NationalWatch

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Saturday that the suspect wanted in connection to the attack on U.S. Attorney Alina Habba’s office in New Jersey this week has been taken into custody.

The FBI had identified the suspect Friday night as Keith Michael Lisa. 

Bondi said in an X post on Saturday morning that thanks to the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and Homeland Security Investigations, the suspect wanted in the attack on Habba’s office “is now in custody.”

“No one will get away with threatening or intimidating our great U.S. Attorneys or the destruction of their offices,” Bondi wrote.

DOJ SEEKING SUSPECT AFTER ATTACK ON US ATTORNEY ALINA HABBA’S OFFICE

The FBI said Lisa was wanted for allegedly entering the Peter W. Rodino Federal Building in Newark, New Jersey, on Nov. 12, 2025, while in possession of a bat.

“After being denied entry, he discarded the bat and returned,” the FBI said. “Once inside the building, he proceeded to the U.S. Attorney’s Office where he damaged government property.”

A federal arrest warrant was issued for Lisa on Thursday in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark after he was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon in a federal facility and depredation of federal property, the FBI added.

Bondi had announced Thursday that an individual attempted to confront Habba on Wednesday night, “destroyed property in her office” and then “fled the scene.’

“Thankfully, Alina is ok,” Bondi added. “Any violence or threats of violence against any federal officer will not be tolerated. Period. This is unfortunately becoming a trend as radicals continue to attack law enforcement agents around the country.”

Habba said following the incident that, “I will not be intimidated by radical lunatics for doing my job.”

Lisa, 51, was described by authorities as being around 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing between 200 and 230 pounds.

HABBA: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MOVED ‘SWIFTLY AND DECISIVELY’ TO STOP ISIS-LINKED HALLOWEEN TERROR PLOT TARGETING JEWS

The FBI said Lisa has ties to New York City and Mahwah, N.J., and “should be considered dangerous.”

On its website, the Justice Department said that as Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney to the United States Attorney General, Habba “is responsible for overseeing all federal criminal prosecutions and the litigation of all civil matters in New Jersey in which the federal government has an interest.”

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“Including the offices in Newark, Camden, and Trenton, Ms. Habba supervises a staff of approximately 155 federal prosecutors and approximately 130 support personnel,” the Justice Department said.

A little more than a week after socialist New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani took the reins of the nation’s largest city, voters in Seattle elected a socialist that has been compared to Mamdani to lead the West Coast’s fifth-largest city by population. 

Katie Wilson, a progressive activist who operates a small nonprofit called the Transit Riders Union, defeated Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell in an election so tight that it took over a week to determine. Harrell conceded Thursday as the vote totals all but guaranteed a win for Wilson, who, like Mamdani, identifies as a “democratic socialist.”

Like Mamdani, Wilson has faced criticism for past support of defunding the police, most notably through her support of a “Solidarity Budget” which would have cut the Seattle police force by 50%.

“There’s a strong argument for simply disbanding police departments and starting over,” Wilson wrote in a June 2020 op-ed.

INCUMBENT SEATTLE MAYOR CONCEDES TO MAMDANI-STYLE ‘SOCIALIST’ WHO TAPPED HER PARENTS FOR MONEY WHILE RUNNING

Similar to Mamdani, Wilson walked back her past statements on defunding the police and distanced herself from the “abolish the police” movement on a debate stage when pressed by Harrell.

Leading up to Tuesday night’s election, Wilson pledged to “Trump-proof” the City of Seattle and has been likened to New York City’s Mamdani by political pundits on that angle as well. 

Wilson, like Mamdani, has proposed policies like implementing government-run grocery stores. She pledged to explore government-backed grocery stores if elected this fall after accepting the endorsement from grocery workers union UFCW 3000, Washington’s largest private-sector union. New York voters, meanwhile, saw a similar pitch from Mamdani. 

“Yes, Seattle voters want to tax the rich,” Wilson wrote in February of this year, echoing a prominent socialist platform, championed by Mamdani, of increasing the tax burden on the wealthiest residents.

Prior to her establishment of the Transit Riders Union in 2011, Wilson worked several jobs in various unrelated industries, including as a barista, boatyard worker, apartment manager, lab technician, baker, construction worker and legal assistant. 

Several of the progressive activist groups and unions that backed Mamdani’s campaign also endorsed Wilson, including the Working Families Party, Planned Parenthood affiliates, and SEIU affiliates. 

MULTIPLE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS LINE UP TO SUCCEED MAMDANI

Wilson has credited her parents with helping her run her campaign for mayor.

“They send me a check periodically to help with the child care expenses,” Wilson told Seattle’s PubliCola, noting daycare for her kids cost about $2,200 per month. Wilson did not share precisely how much her parents contribute, pointing out that she does not keep track. However, when pressed for more details, Wilson reportedly said the money comes in every few months.

“Before I decided to run for office, my husband and I were just kind of juggling our kid back and forth,” Wilson continued about the childcare costs her parents assist with. “We didn’t have her in daycare because it’s so expensive. But then, when I decided to run, we’re like, we really need childcare.”

Affordability was a key driver of Wilson’s campaign, similar to Mamdani’s campaign in New York City, and after her victory she has continued to outline those goals. 

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“There is an awful lot that I want to accomplish as mayor,” Wilson said in her first speech since clinching the mayor’s office. “I want everybody in this great city of ours to have a roof over their head. I want universal childcare and free K-8 summer care. I want world-class mass transit. I want great, safe public spaces where kids can run around with abandon. I want stable, affordable housing for renters.”

“I want social housing. I want much more land and wealth to be owned and stewarded by communities instead of corporations. I want a robust economy, with thriving small businesses, great living wage jobs, and strong rights for workers. I want a city where everyone has the basics of a dignified life, including healthy food, access to healthcare, and support of communities. I want a city where your health and your life expectancy and your children’s future doesn’t depend on your zip code or your race.” 

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

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Amid a rising tide of calls from House Democrats and others in the party to remove Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., from his longtime post as Senate Democratic leader, a top Democratic senator says it’s time for “new leadership” in the party. 

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, speaking one-on-one with Fox News Digital during a stop in New Hampshire, said it’s also a moment for a younger generation of Democratic leaders to “step up the stage.”

Booker was interviewed on Friday, four days after seven Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with the party, bucked Senate Democratic leaders and voted with the majority Republicans to end the longest federal government shutdown in history.

Plenty of progressives and center-left Democrats have pilloried the deal to end the shutdown, which didn’t include the Democrats’ top priority: an agreement to extend expiring subsidies that make health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, known as the ACA or Obamacare, more affordable to millions of Americans.

DEMOCRATIC SENATOR CALLS FOR ‘MORE EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP’ AS SCHUMER FACES MOUNTING PRESSURE

And even though he opposed the agreement, Schumer, the top Democrat in the chamber, has faced calls from an increasing number of party members to step down due to his inability to keep Senate Democrats unified.

But to date, no Senate Democrat has joined those calls for Schumer to step down.

After the final congressional vote to end the shutdown, Booker wrote that “the Democratic Party needs change. It needs a new generation of leaders to stand up to Trump.”

SCHUMER FACES FURY FROM THE LEFT OVER DEAL TO END SHUTDOWN

Asked if those comments were directed at Schumer, Booker said, “I’m pointing these comments at anybody who will listen to me.”

“Chuck Schumer’s generation, Nancy Pelosi’s generation, John Lewis’s generation. They have so much to be proud of. It is time, though, for new leadership. The other generations, X, millennials, Z, — it’s time for us to step up. The stage is waiting for us to lead, not just the party, but the nation right now.”

Booker was interviewed ahead of an event at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. New Hampshire’s two senators — Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan — were among the Democrats who supported the deal with Republicans.

Shaheen, who previously supported a bill to extend the ACA subsidies, on Monday defended breaking with her party to support the deal.

“We’re making sure that the people of America can get the food benefits that they need, that air traffic controllers can get paid, that federal workers are able to come back, the ones who were let go, that they get paid, that contractors get paid, that aviation moves forward,” Shaheen said in a “Fox and Friends” interview.

SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: DEMOCRATIC SENATOR STANDS FIRM AFTER DEFYING PARTY

Asked about the Democratic senators who bucked the party, Booker, who played Division One football at Stanford University, called for party unity.

“I played football, and that play is behind me. Now I want everybody back in the huddle, tighten your chin straps, because we’ve got to fight forward and the end zone, for me, is very simple. It is lowering people’s healthcare costs, lowering people’s grocery costs, lowering people’s energy costs, and getting an America that works for everybody, not just the wealthiest of the wealthy,” Booker said.

And Booker, who broke a Senate record with a 25-hour speech earlier this year as he took aim at President Donald Trump‘s second-term agenda, said: “I’m a big believer, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

But he also lamented the increased animosity between Democrats and Republicans, saying that “the partisanship, as you know, bothers me, because it’s turned to tribalism.”

As he unsuccessfully ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Booker spent plenty of time and made lots of friends in New Hampshire, which has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary for over a century.

Booker, who is up for re-election next year in blue-leaning New Jersey, is seen by political pundits as a possible contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, which is expected to be a crowded and competitive race.

“Of course, I’m thinking about it. Haven’t ruled it out. But I’m up on the ballot in New Jersey in ’26 and that is my focus,” Booker said.

After his Fox News interview, Booker headlined the latest “Stand Up New Hampshire Town Hall.” The speaking series, organized by top New Hampshire Democratic elected officials and party leaders, is seen as an early cattle call for potential White House contenders.

And later in the day, he gave the keynote address at a major fundraising gala for the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

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Booker called next year’s elections, when the Democrats will try to win back majorities in the House and Senate, “vitally important.”

“Don’t talk to me about ’28 until you show me where you stand and who you stand for in ’26. I stand for New Jersey. I stand for America and an America that works for everybody,” Booker emphasized.

With the 2025 elections fading into the rearview mirror, the campaign spotlight moves 100% towards next year’s midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their fragile House majority and their control of the Senate.

And as this month’s elections showcased, the economy will once again be uppermost on the minds of voters.

How both parties handle the ‘affordability’ issue will likely impact whether Republicans can regain their standing with female voters, and with Black and Latino voters, who swung towards the GOP in 2024 but who shifted back to the Democrats at the ballot box in this autumn’s off-year elections.

One year after deep concerns over inflation helped Republicans win back the White House and Senate and successfully protect their House majority, Democrats say their convincing double-digit victories in 2025’s only two elections for governor came down to affordability, the issue they repeatedly spotlighted on this year’s campaign trail.

DEMOCRATS SEE MANDATE AFTER 2025 WINS — REPUBLICANS SAY IT’S A MIRAGE

Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Meghan Meehan-Draper said that Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, the two Democratic gubernatorial nominees that overperformed the public opinion polls as they cruised to Election Night victories in the blue-leaning states, “stayed laser focused on the economy,” and “talked about it all day, every day.”

It was also the issue that boosted a one-time longshot, socialist Zohran Mandani, to an initial victory in New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral primary, and another win in the mayoral election in the nation’s most populous city.

The numbers appear to back the Democrats up.

According to the Fox News Voter Poll conducted Oct. 22 through Election Day, the economy was by far the top issue for Virginia voters — with close to half ranking it as the most important. Those voters broke significantly for Spanberger.

And in New Jersey, the economy was the second most pressing issue, following taxes, according to the poll. And Sherrill won those voters by a 30-point margin.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS

Pointing to the big wins for Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as in battleground Pennsylvania and left-tilting New York City and California, and battleground Georgia, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said his party’s candidates “are meeting voters at the kitchen table… From New Jersey and Virginia and New York, to Georgia and beyond, Democrats ran campaigns relentlessly focused on costs and affordability.”

And pointing to those victories, as well as down-ballot wins in a slew of other states, Martin touted “it was an unequivocal Blue Sweep.”

Republicans argue that Democrats are overplaying their victories in the 2025 elections.

“What happened last night was blue states and blue cities voted blue. We all saw that coming. And no one should read too much into last night’s election results,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said the day after the elections.

Vice President JD Vance, in a social media post last week, said, “I think it’s idiotic to overreact to a couple of elections in blue states.”

VANCE DELIVERS POST-ELECTION REALITY CHECK, CONTENDS GOP MUST MAKE LIFE AFFORDABLE OR GET WALLOPED IN 2026

But Vance acknowledged that when it comes to the economy and specifically inflation, “We’re going to keep on working to make a decent life affordable in this country, and that’s the metric by which we’ll ultimately be judged in 2026 and beyond.”

In an appearance Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity,” the vice president, pointing to former President Joe Biden’s tenure in the White House, charged that “we inherited a disaster. We’re very mindful of the fact that there’s a lot of work to do, but I think that we’ve made great progress.”

President Donald Trump, in his first post-2025 election interview, told Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday that, on inflation, “We’ve done so much… Energy is way down … We’re going to have $2 gasoline. I did that. That brings everything else down. Groceries are way down, other than beef. Now, beef is going to come down … The fact is, we have prices way down.”

And the president argued in his “Special Report” interview that it’s more of a messaging problem for the GOP.

“As Republicans, you have to talk about it,” Trump said.

The president has kept to his affordability script in repeated appearances since last week’s elections, including during an interview on Fox News “The Ingraham Angle.”

And on Friday, the president took to social media to claim, “Affordability is a lie when used by the Dems. It is a complete CON JOB.”

But the focus on affordability appeared to pump the brakes on the GOP’s major gains last year with key parts of the Democratic Party base.

According to the Fox News Voter Poll, Sherrill captured the female vote in New Jersey by a 62%-37% margin, up from former Vice President Kamala Harris‘ 56%-42% margin last year.

It was a similar story in Virginia, where Spanberger won women voters 65%-35%, up from the then-vice president’s 57%-42% margin in 2024.

One of the biggest stories in the 2024 elections was the gains Trump and Republicans made with Black and Latino voters.

In New Jersey, Sherrill outperformed Harris’ 2024 showing by 12 percentage points among Latino voters and by 15 points among Black voters.

Spanberger also made gains compared to Harris, with an 8-point increase in support among Latino voters and 7 points among Black voters.

“Up and down the ballot, Black and Latino voters overwhelmingly broke for Democrats. Our candidates stayed laser-focused on the issue that matters most to voters, affordability,” DNC Senior Spokesperson Marcus W. Robinson told Fox News Digital.

Martin says the 2025 elections were a preview of things to come in next year’s midterms.

“In ‘26, we’ll do it again. We’ll run a National Coordinated Campaign to win races up and down the ballot to provide a check on the out-of-control Trump administration and its Republican rubber stamps,” he argued.

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But the rival Republican National Committee (RNC) sees a different political outcome in 2026.

“Republicans are entering next year more unified behind President Trump than ever before. The party is fully aligned behind his America First agenda and the results he’s delivering for the American people. President Trump’s policies are popular, he drives turnout, and standing with him is the strongest path to victory,” RNC National Press Secretary Kiersten Pels told Fox News Digital.

Socialism was on the ballot in 2025, and the Democratic Socialists of America landed their biggest ballot victory yet when New Yorkers elected Zohran Mamdani to lead the nation’s largest city.

The year began with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., firing up Democrats on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour after bruising losses last year. It ends with two decisive victories for the socialist movement, with Mamdani in New York City and self-described socialist Katie Wilson in Seattle, Washington.

“Through Zohran’s victory, the people defeated the oligarchy; the working class defeated major corporations; Democratic Socialism defeated the Democratic Party status quo,” the DSA said in a statement as Mamdani declared victory.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell conceded to Wilson on Thursday in a tight race that took more than a week to determine the winner, handing power to the party’s left-flank in the West Coast city.

NYC VOTERS EMBRACE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM AS AOC, SANDERS STUMP FOR MAMDANI

Mamdani congratulated the fellow socialist in a post Friday morning.

INCUMBENT SEATTLE MAYOR CONCEDES TO MAMDANI-STYLE ‘SOCIALIST’ WHO TAPPED HER PARENTS FOR MONEY WHILE RUNNING

“Seattle voters made their voices heard: they want a new kind of politics — one that rejects corporate PAC money and delivers for working people. From one Mayor-elect to another, wishing you the best. Seattle is in great hands,” Mamdani said.

Both candidates have made history as their cities’ first millennial mayors. Running on affordability agendas, they built their campaigns around bold progressive ideas, from universal childcare to city-run grocery stores, funded by a tax hike on the wealthy.

“I want everyone in this great city of ours to have a roof over their head,” Wilson said Thursday. “I want universal child care and free K through 8 summer care. I want world-class mass transit … great, safe public spaces where kids can run around without abandon, stable, affordable housing for renters, social housing and much more land and wealth to be owned and stewarded by communities instead of by corporations.”

Both socialists have pledged to “Trump proof” their cities as President Donald Trump’s sweeping, second-term agenda loomed large over 2025 mayoral and gubernatorial races.

Trump has already deployed the National Guard to a handful of U.S. cities to combat crime and enforce illegal immigrant deportation efforts, and he vowed to cut federal funding to New York City if Mamdani won.

WILL ELECTION DAY 2025 BE REMEMBERED AS THE RISE OF THE SOCIALISTS?

“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” Mamdani said during his victory speech last week. “So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”

At Mamdani’s election night party at the Brooklyn Paramount theater, supporters chanted “D-S-A” throughout the night. DSA leaders also joined Mamdani’s high-profile “New York is not for sale” rally with Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez ahead of Election Day. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., a more moderate Democrat, met a cooler reception at Forest Hills Stadium as Mamdani’s supporters broke into chants of “Tax the rich!” as she spoke.

Mamdani can’t deliver on his signature campaign promises without Hochul’s approval to raise taxes.

As Mamdani and Wilson seek to actualize their ambitious policy agendas in two coastal cities, a socialist candidate in the Midwest wasn’t so successful this election cycle.

Jacob Frey won re-election as mayor of Minneapolis last week, securing his third term.

SQUAD 2.0: MEET AMERICA’S NEXT WAVE OF RADICAL DEMOCRATS SHAPING THE PARTY’S FUTURE

The election was officially nonpartisan, though Frey chose to include the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party label on his ballot line. He defeated a large field that included state Sen. Omar Fateh, a socialist endorsed by the DSA.

Fateh made waves on the national political stage this year, drawing comparisons to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in New York City after The Minnesota Star Tribune dubbed him the “Mamdani of Minneapolis.”

The 35-year-old son of Somali immigrants who became the first Somali-American elected to the Minnesota state Senate in 2020 challenged incumbent Frey head-on this year, criticizing the comparatively moderate Democrat for failing to “meet the needs of our changing society.”

While socialist slogans resonated in Seattle and New York City, Fateh’s message of change wasn’t enough to carry him across the finish line.

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With a new wave of progressive candidates already eyeing the 2026 midterm elections, the verdict is still out on whether the socialist momentum will last.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DSA for clarification about their support for Wilson’s campaign.

After a 71-year-old California man was killed in a hit-and-run involving an illegal alien driving under the influence, the Trump Department of Homeland Security asked: “How many Americans must be killed before [Gov. Gavin Newsom]’s sanctuary state of California works with federal law enforcement—instead of against them?”

Mexican illegal Humberto Munoz-Gatica, 57, was driving under the influence when he struck 71-year-old Barry William Tutt in Orange County, California, last Friday, according to a Homeland Security statement.

Munoz-Gatica left the scene after the collision and was later located with the help of witnesses and arrested, according to a statement by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He is now facing charges related to hit-and-run and suspicion of driving under the influence.

Tutt, meanwhile, was found severely injured at the scene by sheriff’s deputies. He was transported to a local hospital and later succumbed to his injuries, according to the department.

OUTRAGE ERUPTS AFTER BOOZED-UP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ALLEGEDLY MOWS DOWN BLUE STATE COUPLE – ‘HOW MANY MORE?’

In its statement, DHS said it has lodged a request for authorities to hold Munoz-Gatica and turn him over to ICE.

DHS posted on X, asking: “How many Americans must be killed before @GavinNewsom’s sanctuary state of California works with federal law enforcement—instead of against them?”

In the statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin lamented that “unfortunately, Gavin Newsom’s California is a sanctuary state and does not cooperate with ICE.”

She called this killing “yet another example of sanctuary and open border policies putting American lives at risk.”

PREVIOUSLY DEPORTED BLUE STATE DRIVER CHARGED WITH MURDERING SIX PEOPLE IN CRASH: REPORT

In response, Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for Newsom, told Fox News Digital that “Despite the Trump Admin’s repeated false claims, California cooperates with the federal government when it comes to criminals — as has been reported by Fox regularly.”

According to DHS, Munoz-Gatica has previously been convicted of grand theft. The agency said he entered the country on a tourist visa that expired in 2008. He was arrested by ICE under the Obama administration in 2011 but then released into the country.

“This criminal illegal alien from Mexico, Humberto Munoz-Gatica, was released by the Obama Administration. He NEVER should have been here,” DHS said.

Newsom, who is widely rumored to have 2028 presidential aspirations, has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s most vocal critics of the Trump administration, particularly regarding ICE and immigration enforcement.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT DODGES DEPORTATION FOR DECADE BEFORE ALLEGEDLY KILLING MAN IN DUI HIT-AND-RUN

In the midst of widespread anti-ICE riots and protests in Los Angeles in June, Newsom issued a statement in which he blamed “continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota.”

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He called the operations “as reckless as they are cruel,” saying that “[President] Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy.”

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he directed the Deoartment of Justice to investigate disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to several high-profile Democrats and certain banks.

“Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, I will be asking AG Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, JPMorgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,” Trump said on Truth Social.

“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” he added. “Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘island.’ Stay tuned!!!”

EX-CLINTON CABINET SECRETARY EXCHANGED EMAILS REGULARLY WITH EPSTEIN AFTER CONVICTION, NEW DOCS REVEAL

Head of Policy & Advocacy Communications at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trish Wexler told Fox News Digital that “The government had damning information about [Epstein’s] crimes and failed to share it with us and other banks.”

“We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts,” she added. “We ended our relationship with him years before his arrest on sex trafficking charges.”

In an earlier post on Friday, Trump said that “Epstein was a Democrat,” and therefore is the “Democrat’s [sic] problem,” not the Republicans’ problem. He also accused the Democrats of “doing everything in their withering power to push the Epstein Hoax again, despite the DOJ releasing 50,000 pages of documents.”

Trump then said lawmakers should not “waste” time looking into him and instead should focus on the Democrats he later named in the post announcing the probe.

EPSTEIN VICTIMS SET TO BREAK SILENCE AMID BIPARTISAN PUSH TO RELEASE FILES: ‘PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE OUTRAGED’

On Wednesday, Oversight Committee Democrats released never-before-seen emails related to the Epstein case. The first email is between Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein writes, “I want you to realize that the only dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” adding that the now-president “spent hours at my house” with a victim.

In the second email, the disgraced financier told Michael Wolff that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”

Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., called on the DOJ to release all the Epstein files “immediately.”

“The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” Garcia said in a statement. “These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president.”

WHITE HOUSE SLAMS DEMS’ ‘BAD-FAITH’ EPSTEIN DOC RELEASE AS DEMAND FOR FILES INTENSIFIES

The emails were released the same day that Trump signed a bill ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The timing led Trump to accuse Democrats of using Epstein to distract the public from the shutdown fiasco.

Following the Democrats’ email drop, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital that the lawmakers “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”

In response to the release of the emails, Oversight Committee Republicans said Democrats “whine about ‘releasing the files,’ but only cherry-pick when they have them to generate clickbait. You deserve the full truth.” Included in the tweet was a link with what the Republicans said was an additional 20,000 pages of documents from the Epstein estate.

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., a member of the Oversight Committee, slammed Democrats and accused them of ignoring the stories of Epstein’s victims in order to focus on Trump.

“How pathetic that Democrats are using Epstein’s victims to bury headlines on their vote against reopening the government,” Mace wrote on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Clinton, Summers and Hoffman for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.

Even before the conflict over Obamacare subsidies that resulted in a month-and-a-half-long government shutdown, Democrats were already attacking Republicans over their reforms to the federal public health insurance infrastructure, which has expanded over many years.

Democrats say the GOP’s cuts were put in place to give tax breaks to the wealthy, and serve to raise people’s premiums and kick them off their coverage. But Republicans, free-market health policy experts and a disability advocate argue these are “scare tactics” used to deceive the public about what Republicans are really trying to do to Medicaid.

According to conservative health policy experts who spoke to Fox News Digital, Republican changes have done nothing to harm those whom Medicaid was originally intended for — people not expected to be in the labor market, such as individuals with disabilities, pregnant women, children and seniors. They argue the Medicaid reforms built into Trump’s tax cuts have actually improved the federal healthcare program for those it is supposed to be serving. 

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS REEL AFTER SENATE VOTES TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT: ‘REPUBLICAN-MADE HEALTHCARE CRISIS’

“The Working Families Tax Cuts increased oversight efforts as part of a larger package of Medicaid program integrity measures to more precisely serve the traditional Medicaid and the Medicaid Expansion populations,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., who serves as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. “Progressive Democrats and their Congressional allies are desperate as they try to pan the Working Families Tax Cuts as devastating to the traditional Medicaid population, which is not true! The traditional Medicaid population, which includes expectant mothers, low-income seniors, children and individuals with disabilities, is not affected by our bill!”

Stricter eligibility requirements — which experts who support the GOP’s approach told Fox News would ensure Medicaid dollars go to those they were intended for — are among the Republican reforms that have drawn Democrats’ ire. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program had more than 82 million enrollees in 2024, compared with 42.1 million in 2005.
 

Democrats are also upset with provisions that impact how states get reimbursed for certain healthcare coverage via the federal government. Republicans have argued that Democratic states, like California, have been using funding loopholes in this framework so that federal dollars can help them pay for the ballooning cost of covering health insurance for non-U.S. citizens. 

KEY TRUMP AGENCY VOWS TO CLAW BACK OVER $1B BENEFITING ILLEGALS IN BLUE STATES: ‘WON’T TOLERATE IT’

The latest fight that triggered the recent government shutdown centered on temporary Obamacare subsidies enacted under President Joe Biden during the coronavirus pandemic, described by his administration as a way to ease healthcare costs during that economic strain. But, since February, Democrats have targeted vulnerable Republicans over Medicaid through ad buys and messaging campaigns. One group, Protect Our Care, reportedly spent $1 million on billboards and TV ads titled “Hands Off Medicaid.”

However, Paragon Health Institute President Brian Blase argues these changes serve to “rightfully refocus” Medicaid, not ruin it. 

“It requires able-bodied, working-age adults to work, go to school, or volunteer to receive benefits. It cracks down on corporate-welfare schemes that direct billions of dollars to wealthy, politically connected insurers and hospitals,” Blase said. “And it reduces waste, fraud, and abuse that divert resources from those that truly need it.” 

Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said point-blank that “members of the traditional Medicaid population will not lose coverage due to this law,” while slamming the “left-wing media” for perpetuating attacks on Republicans.

“Time and again, Republicans have fought for strengthening, sustaining, and securing the Medicaid program for our most vulnerable Americans — expectant mothers, children, low-income seniors, and individuals living with disabilities,” Guthrie argued. “Republicans are enabling the Medicaid program to serve its intended purpose, and we will continue to fight for solutions that protect the program for generations to come.”

REPUBLICANS DUB FETTERMAN ‘VOICE OF REASON’ AFTER HE ACCUSES HIS OWN PARTY OF ‘PLAYING CHICKEN’ 

Dean Clancy, Senior Health Policy Fellow at Americans for Prosperity, applauded Republicans for sticking to their guns in the face of “Democrats’ hyperbolic claims and histrionic scare tactics aimed at blocking any change to Medicaid.”  

Another angle of attack for Democrats has been claims that the Republican reforms will negatively impact people with disabilities. The fear is that the increased eligibility requirements will be a major barrier to people with disabilities who might struggle with such tasks. They also fear the funding framework change for states could push them to reduce benefits, eligibility or limit services for this population.   

But Rachel Barkley, Director of the National Center’s Able Americans Program, which promotes free-market policy reforms for people with disabilities, said she is confident that Republicans’ reforms to Medicaid will “directly improve” the lives of those living with disabilities.

Among the reforms Barkley praised were the implementation of the Helping Communities with Better Support (HCBS) Act, which she said “expands access to Medicaid home- and community-based services for individuals with disabilities and their caregivers,” while simultaneously increasing transparency and accountability for those waiting for care. 

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Barkley also highlighted new tax provisions ushered in by Republicans that she said will serve to promote financial security for those with disabilities. 

But importantly, Barkley added, the GOP reforms — such as new work requirements — serve to ensure that disabled people are given the priority within Medicaid that they deserve.  

Clancy, meanwhile, noted that he and the folks at Americans For Prosperity, a D.C. think tank that promotes free-market solutions to problems, were big fans of the “Personal Option” that he says Republicans’ Medicaid reforms advanced. 

Clancy has described the “Personal Option” as “a set of sensible, principled reforms that make American health care better, more affordable, and more accessible for everyone — without a government takeover.” He said the approach gives Medicaid enrollees more control over how their services are delivered rather than leaving those decisions to the government.

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…

-Newsom pushes climate record abroad as Californians shoulder America’s highest gas costs

-How closed-door negotiations and a guarantee ended longest government shutdown on record

-Camelot or Cringe?: Meet JFK’s grandson turned congressional candidate for the scrolling generation

Progressive Democrats turn on party leadership after government shutdown ends without healthcare guarantees

Several Democrats broke ranks with their party to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history in a move that has triggered backlash from rising progressive stars, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who questioned whether the 43-day standoff had been worth it.

The intraparty revolt has exposed a widening rift between Democratic leadership and its left flank, as progressive candidates accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of surrendering leverage to Republicans and President Donald Trump in exchange for a funding deal that left key healthcare priorities unresolved.

“We have federal workers across the country that have been missing paychecks. We have SNAP recipients, millions of SNAP recipients across the country whose access to food stability was imperiled, and we have to figure out what that was for,” Ocasio-Cortez said, before adding, “We cannot enable this kind of cruelty with our cowardice.”…READ MORE.
 

White House

NO TAKERS LEFT: Prosecutor takes on Trump’s Georgia election case after Fani Willis disqualified

COURT BLOCKS RULES: Federal judge slams brakes on Trump admin rule limiting commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants

REVOLT RISING: Anti-Trump network behind mass protests cracks open war chest against Dems who backed reopening government

NEW SCRUTINY: Trump to ask DOJ to investigate Epstein ties to Democrats, banks

World Stage

DEADLY ALLIANCE: Kim Jong-un sends troops to Russia to clear deadly minefields for Putin’s war

AI GONE ROGUE: China leads first AI-driven cyber attack, Anthropic says

Capitol Hill

ROUND 2 COMING: Shutdown is over, but Washington’s budget brawl is just getting started

FAA FRENZY: Aviation expert warns shutdown turbulence could linger: Here’s how to prep for smooth travel this holiday season

PAYDAY REVOLT: GOP unity shattered by controversial measure in government shutdown bill

Across America 

FREE SPEECH FIGHT: Iowa special education aide fired over Charlie Kirk comment files lawsuit

RED VOID: Multiple democratic socialists line up to succeed Mamdani

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

A judge on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss the criminal case against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., who is charged with assaulting federal agents during a visit to a New Jersey immigration detention center earlier this year. 

U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper wrote in a 41-page ruling that McIver failed to show the prosecution was vindictive and that her actions were “wholly disconnected” from her oversight role as a member of Congress. 

“Defendant has not met her burden of establishing that her predominant purpose in physically opposing the Mayor’s arrest was to conduct oversight or gather information for a legislative purpose. No genuine legislative purpose was advanced by Defendant’s alleged conduct,” Semper wrote.

MORE DETAILS REVEALED ON SUSPECTS IN INDEPENDENCE DAY ICE ATTACK IN TEXAS

Samper did not reach a decision on the congresswoman’s motion to toss the charges.

“From the beginning, this case has been about trying to intimidate me, stop me from doing oversight and keep me from doing my job,” McIver said in a statement. “It will not work. I will keep standing up to protect people, and the court’s denial of my motions does not change that fact.

“I am not in this fight only for myself, and I am concerned that this decision will simply embolden the administration,” she added. “This case is not over. I am committed to protecting my community, our people and our country.”

McIver has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her — three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials. She has pleaded not guilty.  

WHITE HOUSE HITS BACK AT DEM MAYOR SUING US ATTORNEY AFTER ICE ARREST: ‘DESPERATE ATTEMPT’

She has maintained that the prosecution is part of a retaliation campaign by the Trump administration.

“It is clear this administration is treating Congresswoman McIver’s actions differently than the actions of those who are on their side,” McIver’s attorney, Paul Fishman, said in a statement. 

McIver was among several elected officials, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who attempted to visit the Delaney Hall detention center, a 1,000-bed facility, in Newark May 9. The officials were attempting to inspect the facility. 

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Baraka was arrested by federal agents while trying to gain access. McIver was among several people jostling in the crowd of people around Baraka as it happened.

Prosecutors claim McIver “slammed” her forearm into an agent and placed her arms around the mayor to try to stop his arrest.

A group of former federal judges sharply criticized a top Justice Department official this week for characterizing the court fights playing out in President Donald Trump’s second term as a “war” against so-called “activist judges,” remarks they described as unnecessarily inflammatory and amounting to “pouring oil” on an already fast-burning fire.

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, spoke colorfully last week during a fireside chat hosted by the Federalist Society. Blanche used his time to excoriate federal judges for pausing or blocking some of Trump’s biggest executive orders and actions since January and to urge young lawyers and law students in the audience to fight back. 

“It is a war,” Blanche said, “and it is something we will not win unless we keep on fighting.”

JUDGES V. TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA

The judges “have a robe on, but they are more political, or as political, as the most liberal governor or DA,” Blanche added. 

His remarks prompted a rebuke from the New York State Bar Association and from the Article III Coalition, a group of 50 former federal judges appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents. 

This type of rhetoric, “especially when voiced by high-ranking officials — not only endangers individual judges and court staff, but also undermines the public’s trust in the judiciary as an impartial and co-equal branch of government,” the judges said in a letter. 

In a series of interviews this week, several former judges told Fox News Digital they were shocked by Blanche’s remarks, which they described as a departure from longstanding Justice Department norms and a threat to the judiciary both as an institution and to the individual judges who serve on the bench.

One judge said Blanche’s remarks were “wildly different from all prior decades and under all prior administrations” he experienced in his more than 60-year career in D.C.

“I’ve been in Washington since 1974, continuously, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Paul R. Michel, the former chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Michel served as a special prosecutor in the Watergate investigation, a role in which he personally interviewed former President Nixon. 

“It’s just startling for the deputy attorney general to be functioning as a PR ‘hatchet man’ instead of a law enforcement official,” he said of Blanche’s remarks.

Michel and others in the group of retired judges told Fox News Digital they fear the rhetoric used could further erode public trust in the judiciary, a branch that the framers designed to interpret the law impartially and to serve as a check against excesses of the other branches, regardless of politics or the administration in charge. 

They noted that while parties often disagree with a decision or a near-term temporary order or motion, both the Justice Department and the opposing parties have a readily available mechanism to seek relief via the appeals process. 

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BAN FOR ALL INFANTS, TESTING LOWER COURT POWERS

Parties looking to challenge a temporary order or other form of injunctive relief can proceed with having the district court evaluate a case on its merits, kick it to the U.S. Court of Appeals, and, in some cases, the Supreme Court, for review, Philip Pro, a former U.S. district judge in Nevada appointed by President Ronald Reagan, told Fox News Digital.

Federal judges have attempted to issue near-term or emergency orders temporarily blocking some of Trump’s top policy priorities, including on immigration enforcement, birthright citizenship and sweeping layoffs across the federal government. The administration has responded to the lower court actions by seeking emergency relief from the higher courts, via emergency stays, which Blanche also touted during his remarks last week. 

Judges are “totally reactive” by design, Pro said. “We’re sitting in our districts. The cases are randomly assigned.”

“There is nothing ‘rogue’ about these decisions,” Pro added. “Those wheels grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly well, and that’s the way you get resolution.”

Josh Blackman, a professor at the South Texas College of Law who attended the fireside remarks, told Fox News Digital in an interview he is sympathetic to the concerns voiced by the judges, but he also understands the broader issue Blanche may have been trying to get at, which is the power the courts have to review the actions of the executive branch. 

This has emerged as a particular pain point not only for Trump but for his predecessors, each of whom has sought to enact some of their policy priorities via executive order in a bid to sidestep a clunky and slow-moving Congress.

Those actions are therefore more vulnerable to emergency intervention from the federal courts, Blackman said, though the degree to which judges can or should act in this space is the subject of ongoing debate.

“I don’t see Blanche’s comments as calling for violence,” Blackman said. “I think it’s more trying to say that there’s just this struggle between the executive branch and the judiciary that is not normal.” 

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

Trump is far from the first president to publicly complain about “activist” judges for hampering his policies. Such criticisms stretch back decades and include former presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, among others. 

Still, the judges say they are concerned by Blanche’s remarks, which are a stark departure from what they experienced in their own careers, including while serving as federal prosecutors.

“Calling judges ‘rogue’ because they apply the law in a politically unfavorable way is a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the judiciary in our constitutional structure,” Allyson K. Duncan, a former judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, said in a statement. 

Michel, the former special prosecutor for the Watergate investigation, noted he worked for two successive deputy attorneys general in the “exact post Blanche now holds,” but who gave much different marching orders.

“Their instructions to me were, ‘Politics are outside the boundaries for Justice Department employees,’ and politics are ‘not to have any influence,'” he said. “We were not to pay any attention to what somebody in the White House might say, or in the media or elsewhere. We were to be a ‘politics-free zone.’

“That seemed to me to be entirely appropriate,” Michel said. “The power to investigate, the power to indict and the power to prosecute and convict are awesome, awesome powers,” he added.

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The group also cited concerns for their colleagues who remain on the bench at a time when public threats to judges have increased, according to data from U.S. Marshals. This includes online harassment, threats of physical violence and “doxxing” judges at their home addresses by sending them unsolicited pizzas. Some deliveries have been made in the name of a judge’s son who was shot and killed in 2020 after opening the door to a disgruntled individual disguised as a delivery person.

The number of threats made against federal judges in 2025 has outpaced threats from the past 12-month period, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, prompting a push for Congress to take action. 

“Deputy Attorney General Blanche’s remarks reflect a reality the Department of Justice confronts every day — a growing number of activist judges attempting to set national policy from the bench,” a spokesperson for the Justice Department told Fox News Digital on Friday in response to a request for comment. 

“The department will continue to follow the Constitution, defend its lawful authorities and push back when activist rulings threaten public safety or undermine the will of the American people.” 

President Donald Trump announced Friday night on Truth Social that he is withdrawing his support and endorsement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, calling her a “ranting lunatic” and accusing the Georgia Republican of “complaining” instead of celebrating what he described as his administration’s “record achievements.”

The president claimed that Greene “has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore” in a long post where he ultimately vowed “Complete and Unyielding Support” to any conservative primary challenger leading into the 2026 midterm elections.

Trump claimed Greene had “gone Far Left,” citing her recent appearance on The View, and gave her the new nickname “Wacky Marjorie.”

Greene has been one of Trump’s most vocal allies since entering Congress in 2021, backing him during multiple impeachment attempts and campaigning with him across red states.

EX-GOP OFFICIAL TURNED DEMOCRAT TARGETS TRUMP IN BATTLEGROUND STATE GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

“It seemed to all begin when I sent her a Poll stating that she should not run for Senator, or Governor, she was at 12%, and didn’t have a chance (unless, of course, she had my Endorsement — which she wasn’t about to get!),” the president wrote. 

“She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore, but with 219 Congressmen/women, 53 U.S. Senators, 24 Cabinet Members, almost 200 Countries, and an otherwise normal life to lead, I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day,” Trump added. 

Rep. Greene responded immediately on social media, writing on X that “President Trump just attacked me and lied about me.”

REP MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE SAYS THERE ARE MANY ‘WEAK REPUBLICAN MEN’

“I haven’t called him at all, but I did send these text messages today,” Greene added with screenshots of text messages. “Apparently this is what sent him over the edge. The Epstein files. And of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other Republicans before next week’s vote to release the Epstein files. It’s astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level.”

Greene seemed to have shut the door for any future working relationship with President Trump in her post, writing, “I have supported President Trump with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him.”

“But I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump,” Greene wrote. “I worship God, Jesus is my savior, and I serve my district GA14 and the American people.”

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After touting his administration’s accomplishment since the beginning of his second term this January, the president quipped, “having created the “HOTTEST”  Country anywhere in the World from being a DEAD Country just 12 months ago (and so much more!), all I see “Wacky” Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!”

Trump’s move could open the door for Georgia Republicans seeking to challenge Greene next year in her ruby-red district. 

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Department of Justice leadership directed federal prosecutors to give them examples by Friday of hurdles they have encountered with judges when working on cases about attacks on law enforcement and Antifa.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office sent the order one day prior to some U.S. attorneys, according to a memo reviewed by Fox News Digital. The memo instructed the prosecutors to give “2-3 examples of unusual judicial system obstacles” their offices have encountered in the courts in certain areas. The memo was first reported by Reuters.

The areas were laid out in a bulleted list and included assaults on law enforcement, obstruction of immigration authorities, investigations into certain “domestic terror organizations, such as Antifa” or “interstate threats, doxxing, and/or hoaxes.”

EX-JUDGES BLAST TOP TRUMP DOJ OFFICIAL FOR DECLARING ‘WAR’ ON COURTS

The judicial obstacles, the memo said, should be those that cropped up when prosecutors were bringing charges, litigating cases or carrying out other legal processes.

The directive marks the latest instance of the DOJ targeting the judiciary as prosecutors fail to secure charges and convictions in some high-profile cases and as the Trump administration faces hundreds of lawsuits and frequent adverse rulings in the lower courts.

It also comes after Blanche railed against what he said were “rogue activist judges” and declared a “war” on them during a Federalist Society convention last week.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a DOJ spokesperson said “judicial activists — liberals in robes” were improperly blocking the administration’s work and undermining the Supreme Court at times.

“Courts exist to apply the law, not invent policy from the bench,” the spokesperson said. “The Department is committed to strengthening our litigation posture at every level so we can better defend public safety initiatives and prevent activist judges from undermining the rule of law.”

Prosecutors have encountered roadblocks in the courts in numerous areas, including on immigration, federal appointments and firings, government funding, transgender policies, fights with big law firms and more. On rare occasions, the administration has turned to the Supreme Court for temporary relief in pivotal cases and almost always won.

TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY FACES CRUCIAL TESTS AS SUPREME COURT BEGINS PIVOTAL TERM

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The DOJ filed misconduct complaints this year against two D.C. judges, Judge James Boasberg and Judge Ana Reyes, Obama and Biden appointees, respectively.

Judge Mark Wolf, a 78-year-old Reagan appointee, recently announced his retirement in the Atlantic and attributed it to his desire to speak out against Trump’s “assault on the rule of law.” Wolf said he now plans “to advocate for the judges who cannot speak publicly for themselves.”

For decades, military pilots, radar operators, and ordinary citizens alike have reported strange objects darting through the skies, often dismissed by officials or buried under classification.

Despite congressional hearings and government task forces, little clarity has emerged about what Americans are actually seeing.

Now, the director of a new explosive documentary is pulling back the curtain on that mystery. 

Director and producer Dan Farah sat down with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Friday to discuss his new documentary, “The Age of Disclosure.”

UFO TRACKER MAPS EERIE CLUSTERS OF UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS LURKING BENEATH US SHORELINES: ‘WE’RE BEING LIED TO’

“For a very long time, the public, Congress, and even the President have been kept out of the loop on this subject,” Farah said. “In the last few years, senior members of Congress, senior members of the administration, thanks to whistleblowers, have found out what’s been going on, and they are now in pursuit of the truth for themselves and for the American people.”

The film explores an alleged “80-year global cover-up” of non-human intelligent life and a secret race among world powers to reverse-engineer advanced technology of non-human origin. It features interviews with 34 senior members of the U.S. government, military, and intelligence community — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Every single person I interviewed made it very clear that it was no longer a question of whether this was a real situation,” he said. “It’s a very real situation.”

Farah, who worked on the film for more than three years, said each person he spoke to had “direct knowledge of this issue” and “extreme credibility.”

“We’ve had repeated instances of something operating in the airspace over restricted nuclear facilities, and it’s not ours,” Rubio said in the trailer.

He said the film reveals how the U.S. government is engaged in a “high-stakes, secret Cold War race with adversarial nations like China and Russia to reverse engineer technology of non-human origin.”

HOUSE WITNESS TESTIFIES UFOS NEARLY ACTIVATED RUSSIAN NUCLEAR MISSILES DURING 1982 INCIDENT

“The first country that cracks the code on this technology will be the leader for years to come,” said Jay Stratton, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official and director of the government’s UAP Task Force, in the film’s trailer.

Farah said some are calling it “the Manhattan Project on steroids.”

“The fear here is that if another nation wins this race it could really change the lay of the land in terms of power,” he said.

But skepticism surrounding UAPs remains. Farah said the question now isn’t whether UAPs exist, but where they come from, who controls them and what their purpose is.

He said joking about this topic is “the equivalent of laughing at a terrorist threat.”

“Who would do that?” he said. “It makes no sense when you think about it. You know, if someone said, ‘Hey, there’s this constant terrorist threat. Terrorists are penetrating the airspace over our nuclear weapons sites.’ Who would laugh at that? It makes no sense.”

JD VANCE SAYS UFOS, ALIENS COULD BE ‘SPIRITUAL FORCES’ AS VP VOWS TO ‘GET TO THE BOTTOM’ OF MYSTERY IN SKIES

High-level officials in the film claim the issue was moved away from presidential oversight, with defense contractors “gatekeeping information.” However, Farah said members of Congress and the Trump administration are now working to uncover answers.

“Now we have leaders in Congress and in the administration that are trying to get to the bottom of it, and there are people in this film who are respected in their fields, who say they have seen these craft and have seen the recovered non-human bodies,” he said.

He said on-the-record interviews are even more important in this digital age, with many people dismissing everything they see as fake or artificial intelligence. He hopes the film will serve as the evidence many believe doesn’t exist.

“Some officials go on record claiming to have seen craft and non-human beings with their own eyes, and these are people who are putting their reputation and their names on the line,” he said.

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Farah said he thinks President Donald Trump could be the first president to speak openly about this unexplained phenomenon.

“I think it’s only a matter of time at this point before we have a sitting president step to the microphone and have the biggest moment a leader can possibly have, which is telling all of humanity that we’re not alone in the universe and that the United States intends to lead the way,” Farah said.

The film will be released on Nov. 21 and will play in select theaters in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, and will also be available worldwide to purchase or rent on Amazon Prime Video.

Nevada Democratic representatives Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford are being mocked as “out of touch” for keeping silent after a national Democratic Party spokesperson dismissed no tax on tips as mere “crumbs.”

In a Politico article about the importance of the no tax on tips policy in congressional races in Nevada, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Lindsay Reilly appeared to dismiss the policy, saying, “D.C. Republicans are giving temporary crumbs to working families.”

Reilly added, “Meanwhile, millions of families are at risk of losing their health care, hundreds of hospitals could close, and countless Americans could lose their jobs — all to pay for permanent tax cuts for billionaires.”

The no-tax-on-tips provision in the big, beautiful bill establishes an income tax deduction of up to $25,000 on qualified tipped income through 2028.

WATCH: DEM LAWMAKERS ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN WHY STOCK MARKET IS BOOMING DESPITE TRUMP TARIFFS

With Nevada being the state with the highest share of tipped workers in the country, these comments ignited a firestorm of criticisms from Republican voices online.

“Marvel at just how out of touch Democrats are with reality. The DCCC thinks no taxes on tips is ‘crumbs,’” wrote conservative commentator Steve Guest.

“What makes this so bad, is that this is ACTUALLY what the Democrat party thinks,” wrote White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.

National Republican Senatorial Committee advisor Nathan Brand added, “Nancy Pelosi peddled this same elitist ‘crumbs’ message in 2017 after Trump and Republicans cut taxes for nearly all working families.”

The Republican Congressional Leadership Fund challenged Titus, Lee and Horsford, saying, “Will you denounce the @dccc’s statement that cutting taxes on tips amounts to ‘crumbs?’ Many of your constituents rely on tips to support their families.”

National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Christian Gonzalez wrote, “The @dccc sneering that No Tax on Tips is ‘crumbs’ is peak Democrat elitism.”

KAMALA HARRIS-ENDORSED CANDIDATE IN HOT SEAT FOR MILLION-DOLLAR DC HOME HUNDREDS OF MILES OUTSIDE DISTRICT

Though all three Democrats have advocated for the no tax on tips policy, they voted against the big, beautiful bill in which the policy was included.

Gonzalez said that the Nevada Democrats’ “voting record says it all” and that “Out of touch Democrats Dina Titus, Susie Lee, and Steven Horsford are too scared of their radical, latte-sipping bosses in D.C. to stand with the workers who keep Nevada running.”

“Only a party run by latte-liberals who refuse to go into the office thinks hard-earned tip money is pocket lint,” he said.

The NRCC itself also asked: “Will Titus, Lee, and Horsford stand with workers?”

“National Democrats just mocked Nevada’s servers, bartenders, cooks, housekeepers, dealers, and hospitality workers, sneering that their right to keep their own hard-earned tip money amounts to nothing more than ‘crumbs,’” the NRCC said in a statement.

“This is the shameless party of Dina Titus, Susie Lee, and Steven Horsford. They can’t hide from their vote AGAINST No Tax on Tips for hardworking Nevadans. If Titus, Lee, and Horsford actually stood with workers, they’d condemn these comments and stand up for workers keeping more of their hard-earned money,” the NRCC went on.

‘SQUAD’ DEM SPENDS EYE-POPPING AMOUNT ON LUXURY LIMO SERVICES IN ONE YEAR

After its passage, Lee wrote in the Las Vegas Sun that she “rushed back to Washington to vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill,” calling it “one of the least popular pieces of legislation in modern American history, giving massive, permanent tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and temporary crumbs for working families in Southern Nevada.”

In August, the three sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “to ensure the successful implementation” of the no-tax-on-tips policy. In a statement, Lee’s office said the letter highlighted that “the version of ‘No Tax on Tips’ passed by Republicans in Washington does not fully meet the needs of Nevadans.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Lee said, “I believe that no one should lose out on tips they earned. That’s why I support the TIPS Act to PERMANENTLY end taxes on tips.”

She said that earlier this year, she “called on Speaker [Mike] Johnson to bring the permanent fix ‘No Tax on Tips Act’ — which unanimously passed the Senate — to the House floor for a vote.”

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS TURN ON PARTY LEADERSHIP AFTER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENDS WITHOUT HEALTHCARE GUARANTEES

“Instead, Republican leaders held it hostage so they could provide cover for themselves as they voted to pass the largest transfer of wealth in American history,” she said, adding, “The Republican ‘no tax on tips’ provision is a raw deal for tipped earners — it’s temporary, capped, and so much smaller than the tax breaks the wealthiest Americans got out of the Big Bulls**t Bill.”

“Let me be clear — our service workers can’t benefit from no tax on tips if they aren’t receiving tips thanks to our tourism slump or if they’ve lost their jobs,” she said.

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DCCC spokeswoman Lindsay Reilly also responded to the backlash, telling Fox News Digital “it’s sad that the out-of-touch operatives at the NRCC are having a meltdown when confronted with the facts.”

“Everyone knows the Big, Ugly Bill is a massive tax giveaway for the wealthiest few that sticks working families with the bill. That is fact, and it’s why everyone hates it,” she said, adding, “Voters can see through Republicans’ cheap spin and people know their bill fails to deliver meaningful relief to everyday Americans, while the billionaires cash out.”

In response to the knock on her 2017 “crumbs” comment, Pelosi’s office shared a statement from 2018, which accused President Donald Trump’s first-term tax breaks of being a scam and “a monumental theft from the middle class to enrich the wealthiest 1 percent.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to Titus and Horsford, but did not immediately receive a response.

EXCLUSIVE: After the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a statement opposing mass deportations, a prominent American Catholic group chided some of their colleagues for sowing “confusion” about the church’s official stance on law enforcement and called for a “more complete conversation on immigration.”  

On Wednesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a “special pastoral message on immigration” in which the bishops said they felt “compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.”

In the message, the bishops stated unequivocally, “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” adding, “We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement.“

“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”

US CATHOLIC BISHOPS VOTE TO OFFICIALLY PROHIBIT GENDER TRANSITION TREATMENT AT CATHOLIC HOSPITALS

They also lamented that “some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status,” and noted, “we are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.”

A day later, conservative advocacy group CatholicVote issued a report titled, “Immigration Enforcement and the Christian Conscience,” in which it said, “despite what some Church leaders in America have indicated, a faithful Catholic can support strong and humane immigration law enforcement — by means such as physical barriers, detention and deportation — without violating the teaching of the Church.”

While the U.S. bishops’ statement invokes the scripture verse “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me,” in reference to the plight of migrants, CatholicVote’s report states that the “implications of this passage apply to all people — including those left poor, forgotten, unemployed and the victims of crime.”

The report posits that while “weak borders and lenient law enforcement are often presented as ‘humane’ and ‘compassionate’ policies demanded by Christian love,” such policies “frequently have a terrible human toll — such as when they enrich and empower the criminal cartels, clearly harming both Americans and foreigners in the process.”

It also makes the case for deportations even in instances that lead to the separation of families, saying, “In this regard, there is no essential difference between a prison sentence for other offenses and the deportation of illegal immigrants.”

“If legitimate law enforcement is disruptive to family life, the responsibility lies with those family members who broke the law,” the report states.

‘SHATTERED OUR WORLD’: FAMILY STILL WITHOUT ANSWERS AFTER INTOXICATED ILLEGAL KILLED MOTHER

The report laments that “Catholics who advocate strong but humane immigration enforcement are sometimes accused of disobeying their bishops or the pope, and even violating Church teaching.” It also says that “statements from individual Church leaders in America and abroad have also added to the confusion, particularly when they draw a moral equivalency between President Trump‘s immigration policy and, for example, the Democratic Party’s pro-abortion platform.”

Despite this, the report posits that “properly speaking, there is no such thing as an official ‘Catholic position’ on the practical details of immigration policy.” Instead, it frames individual Catholics’ stances on immigration enforcement as “a matter of prudential political judgment,” which it says is “an area of responsibility that belongs properly to Catholic laypersons rather than the bishops.”

CatholicVote President Kelsey Reinhardt told Fox News Digital that the group “wants to foster a more complete conversation on immigration and give moral standing and freedom of conscience for Catholics and Christians who recognize a need to secure the border and the importance of the rule of law.”

Reinhardt said that “pastoral accompaniment on the part of the bishops and faithful Christians, however necessary, does not exhaust the Church’s moral vocabulary.”

BISHOPS, CATHOLIC GROUPS SLAM CARDINAL CUPICH’S PLAN TO HONOR PRO-ABORTION SEN DICK DURBIN: ‘GREAT SCANDAL’

“The responsibility to regulate borders for the sake of the common good is not a caveat tacked onto an otherwise humanitarian manifesto; it is an integral part of Catholic doctrine,” said Reinhardt, adding, “This is not a secondary or peripheral concern. As we argue, it is precisely the collapse of lawful order — not merely private prejudice — that has created the conditions in which exploitation flourishes, cartels thrive, and millions of migrants are pushed into a shadow-world without legal recourse or clear prospects.”

“The point, put bluntly, is this: a nation cannot honor the dignity of immigrants if it has effectively abandoned the rule of law under which immigrants might be protected,” she said.

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CatholicVote made headlines in 2024 for issuing its first political endorsement for President Donald Trump. The group’s founder, Brian Burch, currently serves as the Trump administration’s ambassador to the Vatican.

Fox News Digital reached out to the USCCB for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday announced the Department of Justice (DOJ) will probe prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, after new emails released this week revealed ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In an X post Friday afternoon, Bondi said Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, will take the lead on the investigation.

“Clayton is one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country,” Bondi wrote in the post. “As with all matters, the Department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”

Bondi’s response came after President Donald Trump took to social media to call for an investigation into notable Democrats and institutions allegedly connected to Epstein.

WHITE HOUSE SLAMS DEMS’ ‘BAD-FAITH’ EPSTEIN DOC RELEASE AS DEMAND FOR FILES INTENSIFIES

“Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Friday.

The president went on to call the situation “another Russia, Russia, Russia scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats.”

“Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘Island.’ Stay tuned!!!” he wrote.

TRUMP DOJ HANDING EPSTEIN DOCUMENTS TO HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON FRIDAY AS SUBPOENA DEADLINE LOOMS

JPMorgan Chase & Co. previously told Fox News Digital the government had “damning information” about Epstein’s crimes, but did not share the details with any banks.

“We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts,” Trish Wexler, head of policy and advocacy communications at JPMorgan Chase & Co, wrote in a statement. “We ended our relationship with him years before his arrest on sex trafficking charges.”

Oversight Committee Democrats on Wednesday released a trove of new emails related to the Epstein case, including one where Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell “the only dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” adding the now-president “spent hours at my house” with a victim.

TRUMP TO ASK DOJ TO INVESTIGATE EPSTEIN TIES TO DEMOCRATS, BANKS

In another email, Epstein penned Michael Wolff, explaining Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told Fox News Digital the Democrats “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”

Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., released a fiery statement demanding the DOJ release all the Epstein files “immediately.”

“The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” Garcia wrote in a statement. “These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president.”

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Representatives for Clinton, Summers and Hoffman did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Leo Briceno contributed to this report.

The head of the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council revealed on Friday that he appointed himself to take over the election case in Georgia against President Donald Trump and several others, a move that comes after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from it.

The council’s director, Peter Skandalakis, said he would take the case on after he was unable to find another prosecutor to do it.

“The filing of this appointment reflects my inability to secure another conflict prosecutor to assume responsibility for this case,” Skandalakis said. “Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment.”

TRUMP ISSUES SWEEPING PARDONS FOR 2020 ELECTION ALLIES — WHAT THE MOVE REALLY MEANS

Willis charged Trump and 18 co-defendants in August 2023 with racketeering and other violations involving interfering with the 2020 election, but the case was whittled down significantly because of plea deals and dismissed charges.

The biggest blow to the prosecution came last year, however, when the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis, finding that she had an undisclosed romantic relationship with her lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade, and that it presented a conflict of interest. Her disqualification flipped the case into the hands of the state agency to decide what to do with it.

Legal experts had long predicted that finding a new prosecutor to step in and take on the sprawling, complex racketeering case against Trump and his allies would be difficult. Skandalakis said he wanted to do it to avoid the court dismissing the charges because of a lack of a prosecutor.

“The public has a legitimate interest in the outcome of this case. Accordingly, it is important that someone make an informed and transparent determination about how best to proceed,” Skandalakis said.

Court action against Trump while he is a sitting president is unlikely, but some of his co-defendants still facing charges, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, do not have that same type of protection.

ALVIN BRAGG DODGES MENTIONING SIGNATURE TRUMP CASE AS HE CAMPAIGNS FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY RE-ELECTION

Trump this week pardoned Meadows, Giuliani and others facing accusations related to the 2020 election, but the president’s clemency only applies to federal charges.

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Trump’s defense lawyer Steve Sadow said in a statement he expects the Georgia case will still be tossed out.

“This politically charged prosecution has to come to an end,” Sadow said. “We remain confident that a fair and impartial review will lead to a dismissal of the case against President Trump.”

Claudia Kelly-Bazan contributed to this report.

A left-wing group behind the massive “No Kings” protests targeting President Donald Trump and his administration launched its largest primary undertaking: targeting Senate Democrats who joined Republicans to reopen the government. 

“This is no longer about them – it’s about us. We’re done waiting for Democrats to find their spine,” Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, said in a Monday press release. “We can’t afford a weak and cowardly Democratic Party while the authoritarians invade our cities, terrorize our communities, and threaten our democracy. We get the party we demand, and we intend to demand a Democratic Party that fights.” 

Indivisible is one of the key groups behind the massive “No Kings” protests that were held across the country earlier in 2025, including on June 14, when Trump held a military parade in Washington, D.C., and most recently on Oct. 18, when protesters railed against Trump’s immigration policies and reiterated claims that Trump conducts himself as a monarch as opposed to a president. 

The protests are supported by dozens of left-wing and liberal groups, with Indivisible, the 50501 movement and the No Kings Organization, itself, identified as the top organizers of the protests. 

SCHUMER PUSHES SHUTDOWN INTO RECORD BOOKS AFTER REJECTING GOP BILL A 14TH TIME

Indivisible launched in 2017, as Trump’s first term kicked off, and describes itself as a network of local grassroots groups that advocates for the elections of left-wing lawmakers, while advocating current lawmakers resist MAGA policies. The group is funded, in part, by left-wing billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, which delivered Indivisible a two-year grant worth $3 million in 2023 that works to “to support the grantee’s social welfare activities,” Fox News Digital previously reported. 

“Chuck Schumer and a critical mass of Senate Democrats surrendered,” Levin said. “For nearly six weeks, Republicans held the government hostage while threatening health care, food assistance, and basic services for millions of Americans.”  

“In these six weeks of the shutdown, Democrats had their best election night in over a decade, polls showed Republicans were losing this shutdown fight, and their base turned out for the largest protest in modern U.S. history with a resounding rejection of Trump and Republicans,” Levin continued in his comments. “Instead of standing with that energy, Senate Democrats surrendered — yet again. That’s why Indivisible is launching our largest primary program yet.” 

“Our democracy is facing an existential threat. We need leaders with backbone and conviction — not timidity and excuses,” Indivisible’s co-founder and co-executive director Leah Greenberg said of the primary plan. “Democrats can’t defeat authoritarianism by running from the fight. It’s in our hands to make sure those who can’t fight make space for the leaders who can. Indivisible is ready to clean house and build a party that actually has the energy to act like an opposition.” 

At the heart of the shutdown was a debate on healthcare. Trump and Republicans pinned shutdown blame on Democrats for working to include healthcare benefits for illegal immigrants in the package. Democrats denied the claims and argued the government was shut down due to Republicans failing to negotiate healthcare demands. 

The House voted later Wednesday to reopen the government. The bill then headed to Trump’s desk for his signature to officially end the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history. 

A handful of left-wing lawmakers and leaders slammed Senate Democrats for joining the GOP ahead of Trump’s signature, such as Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders describing Sunday as a “very bad night.”

JOHN FETTERMAN BREAKS WITH DEMOCRATS IN SHUTDOWN VOTE, SAYS IT’S AN ‘EASY CHOICE’ TO PUT AMERICA FIRST

“Pathetic. This isn’t a deal. It’s a surrender. Don’t bend the knee!,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s official press office X account posted Sunday evening. Newsom added on his own X account: “America deserves better,” as well as another message that just read, “pathetic.“

“As this vote moves to the House, I stand with Democratic leadership as they refuse to rubber stamp the full-scale Republican assault on Americans’ health care and I am proud of the majority of Senate Democrats who opposed this vote,” DNC Chair Ken Martin posted to X. 

“I’ve said it since the start of this shutdown — Republicans do not negotiate in good faith, and any deal that fails to protect healthcare is not a deal at all. For Democrats to cave now would be a complete betrayal of the American people,” Illinois Lt. Governor and Senate candidate Juliana Stratton posted to X. 

Others, including Indivisible and Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna, have called for Schumer to be replaced over the handling of the shutdown. 

Indivisible’s primary plan, which is dubbed as the group’s “largest” primary effort to date, includes calling on Schumer to step aside as Senate minority leader, and backing Senate candidates who hold a “clear commitment to abandon the status quo of feckless leadership, and use every tool available to fight MAGA attacks on our communities, our health, and our democracy.”

“Ahead of the 2026 primaries, Indivisible will be activating (it’s) (sic) network to support progressive fighters who are challenging feckless, status-quo-loving incumbents. In a recent movement survey, 98.67% of Indivisible’s base said they wanted Senate Democrats to keep fighting,” the group wrote, adding that its plan is coming together with more details, candidate endorsements and campaign efforts expected in the coming weeks.  

Fox News Digital reached out to Indivisible Wednesday morning for additional comment on the plan but did not immediately receive a response. 

SENATE RETURNS TO WORK AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN NEARS LONGEST IN US HISTORY OVER OBAMACARE FIGHT

When asked about the Democrat in-fighting over the lawmakers who joined the GOP, the White House reiterated that Trump has wanted the government to reopen since Oct. 1. 

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“President Trump has wanted the government reopened since the first day Democrats shut it down. The action in the Senate is a positive development and we look forward to seeing it progress,” a White House official told Fox Digital. 

Trump joined Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Monday evening, arguing the Republican Party “broke” Schumer. 

“I think he made a mistake in going too far,” Trump said during the interview. “He thought he could break the Republicans, and the Republicans broke him.”

Fox Digital reached out to Schumer’s office regarding outrage among some Democrats over the splintering vote and mounting calls for him to step aside but did not receive a response. 

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

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is in the midst of touting his state’s leadership on energy policies while in Brazil for a United Nations climate conference, while Golden State residents pay the highest gas prices in the U.S., which are largely attributable to state regulations. 

“While climate change may not resonate, I think affordability matters,” Newsom said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle earlier in November ahead of his trip to Brazil. “When you talk about energy efficiency, you’re talking about saving money.”

Newsom joined the COP30 summit, which is an annual U.N. climate meeting, in Belém, Brazil. Typically, federal U.S. officials attend the summit, but the administration skipped the event as President Donald Trump rails against climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

NEWSOM VOWS TO BLOCK TRUMP’S REPORTED ENERGY PLAN IN CALIFORNIA, EXPERTS PUSH BACK

“Absolutely,” Newsom said Wednesday when asked if California was standing in for the U.S. at the summit, the Los Angeles Times reported. “And I think the world sees us in that light, as a stable partner, a historic partner … in the absence of American leadership. And not just absence of leadership, the doubling down of stupid in terms of global leadership on clean energy.”

The governor’s office touted amid the trip that, “Greenhouse gas emissions in California are down 21% since 2000 — even as the state’s GDP increased 81% in that same time period,” and that “the state was powered by two-thirds clean energy” in 2023.

California currently has the highest average gas prices in the nation, data shows. 

The Golden State has long had notoriously high gas prices, and 2025 is no different. California currently has the highest average gas prices in the nation, at an average of $4.67 per gallon, followed by a list of other states, including Hawaii, Washington, Nevada and Oregon. 

Holiday travel is about to hit a fever pitch across the country as the aviation industry gets back on its feet following the historically long government shutdown that led to nationwide delays — with many travelers expected to hop in their cars for a road trip this Thanksgiving and Christmas season. 

LONGTIME NEWSOM CRITIC PUTS UN SUMMIT ON NOTICE IF DEM GOVERNOR IS ALLOWED TO SPEAK: ‘CLIMATE HYPOCRISY’

The White House slammed California’s high gas prices to Fox News Digital Thursday while Newsom was abroad.

“Governor Newscum is working overtime to cement his status as the worst governor in America,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “Under his failed leadership, the great state of California is suffering with some of the highest gas and electricity prices in the country.” 

“In fact, California drivers pay $1.60 more than the national average for a gallon of gasoline,” she added. “Gavin, it’s time to abandon your failed Green New Scam experiment and embrace President Trump’s successful energy dominance agenda.” 

Newsom office spokesperson Izzy Gardon told Fox Digital Thursday that current gas prices in the state are lower than in 2019, when Newsom was inaugurated California’s top leader. 

“Year over year, in real dollars, gas prices in California today are lower than they were in the Governor’s first year in office — and Californians are getting up to $60 billion in utility bill rebates thanks to climate policies Trump is too lazy or too stupid to understand,” Gardon said. “While Trump tries to Make Black Lung Great Again, Governor Newsom is in Brazil fighting for clean energy, more jobs, and a livable planet.” 

The nation’s average gas price has fallen in recent months, sitting at about $3.08 as of Thursday, after reaching a high of $5 per gallon in the summer of 2022 under the Biden administration, according to Gas Buddy data. 

Red states currently report the lowest prices, including Oklahoma touting the lowest average price in the nation, at a state average of $2.48 per gallon, followed by four other red states with low average gas prices: Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. 

NEWSOM CLAIMS TRUMP IS ‘HANDING THE FUTURE TO CHINA’ AT BRAZILIAN CLIMATE CONFAB THAT WH SKIPPED

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, which is the Department of Energy’s statistical arm that publishes policy-independent data, attributed California’s higher prices at the pump to a spate of policies, including state taxes and fees, environmental requirements and special fuel requirements. 

Californians pay an extra $0.90 per gallon in local, state, and federal taxes as of March 2025, while the California Energy Commission estimated that residents pay an additional $0.54 a gallon in environmental compliance costs. The state also requires that fuel in the state be a special blend that cuts back on pollution, but also comes at a higher price tag, according to the Energy Information Administration. 

NEWSOM SET TO RALLY TEXAS DEMS WITH VICTORY LAP DAYS AFTER PROP 50 PASSES: ‘CALIFORNIA STEPPED UP’

Newsom and Trump have long been political foes, with their battles frequently focusing on energy policy, including Trump slamming Newsom over its water reserves in a state prone to devastating wildfires, and Trump signing a trio of congressional resolutions ending California’s restrictive rules for diesel engines and mandates on elective vehicle sales in July. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment on the matter but did not immediately receive a response.