NationalWatch

UFC fans gathered in Newark, N.J., for the highly anticipated matchup between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. 

But the two fighters weren’t the only special guests in the arena — President Donald Trump was also in attendance. Though there was no official announcement, fans were clearly anticipating Trump’s arrival. 

Fox News Digital spoke to fans before the event about Trump’s performance during the first six months of his second term. Some were eager to praise the president, while others were skeptical or outright disappointed.

TRUMP CONFIRMS UFC 314 ATTENDANCE, REVEALS HIS PICK FOR THE BIGGEST WINNER

How is President Donald Trump doing so far in his second term?

“He’s doing an amazing job. He’s shocking us all, but he’s doing what everybody knows he’s going to do. Wow,” Erin Kerr said.

“I believe that Trump is somebody to respect. He’s always honest about things and at the end of the day, you know, it might be politics, but you know we should kind of respect what’s going on, you know what I’m saying,” Eric Ventura told Fox News Digital.

Would rather see Saturday’s matchup between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley or see Trump and Elon Musk in the ring?

“I’d much rather see the UFC than see two bloated billionaires fight each other,” Paul Gordon said.

“Probably Elon would be kind of funny, but I gotta go with what’s happening tonight, it’s gonna be better,” Chris Wright said.
 

DONALD TRUMP ARRIVES AT UFC 309 IN MSG; CROWD ROARS FOR PRESIDENT-ELECT WEEKS AFTER HISTORIC RALLY

Who would be more fit to take a punch to the face, Trump or Musk?

“Trump — he’s got that big a– chin,” Wright told Fox News Digital. 

“He took a bullet, right? I think if you just take a bullet, maybe you can take a punch,” Gustavo Granados said.

“If Elon, if Trump were to fight, I think Trump would get it done,” Jimmy Malloy said.

Several fans also chose Musk, noting the billionaire was several years younger than the president, which they thought would give him an advantage.

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In the end, Trump received a warm welcome from the roaring crowd as he entered the Prudential Center with UFC CEO Dana White, a longtime ally of the president who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other politicians from the U.S. and Latin America condemned the shooting of Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe on Sunday.

Rubio blamed the assassination attempt on “violent leftist rhetoric” originating from the Colombian government. Uribe, a Colombian senator, is currently fighting for his life after sustaining three gunshot wounds, one of which was to the head.

“The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe. This is a direct threat to democracy and the result of the violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government,” Rubio wrote.

“Having seen firsthand Colombia’s progress over the past few decades to consolidate security and democracy, it can’t afford to go back to dark days of political violence. President Petro needs to dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials,” he added.

WHO IS COLOMBIA’S PRESIDENT GUSTAVO PETRO, FORMER MARXIST GUERRILLA AND COUNTRY’S FIRST LEFTIST LEADER? 

Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno also condemned the attack in a statement on social media.

“The assassination attempt on leading presidential candidate Miguel Uribe is a vile attack on democracy. This evil act must be investigated and anyone responsible, directly or indirectly, must face swift punishment,” Moreno wrote.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric also reacted to Uribe’s shooting.

“My strongest condemnation of the attack against Miguel Uribe Turbay, pre-presidential candidate in Colombia. In a democracy, violence has no place or justification,” Boric wrote.

FBI’S KASH PATEL VOWS ‘YOU’RE GOING TO KNOW EVERYTHING WE KNOW’ ABOUT TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Authorities say Uribe was shot by a boy less than 15 years old, and they are investigating who was behind the attack. Police recovered a 9mm “Glock-type” pistol from the suspect.

“Miguel is fighting for his life at this moment. Let us ask God to guide the hands of the doctors who are attending to him,” Maria Claudia Tarazona, Miguel’s wife, wrote on her husband’s X account. “I ask everyone to join together in a prayer chain for Miguel’s life.”

Tarazona later announced that Uribe’s initial surgery at the hospital “went well,” though he remains in intensive care.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Uribe’s chief opponent in the presidential race, said the attack crossed a “red line” and ordered an investigation. He also canceled a planned trip to France this week, citing the “seriousness of the events.”

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Colombia’s Ministry of Defense has offered a nearly $750,000 reward for information relating to the assassination attempt.

Reuters contributed to this report

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office downplayed the riots gripping Los Angeles, likening them to sports celebrations that notoriously break out in Philadelphia after an Eagles’ victory. 

“LA riots? Have these geniuses ever seen what happens when the Eagles win a playoff game?” Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s communications director, told Fox News Digital on Sunday morning. 

Philadelphia notoriously sees sports revelers flood the city after beloved teams such as the Eagles or Phillies win championships, sometimes setting cars ablaze and causing property damage. The city even greases city light poles to dissuade partiers from scaling them and deploys additional police to the streets while often wearing riot gear.

Fox News Digital reached out to the governor’s office to ask about claims by California Republicans and natives that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass bore some of the blame for the riots. They and other local Democrats issued messages defending illegal immigrants and condemning federal agents for carrying out deportation raids in the left-wing city. 

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS SLAM NEWSOM, BASS FOR LETTING LA BURN WITH RIOTS AMID TRUMP IMMIGRATION BLITZ

“Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have a real habit of letting Los Angeles burn,” Republican California Rep. Darell Issa posted to X on Saturday evening. 

“If only Karen Bass fought against the Los Angeles fires like she fights for illegal aliens,” Issa added in another post, referring to the Palisades fire that tore through Southern California in January. 

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

“Gavin Newsom is unqualified for a plethora of reasons, the least of which is his support of illegal alien insurrectionists. He is an all purpose, all around loser,” Hollywood actor and California resident James Woods posted to X.

Federal officials have also pinned blame for the violence on Democratic elected officials who have “villainized and demonized” ICE law enforcement, Fox Digital previously reported. 

“This is on you, Governor. It is a shame that California openly defies federal law and sides with illegal aliens, including hardened criminals, against its own citizens,” Harmeet Dhillon, former vice chair of the California Republican Party and current assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, posted to X. 

“The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom must call for it to end,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.… From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end.” 

SOCIAL MEDIA, TRUMP ADMIN ERUPTS OVER LA MAYOR’S REACTION TO ICE RAIDS: ‘YOU’RE A CRIMINAL TOO’

Newsom on Friday described the Trump administration’s immigration raids in Los Angeles as “chaotic and reckless.”

“Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy,” Newsom’s statement read. 

The press office doubled down in support of shielding illegal immigrants from deportation in a response X post to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Saturday. 

“In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California. These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens,” Leavitt posted to X. 

Newsom’s office responded: “These are anything but basic. Your indiscriminate sweeps are terrifying entire communities and detaining hardworking, tax-paying Californians. It’s cruel escalation and must end.”

When asked about the riots, and California Republicans condemning the violence and Newsom’s stance on immigration on Sunday morning, the governor’s office compared the lawlessness to street parties after an Eagles win. 

PATEL PROMISES FBI COMING FOR ANYONE ASSAULTING COPS AS LOS ANGELES ERUPTS OVER ICE RAIDS

The riots in Los Angeles, however, have included targeted attacks on federal law enforcement officials, including violent protesters lobbing rocks and other items at immigration officials. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks, for example, shared a photo of a Border Patrol agent’s bloody hand that was injured by a rock flying through the windshield.

Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Saturday to deploy 2,000 National Guardsmen to Paramount, California, to help quell the violence, and has also slammed the local leaders for the chaos. 

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“If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!” Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday evening. 

As violent instances of antisemitism break out around the country this year, Fox News Digital took a look back at former President Joe Biden‘s penchant for equating antisemitism and Islamophobia.

While the former president rightly condemned hate directed at Jews in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Israelis and the subsequent war in Gaza, Biden was almost always sure to draw an equivalency with anti-Muslim sentiment.

“In recent years, too much hate has given too much oxygen, fueling racism, the rise of antisemitism, Islamophobia right here in America,” Biden said, days after the war broke out, in a prime-time address from the White House. He added: “We can’t stand by and stand silent when this happens. We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism. We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia.”

Biden added during a Human Rights Campaign event in October 2023: “We have to reject hate in everything, because history has taught us again and again, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, they’re all connected. Hate toward one group left unanswered opens the door for more hate toward more groups, more often, regularly.”

Instances of antisemitism spiked to new highs last year, with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) finding in a new report that there were 9,354 antisemitic incidents in 2024, a 5% increase from 2023 and a staggering 926% increase since it began tracking such data in 1979.

TRUMP ADMIN CRACKS DOWN ANTISEMITISM AS DOJ OFFICIAL EXPOSES ‘VIOLENT RHETORIC’ OF RADICAL PROTESTERS

The war in Israel initially fanned the flames of antisemitism on campuses in the form of protests, menacing graffiti and students reporting that they felt as if it was “open season for Jews on our campuses.” The protests heightened to the point that Jewish students at some schools, including Columbia University, were warned to leave campus for their own safety. 

Agitators and student protesters flooded college campuses nationwide last school year to protest the war, which also included spiking instances of antisemitism and Jewish students publicly speaking out that they did not feel safe on some campuses. 

Protesters on Columbia University’s campus in New York City, for example, took over the school’s Hamilton Hall building, while schools such as UCLA, Harvard and Yale worked to clear spiraling student encampments where protesters demanded their elite schools completely divest from Israel. 

ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE ERUPTS IN AMERICA AS SOME INVOKE INTIFADA AND TARGET JEWS

As the protests hit a fever pitch last year, Biden again equated antisemitism with Islamophobia, even though it was clear that Jews were the group being targeted with harassment and violence.

“There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students. There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans,” Biden said from the White House in May 2024 as the protests on college campuses continued. 

“It’s simply wrong. There is no place for racism in America.”

Biden faced condemnation from conservatives and other critics for not simply denouncing antisemitism as Jews in the U.S. faced protests and instances of antisemitism. 

JEWISH STUDENTS WELCOME TRUMP ADMIN’S CRACKDOWN ON ANTISEMITISM, HAMAS SYMPATHIZERS ON CAMPUSES

“At a time when no college campus is on lockdown over Islamophobia, Joe Biden felt the need to spend as much time in his speech denouncing Islamophobia and ‘discrimination against Arab Americans’ as he did antisemitism. He is never able to just call out antisemitism,” radio host Erick Erickson commented on X in May 2024 as campus protests against Israel raged. 

“Biden repeats his both-sideisms,” veteran James Hutton wrote last year of Biden’s previous comments. “Only the Jewish students are being violated. Biden knows that, but he really wants those votes in Michigan.”

“Biden is incapable of simply condemning antisemitism. Yet another equivocation. This administration is an embarrassment,” Kerry Rom, deputy communications director for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote on X last year. 

ISRAELI COLUMBIA PROFESSOR WANTS TRUMP TO BLOCK CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS FROM RECEIVING FEDERAL FUNDING

This year, the Trump administration is cracking down on antisemitism and attacks on American Jews, which were underscored by a shooting that left a Jewish couple dead on the streets of Washington, D.C., last month outside of a Jewish museum, as well as a terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, last Sunday when an Egyptian national identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman allegedly hurled Molotov cocktails at people participating in a solidarity event for Israeli hostages still in Hamas captivity. 

Soliman’s charging documents stated that he “traveled to Boulder, Colorado, in his vehicle with the Molotov cocktails and threw two of the cocktails at individuals participating in a pro-Israel gathering. He also stated that he picked up gas at a gas station on the way to Boulder. He stated that he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead.”

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION LAUNCHES NATIONAL STRATEGY TO COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA, ANTI-ARAB HATE

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro – the Keystone State’s third Jewish governor – faced his own instance of antisemitism when a suspect set fire to the governor’s residence while he and his family were asleep on the first night of Passover.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

President Donald Trump meanwhile, signed an executive order on “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism” in January as his administration launched its crackdown on antisemitism. While federal law enforcement officials have arrested individuals allegedly tied to the widespread anti-Israel protests last year, the White House has threatened to end federal funding to universities that allow violent anti-Israel protests and is investigating immigration status of those accused of leading campus protests or carrying out antisemitic attacks.

A California Democratic lawmaker was widely criticized by conservatives on social media after posting a message online telling federal agents arresting illegal immigrants in Los Angeles to “get the f— out.”

“ICE get the f— out of LA so that order can be restored,” Rep. Norma Torres posted on TikTok Friday as protests and riots were breaking out over the raids. Conservatives on social media quickly reacted to the video, accusing Torres, who was born in Guatemala and became a U.S. citizen in the 1990s, of fomenting the violence and vitriol against ICE officers that unfolded over the next few days.

“This is a sitting member of Congress,” conservative influencer account Libs of TikTok posted on X. 

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS SLAM NEWSOM, BASS FOR LETTING LA BURN WITH RIOTS AMID TRUMP IMMIGRATION BLITZ

‘Torres is a sitting member of Congress and a complete lunatic,” conservative influencer Paul Szypula posted on X. 

“Demonic possession,” White House director of communications Steven Cheung posted on X. 

Conservative influencer Benny Johnson called Torres “deranged” in a post on X and several users, including Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers, called for Torres to be expelled from Congress. 

“Arrest her now,” the conservative influencer account Catturd posted on X. 

“Found a Communist in Congress,” author James Lindsay posted on X. 

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

“Make it an ad,” conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller posted on X. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Torres’ office for comment.

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President Trump sent 2,000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles to help “keep peace” as immigration protests descended into riots, and to prevent a repeat of the 2020 unrest that saw the Democratic governor of Minnesota “let his city burn,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on Sunday. 

During the riots, ICE officers were targeted with violence that included throwing rocks and other projectiles along with vandalism in the form of graffiti calling for violence against ICE officers. 

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks shared a photo of one Border Patrol agent’s bloody hand, which was injured by a rock flying through the windshield.

Federal sources said agents could have been killed by the flying debris. 

Several arrests have already been made for assault on a federal agent, Banks confirmed.

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected President Donald Trump’s claims that Russia is serious about pursuing peace on Sunday.

Zelenskyy made the statement during an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” with host Martha Raddatz. He argued that Putin wants the war to continue, though Ukraine is still engaged in ceasefire negotiations.

“With all due respect to President Trump, I think it’s just his personal opinion,” Zelenskyy said when asked about Trump’s view of Putin. “Trust me, we understand the Russians much better, the mentality of the Russians, than the Americans understand the Russians. I know for sure Putin doesn’t want to stop the war.”

He went on to push back on Trump’s analogy, likening the Russia-Ukraine war to two children fighting in a park.

RUSSIA DRONE STRIKE KILLS 5 IN UKRAINE AFTER PUTIN PROMISED RETALIATION IN TRUMP CALL

“We are not playing in the park with the Russians like two boys, two kids. Putin is not a kid. So we can’t compare and we cannot say okay, let them fight for a while,” Zelenskyy said, recounting the story of a Ukrainian man who lost his wife and three children to missile strikes.

“That’s why we are not kids at the playground. Putin is a murderer who came to the park to kill kids,” he added.

Trump gave the analogy during a state visit by German Chancellor Friederich Merz to the Oval Office last week.

GERMANY’S MERZ TO ‘ADAPT’ TO TRUMP DURING HIGH-STAKES MEETING ON TARIFFS, DEFENSE

“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy – they hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart, they don’t want to be pulled,” Trump said.  “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.”

Trump said he gave that analogy to Putin in his call with him last week and said he told the Kremlin chief “maybe you’re going to have to keep fighting and suffering a lot.”

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Ukraine and Russia have so far held two rounds of peace talks with few tangible results.

Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s suggestion that he could send U.S. Marines to quell anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement riots in Los Angeles would not be a heavy-handed approach. 

In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Johnson was asked to respond to President Donald Trump sending in National Guard troops to Los Angeles. 

Trump said he would pursue the federal government taking control of the California National Guard if Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass “can’t do their jobs” to protect Los Angeles against rioting and looting. 

“I have no concern about that at all,” Johnson told ABC host Jonathan Karl. “I think the president did exactly what he needed to do. These are federal laws and we have to maintain the rule of law, and that is not what is happening. Gavin Newsom has shown an inability or an unwillingness to do what is necessary there, so the president stepped in. That’s real leadership, and he has the authority and the responsibility to do it.” 

PRESIDENT TRUMP SENDS NATIONAL GUARD AS VIOLENT ANTI-ICE RIOTS ERUPT IN LOS ANGELES

Karl also asked about a message posted by Hegseth, who wrote on X Saturday that the Department of Defense was mobilizing the National Guard “IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angles,” and “if the violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized – they are on high alert.”

“One of our core principles is maintaining peace through strength,” Johnson said in response Sunday. “We do that on foreign affairs and domestic affairs as well. I don’t think that’s heavy-handed. I think that’s an important signal….” 

“You don’t think sending the Marines into the streets of an American city is heavy-handed?” Karl interjected. 

“We have to be prepared to do what is necessary, and I think the notice that that might happen might have the deterring effect,” Johnson said. 

Newsom responded to Hegseth’s threat on X, writing: “The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens. This is deranged behavior.” 

“Deranged = allowing your city to burn & law enforcement to be attacked,” Hegseth hit back Sunday morning. “There is plenty of room for peaceful protest, but ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job.”

“The National Guard, and Marines if need be, stand with ICE,” the defense secretary added. 

In his initial message Saturday, Hegseth said, “The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil; a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK. Under President Trump, violence & destruction against federal agents & federal facilities will NOT be tolerated. It’s COMMON SENSE.” 

Generally, the U.S. military is not allowed to carry out civilian law enforcement duties against U.S. citizens except in times of emergency.

SOCIAL MEDIA, TRUMP ADMIN ERUPTS OVER LA MAYOR’S REACTION TO ICE RAIDS: ‘YOU’RE A CRIMINAL TOO’

An 18th-century wartime law called the Insurrection Act is the main legal mechanism that a president can use to activate the military or National Guard during times of rebellion or unrest. But Trump didn’t invoke the Insurrection Act on Saturday.

Instead, the president’s memorandum called “into Federal service members and units of the National Guard under 10 U.S.C. 12406 to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.” 

The federal law cited in the memo allows the president to federalize National Guard troops under three circumstances: When the U.S. is invaded or in danger of invasion; when there is a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the authority of the U.S. government, or when the president is unable to “execute the laws of the United States,” with regular forces. But the law also says that orders for those purposes “shall be issued through the governors of the States.” 

The National Guard is a hybrid entity that serves both state and federal interests. 

It’s not immediately clear if the president can activate National Guard troops without the order of that state’s governor. 

It’s also not clear if military personnel can be deployed. 

Under the Posse Comitatus Act, troops under federal orders cannot be used for domestic law enforcement, but units under state control can. Enacted in the late 1800s during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, the federal law limits the powers of the federal government to deploy the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement reasons “except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress.” 

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Trump threatened to use the Insurrection Act during the height of 2020 rioting in the wake of George Floyd’s death, but ultimately did not do so. He did deploy federal agents to several U.S. cities, including Portland, where rioters attempted to breach a federal courthouse, clashing with law enforcement officers and targeting the building with Molotov cocktails and other projectiles for over 100 consecutive nights.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump sent 2,000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles to help “keep peace” as immigration protests descended into riots, and to prevent a repeat of the 2020 unrest that saw the Democratic governor of Minnesota “let his city burn,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on Sunday.

Noem addressed the deployment of the National Guard during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” saying that Trump has the safety of the community and law enforcement officers at the top of his mind.

“President Trump is putting the safety of the communities being impacted by these riots and by these protests that have turned violent, and he’s putting the safety of our law enforcement officers first,” Noem said.

The violence comes in response to sweeping immigration raids in the Los Angeles area. Federal immigration authorities have said some of the migrants arrested last week had criminal histories that included assault and drug offenses.

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS SLAM NEWSOM, BASS FOR LETTING LA BURN WITH RIOTS AMID TRUMP IMMIGRATION BLITZ

Noem said that Trump made the move to send in the troops because Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom “makes bad decisions” and Trump didn’t want to wait for Newsom to “get some sanity.”

Newsom has claimed that Trump is deploying the National Guard “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle.”

The California governor said Saturday that the state has deployed the California Highway Patrol to keep Los Angeles highways safe, though he added, “It’s not their job to assist in federal immigration enforcement.”

But Noem vowed that Trump was “not going to let a repeat of 2020 happen,” referencing riots that happened in Minneapolis at the time.

She further criticized Democrats by noting how Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota responded during riots that happened in 2020.

“Gov. Tim Walz made very bad decisions,” she said, adding that Walz tried to request the help of the National Guard after “letting his city burn for days on end.”

PATEL PROMISES FBI COMING FOR ANYONE ASSAULTING COPS AS LOS ANGELES ERUPTS OVER ICE RAIDS

Walz called for the National Guard two days after the riots began in 2020, a point that was highlighted last year after former Vice President Kamala Harris tapped him as her running mate during her failed presidential run against Trump.

Noem described the 2,000 National Guard soldiers as being specifically trained for “this type of crowd situation,” where they will provide safety around buildings, to those engaged in peaceful protests and law enforcement.

Noem said the National Guard will help with security in some areas, though she would not speak to the exact locations that the troops will be deployed to or to specific security operations.

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“They’re there at the direction of the president in order to keep peace and allow people to be able to protest but also to keep law and order,” she said of the National Guard. “That is incredibly important to the president.”

Riots against the Trump administration’s immigration raids in Southern California are rocking Los Angeles this weekend and California Republicans are pinning blame for the violence on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass. 

“Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have a real habit of letting Los Angeles burn,” Republican California Rep. Darell Issa posted to X on Saturday evening. 

“If only Karen Bass fought against the Los Angeles fires like she fights for illegal aliens,” Issa added in another post, referring to the Palisades fire that tore through Southern California in January. 

Riots broke out in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday as immigration officials carried out raids to remove individuals illegally residing in the left-wing city, which dubbed itself a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants in November before President Donald Trump was sworn back into the Oval Office. 

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

The raids began on Friday, with Bass issuing a statement supporting illegal immigrants in the city and bucking the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. 

“This morning, we received reports of federal immigration enforcement actions in multiple locations in Los Angeles,” Bass said in a statement on Friday. 

SOCIAL MEDIA, TRUMP ADMIN ERUPTS OVER LA MAYOR’S REACTION TO ICE RAIDS: ‘YOU’RE A CRIMINAL TOO’

“As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. My Office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this.”

Newsom issued a similar statement on Friday, calling the immigration raids “chaotic and reckless.”

“Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy,” Newsom’s statement read. 

Newsom’s press office doubled down in support of shielding illegal immigrants from deportation in a response X post to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Saturday. 

“In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California. These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens,” Leavitt posted to X. 

Newsom’s office responded: “These are anything but basic. Your indiscriminate sweeps are terrifying entire communities and detaining hardworking, tax-paying Californians. It’s cruel escalation and must end.”

Other Democrats in the state have gone even further in their defense of illegal immigrants amid the raids, with Democratic Rep. Norma Torres posting to TikTok on Saturday telling ICE officials to “get the f— out of L.A. so that order can be restored.”

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

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared unlawful assembly and issued a city-wide tactical alert on Friday evening as rioters attacked law enforcement officers, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Saturday.

“Last night, over 1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property,” read a statement from DHS. “Our ICE enforcement officers are facing a 413% increase in assaults against them. Disturbingly, in recent days, ICE officers’ family members have been dox[x]ed and targeted as well.”

As chaos broke out on the streets of LA, federal officials have pinned blame for the violence on Democratic elected officials who have “villainized and demonized” ICE law enforcement, Fox Digital previously reported. 

PATEL PROMISES FBI COMING FOR ANYONE ASSAULTING COPS AS LOS ANGELES ERUPTS OVER ICE RAIDS

“The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom must call for it to end,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, for example, wrote in a statement. “The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.… From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end.” 

California Republicans and conservatives have also directed their ire at Democratic leaders for the violence, Fox Digital found. 

“Gavin Newsom is unqualified for a plethora of reasons, the least of which is his support of illegal alien insurrectionists. He is an all purpose, all around loser,” Hollywood actor and California resident James Woods posted to X.

Woods additionally described Bass as a “Communist” and Newsom as “Grease” in other posts asking to describe the California Democrats in one word. 

“After four years of the Biden administration refusing to enforce our immigration laws, Americans voted for President Trump, who promised to enforce the law and secure the border. Our federal agencies, including ICE, have every right to enforce federal laws, even in sanctuary states,” California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert posted to X. 

“This is on you, Governor. It is a shame that California openly defies federal law and sides with illegal aliens, including hardened criminals, against its own citizens,” Harmeet Dhillon, former vice chair of the California Republican Party and current assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, posted to X. 

PRESIDENT TRUMP SENDS NATIONAL GUARD AS VIOLENT ANTI-ICE RIOTS ERUPT IN LOS ANGELES

“Gavin Newsom seems to think that California can not only defy federal immigration law, but now federal tax law. The doctrine of nullification died with the Confederacy. What’s next: firing on Fort Ord?” Republican California Rep. Tom McClintock posted to X, referring to Newsom floating withholding federal taxes in response to reports of the Trump administration cutting funding to the state. 

Libs of TikTok, a popular conservative X account founded by an LA native, posted a series of messages pinning blame on local Democrats and providing updates on the violence. 

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and California native, responded to Bass on X after she defended illegal immigrants: “You have no say in this at all. Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced.”

When asked about California Republicans’ comments and the riots overall on Sunday morning, Newsom’s communications director Izzy Gardon told Fox Digital: “LA riots? Have these geniuses ever seen what happens when the Eagles win a playoff game?”

Videos circulated on social media Friday night and Saturday showing people looting LA shops and setting fires, as well as lobbing rocks and other items at immigration officials. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks shared a photo of a Border Patrol agent’s bloody hand that was injured by a rock flying through the windshield.

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

Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Saturday to deploy 2,000 National Guardsmen to Paramount, California, to help quell the violence, and has also slammed the local leaders for the chaos. 

“If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!” Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday evening. 

ICE acting Director Todd Lyons described what took place in Los Angeles on Friday as “appalling.”

“As rioters attacked federal ICE and law enforcement officers on the LA streets, Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Lyons wrote in a statement on Saturday. “These violent rioters will be held accountable if they harm federal officers, and make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.”

FBI Director Kash Patel vowed that any individual found attacking an immigration official will face jail. 

“If you assault a law enforcement officer, you’re going to jail – period,” Patel said on Saturday, Fox Digital previously reported. 

“It doesn’t matter where you came from, how you got here, or what cause you claim to represent,” Patel added in comment to Fox News Digital on Saturday. “If local jurisdictions won’t stand behind the men and women who wear the badge, the FBI will.”

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Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and Landon Mion contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE — One of the leading opponents of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” declared not even the commander in chief will be able to deter him from speaking out against what he sees as a bill that falls short of Republicans’ goal of cutting government waste.

“It’ll completely backfire on him,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital of any attempts by Trump to sway him on the current legislation.

Johnson has become a prominent voice of opposition against the House GOP’s offering to the budget reconciliation process. Senate Republicans finally began the tedious process of parsing through the bill this week.

‘HE’S NOT A BIG FACTOR’: TRUMP’S SENATE ALLIES DISMISS ELON MUSK’S CALLS TO ‘KILL THE BILL’

Lawmakers in the upper chamber, Johnson included, are determined to make changes to the bill, with most wanting to make reductions to Medicaid and food stamps more palatable. Trump has made it clear his bill must pass but has acknowledged the Senate will need to make a few changes.

Trump’s directive has been to deliver a bill that can survive the razor-thin majorities in both chambers.  

Johnson, however, wants to see spending returned to pre-pandemic levels, cuts that are trillions of dollars deeper than what House Republicans could stomach. And he is ready to vote against the bill unless he sees the changes he wants.

And he believes that a pressure campaign from the president against him and other like-minded fiscal hawks will fail.

He said a better approach would be to work with lawmakers and fiscal hawks like him to gain a better understanding of the reality of the country’s fiscal situation, a reality that “is grim,” he said.

SEN. RON JOHNSON PROPOSES ‘LINE-BY-LINE’ CUTS TO PASS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

NATIONAL DEBT TRACKER: AMERICAN TAXPAYERS (YOU) ARE NOW ON THE HOOK FOR $36,214,501,400,213

Johnson has been up front about his disdain for the bill but has so far avoided public retribution from Trump. In fact, the two have spoken twice this week, once on Monday and later during a Senate Finance Committee meeting at the White House Tuesday.

The lawmaker has told Trump he’s in Trump’s corner and that he wants “to see you succeed,” but he has been steadfast in his position that the bill does not go far enough to tackle the national debt.

And the debt continues to climb, nearing $37 trillion and counting, according to Fox News’ National Debt Tracker.

The House’s offering set a goal of $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, which lawmakers in the lower chamber have pitched as a positive step forward to righting the country’s fiscal ship, an offering Johnson panned as falling drastically short of the GOP’s promises to cut deep into government spending.

“What’s so disappointing about what happened in the House is it was all rhetoric. It’s all slogans,” Johnson said. “They picked a number. Literally, they picked a number out of the air.”

GOP SENATORS EXPRESS ‘CONCERNS,’ ‘SKEPTICISM’ OVER TRUMP’S SPENDING BILL AFTER MUSK RANT

Johnson views this attempt at the budget reconciliation process as a rare opportunity to “do the hard things” when it comes to spending cuts, but others in the GOP have been more hesitant to cut as deep.

Johnson said a main reason Republicans have so far fallen short of meeting the moment for the most part is that lawmakers don’t understand just how much the federal government shovels out the door year in and year out.

The lawmaker recalled a moment roughly three years ago during a debate over another year-end omnibus spending bill, when each of the dozen appropriations bills is crammed into one, bloated package that is universally reviled and almost always passes.

He asked his colleagues if they really knew just how much the government spends, and no one “volunteered to answer.”

“Nobody knew. I mean, think of that. The largest financier in the world. We’re supposedly, in theory, the 535 members of the board of directors, and nobody knew,” he said. “Why would they? We never talked about it.”

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Johnson has been busy trying to better educate his colleagues, putting together his own charts and graphs that cut out the “noise,” like the latest nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report that found the legislation would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over a decade. The GOP has universally panned that projection.

“We can’t accept this as a new normal,” Johnson said. “We can’t accept — you can take pot shots of CBO, but you can’t deny that reality. [It] might be off a little bit, but that is the trajectory, and that’s undeniable.”
 

Former President Barack Obama’s White House physician said in a new interview that former President Joe Biden’s doctor should have performed a cognitive test to evaluate his fitness to serve in office. 

Obama’s doctor, Jeffrey Kuhlman, told The Washington Post that Biden White House physician Kevin O’Connor should have performed a cognitive test during Biden’s last year as president, given his age. 

O’Connor, who Kuhlman first appointed as Biden’s doctor in 2009 when he was vice president, declared in a 2024 report that the then-81-year-old president “continues to be fit for duty.” The report did not mention any neurocognitive testing. 

“Sometimes those closest to the tree miss the forest,” Kuhlman told the Post.

“It shouldn’t be just health, it should be fitness,” Kuhlman said. “Fitness is: Do you have that robust mind, body, spirit that you can do this physically, mentally, emotionally demanding job?”

TRUMP RESPONDS TO BIDEN DISMISSAL OF AUTOPEN PROBE, SAYS HE DIDN’T KNOW ‘WHAT WAS GOING ON’

Kuhlman, who departed the White House Medical Unit in 2013, described O’Connor as “a good doctor” who appeared to do his best to “give trusted medical advice.”

“I didn’t see that he’s purposely hiding stuff, but I don’t know that,” Kuhlman told the Post. “Maybe the investigation will show it.”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Biden’s aides “abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority.” 

“This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history,” the order says. “The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.”  

“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,” Biden said in a statement Wednesday night. “I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

Trump’s order appeared to nod to the findings of special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s handling of classified documents while he was vice president. 

In a report released in February 2024, Hur concluded Biden “willfully retained and disclosed” sensitive materials but should not stand trial, describing the president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Hur cited instances when Biden could not recall key dates and events, including when he served as vice president and when his son, Beau, passed away. The report was released at a time when Biden was still planning a second term run. 

Last week, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., issued a subpoena for O’Connor to appear for a deposition at the end of the month “as part of the investigation into the cover-up of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and potentially unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive actions.” 

BIDEN’S PERSONAL DOCTOR SUMMONED AS REPUBLICANS DIG DEEPER INTO ALLEGED COGNITIVE DECLINE COVER-UP

The committee re-posted the Post’s interview with Kuhlman to X, writing, “Even Obama’s doctor admits the truth. This is precisely why Chairman @RepJamesComer subpoenaed Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician. This is a scandal of historical proportions, and we will investigate it thoroughly!” 

In a letter to O’Connor, Comer said the transcribed interview would focus on the physician’s February 2024 assessment that Biden was “a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”

“Among other subjects, the Committee expressed its interest in whether your financial relationship with the Biden family affected your assessment of former President Biden’s physical and mental fitness to fulfill his duties as President,” Comer wrote. 

Questions about Biden’s cognitive state stretch extend solely past Republicans. 

CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson recently published a book titled “Original Sin,” which details concerns and debates inside the White House and Democratic Party over Biden’s mental state and age.

In the book, Tapper and Thompson wrote, “Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board.”

Naomi Biden, the former president’s granddaughter, dismissed the book as “political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class.” 

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Comer requested transcribed interviews with Biden’s White House senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and Steve Ricchetti, a former counselor to the president. He also called for former senior White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear before the committee and suggested subpoenas could be forthcoming if they did not schedule voluntary interviews. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday granted Harvard University’s emergency request to block, for now, the Trump administration’s effort to ban international students from its campus, siding with Harvard in ruling that the university would likely suffer “immediate and irreparable harm” if enforced.

The temporary restraining order from U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs blocks the administration from immediately stripping Harvard of its certification status under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, or SEVP — a program run by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that allows universities to sponsor international students for U.S. visas.

Burroughs said in her order that Harvard has demonstrated evidence it “will suffer immediate and irreparable injury before there is an opportunity to hear from all parties,” prompting her to temporarily block the SEVP revocation. 

Still, some see the order as a mere Band-Aid, forestalling a larger court fight between Harvard and the Trump administration — and one that Trump critics say could be unfairly weighted against the nation’s oldest university.

STATE DEPARTMENT NOW SCRUTINIZING ALL VISA HOLDERS ASSOCIATED WITH HARVARD

“Ultimately, this is about Trump trying to impose his view of the world on everybody else,” Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman said in a radio interview discussing the Trump administration’s actions. 

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the administration has frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts awarded to the university. It is also targeting the university with investigations led by six separate federal agencies. 

Combined, these actions have created a wide degree of uncertainty at Harvard.

The temporary restraining order handed down on Thursday night is also just that — temporary. Though the decision does block Trump from revoking Harvard’s SEVP status, it’s a near-term fix, designed to allow the merits of the case to be more fully heard.

Meanwhile, the administration is almost certain to appeal the case to higher courts, which could be more inclined to side in favor of the administration.

And that’s just the procedural angle. 

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

Should Harvard lose its status for SEVP certification — a certification it has held for some 70 years — the thousands of international students currently enrolled at Harvard would have a very narrow window to either transfer to another U.S. university, or risk losing their student visas within 180 days, experts told Fox News. 

Some may opt not to take that chance, and transfer to a different school that’s less likely to be targeted by the administration — even if it means sacrificing, for certainty, a certain level of prestige.

Regardless of how the court rules, these actions create “a chilling effect” for international students at Harvard, Aram Gavoor, an associate dean at George Washington University Law School and a former Justice Department attorney, said in an interview.

Students “who would otherwise be attending or applying to Harvard University [could be] less inclined to do so, or to make alternative plans for their education In the U.S.,” Gavoor said. 

Even if the Trump administration loses on the merits of the case, “there’s a point to be argued that it may have won as a function of policy,” Gavoor said.

Meanwhile, any financial fallout the school might see as a result is another matter entirely.

Though the uncertainty yielded by Trump’s fight against Harvard could prove damaging to the school’s priority of maintaining a diverse international student body, or by offering financial aid to students via the federally operated Pell Grant, these actions alone would unlikely to prove financially devastating in the near-term, experts told Fox News. 

Harvard could simply opt to fill the slots once taken by international students with any number of eager, well-qualified U.S.-based applicants, David Feldman, a professor at William & Mary who focuses on economic issues and higher education, said in an interview. 

Harvard is one of just a handful of American universities that has a “need-blind” admissions policy for domestic and international students — that is, they do not take into consideration a student’s financial need or the aid required in weighing a potential applicant. But because international students in the U.S. typically require more aid than domestic students, replacing their slots with domestic students, in the near-term, would likely have little noticeable impact on the revenue it receives for tuition, fees and housing, he said. 

“This is all about Harvard, choosing the best group of students possible,” Feldman said in an interview. If the administration successfully revokes their SEVP certification, this would effectively just be “constraining them to choose the second-best group,” he said.

“Harvard could dump the entire 1,500-person entering class, just dump it completely, and look at the next 1,500 [applicants],” Feldman said. “And by all measurables that you and I would look at, it would look just as good.”

Unlike public schools, which are subject to the vagaries of state budgets, private universities like Harvard often have margins built into their budgets in the form of seed money that allows them to allocate more money towards things they’ve identified as goals for the year or years ahead.

This allows them to operate with more stability as a result — and inoculates them to a larger degree from the administration’s financial hits. 

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“Uncertainty is bad for them,” Feldman acknowledged. But at the end of the day, he said, “these institutions have the capacity to resist.”

“They would rather not — they would rather this whole thing go away,” Feldman said. But the big takeaway, in his view, is that Harvard “is not defenseless.”

Some of the White House’s conservative House allies say they’re interpreting the upcoming vote on President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion spending cut proposal as a “test” of what Congress can achieve in terms of rolling back federal funding.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he would not speak for members of the Trump administration but added, “I do think it is a test.”

“And I think this is going to demonstrate whether Congress has the fortitude to do what they always say they’ll do,” Roy said. “Cut the minimal amount of spending – $9 billion, NPR, PBS, things you complain about for a long time, or are they going to go back into their parochial politics?”

House GOP leaders unveiled legislation seeking to codify Trump’s spending cut request, known as a rescissions package, on Friday. It’s expected to get a House-wide vote sometime next week.

MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE

“The rescissions request sent to Congress by the Trump Administration takes the federal government in a new direction where we actually cut waste, fraud, and abuse and hold agencies accountable to the American people,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a statement introducing the bill.

The legislation would claw back funding that Congress already appropriated to PBS, NPR, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) – cuts outlined by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year.

And while several Republican leaders and officials have already said they expect to see more rescissions requests down the line, some people who spoke with Fox News Digital believe the White House is watching how Congress handles this first package before deciding on next steps.

“You’re dead right,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital when asked if the rescissions package was a test. “I think that it’s a test case – if we can’t get that…then we’re not serious about cutting the budget.”

A rescissions package only needs simple majorities in the House and Senate to pass. But Republicans in both chambers have perilously slim majorities that afford them few defections.

Republicans are also racing the clock – a rescissions package has 45 days to be considered otherwise it is considered rejected and the funding reinstated.

MIKE JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP GET ‘BIG, ‘BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE

Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, did not directly say whether he viewed the spending cuts as a test but dismissed any potential concerns.

“This is very low-hanging fruit, and I don’t anticipate any problems,” Gooden told Fox News Digital.

“I’ve heard a few comments in the media, but I don’t think they’re serious comments. If someone on the Republican side can make a case for PBS, but they won’t take a tough vote against illegal immigration, then we’ve got a lot of problems.”

Paul Winfree, president and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), told Fox News Digital last week, “This first rescissions package from President Trump is a test as to whether Congress has the ability to deliver on his mandate by canceling wasteful spending through a filibuster-proof process.”

“If they can’t then it’s a signal for the president to turn up the dial with other tools at his disposal,” Winfree, who served as Director of Budget Policy in the first Trump administration, said.

Both Roy and Norman suggested a process known as “pocket rescissions” could be at least one backup plan – and one that Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has floated himself.

“Pocket rescissions” essentially would mean the White House introduces its spending cut proposal less than 45 days before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. In theory, it would run out the clock on those funds and allow them to expire whether Congress acted or not.

Vought told reporters after meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday that he wanted to “see if it passes” but was “open” to further rescissions packages.

“We want to send up general rescissions bills, to use the process if it’s appropriate, to get them through the House and the Senate,” Vought said. “We also have pocket rescissions, which you’ve begun to hear me talk a lot about, to be able to use the end of the fiscal year to send up a similar rescissions, and have the funds expire. So there’s a lot of things that we’re looking at.”

Still, some moderate Republicans may chafe at the conservative spending cuts.

READ THE BILL BELOW: APP USERS CLICK HERE

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., refused to comment on whether he’d support the legislation before seeing the details but alluded to some concerns.

“Certainly I’m giving you a non-answer right now until I read the details,” Bacon said.

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“It does bother me because I have a great rapport with Nebraska Public Radio and TV. I think they’ve been great to work with, and so that would be one I hope they don’t put in.”

He also raised concerns about some specific USAID programs, including critical investments to fight Ebola and HIV in Africa.

The legislation is expected to come before the House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most legislation sees a House-wide vote, on Tuesday afternoon.

It’s separate from Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” a broad piece of legislation advancing the president’s tax, energy, and immigration agenda through the budget reconciliation process.

The National Guard will be deployed to Los Angeles County after anti-ICE protests continued to escalate Saturday afternoon, Trump administration border czar Tom Homan told Fox News Saturday.

On Saturday, tear gas was deployed near Home Depot in Paramount, California, where ICE agents were allegedly conducting a raid.

Following the raid, a violent protest broke out and several arrests were made for assault on a federal agent.

In an interview with Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show,” Homan said authorities are “stepping up” and “mobiliz[ing] to address violence and destruction occurring near raid locations where demonstrators are gathering.

“American people, this is about enforcing the law, and again, we’re not going to apologize for doing it,” Homan said.

The White House is challenging the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s assessment that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending package will raise the federal deficit by trillions of dollars throughout the next decade.

The national debt, currently $36.2 trillion, tracks what the U.S. owes its creditors, while the national deficit measures how much the federal government’s spending exceeds its revenues. So far, the federal government has spent more than $1 trillion more than it has collected this fiscal year, according to the Department of the Treasury. 

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued an analysis Wednesday predicting that the so-called “big, beautiful, bill” the House passed in May would increase the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years. 

But according to the White House, the CBO’s analysis is based on a faulty premise because it assumes that Republicans in Congress will fail to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. 

Rather, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) forecasts in new analysis released Saturday that the tax and spending measures would independently reduce deficits by $1.4 trillion.

SENATE WEIGHS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL, BILL’ AS POLICY GROUP BACKS CBO, PROJECTS $3 TRILLION DEBT INCREASE 

Additionally, the White House argues that the measure, coupled with other initiatives like tariffs and other spending cuts, will lead to reducing the deficit by at least $6.6 trillion over 10 years.

The “big, beautiful, bill” has faced criticism from figures including SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who labeled the measure an “abomination” and argued that the bill would increase the federal deficit. 

The measure now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-K.Y., have voiced opposition to the legislation. 

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES RESISTANCE FROM REPUBLICAN SENATORS OVER DEBT FEARS

Meanwhile, OMB Director Russell Vought told lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday that he believed the CBO’s analysis was “fundamentally wrong.” 

“It will lead to reduced deficits and debt of $1.4 trillion,” Vought said. “It will reduce mandatory savings of $1.7 trillion. I don’t think the way they construct their baseline, not only does it not give a fair shake to economic growth, but it fundamentally misreads the economic consequences of not extending the current tax relief.”

Failure to pass Trump’s tax package would trigger a recession, according to Vought. 

“We’ll have a recession,” Vought told lawmakers. “The economic storm clouds will be very dark. I think we’ll have a 60% tax increase on the American people.”

Meanwhile, the White House has accused the CBO of employing those who’ve contributed to Democratic campaigns, even though CBO Director Phillip Swagel served in former President George W. Bush’s administration. 

PRICE TAG ESTIMATE FOR HOUSE GOP TAX PACKAGE RISES TO $3.94T

“I don’t think many people know this: There hasn’t been a single staffer in the entire Congressional Budget Office that has contributed to a Republican since the year 2000,” Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. “But guess what, there have been many staffers within the Congressional Budget Office who have contributed to Democratic candidates and politicians every single cycle since. So unfortunately, this is an institution in our country that has become partisan and political.”

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The CBO director is appointed according to the recommendations of the House and Senate Budget Committees. Then-Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, first recommended Swagel in 2019, and then Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, recommended Swagel again in 2023. 

The CBO did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on OMB’s analysis or claims from the White House about the office being full of staffers who’ve backed Democrats. 

Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report. 

A former D.C. police officer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted on one count of obstructing justice and three counts of making false statements.

Shane Lamond, who was the supervisor of the Intelligence Branch of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau, leaked sensitive information to then-national chairman of the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio. 

PROUD BOYS MEMBERS FILE FEDERAL LAWSUIT OVER ‘ILLEGAL’ TACTICS IN JAN. 6 PROSECUTIONS

Tarrio attended Lamond’s sentencing and held a news conference afterward, calling on President Donald Trump to pardon the former officer.

“I ask that the Justice Department and the President of the United States step in and correct the injustice that I just witnessed inside this courtroom,” Tarrio said, according to reports.

Lamond was convicted in December 2024 for tipping off Tarrio about his own department’s investigation into the destruction of a “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) banner.

“As proven at trial, Lamond turned his job on its head—providing confidential information to a source, rather than getting information from him—lied about the conduct, and obstructed an investigation into the source,” U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves said after Lamond’s conviction. “The intelligence gathering role that Lamond was supposed to play is critical to keeping our community safe.  His violation of the trust placed in him put our community more at risk and cannot be ignored.”

FBI’S KASH PATEL VOWS ‘DEFINITIVE ANSWER’ ON TOP JAN 6 QUESTION IS ‘COMING’

According to a Dec. 2024 press release from the Justice Department, Lamond and Tarrio were regularly in contact regarding “planned” Proud Boys activities in D.C. starting in July 2019. This did not change after Lamond’s department began an investigation into the Dec. 12, 2020, destruction of a BLM banner. 

Despite the fact that Tarrio was considered the “prime subject” of the investigation, Lamond gave the then-Proud Boys leader “confidential law enforcement information.” The Justice Department says that Tarrio passed the information to other members of the Proud Boys.

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Weeks later, on Jan. 4, 2021 — just two days before the infamous Jan. 6 Capitol riot — Lamond sent Tarrio a message that was “set to self destruct” informing the Proud Boys leader that there was a warrant for his arrest. Tarrio, who was traveling from Florida to D.C. when he received the message, was arrested and pleaded guilty.

In D.C., the maximum penalty for obstruction of justice is 30 years in prison, while false statement charges carry a maximum of five years.

Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass faced backlash on social media Friday, including from members of the Trump administration, for pushing back on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids targeting illegal immigrants in her city. 

“This morning, we received reports of federal immigration enforcement actions in multiple locations in Los Angeles,” Bass said in a statement on Friday. 

“As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. My Office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this.”

The mayor’s statement, which garnered over two million impressions on X, drew immediate pushback from conservatives, with many pointing out criticisms of her leadership, preparedness, and response to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year that killed 30 people. 

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

“You have no say in this at all,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller posted on X. “Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced.”

“It’s amazing the number of elected officials who don’t grasp the basics of federalism, or federal sovereignty over immigration issues, or the First Amendment,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice Harmeet Dhillon posted on X. 

“They’re Illegals,” Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka posted on X. “Not ‘immigrants.’ One just tried to burn Americans alive in Boulder. If you’re aiding and abetting them you’re a criminal too. Are you ready to be treated as a criminal? Because we are ready to treat you as one if you commit a crime.”

“Can’t get permits for people to rebuild their homes after a wildfire, but focused like a laser beam on stopping immigration enforcement,” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. 

ICE BREAKS ARREST RECORD TWO DAYS IN A ROW UNDER TRUMP’S NEW IMMIGRATION DIRECTIVES

“Communist sympathizer Karen Bass takes the side of illegal alien criminals vs. American citizens,” conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X. “To think, she was almost Biden’s VP pick.”

“LA Mayor Karen Bass promises to protect illegals in her city,” conservative influencer account LibsofTikTok posted on X. “Obstructing or impeding ICE operations is a crime.”

“If only Karen Bass fought against the Los Angeles fires like she fights for illegal aliens,” GOP Rep. Darrell Issa posted on X. 

The Associated Press reported that immigration advocates confirmed at least 45 people had been arrested across seven locations. The locations included two Home Depot stores, a store in the fashion district and a doughnut shop, according to Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), who spoke at an afternoon news conference to denounce the actions.

Videos of the operations taken by bystanders and TV news crews showed people being escorted across a Home Depot parking lot by federal agents. The videos also captured clashes between protesters and federal agents at detention sites.

KAREN BASS’S FORMER DEPUTY MAYOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY ADMITS BOMB THREAT HOAX TARGETING LOS ANGELES CITY HALL

As the protests grew on Friday evening, and law enforcement in riot gear had to be brought in to calm the crowds, Bass drew even more criticism online from users accusing her of stirring up protesters.

“Karen Bass whipped all of this up,” Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions of United States Ric Grenell posted on X. “She attacked the rule of law. She undermined democracy. The @MayorOfLA is creating chaos in LA.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor’s office for comment.

Adding to the controversy, the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement that it was not getting involved with deportations or immigration enforcement.

“Today the LAPD became aware that federal law enforcement agencies conducted activities in the City of Los Angeles. I’m aware that these actions cause anxiety for many Angelenos, so I want to make it clear: the LAPD is not involved in civil immigration enforcement,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement posted on X.

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“While the LAPD will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations, nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual’s immigration status.”

That position drew criticism on social media, including from Assistant Secretary Dept. of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin. 

“Assaulting ICE enforcement officers, slashing tires, defacing buildings,” she posted. “800 protestors have surrounded and breached the first layer of a federal law enforcement building in LA. @LAPD
has not responded. This violence against  @ICEgov must stop.”

“We will not stand for THIS,” McLaughlin said in a Saturday morning post that included photos of graffiti from rioters at the scene with messages like “KILL ICE” and “F*** ICE.”

Guest added in another post: “The fact the LAPD has not responded is a MAJOR scandal. As this violence against federal law enforcement rages, Democrat LA Mayor Karen Bass has so far refused to restore law and order. She should step up or step aside—LA deserves a leader who defends the rule of law.”

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville responds to Jewish donors who no longer support the Democratic Party due to the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. 

“I’ve never seen a Democrat have dinner with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes,” Carville told Fox News Digital. “I’ve never seen a Democrat that endorsed the Alternative für Deutschland Party in Germany. I can point to plenty of Republicans who have.”

Carville is pouring cold water on Democratic donors’ excuse that the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, particularly at Columbia University, means they can no longer support the Democratic Party. 

“In my view, that makes no sense. You can’t be for a Democrat because they’re protesting against Biden? It’s nonsense,” Carville said. 

CARVILLE ACCUSES JEWISH DONORS OF ABANDONING DEMOCRATS FOR GOP BECAUSE THEY JUST WANT THEIR ‘F—–G TAX CUT’

College campuses became the epicenter of resistance to the war in Gaza as students across the country, a typically Democratic voting bloc, began protesting President Joe Biden during his re-election campaign last year.

COLUMBIA’S ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS SAY TRUMP PULLING $400M IN GRANTS FROM UNIVERSITY IS A ‘SCARE TACTIC’

Before Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, students chanted, “Genocide Joe has got to go!” outside his campaign rallies in critical swing states and organized protest votes to express their disapproval of the United States’ support for Israel in the war against Hamas. 

Last month, President Donald Trump’s administration accused Columbia University of violating federal law through its “deliberate indifference” toward anti-Israel protests that have persisted on campus since Oct. 7, 2023. 

But Carville, speaking to Fox News Digital about recent comments on his podcast, said it makes no sense for Jewish donors to turn away from the Democratic Party because of protesters at Columbia.

Carville said it is the Democratic Party – not the Republican Party – that has historically supported Israel. 

“I would tell my Republican friends, which president was instrumental in the founding of the state of Israel? I happen to know Harry Truman. I happen to know he’s a Democrat,” Carville said. 

“Which president came closest to achieving Middle East peace and security for the state of Israel? I happen to know his name was Bill Clinton,” he added. 

“Which president installed the Iron Dome, which saved, I don’t know, how many thousands of Israeli lives? I happen to know Barack Obama. So, when you’re looking at who is more supportive of the state of Israel, it’s not even close,” Carville told Fox News Digital. 

Carville drew a stark contrast with the Republican Party as he criticized Trump for dining with Kanye West, who is infamous for making antisemitic comments, and Nicholas Fuentes, considered a “white supremacist, Holocaust denier who hates Jews” by the American Jewish Committee. 

The longtime Democratic strategist also criticized Elon Musk, who until this week was a loyal Trump confidant and a “special government employee,” for endorsing the Alternative for Germany party, considered a “confirmed extremist” group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency. 

Carville said on his podcast, “Politics War Room,” this week that those Jewish donors are most likely embracing the Republican Party because they want their “f—ing tax cut.”

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Carville reiterated that Columbia University protests weren’t a very good excuse for abandoning the Democratic Party. 

But the White House rejected Carville’s perception of the Republican Party. 

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“President Trump received unprecedented support from the Jewish community in his historic re-election, and this support continues to grow as he combats the left’s rampant anti-Semitism that is exposed daily. The Trump administration is the most pro-Israel and pro-Jewish in our nation’s history, and the President’s record stands as a testament to this commitment,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital. 

Trump signed executive orders during his first administration, and again last month, aimed at combating antisemitism in the United States. 

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

From bringing the heat to retreating on the beef.

Elon Musk appears to be backtracking on some of the wild accusations he made during his ugly spat with President Donald Trump earlier this week.

Musk sensationally posted on Thursday that the president’s name appears in unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files — and said that’s why the files haven’t been made public.

“@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files,” Musk wrote on X. “That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

Musk followed the post with another, saying, “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

PRESIDENT TRUMP TEASES ‘LAST DAY, BUT NOT REALLY’ FOR ELON MUSK AT DOGE: OVAL OFFICE PRESSER SET FOR FRIDAY

But eagle-eyed online sleuths noticed that Musk had quietly deleted the posts.

The former “First Buddy” dropped the allegation in response to a back-and-forth series of social media messages between him and Trump. But as of today, the post has been removed from the Tesla CEO’s timeline. 

The post wasn’t the only one he deleted: Musk also appears to have taken down a post endorsing a message that read, “Trump should be impeached” and that Vance “should replace him.”

Musk shared the post and wrote “yes,” but his comment is no longer visible. 

The beef between Musk and Trump exploded onto the national scene this week with the SpaceX CEO publicly blasting Trump’s major legislation, the Big Beautiful bill, for increasing the deficit by around $2.5 trillion.  

The feud came despite a months-long “bromance” between the pair, with Musk donating around $277 million to Trump’s campaign and enthusiastically supporting his return to office. Trump’s return to office also saw Musk oversee the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for months. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in the aftermath of Musk’s post that it was an “unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.”

JEFFREY EPSTEIN LIST: AG PAM BONDI RELEASES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED DOJ DOCUMENTS

The White House said a source familiar with the Epstein matter said it is widely known that Trump kicked Epstein out of his Palm Beach Golf Club.

The source also pointed out that the administration released the Epstein files, which included Trump’s name, and nothing was new about Musk’s revelation.

“If Elon truly thought the President was more deeply involved with Epstein, why did he hang out with him for 6 months and say he ‘loves him as much as a straight man can love a straight man?'” the source said.

Musk’s bombshell allegation against Trump comes months after a trove of files pertaining to the Epstein case were released.

In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel explaining the delay in the release of documents and placing blame on an FBI field office in New York.

Bondi said she requested the full Epstein case file before Patel was confirmed as the head of the FBI and received about 200 pages — far fewer than the number of pages released last year in a civil lawsuit connected to Ghisalaine Maxwell, the trafficker’s former lover and convicted accomplice.

Although Bondi pushed for the release of the full dossier, which included records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials related to Epstein and his clients, the request remains unfulfilled.

One of the key pieces that remains unreleased is a client list, though Bondi claimed in February it was on her desk to be reviewed.

The documents that have been released so far include flight logs, an evidence list, a contact book and a redacted “masseuse list” believed to refer to Epstein’s victims.

Many people named in the documents have never been accused of Epstein-related wrongdoing. However, some have, like Maxwell; Prince Andrew, who has denied allegations of wrongdoing; and Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent who, like Epstein, died in a jail awaiting trial.

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Epstein, Maxwell and unnamed co-conspirators allegedly abused young women and underage girls between 1996 and his death in 2019, according to the lawsuit. Citing police documents, it alleges that Epstein recruited girls between 14 and 16 as well as students at Palm Beach Community College for “sex-tinged sessions.”

Maxwell is appealing her conviction while serving a sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee. She is due for release in the summer of 2037.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Mike Ruiz contributed to this report.

Elon Musk appeared to jokingly reconsider his stance on the Big Beautiful Bill after a California Democrat came to his defense.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., wrote on X that “I can’t believe I’m saying this – but [Elon Musk] is right.” However, that seems to be the last point on which the two agree. They both object to the Big Beautiful Bill, viewing it as full of pork. Musk opposes the bill because he believes it raises government spending too much, while Schiff objects to what he calls its “far-right” content, which he describes as “dangerous.”

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS STAND FIRM AGAINST MUSK’S ‘KILL THE BILL’ ASSAULT ON TRUMP’S AGENDA

Musk fired off a response rejecting Schiff’s alleged praise of the tech billionaire’s position on the bill.

“Hmm, few things could convince me to reconsider my position more than Adam Schiff agreeing with me!”

On May 30, Musk’s time with the administration came to an end, and he seemed to leave things on good terms. President Donald Trump thanked Musk for his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and gave him a symbolic “key to the White House” as a parting gift. 

Following his departure from the White House, Musk said he was looking forward “to continuing to be a friend and adviser to the president.” However, things took a sharp turn as a feud between Trump and Musk quickly heated up after the Tesla founder began publicly criticizing the Big Beautiful Bill. 

INSIDE THE MUSK-TRUMP FALLOUT

After the legislation passed the House, Musk said that the “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

Musk’s criticisms received mixed reactions from Republicans, with some — such as Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. — agreeing with him. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was “surprised” by Musk’s reaction and claimed the two of them had a good discussion about the bill.

Trump and Musk then began slugging it out on their respective social media platforms — X and Truth Social — as well as TV. The president told reporters in the Oval Office that he was “very disappointed” with Musk and claimed that the former DOGE head knew what was in the bill, something that Musk denied. 

TRUMP NOT INTERESTED IN TALKING TO MUSK: ‘ELON’S TOTALLY LOST IT’

The heated exchange led to two explosive tweets, both of which were later deleted. In one post, Musk claimed Trump was mentioned in files relating to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased sex offender and disgraced financier. In his other post, Musk endorsed a message that called for Trump’s impeachment and said that Vice President J.D. Vance should take over.

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While it’s unclear whether Trump and Musk will reconcile, for now it seems unlikely. Trump told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier that he was not interested in talking to Musk and that “Elon’s totally lost it.”