NationalWatch

Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James are aiming to convince a federal judge on Thursday that Lindsey Halligan, who brought criminal charges against both of them, is an unlawful U.S. attorney.

Lawyers for Comey and James plan to make their arguments during a hearing in Virginia to Judge Cameron Currie, a Clinton appointee tasked with deciding Halligan’s fate.

President Donald Trump installed Halligan in September as the top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia days after ousting Erik Siebert, who opposed charging Comey and James, two of the president’s top political nemeses. Amid the change, Trump posted a message to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Truth Social, indicating that he wanted revenge for his own prior prosecutions and that Bondi needed to act fast.

Halligan, a former insurance lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, brought the indictments almost immediately. Her name was the lone signature on each of them, and no Virginia prosecutors joined the case.

TRUMP’S US ATTORNEYS IN BLUE STATES FACE LEGAL CHALLENGES THAT COULD UPEND KEY PROSECUTIONS

In court briefs, Comey’s and James’ lawyers have said Halligan’s appointment was defective because Bondi improperly designated her as an interim U.S. attorney after Siebert had already served in that position, which had a 120-day term limit that had expired.

Because Halligan was the only prosecutor to sign the grand jury indictments, legal experts have said that could be their fatal flaw if the courts deem her invalid.

Bondi has since said she retroactively ratified the indictments and designated Halligan a “special attorney” for the “avoidance of doubt,” according to court filings.

“In all events, the government has endorsed the prosecutions, and the Attorney General has personally ratified the indictments to obviate any question as to their validity,” DOJ lawyers wrote.

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

Halligan’s appointment came as part of a series of maneuvers the Trump administration has made to bypass the Senate confirmation process and keep in place the president’s preferred appointees in temporary capacities using loopholes in federal vacancy laws. Federal judges in New Jersey, California and Nevada have disqualified appointees in those states, and the New Jersey case is now pending before an appellate court. The issue could be bound for the Supreme Court.

Comey’s lawyers argued in court papers that Currie, the judge presiding over the issue, “should reject the government’s machinations.”

Comey is facing a charge that he made a false statement to Congress and James is facing a bank fraud allegation.

DOJ DEFENDS TRUMP TRUTH SOCIAL POST AS COMEY SEEKS TO HAVE CASE DISMISSED

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Both have pleaded not guilty and have argued their indictments should be tossed out on the grounds that Halligan was improperly appointed and that they were selectively and vindictively prosecuted.

If Comey’s and James’ charges were to be thrown out, it is unclear what would happen next. The DOJ could appeal or attempt to bring them again, depending on how the courts rule.

Fox News’ Bill Mears and David Spunt contributed to this report.

The six House Democrats who broke ranks with party leadership by voting in favor of legislation that ended the government shutdown are now opening up about their actions, with one saying, “The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress.”

Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Jared Golden of Maine, Adam Gray of California, Don Davis of North Carolina, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Tom Suozzi of New York were the six who voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill by a 222 to 209 margin. President Donald Trump then signed the legislation late Wednesday night, putting an end to the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

“Americans can’t afford for their Representatives to get so caught up in landing a partisan win that they abandon their obligation to come together to solve the urgent problems that our nation faces,” Gluesenkamp Perez wrote on X. “The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress. None of my friends who rely on SNAP would want to trade their dinner for an ambiguous D.C. beltway ‘messaging victory,’ and I’m glad this ugly scene is in the rearview mirror.”

The bill keeps funding the government at the same levels during fiscal year 2025 through Jan. 30 to provide additional time to hash out a longer appropriations measure for fiscal year 2026. The measure also funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that more than 42 million Americans rely on through September. The program provides non- or low-income individuals or families the ability to purchase groceries on a debit card.

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

“I just voted to reopen the government, pay federal workers, and get food assistance and other critical programs up and running again,” Golden said Wednesday.

“Now, with the shutdown ended, Congress should take immediate action to extend expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that keep health insurance plans affordable for millions of Americans. We still have a window to pass bipartisan legislation to extend these credits,” he also said.

Gray said in his own statement that, “No parent should have to choose between feeding their children and keeping the lights on because someone in Washington thinks chaos is a negotiating tactic.”

“That’s why I voted for a bipartisan agreement that takes food assistance off the table for an entire year. So when the next shutdown happens (and in this divided Washington, there is always a next shutdown) the president cannot use hungry kids as bargaining chips again. This agreement also protects veterans, small business owners, and federal workers from being turned into political weapons,” he said.

TRUMP SIGNS BILL ENDING LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IN US HISTORY

Suozzi noted in his statement that the “airport situations are becoming untenable, and government workers have gone without pay for too long.”

“If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are willing to work together to address this health insurance affordability crisis by extending the premium tax credits, then we will have accomplished something meaningful,” he continued. “If we are not successful, it will deal yet another blow to the already eroding trust in Washington, D.C., and it will be clear who failed to deliver.”

Davis released a statement on X saying in part that he voted to reopen the government “to support my constituents, alleviate the suffering of our families as the holidays approach, and bring vital resources to eastern North Carolina.”

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Cuellar said he voted to reopen the government “so we can get critical programs back on track,” adding, “this stability is especially important for our border communities, where so many families depend on federal agencies to keep trade, travel and public safety moving.”

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Vice President JD Vance praised President Donald Trump’s “bulldozer” approach to public health, calling it a necessary force that “just had to happen,” during remarks at Wednesday’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) summit.

The summit, held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., was centered on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s MAHA movement — aimed at improving nutrition, eliminating toxins, preserving natural habitats and fighting the chronic disease epidemic in the U.S.

“That is a good summary of Donald J. Trump is that he takes a bulldozer to Overton windows every single day,” Vance told the HHS secretary during the event. “It just had to happen… One of the criticisms that Bobby will always get, and I always think it’s such b——-, excuse my language… [is that] sometimes there’s this attack where people say that conclusion is not supported by the science, or this or that conclusion is a conspiracy theory.”

“Science, as practiced in its best form, is that if you disagree with it, then you ought to criticize it, and you ought to argue against it. You can’t shut down the debate,” Vance continued. “If you look at all the big public health debates that we’ve had in this country over the last 20 or 30 years… they tried to silence the people who were saying things that were outside the Overton window. As we found out the hard way over the last few years, it was very often that people who were outside the Overton window were actually right, and all the experts were wrong.”

TRUMP WILL MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN WITH AN UNLIKELY COALITION

Vance went on to say the country could not advance unless Americans become comfortable with people who are “willing to challenge orthodoxy.”

He also vowed to keep Appalachia in the forefront of the conversation, noting residents have higher premature mortality rates due to a long history of being failed by the public health system.

“You know what really p—– people off — when they realize that their loved ones are dying much sooner than everybody else,” said Vance, whose autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” details his own upbringing in Appalachia. “That is a big part of the story of what’s going on in Appalachia, and why I think so many people in Appalachia feel left behind.”

VP’S OFFICE RESPONDS TO PA GOV WHO SAID VANCE BETRAYED APPALACHIAN ROOTS WITH ‘BULL—- POLITICS’ OVER SNAP

He described himself as “the golden boy” of Appalachia, admitting he feels guilt about the many people who grew up in families like his and have not had an easy life or the same amount of economic opportunity.

“That gives me a sense of purpose because I want those people to have the same opportunities that I’ve had,” Vance said. “But it also gives me a great sense of anger, because we never should have gotten to the point that we are today. The reason that we have, is because of failed leadership over generations.”

When discussing the people of Appalachia, he said they are people who, “though they don’t have much, would take the shirt off their back and give it to a complete stranger, because that’s what you do.”

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“If you go back to America’s biggest wars — World War I, World War II, Vietnam — which were the counties that filled their draft quotas with volunteers instead of with draftees?” Vance posed. “It’s very often the parts in deep Appalachia where you’ve got grinding poverty, but you’ve also got this incredible love of country.”

“So if any place in this country deserves not to be left behind, it’s Appalachia… These are people who deserve to live better, healthier lives, but they really have been left behind by this country’s leadership,” Vance added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that President Donald Trump “remains in exceptional physical health” after concerns have swirled in recent months, including when the president received an MRI scan in October. 

“As stated in the memo provided on October 10th, President Trump received advanced imaging at Walter Reed Medical Center as part of his routine physical examination,” Leavitt said during Wednesday’s White House press briefing. “The full results were reviewed by attending radiologists and consultants, and all agreed that President Trump remains in exceptional physical health.” 

The response followed a member of the media asking for additional details as to why Trump received an MRI during a checkup at Walter Reed National Military Center in Maryland in October. 

RESULTS OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PHYSICAL RELEASED, HERE’S WHAT THEY SAY

“I got an MRI, it was perfect,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One in October. 

“I gave you the full results,” he added. “We had an MRI, and the machine, you know, the whole thing, and it was perfect.” 

The checkup in October has been described as routine by the administration, with Trump’s physician reporting that Trump is in “exceptional health.” 

Media outlets and others have fanned the flames of concerns around Trump’s health earlier in 2025 when he was spotted with swollen legs in July while attending the FIFA Club World Cup final in New Jersey, as well as when other photos that same month showed him with bruises on his hands.

TRUMP DECLARED IN ‘EXCELLENT OVERALL HEALTH’ BY DOCTOR AFTER WALTER REED VISIT

Leavitt said in July, while reading a health memo, that Trump’s swollen legs were part of a “benign and common condition” for individuals older than age 70, while the bruising on his hands was attributable to “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.”

Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, wrote in a memorandum to Leavitt following the October checkup that the visit was part of an ongoing health maintenance plan that included “advanced imaging, laboratory testing and preventative health assessments conducted by multidisciplinary team of specialists.”

Barbabella said in his October summary that Trump, “remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, and physical performance.” 

TRUMP TO GET ANNUAL PHYSICAL, SAYING HE’S ‘NEVER FELT BETTER’

The checkup was Trump’s second in 2025, following an April visit that Barbabella said found Trump “remains in excellent health.”

Leavitt added Wednesday that Trump is slated to hold a dinner later that evening, which she said might include press attendance where the media could see Trump’s physical state themselves. 

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“I know all of you will see with your own eyes later this evening when he opens up his dinner to the press, and perhaps you will see him when he signs the bill to reopen the federal government,” she said. “So stay tuned on plans for that.” 

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report. 

Botched policies, ignoring reality and turning their backs on the voters that built the party are the key ingredients that Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., believed helped Democrats lose big last year.

In his memoir “Unfettered,” Fetterman unloaded on the Democratic Party and his colleagues’ missteps that he argued led to President Donald Trump’s victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris and a sea change in Washington, D.C.

Fetterman argued that the Democratic Party had lost touch with the working class, a key bloc of voters that at one point made up the backbone of the party.

DEMOCRATS, LEFT EMPTY-HANDED IN SHUTDOWN, TURN FURY ON SCHUMER

In particular, it was the attacks on men, be it through speeches or legislation, that helped turn the Democratic Party into an elitist organization too focused on “celebrity endorsements,” he said. In turn, those who voted for Trump perceived “Democrats as soft and gooey, with a platform built on ideals that weren’t based in the reality of the average person.”

“We became the party of the elites, one that had lost touch with its base,” he wrote. “Also, the continued speech and policies against men have not been without consequences.

“If men are forced to choose between picking their party or keeping their balls, most men are going to choose their balls.”

Fetterman’s book, released Tuesday, comes at a particular inflection point for Democrats. The party had spent much of the year searching for a binding message to both rebuild their brand with voters and build unity among their ranks in Congress.

SENATE ENDS 41-DAY GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN STALEMATE, SENDS BIPARTISAN DEAL TO HOUSE

That came with the government shutdown, when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the majority of the caucus moved in lockstep with demands that the government wouldn’t reopen until expiring Obamacare subsidies were dealt with.

Schumer’s failure to prevent a cohort of Senate Democrats, including Fetterman, from crossing the aisle to join Republicans has earned him heat from progressives in the House and outside the walls of Congress.

Despite often straying from Schumer’s position, particularly throughout the shutdown, Fetterman wrote sparingly of the top Senate Democrat. Instead, he is briefly mentioned when reflecting on Schumer’s 2023 decision to change the dress code on the Senate floor to accommodate Fetterman, whose standard dress is a baggy hoodie and basketball shorts.

But Schumer caved on that initiative, too, in early 2024.

MIKE JOHNSON EYES WEDNESDAY VOTE WITH END OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IN SIGHT

“Schumer was forced to reverse himself and enforce a dress code aimed at me,” Fetterman wrote.

One policy area in particular that Fetterman felt Democrats had failed was immigration. He reiterated that while he was pro-immigration, Democrats’ unwillingness to tackle the growing crisis at the southern border under former President Joe Biden was something he couldn’t get behind.

He wrote that Democrats’ assertion that “an open border is a compassionate policy” wasn’t based in reality.

“It is chaos, both for those immigrants and for the citizens impacted by the overwhelming number of people coming in who need assistance,” he wrote.

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And, further, that position likely played a large factor in Trump and the GOP’s across-the-board victories in 2024, Fetterman argued.

“Democrats were swearing up and down that the border was secure and telling its voters to not believe their own eyes,” he wrote. “I suspect this may have been the deciding factor in the 2024 election. You can’t tell people to not believe their own eyes and expect to win elections.”

A Michigan Senate candidate backed by “Squad” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and other far-left politicians quietly deleted old social media posts he made online espousing support for the “defund the police” movement between 2020 and 2021.

This anti-law enforcement rhetoric became a flashpoint for Democrats during the summer of 2020 and during the Biden years. The anti-police rhetoric was also a major issue during the New York City mayoral race as Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani faced immense backlash for his past anti-police rhetoric, compelling the candidate to go on Fox News at one point to apologize for what he once said. 

“Most major US cities spend WAY TOO MUCH on police departments to police poverty & WAY TOO LITTLE on public schools, health departments, recreation departments, & housing to eliminate poverty,” El-Sayed wrote in a June 2020 post on X, then-Twitter, just several weeks after the death of George Floyd. “Fixing that is what the #Defund movement is about.”

“The police have become standing armies we deploy against our own people,” El-Sayed said in a separate post on social media from around the same time.

REPUBLICANS TARGET 2 KEY DEMOCRATIC RACES WITH MAMDANI CONNECTION STRATEGY

El-Sayed’s past social media posts, which were first reported by CNN, include about a dozen posts that espoused support for the “defund the police” movement.

“When we make a choice to invest in policing in a majority black community, rather than to invest in public schools, that choice is influenced by systemic racism,” El-Sayed said during an interview for Michigan Online that was posted to YouTube around the same time as his social media posts that have now been deleted. “When we talk about the question of quote-unquote defunding the police,” he continued, “it’s a question of asking how do we right-size government away from the racist ideologies that have led us to investing in war material for policing rather than public health for children.” 

El-Sayed, a former executive director of Detroit’s health department, is running in a crowded primary to win Michigan’s Senate seat against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and many others. On the Republican side, former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., is considered the frontrunner after he narrowly lost a bid for the seat in 2024. 

“I’m proud to endorse Abdul El-Sayed to be our next Senator,” Tlaib said earlier this month during a town hall tour featuring El-Sayed. “As a health equity champion and Medicare for All advocate, Abdul leads with a grassroots vision for change centered on inclusion and dignity for Michigan families. He has long been a fighter — we were arrested together in 2018 while protesting for a $15 minimum wage — and he is fighting now to kick money out of politics, tackle our affordability crisis, and build a stronger, healthier Michigan.” 

DEMOCRATS’ ‘UNITY’ DINNER DRAWS BACKLASH OVER ANTI-TRUMP ‘86 47’ SIGN LINKING MAGA TO NAZIS

In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the CNN probe, a campaign spokesperson for El-Sayed shared a statement about how the former health director has worked to support law enforcement. The statement also touted El-Sayed’s endorsements from individuals in the law enforcement community. 

“On his third week as Wayne County’s Health Officer, Dr. El-Sayed declared a public health emergency at the Juvenile Detention Facility, working alongside law enforcement to fully rebuild it from the studs, raising officers’ wages by 35% and funding a safer, more humane system,” the statement said. “He learned and grew through the process—and has earned endorsements from a sitting Sheriff, a former Sheriff, and a Detroit Police Commissioner.”

The campaign statement also slammed President Donald Trump’s “militarizing” of agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and argued that “rather than defund Police” El-Sayed is “challenging” the government to reconsider the way it allocates its money.  

“Rather than defund Police, Dr. El-Sayed is challenging government choices that defund food, healthcare, and social services while militarizing agencies like ICE in sharp contrast to Donald Trump’s presidency because real safety comes from investing in people—not in tanks and tear gas,” the campaign statement concluded. 

In addition to Tlaib, self-proclaimed democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and far-left Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison endorsed his campaign.

El-Sayed, who has been compared to Mamdani, has embraced the comparison between him and New York City’s mayor-elect, a self-described socialist with connections to the broader socialist movement. “Like Zohran, I’m running a people-powered campaign because I know we deserve better,” El-Sayed reportedly said in a campaign advertisement that now appears to be deleted, according to the Washington Examiner.

But it isn’t just their policies that are similar; so are their opinions about the police. 

Prior to Mamdani’s election victory last week, he was compelled to go on Fox News and apologize for his past anti-police comments calling the New York Police Department (NYPD) “racist, anti‑queer & a major threat to public safety.” Mamdani’s past comments, which also included support for the “defund the police” movement, came around the same time as El-Sayed’s social media posts that followed the death of George Floyd. 

Mamdani told Fox News Digital at the time that he had apologized to rank-and-file NYPD officers behind closed doors and when pressed on whether he would offer a broad, public apology, Mamdani said, “Absolutely.”

FROM COMBAT BOOTS TO THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: ARMY VETERAN MARCHES INTO MICHIGAN CONGRESSIONAL RACE

“I apologize because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers, and I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day,” Mamdani added.

But, despite the apology, Mamdani’s negative comments about the police may have already spurred damage. In October, the same month as his Fox News apology and just weeks before Mamdani’s widely expected victory, the NYPD reportedly saw a 35% hike in cops of all ranks leaving the department, according to the New York Post’s analysis of Police Pension Fund data.

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“Morale is down because everyone is concerned about the policies Mamdani wants to put in place,” Scott Munro, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, said.

Other police departments around the country appear to be taking advantage of this exodus too, with one, in Houston, Texas, offering “disgusted” NYPD officers the opportunity to come work for them.     

“We believe socialism is going to be bad for law enforcement in New York City,” Douglas Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, told Fox News. Griffith added that he believes Mamdani’s poor view of police officers will serve to “demoralize the officers of the NYPD” and result in them leaving.

“Zohran won. Abdul is next,” El-Sayed reportedly stated in a July campaign ad. “His win is proof that bold, progressive politics are what Americans want.” 

Fox News Digital’s Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.

Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was sworn into office on Wednesday, unlocking the needed support to force the House of Representatives into a vote over the Epstein files.

Now having received the oath of office, Grijalva is free to become the 218th — and final signatory — to advance a discharge petition on a bill to instruct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its documentation on Jeffrey Epstein. If successful, the petition would bring the bill to the floor over the objection of the chamber’s leadership.

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

Grijalva, who now fills the seat formerly held by her father, the late Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said signing the petition would be her first act as a member of Congress.

“I will sign the discharge petition right now to release the Epstein files. It’s past time for Congress to restore its role as the check and balance on this administration and fight for we, the American people,” Grijalva said.

Epstein, a former businessman and financier, died in 2019 while jailed on federal sex-trafficking charges involving minors. During his career, he accrued an impressive social circle that included rich and powerful figures like former President Bill Clinton, President Donald Trump and the United Kingdom’s Prince Andrew.

His sudden death, ruled a suicide by investigators, left unanswered questions about whether he had used his expansive social circle to facilitate illegal sexual encounters for some of his contacts.

SPEAKER JOHNSON HIT WITH DEMOCRAT-LED LAWSUIT OVER DELAYED SWEARING-IN AMID HOUSE SHUTDOWN CHAOS

After disappointing announcements from the DOJ that the investigation met a dead end earlier this year, lawmakers led by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., demanded Congress vote to force the DOJ to release its documentation on the matter.

Those demands went unheeded by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who said the DOJ was already conducting its own internal evaluation and complying with congressional requests for information.

For Massie and three other Republicans, that wasn’t good enough.

Massie joined Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., — and all House Democrats — in signing the petition, falling just one signatory short of putting it over the needed 218 threshold.

EPSTEIN VICTIMS PRESS LAWMAKERS TO SUPPORT BILL TO RELEASE HIDDEN FILES, SAY AMERICANS WILL BE ‘APPALLED’

Two of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims joined lawmakers in the House chamber for Grijalva’s swearing in.

“Our democracy only works when everyone has a voice. This includes the millions of people across the country who have experienced violence and exploitation — including Liz Stein and Jessica Michaels, both survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse. They are here in the gallery here this evening,” Grijalva said.

Johnson has said he supports the measure in principle but believes aspects of it are poorly written or may provide insufficient protections for Epstein’s potential victims.

With Grijalva’s support, Democrat leadership believes the petition will come to the floor sometime in December.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the ranking member on the House Rules Committee, noted that Johnson might try to derail its timeline.

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“It should ripen in early December. That doesn’t mean that the speaker of the House [won’t] try to do some shenanigans, but if all goes the way we want it to go, early December,” McGovern said.

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…

-Data shows flight delays and cancellations rising even as shutdown winds down

–Duckworth staffer accused of posing as lawyer in attempt to free illegal immigrant from ICE custody

-White House slams Dems’ ‘bad-faith’ Epstein doc release as demand for files intensifies

Major Pentagon contractor executive caught in child sex sting operation

The founder and executive chairman of Govini, a software firm with deep Pentagon ties, has been arrested and charged with soliciting sexual contact with a preteen girl, according to the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office.

Eric Gillespie, 57, of Pittsburgh, allegedly tried to arrange a meeting with a young girl through an online chat platform often used by sex offenders, authorities said. An undercover agent posing as an adult intercepted Gillespie’s messages.

“Our Child Predator Section proactively uncovered this defendant who, under an online pseudonym, was lurking online to access children,” Attorney General Dave Sunday said. “During the investigation, Gillespie alluded to methods he accessed children, and other evidence was found regarding contact with children,” the office said in a statement…READ MORE.
 

White House

POWER GRAB PERIL: Trump’s signature tariffs hang on key question about Congress’ power before Supreme Court

ODDS SHRINK: Prediction markets put Trump tariff win at 24% following Supreme Court oral arguments

ENERGY UNLEASHED: Trump admin unleashes Arctic power shepherding 1,000 miles of pipeline, LNG generation in Alaska

HISTORIC ENGAGEMENT: China tightens fentanyl precursor controls after FBI director visit, Patel says

SHORTS SCANDAL: Michelle Obama reveals moment that left her infuriated on Air Force One

World Stage

TEHRAN STRIKES BACK: Iran claims missile power now ‘far surpasses’ pre-war levels after Israeli bombardment

Capitol Hill

POWER TO PATIENTS: Rick Scott calls Democrats ‘heartless’ as he pitches new Obamacare fix

‘DEEPLY CONCERNED’: Potential Pelosi successor pressed on transgender people in women’s spaces

’11TH HOUR’ ADDITION: House Republicans balk at Senate provision letting lawmakers sue over ‘Arctic Frost’ phone records
 

‘DISADVANTAGE’: James Carville says Democrats lacked ‘end-game’ plan for shutdown, urges party to move on

Across America 

WINDY CITY SHOWDOWN: DHS blasts Chicago mayor for comparing raid leader to segregationists, accusing him of ‘terror’

VOTE DEADLINE FIGHT: Ballots arriving after Election Day to face Supreme Court test

ENERGY SHOCK: Stefanik thrashes Hochul on energy as New Yorkers brace for $800/year hike, as gov blames tariffs

UPHILL BATTLE: Michigan GOP leader signals Senate bid, sets up clash with Trump-endorsed Mike Rogers

‘AMAZING’: Cowboys owner’s daughter makes surprising admission about Bad Bunny amid Super Bowl outrage

‘WOKE MIND VIRUS’: Red-state university ripped for offering entry-level job to foreign workers, not grads: ‘Woke mind virus’

GOVERNOR RESPONDS: Newsom breaks silence on violent Berkeley protest of TPUSA at California university

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

Jeffrey Epstein cast himself as a political insider after President Donald Trump’s first election, newly released House Oversight emails show, offering foreign leaders “insight” into the new president and boasting that he’d already briefed a top Russian diplomat on how to handle him.

The trove of emails, made public this week by the House Oversight Committee, spans 2016 to 2018 and reveals Epstein trying to reestablish himself on the world stage by courting heads of state, billionaires and diplomats.

The convicted sex offender, who died in federal custody in 2019, positioned himself as a man with rare access and understanding of Trump, offering his analysis to global figures eager to make sense of the new administration.

In one 2018 exchange, former Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland thanked Epstein for a “lovely evening” and said he would meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s assistant.

SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO TAKE UP GHISLAINE MAXWELL’S SEX TRAFFICKING APPEAL

Epstein replied that Jagland should tell Russian President Vladimir Putin that Lavrov “can get insight on talking to me,” adding that “Vitaly Churkin was great — he understood Trump after our conversations.”

Churkin, Russia’s longtime ambassador to the United Nations, died in 2017.

The messages show Epstein repeatedly pitching himself as an interpreter of Trump’s behavior.

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

“It is not complex,” he wrote to Jagland. “He must be seen to get something its that simple.”

Earlier emails show Epstein attempting to broker access around Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

Dubai ports magnate Sultan bin Sulayem asked whether he should accept an invitation from Trump ally Tom Barrack and whether it would be possible to shake the president’s hand. Epstein advised that the events would be “very crowded” but offered to help arrange meetings before or after in Washington or New York.

VIRGINIA GIUFFRE’S MEMOIR RECOUNTS RAPE BY FORMER PRIME MINISTER; EPSTEIN’S TIES TO BILL CLINTON, TRUMP

Epstein also stayed in touch with prominent American financiers and political figures. In December 2016, he exchanged notes with Hyatt heir Tom Pritzker, boasting that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had sent him “a tent, carpets and all.” Pritzker joked the gesture might be “code for ‘I love you.’”

In a separate 2018 chain following Trump’s summit with Putin in Helsinki, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers asked Epstein, “Do the Russians have stuff on Trump? Today was appalling even by his standards.”

Epstein dismissed the idea, replying that Trump was “totally predictable” and offering to explain by phone.

‘SEPARATED FROM REALITY’: SENATE REPUBLICANS FUME AS DEMS USE EPSTEIN SAGA TO BLOCK TRUMP’S AGENDA

“He thinks he has charmed his adversary,” Epstein wrote. “He has no idea of the symbolism. He has no idea of most things.”

Together, the communications paint a picture of Epstein trying to leverage his reputation and relationships for renewed influence, using his connections in Washington, the Middle East and Europe to insert himself into the Trump era’s global intrigue.

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When reached for comment, the White House told Fox News Digital, “These emails prove literally nothing.”

The House Oversight Committee released the cache of Epstein-related documents this week as part of its ongoing probe into the Justice Department’s handling of the financier’s previous plea deal and his wider network of contacts.

An annual United Nations climate summit being held in the Amazonian city of Belém in Brazil is slated to include talks and appearances by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

However, California Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a longtime critic of Newsom, is putting the summit on notice if they allow him to speak. 

This week, Hilton sent a letter to the heads of the COP30 summit, requesting that they deny anymore speaking roles for the California governor or face risking the credibility of the conference, citing the Democratic governor’s “climate hypocrisy.” According to Hilton, California, under Newsom’s leadership, has imported nearly half of all the crude oil drilled from the Amazon rainforest.

“Governor Newsom has built his political image around climate virtue signaling while presiding over one of the most environmentally destructive hypocrisies in the world,” Hilton wrote. “This oil comes from one of the most sensitive ecosystems on Earth, contributing to deforestation and the displacement of Indigenous communities … Instead of addressing this exploitation, Governor Newsom continues to promote himself as a global climate leader—jetting to international conferences to pose for cameras while his policies bankroll rainforest destruction.”

BILL GATES DISCOVERS THE WAY TO FIGHT CLIMATE BATTLE ACTUALLY INVOLVES HELPING HUMANS  

Hilton notes that earlier this year, even members of California’s Democratic-controlled state Senate unanimously called for an investigation into the state’s role in funding the Amazonian oil trade. Oil drilling in the Amazon is rapidly increasing deforestation and destroying the rainforest’s biodiversity, according to environmentalists, who argue California’s reputation as a climate leader is undermined by its actions drilling oil in the South American rainforest.

Hilton, meanwhile, described Newsom’s appearance at the summit as “political theater masquerading as leadership.”

CALIFORNIA USING BACK DOOR TO GET FEDERAL FUNDS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE, GOP SAYS; DEMS SAY NONSENSE

“To have Gavin Newsom lecture the world on climate justice while his administration promotes the decimation of the Amazon would be an insult to the conference and its members,” Hilton wrote to the COP30 leaders. “The UNFCCC and COP 30 must not reward hypocrisy with a platform.”

Newsom spoke Tuesday at the conference, during which he slammed Donald Trump for his failure to protect the environment, calling him an “invasive species” and “a wrecking ball” when it comes to progress on climate change. Newsom is expected to make appearances across the roughly two-week period that the summit is being held, including a trip deep into the Amazon Rainforest to meet with local residents and leaders.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office in response to Hilton’s petition calling on COP30 to deny the California governor public appearances at the summit, but only received a six-word response.

“I’m sorry – who is Steve Hilton?” questioned Newsom spokeswoman Izzy Gardon. 

President Donald Trump signed legislation to fund the government again — putting an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Trump signaled Monday the government would open soon, as consequences of a lapse in funding continued to snowball, including missed paychecks for federal workers and airline delays stemming from air traffic controller staffing shortages.

The bill keeps funding the government at the same levels during fiscal year 2025 through Jan. 30 to provide additional time to hash out a longer appropriations measure for fiscal year 2026.

The measure also funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that more than 42 million Americans rely on through September. The program supports non- or low-income individuals or families to purchase groceries on a debit card.

LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IN HISTORY NEARS LIKELY END AS HOUSE MOVES ON FUNDING BILL

Additionally, the measure reverses layoffs the Trump administration set into motion earlier in October and pays employees for their absence.

The reopening of the government comes after more than 40 days of a lapse in funding amid a stalemate between Senate Republicans and Democrats over a stopgap spending bill that would have funded the government through Nov. 21.

After a lapse in funding starting Oct. 1, the Senate passed legislation Monday night that would reopen the government by a 60–40 vote margin. A total of eight Democrats voted alongside their Republican counterparts for the measure. The House subsequently passed its version of the measure Wednesday.

THE 5 LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS IN HISTORY: WHAT HAPPENED, HOW THEY ENDED

The deal came as fallout from the shutdown came to a head, including travel disruptions at U.S. airports where air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers were required to work and were gearing up to miss a second paycheck.

As a result, these staffers were calling in sick, or taking on second jobs, creating staffing shortages and flight delays.

The standoff between Republicans and Democrats originated over disagreements about various healthcare provisions to include in a potential funding measure. Trump and Republicans claimed Democrats wanted to provide illegal immigrants healthcare, and pointed to a provision that would repeal part of Trump’s tax and domestic policy bill known as the “big, beautiful bill” that reduced Medicaid eligibility for non-U.S. citizens.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BECOMING LONGEST IN US HISTORY AS DEMOCRATS DIG IN ON OBAMACARE

Democrats pushed back on this characterization, and said they want to permanently extend certain Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025.

The stopgap spending bill that Trump signed does not extend these subsidies by the end of the year, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., agreed to a vote in December on legislation that would continue these credits.

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Even so, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., has not agreed to get on board with that arrangement in the House.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Harris County — home to Houston — for using county funds for programs that help migrants facing deportation obtain access to legal support.

Harris County established the Immigrant Legal Services Fund program in 2020, sending money to five organizations that help migrants facing deportation obtain lawyers.

Last month, the county appropriated an additional $1.3 million to support the program.

Paxton said in a statement that the program is “evil and wicked,” as well as unconstitutional.

TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON SUES LATINO VOTER GROUP JOLT FOR ALLEGEDLY REGISTERING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“We must stop the left-wing radicals who are robbing Texans to prevent illegals from being deported by the Trump Administration,” Paxton said. “Beyond just being blatantly unconstitutional, this is evil and wicked. Millions upon millions of illegals invaded America during the last administration, and they must be sent back to where they came from.”

This is one of several recent lawsuits filed by Paxton targeting organizations that support migrants.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, a Democrat, rebuked Paxton’s latest lawsuit, affirming that the program is “perfectly legal” and that his office would fight back against the lawsuit in court.

“This lawsuit is a cheap political stunt,” he said in a statement. “At a time when the president has unleashed ICE agents to terrorize immigrant neighborhoods, deport U.S. citizens, and trample the law, it’s shameful that Republican state officials are joining in instead of standing up for Texans.”

The Harris County Jail leads the nation in ICE detainers, according to The Texas Tribune, as federal and state officials seek to continue to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Before the county started the Immigrant Legal Services Fund in 2020, it was the largest county in the country without a program to help migrants get access to legal counsel, The Texas Tribune noted. The county passed the program on a party-line vote.

“When you have a family at a deportation hearing and they don’t have an attorney, they’re deported at a much higher rate, like 90% of the time, compared to like 5% of the time when they do have an attorney,” county Judge Lina Hidalgo, who proposed the program, said at the time, according to the Houston Chronicle.

FIRST ON FOX: TEXAS’ KEN PAXTON ENDORSES CANDIDATE TO SUCCEED HIM AS ATTORNEY GENERAL

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In the lawsuit, Paxton claims that the programs “serve no public purpose and instead constitute unconstitutional grants of public funds to private entities to subsidize individual deportation defenses.” He asked the court to block the county from distributing funds to these organizations and prohibit it from sending the money to the groups in the future.

Last month, after the vote to allocate funding for the program, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis said the funding was needed because of the uptick in raids targeting migrants, according to the Houston Chronicle.

“Having access to legal representation not only improves case outcomes but helps keep families together,” he said in a statement. “In a county as diverse as ours, local government must step up to safeguard safety, justice, and the people we serve.”

A bill to end the record-breaking U.S. government shutdown is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk after more than 42 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government passed in the House Wednesday evening, ending the weeks-long fiscal standoff that has largely paralyzed Congress since Oct. 1. Republicans on the House floor erupted in cheers when the bill prevailed while the majority of Democrats quietly exited the chamber.

The White House said Trump would sign the bill at 9:45 p.m. this evening.

Six Democrats voted with all but two Republicans to pass the bill with a 222 to 209 margin. The Democrats who voted in favor of the legislation are Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Adam Gray, D-Calif., Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash, and Don Davis, D-N.C.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ISSUE DESPERATE PLEA AS FAMILIES STRUGGLE WITHOUT PAYCHECKS

When the House took its initial vote on federal funding legislation on Sept. 19, just one Democrat — Golden — voted with the GOP.

The vast majority of House Democrats opposed the bill, however, including their senior ranks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

“House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,” Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote, however.

“I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,” Johnson said. “It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.”

Some drama threatened to crack House GOP unity earlier in the day, however, as some Republicans in the lower chamber seethed over a last-minute provision added to the bill that allows senators whose communications were tapped during former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe to sue the federal government for $500,000 each.

Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Austin Scott, R-Ga., and Morgan Griffith, W.Va., all shared concerns with the measure but said they would not extend the government shutdown over it.

THE 5 LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS IN HISTORY: WHAT HAPPENED, HOW THEY ENDED

Johnson appeared to placate their and others’ concerns, at least for now, with a promise to vote next week on separate legislation repealing that provision.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told reporters he would vote against the bill over its inclusion, however.

“I’m not voting to send Lindsey Graham half a million dollars,” he told reporters.

He and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the final bill, but their opposition was not enough to sink legislation.

“What Republicans learned is if their opening offer is Joe Biden’s budget, they can survive the shutdown. That’s the vote,” Massie told reporters afterwards.

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

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“What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?” Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. “We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.”

Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, criticized Democrats for prolonging the shutdown for little payoff.

“They literally got absolutely nothing except for a total and complete surrender, that accomplished nothing more than hurting American families,” he said.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

It also includes full-year federal spending for the Department of Agriculture, the legislative branch, and the Department of Veterans Affairs — three of 12 annual appropriations bills that Congress is tasked with passing annually.

“There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, “I think we can.”

FIRST ON FOX: A new report from a government watchdog group begs the question of why – with nearly 800,000 federal bureaucrats drawing six-figure salaries and the average payroll of the federal workforce far outpacing its size – is Washington still unable to fund the basics of government?

Open The Books, a project of American Transparency – a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan charitable organization, closely tracks government spending and released an expansive report Wednesday ahead of a looming agreement between Republicans and Democrats to reopen the government, showing the swamp has gotten bigger, richer and more secretive since 2020. 

The report, which analyzed all publicly disclosed federal salaries for Fiscal Year 2024, found a total of 2.9 million civil service employees with a total payroll of $270 billion plus an additional 30% for benefits. While the total number of employees rose by 5% since 2020, payroll grew nearly five times as much. 

DEPT OF ED SPENDING SOARED 749% DESPITE DOWNSIZING, NEW DOGE-INSPIRED INITIATIVE REVEALS

Currently, the federal workforce is costing American taxpayers $673,000 per minute, $40.4 million per hour and just under $1 billion per day, according to Open The Books. This includes almost 1,000 workers who are out-earning the president’s $400,000 per year salary, 31,452 non-War Department federal employees who out-earned every governor of all 50 states, and 793,537 people making $100,000 or more. Those making $300,000 or more have seen an 84% increase since 2020, while there has similarly been an 82% increase in those earning $200,000 or more, the report points out. 

Meanwhile, during Open The Book’s investigation, the fiscal watchdog group also found that the names of 383,000 federal workers across 56 different agencies were redacted, amounting to a total of $38.3 billion in pay. According to Open The Books CEO John Hart, “You can’t have accountability without visibility.”  

“The Trump administration has a historic opportunity to bring much-needed transparency to the administrative state. While federal employees don’t add as much to the debt as safety net programs, defense, and overall agency spending, they are an indicator of government’s growth,” Hart said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Our investigators found far too many redactions and blind spots that DOGE should have already fixed. You can’t have accountability without visibility. Taxpayers need a much clearer picture of the federal workforce than they have today.”

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has been working with Open The Books to fight for greater transparency. In a letter sent in September to Scott Kupor, the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Ernst said she had identified “numerous examples” of full-time federal employees earning two salaries while moonlighting for other agencies or government contractors – something that is typically prohibited under the law. Ernst pointed out that this was being done without the approval or knowledge of these workers’ managers. 

FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND SPENDS EYE-POPPING AMOUNT OF CAMPAIGN CASH ON LUXURY HOTELS, ‘TOP-TIER’ LIMO SERVICES

“From 2021 to 2024, a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employee held multiple other full-time government contractor jobs, frequently billing taxpayers for more than 24 hours of work in a single day,” Ernst chronicled in her letter. “In addition to HUD, she was paid by AmeriCorps and the National Institutes of Health. Since she teleworked in all three positions, she was able to hide her overlapping jobs and get away with billing taxpayers $225,866 for hours she never worked. She claimed she worked 26 hours on 13 of the 21 workdays in a single month.”

Ernst also described a second example of a human resources official at the Peace Corps who was caught falsifying timecards submitted to different agencies, which led to the employee double-billing taxpayers for tens-of-thousands of dollars. She laid out several other examples in the letter as well.

“Until recently, outside of death and taxes, the expanding Washington bureaucracy was one of the few certainties in life,” said Ernst. “I am proud to have partnered with the Trump administration and DOGE to successfully downsize the bloated bureaucracy, but there is much more work to be done to make Washington more efficient.” 

One can “look no further” than the “failed Schumer shutdown” Ernst said, pointing out that taxpayers will be on the hook for more than $12 billion in back pay for 750,000 non-essential federal employees who did not work for a month-and-a-half.

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In October, Ernst introduced the Non-Essential Workers Transparency Act, aimed at providing the public with an exact accounting of how much back pay the government will be required to fork over in the case of a shutdown.  

The bill would require executive agencies to submit detailed reports to Congress within 30 days of a lapse in appropriations that must include the total number of employees and contractors employed by the agency at the time of the shutdown, the total salaries paid by the agency during the prior fiscal year, the number of furloughed during the lapse and their annual pay, the number of employees not furloughed and the sum of their pay, and a requirement that all this information be posted publicly on the agencies’ websites.

The record-breaking U.S. government shutdown appears to be on a path to finally ending after 43 days.

Federal funding legislation aimed at opening the government survived a key test vote in the House later Wednesday, teeing it up for final passage in a matter of hours.

That means the bill could hit President Donald Trump’s desk as soon as Wednesday night, likely ending what has been the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The White House announced that Trump would sign the bill in a statement of administration policy obtained by Fox News Digital.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ISSUE DESPERATE PLEA AS FAMILIES STRUGGLE WITHOUT PAYCHECKS

“The Administration urges every Member of Congress to support this responsible, good faith product to finally put an end to the longest shutdown in history,” the statement said.

The bill advanced through a procedural hurdle known as a rule vote, which is where lawmakers decide whether to allow legislation to get debated before a final vote on passage.

Rule votes generally fall along partisan lines and are not an indication of whether a bill will be bipartisan.

THE 5 LONGEST GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS IN HISTORY: WHAT HAPPENED, HOW THEY ENDED

The vast majority of House Democrats still oppose the bill, but it’s possible that at least several moderates will defy their leaders to support it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reiterated to reporters hours before the vote that Democrats were frustrated the bill did not do anything about COVID-19 pandemic-era healthcare subsidies under Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Those enhanced tax credits expire this year.

“House Democrats are here on the Capitol steps to reiterate our strong opposition to this spending bill because it fails to address the Republican healthcare crisis, and it fails to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit,” Jeffries said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sounded optimistic in comments to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of the vote.

“I wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight,” Johnson said. “It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end.”

Meanwhile, the shutdown’s effects on the country have grown more severe by the day.

Many of the thousands of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents who had to work without pay were forced to take second jobs, causing nationwide flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages at the country’s busiest airports. Millions of Americans who rely on federal benefits were also left in limbo as funding for critical government programs ran close to drying out.

At the heart of the issue was Democratic leaders’ refusal to back any funding bill that did not also extend the enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Democrats argued it was their best hope of preventing healthcare price hikes for Americans across the U.S.

Republicans agreed to hold conversations on reforming what they saw as a broken healthcare system, but they refused to pair any partisan priority with federal funding.

In the end, a compromise led by the Senate — which saw eight Democrats in the upper chamber join colleagues to pass the bill in a 60 to 40 vote — included a side deal guaranteeing the left a vote on extending the enhanced subsidies sometime in December.

Johnson has made no such promise in the House, however.

And the lack of a guarantee on extending those subsidies has angered progressives and Democratic leaders.

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“What were Republicans willing to give in the end, other more than a handshake deal to take a future vote on extending the healthcare subsidies?” Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said Wednesday. “We all know that a future vote is the equivalent of asking two wolves and a chicken to vote on what’s for dinner. It is dead on arrival.”

The full House will now vote on the legislation during the 7 p.m. hour.

The bill kicks the current federal funding fight to Jan. 30, by which point House GOP leaders said they were confident they’ll finish work on a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

“There are nine remaining bills, and we’d like to get all of those done in the next few weeks. And, so, [House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.] and his appropriators will be working overtime,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital.

Asked if he thought they’d get it done by that date, Cole said, “I think we can.”

The White House dismissed comments from Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of John F. Kennedy, about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., labeling his cousin a “rabid dog.”

Schlossberg, the son of diplomat Caroline Kennedy, launched a bid Wednesday to run for a U.S. House of Representatives seat in New York in the 2026 election. If his campaign succeeds, he would replace Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler to represent New York’s 12th Congressional District.

“I don’t even think such ridiculous comments are worth responding to,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday. “Obviously, those things are not true. And Secretary Kennedy is doing a phenomenal job bringing transparency and the gold standard of silent science back to our health care system.”

JFK’S GRANDSON SAYS THERE IS ‘NOTHING HEROIC’ ABOUT TRUMP’S DECLASSIFICATION ORDER

Schlossberg appeared on MSNBC Wednesday, where he compared Kennedy to a dog, adding Trump is “obsessed” with the Kennedy family and that’s why Kennedy is a Cabinet member with the Trump administration.

“He put a collar on my cousin, RFK Jr., and has him there barking, spreading lies and spreading misinformation,” Schlossberg said.

BILL MAHER SAYS ‘NUTTY’ RFK JR. HAS ‘GOT TO GO’ FOLLOWING CDC FIRINGS, SENATE HEARING

Likewise, Schlossberg took aim at his cousin directly, specifically pointing to Kennedy’s decision to fire advisors on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine panel in June and the rise in measles cases in areas like West Texas. The Texas Department of State Health Services announced that the outbreak ended in August.

“RFK Jr. is a dangerous person who is making life-and-death decisions as secretary of Health and Human Services,” Schlossberg said.

“I mean, when he’s not making infomercials for Steak ‘n Shake and Coca-Cola, he’s spreading misinformation and lies that are leading to deaths around the country.”

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The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Schlossberg, 32, graduated from Harvard Law School in 2022 and joined Vogue as a political correspondent in 2024.

President Donald Trump drew criticism from those within his “Make America Great Again” base after he reinvigorated debate on one of his party’s most controversial issues: H-1B visas. 

The visas allow U.S. companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers for up to six years.

The issue resurfaced after Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview that aired Tuesday that bringing foreign workers to the U.S. on H-1B visas is important to “bring in talent” to the U.S. While Ingraham argued that the U.S. has talent at home, Trump said that wasn’t the case.

ARE AMERICAN WORKERS BEING REPLACED? INSIDE THE H-1B VISA CONTROVERSY

“No, you don’t. No, you don’t. You don’t have, you don’t have certain talents, and people have to learn!” Trump said. “You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say I’m gonna put you into a factory where we’re gonna make missiles.”

Trump also defended past remarks endorsing allowing up to 600,000 Chinese students to come to the U.S. to Ingraham, claiming that they must study in the U.S. so U.S. colleges don’t “go out of business.”

While proponents of the program argue that the program is key to U.S. competitiveness, critics argue that the visa holders are taking away jobs from Americans. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., promptly spoke out against the statements, claiming that she is “America First and America Only.”

“I believe in the American people. I am one of you.I believe you are good, talented, creative, intelligent, hardworking, and want to achieve. I am solidly against you being replaced by foreign labor, like with H1Bs,” Greene said. “I am solidly against allowing foreign students into our colleges and universities, like 600,000 Chinese students, just to financially prop them up. If they fail, they fail. The system in place isn’t helping our young people anyway.”

Other Republicans weighed in and said the policy could play out poorly for the GOP in the 2026 midterms.

TRUMP ADMIN REVEALS OVER 100 INVESTIGATIONS INTO H-1B ABUSES AS IT PLEDGES ‘EVERY RESOURCE’ TO PROTECT US JOBS

“This is insane—we’re going to lose the mid-terms so badly,” Anthony Sabatini, a Republican county commissioner in Florida, said in a Tuesday post on X. “We’ve never seen an administration crash & burn in its first year so badly—for no reason other than to appease donors and special interests.”

Meanwhile, the White House pointed to the Trump administration’s announcement in September that would require a $100,000 annual fee for companies seeking to obtain an H-1B visa. Likewise, the White House said that the Department of Labor launched Project Firewall in September in an attempt to ensure employers don’t abuse the H-1B visa process. 

“The Trump administration is protecting American workers by restoring accountability in the H1-B process, ensuring that it is used to bring in only the highest-skilled foreign workers in specialty occupations and not low wage workers that will displace Americans,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a Wednesday statement to Fox News Digital. 

The issue historically has been controversial within Trump’s base, particularly after Trump himself came out and backed H-1B visas, saying it was a “great program” and that he’s a “believer in H-1B” in an interview with the New York Post in December 2024.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who originally is from South Africa and used an H-1B visa to remain in the U.S., also said in December he would “go to war” on the issue. 

“The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla, and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B,” Musk said in a December 2024 post on X. 

The comments and Trump’s support ignited backlash within the president’s own party. Original MAGA supporters like Steve Bannon, who previously served as Trump’s White House chief strategist, blasted the program in response and labeled it a “scam” in his podcast in December 2024. 

DOJ CALLS FOR TIPS ON EMPLOYERS FAVORING FOREIGN WORKERS IN HIRING PRACTICES

He also promised to undermine Musk’s influence at the White House as Musk geared up to oversee the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a separate interview.

“This thing of the H-1B visas, it’s about the entire immigration system is gamed by the tech overlords, they use it to their advantage, the people are furious,” Bannon told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in January.

In the same interview, Bannon vowed to “run out” Musk from the White House and would make “it my personal thing to take this guy down.”

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Members of the left also remain critical of the H-1B program. For example, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said that the program is used to replace U.S. workers and pay foreigners for less.

“The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad,” Sanders said in a post on X in January. “The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.”

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report. 

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., called Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapio a “f—— a——” during a hot mic moment amid a heated Zoom hearing, his new memoir reveals. 

Fetterman, who was the state’s lieutenant governor at the time, recalled delivering the outburst after Shapiro delivered a “very long-winded and unnecessary” speech justifying his decision to vote against commuting the sentences of Lee and Dennis Horton, the New York Post reported. 

The Lee brothers had been convicted of second-degree murder in a fatal 1993 robbery and shooting.

FETTERMAN FIRES BACK AT NEWSOM AFTER SHUTDOWN CRITICISM, REFUSES TO ‘PLAY CHICKEN’ WITH THE LIVES OF AMERICANS

The hearing was part of the Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons meeting when Shapiro expressed concerns that transcripts from the siblings’ original trial were missing, Fetterman wrote in the memoir, titled: “Unfettered.”

In response, Fetterman became angry. At one point during a private meeting, he threatened to run for governor in 2022 and pull Shapiro into a primary. 

“I told him there were two tracks — that one and the one in which he ran for governor and I ran for the Senate (which was the one I preferred),” Fetterman wrote in his new book, “Unfettered,” as excerpted by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“I had no interest in friction, only in what I felt was justice,” he added.

The book reportedly details how Shapiro’s people reached out to Fetterman.

“He wanted me to retract things I had said and to deny the rumors about the private meeting taking place,” Fetterman wrote. “That wasn’t going to happen.”

In December 2020, the board voted to commute the Hortons’ sentences. Fetterman eventually invited Dennis Horton to be his guest at the 2023 State of the Union address.

FETTERMAN SAYS HE KNOWS AND LOVES TRUMP VOTERS: ‘I’M THE ONLY DEMOCRAT IN MY FAMILY’

However, his relationship with Shapiro never recovered. 

“I sincerely wish him the best,” Fetterman wrote of the governor. “He is a credit to the state and may one day be a credit to the country. I remember fondly the days when we were nobodies trying to climb the ladder. Even if we no longer speak.”

The roots of the feud on the parole board stemmed from who was granted parole or a pardon. 

“I truly believed with all my heart that nobody I ever supported for a pardon was a danger to society. I was willing to stake my political career on it,” Fetterman wrote. “[Shapiro] was far more cautious, and at a certain point, I began to think that what was influencing him was not mere caution but political ambition.”

At one meeting, Shapiro voted against parole in 12 of 15 cases, causing Fetterman to break his reading glasses in frustration, the senator recalled.

“I believe what drove him to delay and deny applications was not the facts of a given case as much as a fear that someone whose sentence he’d commuted would go on to commit terrible violence on the outside,” Fetterman wrote.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to Shapiro’s office for comment.

On Capitol Hill, Fetterman has clashed with his fellow Democrats because of his stance on working with the Trump administration and his support for Israel.  

President Donald Trump issued pardons for more than 70 people accused of seeking to overturn the 2020 election results. 

The move largely has been viewed as a symbolic gesture, as the presidential pardons only cover federal charges and those involved don’t have any federal charges leveled against them.

Among those pardoned were Trump allies like the president’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who peddled claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump and is embroiled in a case in Arizona where he faces state charges for election interference.

Although the pardons cannot extend to state charges like those Giuliani faces in Arizona, the pardons could pave the way for some to attempt to redeem their reputation, according to Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.

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Olson said that while the pardon itself cannot reverse a disbarment, loss of license or loss of employment, the pardon could provide fuel for the pardon beneficiaries to pursue reconsideration of these consequences.

“What other purpose is served by pardoning someone who hasn’t been charged with any federal crime?” Olson said in a Tuesday email to Fox News Digital. “Some of the beneficiaries will treat this gesture as if it vindicates their good name, or establishes that they should not have been disbarred or disgraced. But those are not things a presidential pardon can do.”

For example, Giuliani was disbarred in both New York and Washington in 2024. The Manhattan appeals court in New York determined in July 2024 that Giuliani routinely made inaccurate statements about the 2020 election, and the decision said that he “baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process.”

Even so, Olson said that there could be some benefit for those pardoned — even if they don’t face federal charges — in the event it could protect them from prosecution from a future administration. However, those benefits could be limited in this instance, he said.

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“That angle is less important if the passage of time has meant that prosecution would be barred anyway by relevant statutes of limitation, as is likely to be the case with many charges here,” Olson said.

While proponents of the pardons claim that they restore justice, critics have blasted the pardons as an attempt to undermine democracy.

“First, Trump pardoned the violent insurrectionists who beat cops. Now, he pardons the key instigators of January 6th,” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a Monday social media post. “We need to see this for what it is: An attempt to erase history, so it can be repeated.”

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Meanwhile, Giuliani’s team claimed that he didn’t seek a pardon from Trump, but argued that the pardon is grounds for Giuliani to have his bar license restored.

“Mayor Rudy Giuliani stands by his work following the 2020 presidential election, when he responded to the legitimate concerns of thousands of everyday Americans,” Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani, said in a Monday post on X. 

“Mayor Giuliani never sought a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump’s decision,” Goodman said. “This action further highlights the years of unjust attacks against the mayor and so many others, and reinforces what should now be clear to everyone—Mayor Giuliani deserves to have his bar license immediately reinstated without delay.”

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The White House did not provide comment to Fox News Digital on why the pardons were issued now, but compared charges Trump allies faced to “communist tactics.”

“These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden Administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “Getting prosecuted for challenging results is something that happens in communist Venezuela, not the United States of America, and President Trump is putting an end to the Biden Regime’s communist tactics once and for all.”

Other prominent figures pardoned include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell. Justice Department Pardon Attorney Ed Martin announced the pardons Sunday. 

Trump previously has issued pardons for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which occurred as Congress was poised to certify the 2020 election results.

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In January, just hours after his inauguration, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 charged with crimes stemming from the attack. Among those were Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader, who faced a sentence of 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Elise Stefanik launched a broadside this week against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s energy policies. 

She criticized Hochul’s continued ban on fossil fuel exploration and her broader record on the energy sector as state utilities announced another major rate hike for homeowners.

The New York State Public Service Commission announced that several utility companies have proposed monthly delivery charge increases ranging from 34% to 48%, according to reports in multiple upstate news outlets.

Stefanik, a North Country congresswoman who is the first major candidate to challenge the incumbent, cited reports in upstate media that New Yorkers must again brace for approximately 40% hikes in utility costs in 2026 – an increase of $800-1,000 for most residents, she said.

“Kathy Hochul’s billion-dollar Green New Deal policies that ban gas stoves and ban natural gas fracking are already driving up New York’s energy costs, which are the most expensive in the country,” Stefanik said.

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“At a time when New Yorkers are living in one of the most unaffordable states in the nation, Kathy Hochul’s New York might get even more expensive.”

Stefanik called the energy situation in New York a paramount concern amid a greater “affordability crisis” statewide.

She noted Hochul continued the Cuomo-era ban on natural gas fracking, which largely covers the multi-state Marcellus Shale deposit that itself is named for a town in Onondaga County where it is centered.

While former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf enacted a moratorium on fracking specifically on state parklands, New York’s neighbor continues to see private fracking operations in action particularly just below their shared border, leading critics to point to the economic disparities between communities on the NY-17 corridor and those to the south.

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In that regard, New York Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt told Fox News Digital that Hochul’s “socialist energy policies” have “strained the grid.”

“We must repeal the unrealistic and unaffordable mandates of the Democrats’ ‘Green New Scam’. Republicans support a diverse energy portfolio that ensures affordable options for all New Yorkers,” said Ortt, R-Niagara Falls.

In comments to Fox News Digital, Hochul campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika defended the governor’s record, saying she has been “laser-focused on affordability” across the board.

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She said Hochul’s efforts from “cutting taxes for millions of middle-class New Yorkers to lowering household energy costs,” are a sign of just that – while instead accusing congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump as the culprit for rate hikes:

“[Hochul is] standing up to Trump’s expensive tariffs while Sellout Stefanik voted to jack up New Yorkers’ energy bills,” Chitika said.

Hochul’s predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, came under fire from the right after shuttering the massive Indian Point nuclear generating station on the Hudson River across from Haverstraw – which had long fueled a sizeable proportion of New York City’s grid.

Cuomo defended the move by pointing to Indian Point’s age, record of equipment breakdowns – and the prospect that it posed a danger as a potential terrorism target so close to New York City.

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Republicans, including Stefanik, have said New York Democrats have wrongly continued that trend away from reliable fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Other Democrats, meanwhile, fault utility companies for raking in elevated profits amid the rate hikes.

“In just three years, [New York State Electric & Gas] has increased delivery charges by more than 60%, and mere weeks after those hikes took effect, they filed for another 35% increase. We’re hearing from residents choosing between paying their utility bill or buying food for their children,” Assemb. Anna Kelles, D-Ithaca, told CNY News.

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Kelles claimed one constituent received a $2,600 electric bill for a recent month – half of which was categorized as “delivery fees.”

Stefanik, meanwhile, may face company soon in her quest to take the reins in Albany.

Nassau County Executive Brad Blakeman – one of New York Republicans’ rare winners in an otherwise disastrous election last week – told the New York Post he is considering a primary challenge.

He said suburbanites in Nassau and Suffolk are upset over New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s win and the fact Hochul endorsed him – and that his campaign would have a broader appeal to the political center than Stefanik’s.

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“The path to defeating Gov. Hochul starts on Long Island,” Blakeman said.

Stefanik is also reportedly eager to tie Hochul to the socialist mayor during the campaign, as Axios reported the governor may face a challenge from her left in Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, whom the outlet said supports Mamdani-esque wealth taxes.