aim to make America weaker while China gets stronger. We will continue to expose these influence operations and work with Congress and the Administration to safeguard U.S. energy security and national sovereignty.”

The report also points to examples of EFC collaborating with U.S. entities and officials including in 2023 when it “provided support” for an event that featured California Gov. Gavin Newsom during a visit to China and then hosted a forum a month later for a discussion promoting “low-carbon cooperation between the two nations.”

Vance Wagner, the vice president for strategic partnerships at Energy Foundation China, pushed back on the report, telling Fox News Digital that “Energy Foundation China (EFC) is an independent grantmaking charitable organization that provides funding for research and capacity building related to climate change and China.”

“Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our world. Our work is currently focused on China given the scale of its energy sector and its role in global emissions. Despite geopolitical tensions, meaningful engagement with China on climate change and emissions reductions is in everyone’s interests,” Vance continued. “All grants we make support projects related to climate change and China, and are in no way related to influencing U.S. energy policy. EFC does not accept funding from any government or political party.”

“Neither the Chinese government nor the CCP fund, direct, or control EFC or our grant-making decisions,” he added. “We are compliant with all U.S. and Chinese laws and regulations and do not lobby or support electoral activities in any country.”

The report states that between 2020 and 2021, EFC gave over $1 million to the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for funding “green energy research” and laboratory training increasing the efficiency of China’s industrial sectors. 

The Biden administration, according to the report, gave $60 million in grants to the Institute for Sustainable Communities, which is a group “frequently in collaboration with Energy Foundation China.”

“America’s energy security is national security,” Jason Isaac, CEO of American Energy Institute, told Fox News Digital. 

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“The State Armor report lays bare how the Chinese Communist Party has co-opted climate activism to shift the U.S. onto so-called ‘green’ technologies that are manufactured, mined, and controlled by China. From solar panels to EV batteries and rare earth minerals, our supply chains are increasingly entangled with a foreign adversary that uses forced labor, ignores environmental safeguards, and openly aims to dominate the global energy future. This isn’t progress—it’s dependence. Real energy dominance means leveraging America’s vast domestic energy resources, not outsourcing our future to Beijing.”

Along with the report, State Armor has sent letters to Republican committee chairs in Congress, including Chairmen Grassley, Lee, Moolenaar, Comer, and Guthrie, that call for prompt oversight on the matter. 

“Congress must act,” the letter, authored by Lucci, implores. “Oversight is urgently needed to expose the full extent of this operation, beginning with Energy Foundation China. The EFC is not a passive observer; it is an active player in a geopolitical contest where America’s energy security and global leadership hang in the balance.”

Fox News Digital’s Thomas Catenacci and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report

Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., said he has concerns about the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the Golden State.

“I remain concerned about ongoing ICE operations throughout CA and will continue my conversations with the administration—urging them to prioritize the removal of known criminals over the hardworking people who have lived peacefully in the Valley for years,” the congressman said in a post to X on Tuesday morning.

In the same thread, the Republican condemned the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles.

CALIFORNIA LT. GOVERNOR SAYS LOS ANGELES RIOTS ARE ‘GENERATED BY DONALD TRUMP’

“I support the First Amendment right to peacefully protest, but the violence and vandalism happening in Los Angeles is unacceptable and I stand with our law enforcement officers working to protect people and regain control over the situation,” he wrote.

The congressman represents a highly competitive district in central California. Cook Political Report currently ranks the 2026 race as “Lean Republican” in his district.

CalMatters reported in March that ICE may have been conducting operations in the Central Valley. Tens of thousands of arrests have occurred since Trump took office, as the administration is seeking to execute mass deportations. Meanwhile, southern border crossings have taken a nosedive.

RIOTERS SMASH WINDOWS AT LAPD HEADQUARTERS AS ANTI-ICE AGITATORS CLASH WITH AUTHORITIES

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is currently facing a goal of 3,000 daily arrests of illegal immigrants, which includes those facing criminal charges and convictions. As for the unrest itself, President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops to the area, which has set up a major dispute between him and California leaders. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a Tuesday post to X, “Trump doesn’t care about protecting Californians. He’s militarizing our state & provoking chaos.”

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“Illegal aliens invaded America. The government of California aided and abetted that invasion. Violent mobs, incited by California leaders, attacked ICE officers to keep them from removing the invaders,” White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller posted to X on Monday. “California officials refused to send the police to rescue the ice officers, hoping the rioters would succeed in shutting down ICE raids. This is an organized insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.”

CHUCK DEVORE: TRUMP MOVES FAST TO SAVE LA FROM A 1992 REPEAT

Valadao and other members of the California Republican delegation signed onto a resolution in the House, led by Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., slamming the riots in Los Angeles.

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“Peaceful protests are a constitutional right, but vandalism, looting, violence, and other crimes are not. Protecting public safety shouldn’t be controversial, which is why I am leading the California Republican delegation in a resolution to support law and order as we continue to see unrest,” Kim said in a statement on Tuesday. “I hope Governor Newsom can come together with President Trump to stop the riots, lower the temperature, and keep our communities safe.” 

“Let’s be clear: the riots escalated before the National Guard was sent in and were enabled by California’s soft-on-crime policies – peddled for years by Governor Newsom, Sacramento, and local prosecutors – that have allowed for lawlessness and endangered public safety of hardworking Californians,” the Republican congresswoman continued.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and the White House.

President Donald Trump is defending his muscular and controversial moves to tame unrest in the nation’s second most populous city.

“If I didn’t “SEND IN THE TROOPS” to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now,” the president argued Tuesday in a social media post.

Aiming to extinguish escalating protests in Los Angeles sparked by immigration raids carried out by ICE at his administration’s direction, Trump sent in National Guard troops and even mobilized Marines.

Trump broke six decades of precedent by federalizing California’s National Guard without the consent of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE ANTI-ICE PROTESTS IN LOS ANGELES

Regardless of the legality of his moves, Trump’s actions put immigration and law and order – key issues that helped him win back the White House in last year’s election – firmly back in the national spotlight, offering the president obvious political opportunities.

A source in the president’s political orbit told Fox News that it is “a winning script,” by putting Democrats on defense once again regarding immigration.

Additionally, the source said that Trump has a clear mandate from American voters for his mass deportation effort to clear the country of undocumented immigrants.

MARINES BEING DEPLOYED TO LOS ANGELES AMID RIOTS AS CALIFORNIA MOVES TO SUE TRUMP OVER RESPONSE

The optics – clashes with police and tear gas in the streets, masked protesters throwing rocks at police, setting cars on fire and waving Mexican flags – may likely boost support among a large swath of Americans, bolstering Trump’s political playbook.

While Trump’s overall approval ratings remain underwater in most national polling, thanks to negative numbers on the economy, the visuals from Los Angeles shine a spotlight on the issues on which the president performs best – immigration and border security, and law and order.

“Images splashed across the media of Mexican flag-wielding rioters burning cars and assaulting police officers validate President Trump’s call for greater immigration enforcement and border control. It also puts Democrats on the defensive by highlighting their inability to maintain law and order in blue states,” veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News.

Additionally, Nicole Schlinger, a longtime conservative consultant, highlighted that “this is exactly what Donald Trump campaigned on, and the swing-state voters who backed him expect action before these riots reach their cities. He’s delivering on their votes, with action, not apology.”

FIRST ON FOX: GOP SEN. TOM COTTON PUSHES NEW IDEAS TO QUELL ANTI-ICE PROTESTS 

The violence in Los Angeles also offers up a familiar foil to the president – Newsom, a Democrat, who is considered a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.

Newsom, whom Trump suggested should be arrested, has repeatedly accused the president and his administration of manufacturing the crisis and illegally militarizing Los Angeles.

Newsom, who is suing the president to reverse the order, charged in a social media post that “this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism that threatens the foundation of our republic. We cannot let it stand.” 

While Newsom has condemned the violence in the streets, Schlinger claimed that “this is the visual that plays right into Trump’s hand. Liberal Gavin Newsom, who tried to wave a moderate flag on conservative podcasts, is now defending illegal immigrants flying the Mexican flag while standing on burning cars. There’s no middle ground with burning cars on it.”

Williams argued that “Newsom’s record of failed leadership, rank incompetence, and botched responses to multiple high-profile crises make him an excellent political foil for President Trump.”

Another fringe benefit for Trump – the rioting in Los Angeles bumped an uncomfortable headline for the administration – the nasty feud with Elon Musk is far from the spotlight.

FETTERMAN CALLS OUT HIS OWN PARTY OVER UNREST IN LOS ANGELES

Republican officials and committees are using the violence in Los Angeles as a cudgel to bash Democrats.

“If you look at what’s going on in L.A., it shows exactly what [former President] Biden and the Democrats did by opening their borders the way they did and allowing millions and millions and millions of people coming here unvetted. They’ve caused all this,” Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida claimed on Tuesday. “I think President Trump is doing what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail. He’s going to keep the country safe.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which is the campaign arm of the House GOP, charged that “While LA is burning and law enforcement is being attacked, radical House Democrats are ‘scoffing’ at any thought of condemning the violent riots. The party has completely lost their minds.”

Even first-term Sen. John Fetterman of California, who has increasingly bucked and criticized fellow Democrats, chastised his own party.

“I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that. This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement,” Fetterman argued in a social media post.

However, the political clash in California is likely to enrage and further energize most Democrats.

“The actions of the Trump administration are dangerous and overaggressive. The reality is that Trump has provoked these protests, and now he is trying to escalate them,” longtime Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News, as he echoed a sentiment coming from many in his party. 

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Additionally, Democrats see plenty of hypocrisy in Trump’s move to send in the troops, given what happened during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Trump did not call out the National Guard during the rioting at the Capitol. 

One of his first acts in January, when he returned to power in the White House, was to pardon those convicted in the storming of the Capitol.

“Donald Trump pretends to respect the rule of law, and we should not forget that he sat idly by as violent protesters stormed the Capitol on January 6th and then later pardoned them,” Caiazzo said.

Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., are pushing legislation that would hike the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and provide for annual increases to account for inflation.

The proposal would implement a dramatic increase from the current $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage, which has been in place for more than 15 years.

“For decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline. One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hardworking Americans every day. This bipartisan legislation would ensure that workers across America benefit from higher wages,” Hawley said, according to press releases from both lawmakers.

NEW STUDY REVEALS BLUE STATE’S FAST-FOOD MINIMUM WAGE HIKE JEOPARDIZED THOUSANDS OF JOBS

The purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has eroded significantly over the years due to inflation.

Under the proposed legislation, the yearly increases to the initial $15 per hour federal minimum wage would be based on “the percentage increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (or a successor index), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics” and would be “rounded to the nearest multiple of $0.05, if the amount … is not a multiple of $0.05.”

CUOMO SAYS HE’LL RAISE NYC’S MINIMUM WAGE TO $20 AN HOUR IF ELECTED MAYOR

“We’re in the midst of a severe affordability crisis, with families in red and blue states alike struggling to afford necessities like housing and groceries. A stagnant federal minimum wage only adds fuel to the fire. Every hardworking American deserves a living wage that helps put a roof over their head and food on the table–$7.25 an hour doesn’t even come close,” Welch said, according to the releases.

“Times have changed, and working families deserve a wage that reflects today’s financial reality. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan effort to raise the minimum wage nationwide to help more folks make ends meet,” the senator added. 

In post on X, conservative commentator Dana Loesch decried the idea of raising the federal minimum wage, pushing back against Hawley’s advocacy for the policy.

SENS. BERNIE SANDERS AND JOSH HAWLEY: CAP CREDIT CARD INTEREST RATES AT 10%

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“This is a horrible, progressive idea,” Loesch asserted in the tweet.

FIRST ON FOX: A new House GOP bill would create a “safety net” of federal funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help in emergency situations.

Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital he’s introducing a bill to create a Border Enforcement Trust Fund using federal revenues from excise taxes on gambling.

The legislation would reroute roughly $300 million per year that’s currently going into the U.S. Treasury’s general fund through taxes on gambling operations.

MUSK DOES IMMEDIATE 180 ON TRUMP AS SOON AS LA RIOTS RAGE

He said it would be of use to the Trump administration in situations like it has faced this week, with federal authorities facing off against anti-immigration enforcement rioters in Los Angeles.

“In the last 48 hours, we’ve seen this summer of hate, which we saw several years ago, happening again in Los Angeles, where you have complete anarchy and the burning down of the city itself,” Rulli told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

He argued it could also meet emergency needs for immigration authorities while Congress weighs President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which includes billions for ICE that the Department of Homeland Security said are sorely needed.

“It’d be a shame to take all that money and put it in the general fund, and it would just be lost when we could use it just for our border [needs], which we all saw in this last election is the No. 1 issue in the country,” Rulli said.

The bill would have long odds of succeeding in the Senate, where at least several Democrats would be needed to reach the upper chamber’s 60-vote threshold.

It’s not likely that Democrats would want to give Trump that kind of power over emergency funding.

DOZENS OF ANTI-ICE RIOTERS ARRESTED IN LA AS TRUMP SENDS IN NATIONAL GUARD TO QUELL VIOLENCE

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Rulli said he has not encountered any significant opposition among his House colleagues, however.

The bill is one of several introduced by House Republicans this week after the riots in Los Angeles and wider anti-ICE protests around the country.

President Donald Trump thrilled soldiers at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday when he broke out his iconic dance moves.

Trump gave a speech to attending soldiers commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversary.

After the speech, Trump began to acknowledge and thank the soldiers.

Accompanying him walking out was his anthem, “Y.M.C.A.” by Village People.

TRUMP WARNS ANY POTENTIAL PROTESTERS AT HIS MILITARY PARADE WILL BE ‘MET WITH VERY BIG FORCE’

As Trump began to walk the stage, the crowd cheered him on.

Trump began to do his viral dance, getting even louder cheers from the crowd.

He turned to head off the stage and acknowledged the soldiers who were sitting behind the stage.

PRESIDENT TRUMP SUPPORTERS SING ‘GOD BLESS THE USA’ ON FLIGHT LEAVING INAUGURATION IN DC

Trump then made a hugging motion with his arms and a gesture after to thank them.

The crowd once again erupted, but this time, “USA” chants followed.

The chants became more infectious as Trump continued to walk towards the exit of the stage.

He stopped once more for the troops in front of the stage, pointing and raising his fist and saying, “thank you very much, thank you.”

As Trump continued walking, two soldiers in the crowd were doing his viral dance, which appeared to catch the president’s attention.

Trump turned and immediately began doing his dance as well.

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Trump continued on after clapping, pointing and thanking the soldiers as the cheers continued to roar.

Nick Butler is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Do you have any tips? Reach out to Nick.Butler@Fox.com.

President Trump’s tariffs will remain in effect for now after a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday to pause a lower court decision that had blocked them. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the stay and scheduled an expedited review of the case, which centers on whether Trump exceeded his authority under federal law.

The case involves challenges from five small businesses and a coalition of states who argue that President Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs was unlawful. 

TARIFF FIGHT ESCALATES AS TRUMP APPEALS SECOND COURT LOSS

The U.S. Court of International Trade sided with the plaintiffs earlier this year, issuing an order to block the tariffs. That decision is now on hold pending further review.

The Federal Circuit found that both sides raised substantial arguments and that a stay was appropriate under the legal standards used to evaluate such motions. 

The court’s brief order noted that the stay was necessary to preserve the status quo while the appeal proceeds. The case will now be heard by the full bench of active judges in an en banc session, a rare move reserved for matters of exceptional legal significance.

Oral arguments are scheduled for July 31 at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 201 at the Federal Circuit courthouse in Washington, D.C.

TRUMP TARIFF PLAN FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE AS COURT BATTLES INTENSIFY

The Liberty Justice Center, which represents the five businesses, criticized the court’s decision to allow the tariffs to remain temporarily but welcomed the accelerated review.

“We’re disappointed the federal circuit allowed the unlawful tariffs to remain in place temporarily,” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel and Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center. 

“It’s important to note that every court to rule on the merits so far has found these tariffs unlawful, and we have faith that this court will likewise see what is plain as day: that IEEPA does not allow the president to impose whatever tax he wants whenever he wants. We are glad the federal circuit recognized the importance of this case, and agreed to hear it before the full court on an expedited schedule.”

The full opinion can be read here.

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White House spokesman Kush Desai defended the Trump administration’s executive powers in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying it welcomed the US Circuit Court of Appeals’ stay order.

“The Trump administration is legally using the powers granted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to address our country’s national emergencies of persistent goods trade deficits and drug trafficking. The US Circuit Court of Appeals’ stay order is a welcome development, and we look forward to ultimately prevailing in court,” Desai said.
 

Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins signed waivers with three states on Tuesday, allowing them to prohibit participants of the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from buying junk food, like soda and candy, through the social welfare program. 

Arkansas, Idaho and Utah became the latest states to obtain waivers from the federal government to begin banning junk food within the federally administered, but state-operated, public assistance program that provides food stamps to low-income individuals. 

The three states have become the latest to obtain waivers from the Trump administration that allow states to restrict what type of food SNAP funds are eligible to be used on. 

Other mostly GOP-led states, like Nebraska, Indiana and Iowa, have also obtained waivers to reform their SNAP programs. Last month, during a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) event at the White House, Rollins indicated that several states were lining up to get the waivers.

NEBRASKA BECOMES FIRST STATE APPROVED TO BAN SODA PURCHASES WITH FOOD STAMPS

“Since my confirmation, [the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)] has encouraged states to think differently and creatively about how to solve the many health issues facing Americans,” Rollins said at a press conference announcing the new waivers Tuesday afternoon. “One way is disallowing taxpayer-funded benefits to purchase unhealthy items, like soda, candy and other junk food.”

Tuesday’s waivers bring the total number of states that have moved to ban junk food from their SNAP programs to six. Rollins indicated several other states, including Colorado, Kansas, West Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Florida and Louisiana, are also working through procedural steps in hopes of getting waivers approved.

WEST VIRGINIA PASSES FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND LAW BANNING FOOD DYES AND PRESERVATIVES; GOV CITES MAHA MOVEMENT

Texas, however, may not even need the waiver after its legislature passed Senate Bill 379 during the last week of its legislative session that ended on June 2. The new bill, which prohibits SNAP participants in the state from using the public assistance program to buy junk food, is expected to be signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, especially after he wrote a letter to Rollins in May seeking a USDA waiver.

“The Trump Administration is unified in improving the health of our nation. America’s governors have proudly answered the call to innovate by improving nutrition programs, ensuring better choices while respecting the generosity of the American taxpayer,” Rollins added Tuesday. “Each waiver submitted by the states and signed is yet another step closer to fulfilling President [Donald] Trump’s promise to Make America Healthy Again.”

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On average, 42 million low-income Americans receive food-stamp assistance each month, according to the MAHA report released last month. It added that one-in-five American children under 17 receive SNAP benefits.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Rep. Mikie Sherrill won New Jersey’s Democrat gubernatorial primary on Tuesday night.

The Associated Press projects that Sherrill has won the primary, which tees up a competitive race against three-time gubernatorial candidate and former GOP state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli to replace Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited this year. 

Sherill swept a crowded field of Democrat candidates, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller, former New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney and fellow U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

Democrat and Republican candidates often mentioned President Donald Trump’s name on the New Jersey campaign trail as Democrats positioned themselves as the most anti-Trump and Republicans vied to be the most pro-Trump candidate. It was Ciattarelli who landed the Trump endorsement as Democrats worked to contrast the president’s vision with their own. 

TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT, BUT PRESIDENT FRONT AND CENTER IN NEW JERSEY’S PRIMARY FOR GOVERNOR

New Jersey is one of just two governor’s races in 2025, along with Virginia. Both will be used by politicians and pundits to gauge how Americans are responding to Trump’s second term ahead of the midterm elections next year. 

TRUMP FRONT-AND-CENTER IN REPUBLICAN PRIMARY FOR GOVERNOR AS EARLY VOTING KICKS OFF

As they campaigned for the coveted nomination, Democrat candidates walked a fine line between building on Murphy’s legacy and promising to change the status quo in Trenton. Like Murphy, Democrat candidates have rejected Trump’s executive orders, his crackdown on illegal immigration and the Department of Government Efficiency spending cuts. 

Acting as the last line of defense to a sweeping Republican agenda, Democrat governors have often rejected Trump’s executive actions during his second term. By suing the Trump administration to unlock federal funds or refusing to comply with ICE deportations, Democrat governors, including many rumored to harbor 2028 presidential ambitions, are often leading the party’s resistance to Trump. 

Trump once again took center stage on Tuesday as Sherrill and Gottheimer were peppered with questions by the press about the protests and riots unfolding in Los Angeles. 

When asked how she would handle the ongoing situation in Los Angeles differently from Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sherrill touted her military and law enforcement background and told Fox News Digital she would stand up “strongly in favor of keeping people here in the state safe,” return safety to the streets and continue “speaking out against a president who is trying to create violence in the country.”

Sherrill is a Navy veteran and served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey as an outreach and re-entry coordinator, which she described as prosecuting federal cases and advising law enforcement on investigations.

“Governor Newsom surged law enforcement in, and what Trump seems to be doing is trying to add fuel to the fire and really make the situation violent and bad,” Sherrill told reporters after casting her ballot in Montclair on Tuesday morning. “That’s completely unacceptable.”

Gottheimer said it was “outrageous” for Trump to send the National Guard to California without Newsom’s request. 

“The fact that the president, for the first time since 1965, sent troops in from the National Guard without a request from the governor is outrageous. It’s just more chaos that we’re used to having in this administration. It’s not how I would approach this,” Gottheimer told Fox News Digital after voting in Tenafly. 

Democrat candidates threw their support behind Baraka last month after he was arrested for trespassing at an ICE facility in Newark. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called it a “beyond bizarre political stunt,” but Baraka has maintained that he did nothing wrong. 

Last week, Baraka filed a lawsuit against Alina Habba, U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, and DHS Agent Ricky Patel “for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and defamation.”

Trump outperformed in the Garden State in 2024, according to Fox News Voter Analysis. 

While former Vice President Kamala Harris won New Jersey in 2024 as expected, Trump saw a nearly five-point improvement from his 2020 vote share, and Harris’ support dropped by about five points. He gained across New Jersey, with his largest swings in the northeast corner of the state; Hudson and Passaic counties led the pack.

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Ciattarelli lost by a hair to Murphy in 2021 and framed his candidacy as a referendum on the Democrat policies that have driven New Jersey for the past eight years.

Fox News’ Remy Numa contributed to this report. 

After a workplace ICE raid that resulted in the arrests of about 70 alleged illegal aliens at a meatpacking plant in Omaha, several protesters threw rocks and jumped on federal vehicles carrying out the operation.

The AP reported that federal immigration authorities made the arrests at Glenn Valley Foods Tuesday morning.

Fox News Digital reached out to ICE to confirm the raid but did not immediately hear back.

ICE officials told the AP the raid was “based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States” and that it was likely the largest “worksite enforcement operation” in Nebraska since President Donald Trump took office.

PRESIDENT TRUMP CALLS FOR JAIL TIME FOR LA FLAG BURNERS, SLAMS RIOTERS CARRYING OTHER COUNTRIES’ FLAGS

The Flatwater Free Press reported that the situation grew tense after protesters began gathering as a caravan of federal vehicles was leaving the plant. The outlet reported that several protesters jumped on moving law enforcement vehicles and “threw rocks and debris at the cars, shattering one window.”

Video posted by the outlet shows what appears to be a line of federal vehicles surrounded by protesters on either side throwing objects, kicking the cars and yelling profanity and slogans like “f— you, pig.”

At one point during the video, a window can be heard smashing. In another video posted by the outlet, two protesters jumped on the hood of a vehicle as it attempts to travel off.

Violence erupted in Omaha with Los Angeles still battling violent anti-ICE riots and the rest of the country facing widespread protests against the Trump administration ramping up of ICE arrests and deportations.

‘VERY BIG FORCE’ WILL ADDRESS PROTESTORS AT SATURDAY’S MILITARY PARADE, TRUMP SAYS

Protests over the raids in Los Angeles devolved into violence over the weekend as rioters targeted federal law enforcement officials by throwing rocks, and videos showed people looting stores, setting cars on fire and taking over a freeway. 

Trump announced Saturday he was deploying 2,000 National Guard members to help quell the violence, bypassing the governor, who typically activates the National Guard. The administration has also deployed several hundred active-duty Marines to respond to the riots.

The move prompted Newsom to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration over efforts to allegedly “federalize the California National Guard,” while Democrats across the nation have attempted to pin blame for the violence on Trump’s activation of the National Guard while characterizing the anti-ICE riots as “peaceful” demonstrations. 

IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES HIGHLIGHT CRIMINAL HISTORY OF MULTIPLE MIGRANTS ARRESTED IN LOS ANGELES

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Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday, Trump said Americans can expect additional immigration raids across the country similar to those in California, warning that any potential riots that break out in response to the raids will be met with “equal or greater force” compared to the government’s handling of recent Los Angeles violence.

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

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took a shot at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for how he handled the 2020 riots in his state, claiming that the Trump administration wouldn’t let history repeat itself in Los Angeles amid immigration protests. 

Noem, who previously served as governor of South Dakota, defended the Trump administration’s decision to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to address the protests in Los Angeles, using Minnesota as an example of what happens when a “bad governor” is in charge. 

“I was a governor of a neighboring state to Tim Walz and watched him let his city burn,” Noem told reporters Tuesday. “And the president and I have talked about this in the past, and he was not going to let that happen to another city and to another community where a bad governor made a bad decision.” 

ICE SWEEPS THROUGH LA BUSINESSES AS LOCAL DEMOCRATS CRY FOUL OVER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

Walz was first elected governor of Minnesota in 2019, leading the state as protests broke out after the death of Black man George Floyd at the hands of a White police officer in 2020. While Walz has said he takes the blame for a delayed response activating the National Guard in his state, he has also said he is proud of how Minnesota reacted. 

“I’m proud of Minnesota’s response. I’m proud of Minnesota’s first responders who were out there, from firefighters to police to the National Guard to citizens that were out there,” Walz said in a 2022 gubernatorial debate. 

Walz’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

FEDERAL OFFICIALS SLAM DEMOCRATS FOR ‘DANGEROUS’ RHETORIC AS ICE AGENTS FACE VIOLENT MOBS IN LA, NYC

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is dispatching a total of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles after protests broke out Friday stemming from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the city. 

President Donald Trump has gone head-to-head with California’s governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, over the activation of the troops. While Trump has argued the National Guard troops are necessary to prevent destruction in Los Angeles, Newsom said most of the troops “are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders.” 

ICE OFFICIAL PUTS POLITICIANS ON BLAST, DEMANDING THEY ‘STOP PUTTING MY PEOPLE IN DANGER’

Additionally, Newsom argued that the move violates state sovereignty because state governors typically oversee National Guard troops. However, Trump invoked a law to place the troops under federal command to bypass Newsom. 

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“This isn’t about public safety,” Newsom said in a post on X on Monday. “It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

The chaos unfolding in California seeped onto the New Jersey campaign trail Tuesday as Democratic gubernatorial candidates pitched their plan to resist President Donald Trump. 

Tuesday is primary Election Day in the Garden State, and the race to replace Gov. Phil Murphy is on. Murphy, who is term-limited this year, is one of several Democratic governors leading blue-state resistance to Trump’s second term and his flurry of executive actions. 

Two candidates vying for an opportunity to fill Murphy’s shoes – Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, both U.S. representatives from New Jersey – defended California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to the protests and riots impeding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Los Angeles. 

When asked how she would handle the ongoing situation in Los Angeles differently from Newsom, Sherrill touted her military and law enforcement background and told Fox News Digital she would stand up “strongly in favor of keeping people here in the state safe,” return safety to the streets and continue “speaking out against a president who is trying to create violence in the country.”

DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST WARNS HIS PARTY THAT LA RIOTS ARE PLAYING INTO TRUMP’S HANDS

Sherrill is a U.S. Navy veteran and served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey as an outreach and re-entry coordinator, which she described as prosecuting federal cases and advising law enforcement on investigations.  

TRUMP TAKES ACTION AGAINST ‘ORCHESTRATED ATTACK’ ON LAW ENFORCEMENT BY DEPLOYING MARINES TO LA: ASSEMBLYMAN

Trump said this weekend it would be a “great thing” if Newsom was arrested. After casting her ballot in Montclair on Tuesday morning, Sherrill called Trump’s comments “ridiculous.”

“It should concern everyone,” Sherrill said. 

The Trump administration has ordered National Guardsmen and Marines to Los Angeles following days of escalating anti-ICE protests and riots. 

“Governor Newsom surged law enforcement in, and what Trump seems to be doing is trying to add fuel to the fire and really make the situation violent and bad,” Sherrill told reporters. “That’s completely unacceptable.”

Also in the Garden State on Tuesday afternoon, Gottheimer said it was “outrageous” for Trump to send the National Guard to California without Newsom’s request. 

“The fact that the president, for the first time since 1965, sent troops in from the National Guard without a request from the governor is outrageous. It’s just more chaos that we’re used to having in this administration. It’s not how I would approach this,” Gottheimer told Fox News Digital after voting in Tenafly. 

The last time a sitting U.S. president used his federal authority to deploy the National Guard without the governor’s request was during the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. 

Gottheimer said his primary focus is on protecting New Jersey families, and that priority would guide his leadership through any situation if elected governor. 

Both candidates on Tuesday said they were best positioned to take on Trump. While Sherrill said she is the candidate willing to resist the status quo, Gottheimer pitched himself as the “tenacious” leader to actually beat the Republican nominee this fall. 

In addition to Sherrill and Gottheimer, Democratic gubernatorial candidates for New Jersey include Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney.

Baraka was arrested for trespassing at an ICE facility in Newark this year, another example of Trump’s immigration policies taking center stage in the New Jersey governor’s race. 

Last week, Baraka filed a lawsuit against Alina Habba, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Agent Ricky Patel “for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and defamation.” 

And Spiller said on X the situation in LA is “not normal” and vowed to stand up for New Jersey against Trump and his “tactics that are real threats” if elected governor. 

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“From ICE tearing apart families to the President sending out the National Guard – over the objection of the Governor – and now apparently contemplating deploying Marines on our people – we have to stand up in solidarity and defend our democracy,” Spiller said. 

Fox News’ Kirill Clark contributed to this report. 

Several Democratic senators, including one who remains the preacher at Martin Luther King Jr.’s church, joined several clergy members for a vigil in opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on the Capitol steps Tuesday.

“Clergy and leaders in robes, collars and religious vestments will offer prayers, sing songs, read scripture and testify to the Gospel, providing a moral reckoning at this critical moment in history,” read an advisory announcing the vigil obtained by Fox News Digital.

Rev. Jim Wallis, who advised the Obama administration on faith and neighborhood partnerships, told the crowd they “come today in spiritual procession – singing, reading Scripture and coming for a vigil on the Senate steps.”

“Some say that we should keep faith out of politics – we’re saying while the Bible doesn’t give us detailed legislation, it tells us who to care for,” Wallis went on. “We don’t want to let Jesus Christ be left outside the Senate chamber for this vote.”

WARNOCK DODGES QUESTION FROM NBC HOST ON WHETHER BIDEN SHOULD HAVE DROPPED OUT EARLIER

Wallis called Republicans’ budget a “big bad bill” that will purportedly “take 60 million [people] off of health care.”

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., cited Luke 10, recalling the passage where a lawyer – “and it’s always a lawyer causing trouble,” he quipped – asks Jesus who qualifies as a neighbor and who one ought to care for.

Coons claimed the GOP bill “literally takes the food from the mouths of hungry children to pass an enormous tax cut for the very wealthiest [and] is the definition of an immoral bill before this Congress.”

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Later, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. – reverend of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta – said the vigil felt like “déjà vu.”

Warnock recounted protesting via prayer and singing in the Capitol rotunda in 2017 – alongside former North Carolina NAACP president William Barber II – and said he “drew the short straw” when he, but not Barber, was arrested.

“As I stood there, I said then what I want to say today: That a budget is not just a fiscal document, it’s a moral document.”

“Show me your budget and I’ll show you who you think matters and who does not – who you think is dispensable. Right. And we stood there in 2017 making the same point,” he said, crediting the Capitol Police for arresting them in a professional manner. Warnock recounted that when he was warned of being arrested, he said he had “already been arrested.”

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“My mind and my imagination and my heart had been arrested by the heartbeat of children who should not lose their food and who should not lose healthcare in order to give wealthy people a tax cut,” he said, suggesting the same was true with Republicans’ latest budget bill.

“Here I am eight years later, having transformed my agitation into legislation.”

“I’m here today because I still know how to agitate – I still know how to protest. I’m not a senator who used to be a pastor. I’m a pastor in the Senate.”