NationalWatch

Georgia’s governor gave the final approval on Wednesday for a bill requiring jailers across the state to check the immigration status of inmates and work with federal immigration officials instead of sheltering people who are in the U.S. illegally.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth, making most of the provisions effective immediately.

Kemp also signed a separate law requiring cash bail for an additional 30 crimes, while also restricting people and charitable bail funds from posting cash bonds for more than three people per year unless they meet requirements to become a bail company, according to The Associated Press. The bail law goes into effect on July 1.

The Republican governor said the immigration bill, “became one of our top priorities following the senseless death of Laken Riley at the hands of someone in this country illegally who had already been arrested even after crossing the border.”

GEORGIA IMMIGRATION BILL THAT WOULD COMPEL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO WORK WITH FEDERAL OFFICIALS GOES TO GOV. KEMP

Jose Ibarra was arrested in February on murder and assault charges in the death of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia.

Ibarra, 26, unlawfully crossed into the United States in 2022, immigration officials said. It is not clear whether the suspect applied for asylum or not.

“If you enter our country illegally and proceed to commit further crimes in our communities, we will not allow your crimes to go unanswered,” Kemp said.

GEORGIA AG FILES SUIT AGAINST BIDEN ADMINISTRATION FOR TITLE IX REVISION: ‘DESTROYING WOMEN’S SPORTS’

As the bill moved through the state legislature, Democrats expressed concerns it would turn law enforcement officials into immigration police, resulting in communities becoming less willing to work with police and report crime.

Opponents also pointed to studies suggesting immigrants are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes.

Under the law, local governments will be denied state funding if they fail to cooperate.

ANTI-TRUMP DA BAILED ON DEBATE TO ‘SCHMOOZE’ WITH CELEBS, IS CHALLENGED TO A REMATCH

Jails are also required to apply for an agreement with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow local jailers to help enforce immigration law. Even though local jailers can assist with enforcement, they are unable to make immigration-specific arrests outside of jails.

As for the changes to cash bail, the Republican-backed bill requires criminals to be held on bail to keep them locked up.

The bill also takes away from efforts championed by former Republican Gov. Nathan Deal in 2018, allowing judges to release most people accused of misdemeanors without bail.

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Supporters said judges would still have the discretion to set exceptionally low bails. A separate part of the 2018 reform requiring judges to consider someone’s ability to pay would still remain law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Republicans are hammering independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over a resurfaced video where he says individuals in red states are more likely to commit heinous crimes and “murder you.”

In a resurfaced video, posted by former President Donald Trump’s MAGA War Room X account Wednesday, RFK Jr. is seen making the disparaging comments about Republicans at a 2005 IdeaCity speech.

“Red state people are more likely to murder you, to impregnate your teenage daughter, to commit a violent crime against you, to commit a nonviolent crime against you, to watch Desperate Housewives on TV, to buy pornography, to buy degenerate video games like ‘Grand Theft Auto,’” RFK Jr. told a crowd.

Social media users, including several Republican members of congress, immediately hit back at what they called “divisive attacks.”

RFK, JR REVEALS PATH TO PRESIDENCY AS BIDEN, TRUMP CAMPAIGNS TARGET RACE ‘SPOILER’

“I’m proud to be from the most conservative state in America and represent the best of our country. RFK Jr.’s divisive attacks are disqualifying,” Sen. John Barasso, R-Wyo., wrote in a post in X.

“I’m proud to represent one of the reddest districts in Texas. RFK Jr.’s attacks on red state America are not backed up by facts or reality. He is unhinged and further left than Bernie Sanders! Texans won’t forget!” Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, said.

“The Hoosier state is as red as they come,” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who is running for the Senate, posted on X. “Far-left RFK Jr’s baseless, unhinged attacks on the values of Red State America will be remembered in November.”

“RFK is no friend to conservative red states like West Virginia!” Riley Moore, a GOP congressional candidate in West Virginia, said. “Stop pretending this guy is a moderate.”

RFK JR. CHALLENGES TRUMP TO DEBATE AFTER ‘DEMOCRAT PLANT’ ACCUSATION

During his remarks, RFK Jr. blasted the Saturday morning media pundits as “gas bags” and claimed their commentary about former President George W. Bush winning because red states were ‘morally robust” compared to “degenerate” blue states was “not true.”

RFK Jr. went on to claim that he looked at red states and blue states to determine which was “more moral” using criteria “that most of us use to judge morality”

“I found the lowest divorce rate in America was Massachusetts, a blue state. The highest divorce rate was Texas, a red state. The lowest teen pregnancy rate was Massachusetts. The highest was Texas,” RFK Jr. added.

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MAGA War Room posted the video just days after RFK Jr. challenged GOP nominee Trump to a presidential debate, after the former president called the independent a “Democrat plant.”

RFK Jr. on Wednesday argued that he, rather than Biden, is the only candidate who can defeat Trump in November — and showcased a new internal poll conducted by his campaign to make his point — as he announced a “no-spoiler pledge.”

“This is a no-spoiler pledge that we’re announcing today. This is a pledge that I offer to take if President Biden also takes it,” Kennedy said at a news conference where the candidate took no questions from reporters.

Fox News Digital reached out to RFK Jr’s presidential campaign.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed reporting.

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill long sought by counties seeking help to manage huge influxes of mail-in ballots during elections in the presidential battleground state and to avoid a repeat of 2020’s drawn-out vote count.

The bill comes barely six months before Pennsylvania could play a decisive role in selecting the next president in November’s election between Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a Republican.

PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE VOTES TO CRIMINALIZE BLUETOOTH STALKING

The bill passed on party lines, 102-99, as Democrats backed it and Republicans opposed it, warning that it would open the door to fraud. It faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Senate, however.

Under the bill, county election workers could begin processing ballots up to seven days before Election Day.

Counties have sought that kind of a provision for years, even before 2020’s presidential election, to give them more time to process mail-in ballots and avoid a drawn-out post-election count.

Nearly every state allows time before Election Day for workers to process mail-in ballots. Currently, Pennsylvania doesn’t let counties begin processing mail-in ballots before Election Day.

The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania backed the bill, saying that having more time to process mail-in ballots before polls close — called “precanvassing” — will help them manage the workload and ensure quicker results.

“This simple change would significantly improve election administration without compromising ballot security,” Lisa Schaefer, the association’s executive director, said in a statement.

Schaefer asked the Republican-controlled Senate to quickly advance the bill to Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk so that it can be implemented for November’s general election.

In the Senate, GOP Majority Leader Joe Pittman insisted Wednesday that Pennsylvania must toughen voter identification requirements as a companion to any legislation on election administration.

Democrats have opposed such a change, saying there is scant record of in-person voting fraud and that it will only prevent some registered voters from voting.

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A surge in mail-in ballots in 2020’s presidential election shined a spotlight on Pennsylvania’s requirement after it took four days of counting for news agencies to project Biden as the winner of Pennsylvania, giving him the electoral votes necessary to win the White House.

However, Trump and his allies tried to exploit the days it took after polls closed to tabulate the millions of mail-in ballots to spread baseless conspiracy theories and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election.

EXCLUSIVE: The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s ongoing New York City trial is taking heat from a rare coalition formed to jointly condemn his “dangerous” gag order ruling that it says “poses a dire threat to our democracy.”

The group, made up mostly of prominent Republican candidates running in battleground states crucial to flipping the Senate red in November, includes Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick, Wisconsin’s Eric Hovde, Ohio’s Bernie Moreno, Michigan’s Mike Rogers, Arizona’s Kari Lake, Indiana’s Jim Banks, Nevada’s Sam Brown, Montana’s Tim Sheehy and West Virginia’s Jim Justice.

All signed onto a joint statement condemning Judge Juan Merchan’s imposition of the “unconstitutional” gag order, which Trump himself has called “election interference.”

RFK, JR REVEALS PATH TO PRESIDENCY AS BIDEN, TRUMP CAMPAIGNS TARGET RACE ‘SPOILER’

“We have deep concerns regarding the gag order imposed on President Trump, as it fundamentally violates constitutional principles and threatens the very essence of freedom of speech and expression in the middle of an election,” the group said.

“The First Amendment of the United States Constitution explicitly guarantees the right to freedom of speech, stating that ‘Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.’ This fundamental right is not contingent upon one’s political affiliation or position of power,” they said.

The group went on to say that “any attempt to silence or restrict the speech of a candidate for president undermines the core values upon which our democracy is built,” and it set a “dangerous precendent” for presidents and other elected officials in the future.

VOTERS IN MAJOR SWING STATE SOUND OFF ON TRUMP TRIAL: VIDEO

“If we allow such actions to go unchecked, it opens the door for authoritarian tendencies to flourish, where those in power can suppress dissenting voices and control the narrative to serve their own interests. Make no mistake: Silencing a candidate for public office, under the threat of imprisonment, poses a dire threat to our democracy,” they said.

The group added that the gag order also affected the American public by inhibiting their “right to information and transparency,” and that they “have a right to be informed about the actions and statements of their elected leaders.”

“In conclusion, the gag order imposed on President Trump is a clear violation of the First Amendment and represents a dangerous encroachment on the fundamental rights that form the bedrock of our democracy. America must stand firm in defense of these principles and resist any attempts to undermine them, regardless of political affiliations or personal opinions,” they said.

BLACK REPUBLICAN WHO SHUNNED DEI BY IDENTIFYING AS ‘AMERICA’ SAYS DEMS’ ‘FREE PASS’ TO MINORITIES IS OVER

Merchan imposed the gag order on Trump before his trial began last month, ordering that the former president cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case — other than Bragg — or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff. He also ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about any prospective juror or chosen juror.

In his ruling, Merchan pointed to Trump’s “prior extrajudicial statements,” saying they establish “a sufficient risk to the administration of justice.” 

Merchan ruled Tuesday that Trump violated the gag order banning him from speaking publicly about witnesses and family members of court officials. He specifically ruled Trump violated the order on nine separate occasions in social media posts, with each violation resulting in a $1,000 fine. The former president was ordered to pay $9,000 for violating the gag order. 

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Following Merchan’s ruling, Trump removed the social media posts found in violation of the order from his Truth Social account. The ruling comes after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office accused Trump of violating the order 14 times since it was imposed last month.

Trump has repeatedly railed against the gag order, calling the case overall a “scam” promoted by the Biden administration and saying the gag order has stripped him of the ability to defend himself against accusations in the case.

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub

The House voted to expand the legal definition of antisemitism used to enforce anti-discrimination laws at a time when anti-Israel protests are raging at college campuses across the country.

If passed by the Senate and signed by President Biden, the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act would mandate that the Department of Education legally adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when enforcing anti-discrimination rules. 

Critics of the bill have attacked it as government overreach and said it would negatively impact free speech on campus.

VIRGINIA TECH POLICE PHYSICALLY CARRY AWAY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS AMID EFFORT TO RESTORE PEACE ON CAMPUS

Like most issues stemming from Israel’s war on Hamas, the vote divided the Democratic Party. An increasing number of voices on the left, anchored by progressives, have been critical of Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the U.S. government’s position on the war.

The bill had over a dozen Democratic backers, including Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., who are Jewish, and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., among others.

It passed 320 to 91 on Wednesday.

The opposition was led in part by Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., a Jewish progressive who’s the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

“This definition, adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance or IHRA, includes, quote, contemporary examples of antisemitism, close quote. The problem is that these examples may include protected speech in some context, particularly with respect to criticism of the state of Israel,” Nadler said during debate on the bill. 

“To be clear, I vehemently disagree with the sentiments toward Israel expressing those examples. And too often criticism of Israel does in fact take the form virulent antisemitism.”

HOCHUL SILENT AS PRESSURE GROWS FOR NATIONAL GUARD TO BREAK UP COLUMBIA’S ANTI-ISRAEL THRONG

On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voiced his objections to the bill on the morning of the vote.

“This is a poorly conceived unconstitutional bill and I will vote no,” Massie wrote on X, along with screenshots of examples on IHRA’s website of what it defines as antisemitism.

It includes “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who led the bill, told Fox News Digital, “When people engage in harassment or bullying of Jewish individuals where they justify the killing of Jews or use blood libel or hold Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government – that is antisemitic. It’s unfortunate that needs to be clarified, but that’s why this bill is necessary.”

‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ RAPIDLY EMERGING AS KEY SLOGAN OF ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS IN US

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He also reiterated criticism of the anti-Israel protests at colleges like Columbia University, Yale University and others, where tensions have escalated to the point of Jewish students reporting feeling unsafe on campus.

Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., one of the Democrats sponsoring the bill, said there’s “no place for antisemitism on college campuses.”

“We need to take an aggressive and multifaceted approach to keep our Jewish students safe, and that means passing the Antisemitism Awareness Act immediately,” Ryan told Fox News Digital.

Republican senators on Wednesday accused President Biden of being more critical of U.S. ally Israel than the anti-Israel and antisemitic riots that have evolved out of protests on some college campuses across the country. 

“Joe Biden is putting more pressure on Israel these days than he is on Hamas itself or on the pro-Hamas chapters on America’s campuses,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said during a press conference. 

Cotton said this wasn’t surprising, citing what he said were “antisemitic elements” of the Democratic Party that have been allowed to “fester and grow for years” under Biden’s watch. Biden has notably criticized Israel and let disagreements between the country and the U.S. be known publicly as Israel continues to battle the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. 

SEN TIM SCOTT SLAMS ‘DISGUSTING’ COURT GAG ORDER RESTRICTING TRUMP’S ‘FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS’

Biden and his administration’s officials have on several occasions stressed concerns about Israel’s actions to curb civilian deaths as it fights Hamas. The president even threatened that U.S. policy toward Israel would be dependent on the country minimizing civilian casualties after seven aid workers were recently killed by an Israeli strike. 

An encampment protesting Israel’s actions initially began at Columbia University in New York City last month, escalating over the course of roughly two weeks with demonstrators ultimately taking over a campus building. After the building was taken over, the university opted to once again call in the New York City Police Department (NYPD), which arrested 108 people, giving each a trespassing summons. 

Following the beginning of Columbia’s encampment, which gained national media coverage, there have been at least 47 anti-Israel protests at the top 50 universities, as ranked by the U.S. News and World Report in 2024.

SEN VANCE QUESTIONS DOJ ON COMPANIES FAVORING MIGRANT WORKERS OVER AMERICANS

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Biden “could stop this stuff on a dime” if he chose, suggesting the president could call universities and threaten their federal funding to motivate them to break up the unruly demonstrations. 

However, he said, “It just goes to show you that even old people can s–k,” in reference to Biden, who is 81 years old. 

Kennedy also pointed to poor polling for the president, saying that Biden is not taking action because he is “scared to death to alienate the Hamas wing of the Democratic Party.”

NY DEM SENS SCHUMER, GILLIBRAND AVOID COLUMBIA CAMPUS AS ‘SQUAD’ DESCENDS TO BACK AGITATORS

Cotton excoriated the demonstrations, describing them as “little Gazas that have risen up on campuses across America.” He also called them “disgusting cesspools of antisemitic hate, full of pro-Hamas sympathizers.”

“Fanatics and freaks,” Cotton added. 

According to the Arkansas senator, Biden needs to condemn the “Hamas campus sympathizers” without “equivocating about Israelis fighting a righteous war of survival.” 

SENATE GRIDLOCK COULD WORSEN WITH ROMNEY, SINEMA, MANCHIN RETIREMENTS: EXPERTS

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement Tuesday, “President Biden has stood against repugnant, antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days. President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful – it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.”

However, Biden hasn’t made direct comments condemning the protests and riots and has not indicated any federal action.

Cotton reiterated his calls on the departments of State, Homeland Security, Justice and Education to address the escalating protests and riots. He urged them to revoke visas for students participating and deport them, investigate any funding behind the protests, and stop funding schools that “won’t protect the civil rights of their Jewish students.”

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Cotton and Kennedy were joined by Republican Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Rick Scott of Florida, Joni Ernst of Iowa, John Cornyn of Texas and Roger Marshall of Kansas.

The White House did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, will soon introduce legislation that would withhold federal financial aid from student protesters convicted of rioting or attacking police in the latest wave of anti-Israel unrest, Fox News Digital has learned.

Police have already arrested hundreds of student protesters for various crimes at anti-Israel encampments across the country. New York City police alone arrested roughly 300 students during late night clearing operations at Columbia University and City College of New York.

“As a nation founded on principles of justice and respect for the rule of law, we must take a firm stance against violence and lawlessness, especially when directed at those who risk their lives to uphold order and protect our communities. My new legislation aims to send a clear message: if you assault a police officer or engage in rioting, you forfeit your right to federal financial aid,” Pfluger told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

“This is not a matter of political ideology but of basic decency and respect for our fellow citizens. The horrific antisemitic riots on college campuses across the country underscore the urgency of this issue. We cannot allow the persecution of Jewish Americans or any community to go unchecked,” he added.

VIRGINIA TECH POLICE PHYSICALLY CARRY AWAY ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS AMID EFFORT TO RESTORE PEACE ON CAMPUS

Pfluger, who chairs the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, went on to say that withholding federal financial support from those convicted will uphold the “safety and well-being of all Americans.”

The lawmaker’s office says the final text of the bill is still being determined, but they expect to introduce it in the near future.

TRUMP SAYS 4 WORDS ABOUT ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES AS ARRESTS SKYROCKET

Clashes between anti-Israel agitators and police continue to take place across the country. Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin, University of California at Los Angeles, Tulane University, the University of Florida and others have all brought in police to clear out protesters in recent days.

Some of the protesters have dispersed peacefully, but many others have stayed for violent confrontations with police.

CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY REVEALS ‘TRUE COST’ OF ANTI-ISRAEL MOB THAT TOOK OVER ACADEMIC BUILDINGS

Administrators at Columbia noted that they believe outside agitators led the group that broke into and occupied Hamilton Hall on Tuesday. They also said the group of students forced the university’s security personnel from the building.

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The violence left administrators “no choice” but to call on the NYPD, they said.

“We regret that protesters have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions. After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice,” administrators said in a statement. “Columbia public safety personnel were forced out of the building, and a member of our facilities team was threatened. We will not risk the safety of our community or the potential for further escalation.”

FIRST ON FOX: Anti-Israel radicals have protested outside of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s Texas home more than a dozen times in recent weeks, with the agitators reportedly tied to the Students for Justice in Palestine group occupying college campuses nationwide, Fox News Digital exclusively learned. 

Cruz’s home in Houston has been the target of 14 protests since February, including a protest on Friday when one suspect was arrested. Cruz’s office said that the senator remains resolute in his support of Israel, while brushing off the protesters’ tactics of “harassment or intimidation.” 

“Senator Cruz will continue to stand with Israel and support Israel’s right to defend itself and utterly eradicate Hamas. No amount of harassment or intimidation by terrorist supporters will change that,” a spokesman for the senator said. 

Student agitators have infiltrated college campuses nationwide in recent weeks, including radicals on Columbia University’s campus taking over the campus’ Hamilton Hall building, while schools such as UCLA, Harvard and Yale are working to clear student encampments where protesters demand their elite schools completely divest from Israel. 

ROWDY ANTI-ISRAEL GROUP GATHERS OUTSIDE TED CRUZ’S HOME FOR EARLY MORNING PROTEST: ‘HARASSING MY FAMILY’

The protests follow terrorist organization Hamas launching war in Israel on Oct. 7, which 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 have now heightened to the point where Jewish students have been warned to leave campus for their own safety. 

NYPD RELEASE VIDEO SHOWING PROFESSIONAL ‘PROTEST CONSULTANT’ AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

The protests are associated with groups tied to far-left organizations backed by dark money and liberal mega-donor George Soros, Fox News Digital previously reported. Namely, the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) has had a large presence amid the protests on Columbia University’s campus, as well as on the campuses of UCLA, Tufts and the University of Texas at Austin in Cruz’s home state. 

ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS NATIONWIDE FUELED BY LEFT-WING GROUPS BACKED BY SOROS, DARK MONEY

The NSJP is a national group with at least 200 chapters across the U.S and regularly compares Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow era in the United States and accuses Israel of genocide, Influence Watch reported. NSJP’s origins stretch back to 1993 on UC Berkeley’s campus, according to NGO Monitor. 

The national chapter celebrated Hamas’ initial attack on Israel in October, describing it as an “historic win for the Palestinian resistance,” the New York Times reported in October. 

“This is what it means to Free Palestine: not just slogans and rallies, but armed confrontation with the oppressors,” the group continued at the time. 

The NSJP operates under a fiscal sponsor called Westchester Peace Action Committee Foundation, which previously received a six-figure donation from a nonprofit bankrolled by the Soros network, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

The group and its affiliates have been banned or censured by universities for their support of Hamas, including Brandeis banning the group following calls “for violence against Jews,” while Rutgers University suspended the group in December, as did Case Western in March. 

The protesters outside of Cruz’s home in recent months are tied to Students for Justice in Palestine, law enforcement told the senator, Fox News Digital has learned. 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PROTESTS: REP. ELISE STEFANIK URGES TRUSTEES TO REMOVE SHAFIK AFTER MOB SEIZES BUILDING

The Houston Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that law enforcement have repeatedly responded to Cruz’s home over the protests this year but outlined that the police department can only publicly confirm there have been assemblies outside the residence, not identify specific groups the protesters are affiliated with. 

One protester was arrested on Friday evening, according to law enforcement. Cruz posted on X that evening that protesters were clanging cowbells and yelling for two hours on his street. Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris County Constable’s office for additional details on the arrest but did not immediately receive a reply. 

“This is America in 2024, and this is a result of the sickness that has taken over our universities. This is a result of cultural Marxism that has infiltrated and seized control of the faculty and the administration.”

“So, this is going on right now. It’s nearly 11 pm. Pro-Hamas protestors have been screaming and cursing for 2 hours. Banging cowbells & blowing whistles,” Cruz posted on Friday. 

NYC MAYOR PRAISES POLICE AFTER COLUMBIA RAID, WARNS OF MOVEMENT ‘RADICALIZING OUR CHILDREN’

“When a neighbor who has small kids asked an officer to do something, the protesters screamed that she was a “f—ing b—-!”

Cruz has previously been the ire of liberal protesters working to stage demonstrations outside his house in Houston’s Royal Oaks neighborhood, including in 2021 when 60 to 70 climate activists gathered. This year, the protesters have assembled on a near-weekly basis, condemning Cruz for supporting Israel, Axios reported.  

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LOCKS DOWN CAMPUS BUILDING FOLLOWING OVERNIGHT MUTINTY: ‘EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY’

“The point is to show that he does have constituents that don’t align with his very bigoted views. … We don’t support him being AIPAC-funded and his allegiance to a foreign government,” one regular protester told Axios Houston in March. 

Cruz has meanwhile slammed the protests raging on college campuses as the result of “cultural Marxism” that has spread within universities. 

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“This is America in 2024, and this is a result of the sickness that has taken over our universities,” Cruz said Monday to Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “This is a result of cultural Marxism that has infiltrated and seized control of the faculty and the administration. These are violent protesters that are threatening the lives and the safety of Jewish students. Let me ask you something, Sean. Where is Joe Biden tonight? Where is the attorney general tonight? Where is the FBI tonight? Where is the governor of New York tonight?”

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

A springtime lull in illegal border crossings could be the result of increased enforcement efforts by the Mexican government in a bid to help President Biden.

“The Biden administration responds to bad optics,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital. “The numbers reached a new high in December, and it’s no coincidence that’s when the secretaries met with Mexican officials and then, all of the sudden, the numbers dropped.”

The comments come as the number of illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border with Mexico have continued to decline from an all-time high in December, dipping from nearly 302,000 that month to just over 193,000 in March. That number has declined further in April, according to a report in the Washington Post, with border agents encountering roughly 130,000 migrants attempting to illegally enter from Mexico.

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While the Biden administration has touted the decline, a USA Today report this week noted that the unusual lull in crossings could have more to do with increased Mexican efforts. Most notably, the report notes, is the country’s recent efforts to round up migrants heading for the border and instead bus them south.

The Mexican government’s effort has hurt migrants’ chance of making it to the U.S. border successfully, according to the report, which notes that Mexican police have been intercepting migrants on highways, train routes and at airports and bussing them to the southernmost part of Mexico. Once there, migrants are faced with the choice of attempting to make the long journey north again or abandoning the effort altogether, a tactic that has at the very least caused a delay for some migrants.

Mexico has made a noticeable push in recent months to beef up its immigration enforcement and crack down on attempts to cross its border with the U.S., including a move in February to station troops near the infamous San Judas Break, a hole in the border barrier that thousands of illegal migrants had been using to sneak their way from Mexico into the United States. Another February military operation saw Mexican troops shut down a popular smuggling point on the San Diego-Tijuana border.

The sudden crackdown came shortly after a call by Biden to Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador in late December, when Biden asked for help at the border, according to a report from the New York Times, resulting in a delegation led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveling to Mexico to meet with the Mexican president.

BIDEN’S REVERSAL OF TRUMP POLICIES CREATED BORDER CRISIS, EXPERT SAYS: ‘INTENTIONALLY UNSECURED IT’

A Mexican decision to start enforcing its own immigration laws more strictly soon followed, the report notes, which has made it more difficult for migrants to use the country to reach the United States.

The Biden administration once again touted its continued cooperation with Mexico on the border, releasing a joint statement along with López Obrador detailing a Sunday phone call between the two leaders.

“The two leaders discussed how to effectively manage hemispheric migration, strengthen operational efficiency on our shared border, and thereby improve the security and prosperity of citizens of both countries,” read the statement. “In the short term, the two leaders ordered their national security teams to work together to immediately implement concrete measures to significantly reduce irregular border crossings while protecting human rights. President Biden and President López Obrador also pledged to advance initiatives to address the root causes of migration throughout the Western Hemisphere.”

When reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a White House spokesperson credited both its continued work with regional partners and “enhanced enforcement efforts by the U.S. government.”

“Even without significant action from Congress, DHS is maximizing its enforcement operations,” the spokesperson said. “Since May 12, DHS has removed or returned more than 690,000 individuals – the vast majority of whom crossed the southwest border. 690,000 removals and returns is more than every full fiscal year since 2011.”

According to Ries, that sudden cooperation on the border could be the result of a political deal.

“I’m sure the Biden administration and Biden perhaps himself has said to him, ‘look, do you want me to win reelection? You don’t want Trump back in office,’” Ries said.

7.2M ILLEGALS ENTERED THE US UNDER BIDEN ADMIN, AN AMOUNT GREATER THAN POPULATION OF 36 STATES

Ries noted that such a move was not a “free favor,” noting that the Mexican president demanded $20 billion in aid from the U.S.

That aid was demanded by the Mexican president at a news conference shortly after the first meeting between himself and Biden administration officials, with López Obrador issuing a series of demands, including that the U.S. give $20 billion to Latin American and Caribbean countries. The Mexican president also called for the U.S. to grant work visas to 10 million Hispanics who have worked in the U.S. for over 10 years, end sanctions against Venezuela and end its embargo with Cuba.

MIGRANTS CAUGHT ON NEW VIDEO STREAMING DOWN REMOTE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINSIDE TO ILLEGALLY CROSS THE BORDER

Curt Mills, the executive director of the American Conservative, also believes the sudden lull in activity at the border can be traced to Mexican enforcement, telling Fox News Digital that there has been “more effective pressure” on Mexico in recent months.

“This is an administration that essentially ignored the issue, for the first part of [Biden’s] tenure, didn’t think it was an issue, didn’t give it high priority,” Mills said, adding it was only after widespread outrage had spread about the administration’s failures at the border that it began to act.

Ries argued that the administration relying on Mexico to beef up enforcement allows it to avoid angering progressive allies who oppose stricter border measures, while at the same time limiting the political fallout of a continued crisis.

“He is certainly trying to play both sides in an election year. He has to appease his radical left base that wants an open border, but he also knows that border security is the number one issue for Americans,” Ries said. “He needs to make the border numbers look a little better.”

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Meanwhile, the White House pointed to a failed bipartisan immigration bill as part of the reason for stymied efforts.

“The Administration spent months negotiating in good faith to deliver the toughest and fairest bipartisan border security bill in decades because we need Congress to make significant policy reforms and to provide additional funding to secure our border and fix our broken immigration system,” the spokesperson said. “Congressional Republicans chose to put partisan politics ahead of our national security and rejected what border agents have said they need.”

Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.

Former President Donald Trump speculated Wednesday morning that the ongoing riots on college campuses are intentionally drawing attention away from the border.

Trump made the assertion following a night of discord on Columbia University’s campus as New York Police Department officers clashed with students protesting in support of Palestinians.

“Do you think that the Radical Left Lunatics that are causing all of the CHAOS at our Colleges and Universities are doing so in order to take the FOCUS away from our Southern Border, where millions of people, many from prisons and mental institutions, are pouring into our Country? Just askin’…???”

TRUMP CONDEMNS ‘BRAINWASHED’ ANTI-ISRAEL MOB AS NYPD MOVES IN, DINGS DEMS: ‘WHERE IS SCHUMER?’

Trump repeatedly condemned the violent anti-Israel protests erupting across the country, telling Fox News Digital that “weak and ineffective leadership” at universities must be immediately “replaced” while declaring that antisemitism “must be stopped quickly and effectively.”

Pro-Palestinian agitators clashed with pro-Israel students on UCLA’s campus overnight, with local officials warning students that the campus was “out of control” and “no longer safe.” 

Police with riot gear arrived at UCLA shortly after 1:00 a.m. at UCLA to gain control of campus amid hours of violence between anti-Israel and pro-Israel counter-protesters.

UNIVERSITIES CRACK DOWN ON ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS AS PROTESTERS CALL FOR ‘AMNESTY’

“This violence has to stop immediately,” Trump told Fox News Digital early Wednesday morning. “Weak and ineffective leadership at colleges and universities must be replaced, and fast.”

Students have been arrested at Columbia University, City College of New York, Tulane University, the University of Arizona and more. Police dispersed gas, fired rubber bullets and clashed with demonstrators at the Arizona encampment. State troopers were seen on campus with pepper ball guns and gas masks. 

The protests have dominated news cycles for days as the unrest continues, but surveys continue to show illegal immigration is the top concern of U.S. voters.

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Americans ranked immigration as the most important issue facing the United States for a third consecutive month, according to a new poll released on Tuesday.

An April 1-22 Gallup survey found that 27% of Americans ranked immigration as the most important problem facing the U.S. 

Immigration topped Gallup’s open-ended trend for a third consecutive month. It marked the longest consecutive stretch for the immigration issue in the past 24 years. 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

President Biden is calling the newly implemented 6-week abortion restriction in Florida an “extreme ban” — and blaming former President Donald Trump.

Biden released a statement Wednesday calling the pro-life limit on abortion eligibility a “nightmare.”

“Today, an extreme abortion ban takes effect in Florida, banning reproductive health care before many women even know they are pregnant,” the president said in the statement. “There is one person responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump.”

TEXAS PREGNANCY CENTER PROVIDES FAITH-CENTERED ‘HOLISTIC CARE’ FOR WOMEN IN CRISIS

Biden pointed to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and sent decisions about abortion restriction back to the states — a decision that is largely attributed to Trump’s rare triple-appointment of justices during his time in office.

“Trump brags about overturning Roe v. Wade, making extreme bans like Florida’s possible, saying his plan is working ‘brilliantly.’ He thinks it’s brilliant that more than four million women in Florida, and more than one in three women in America, can’t get access to the care they need,” Biden continued.

Florida’s new law replaces the state’s previous 15-week ban with a strict 6-week limit.

BIDEN SPARKS CHRISTIAN GROUP’S ANGER AFTER MAKING SIGN OF THE CROSS AT ABORTION RALLY: ‘DISGUSTING INSULT’

It offers exceptions for rape, incest, and human trafficking up to 15 weeks and further legal carve outs for fatal abnormalities in the fetus and threats to the life of the mother.

Biden also complained about Trump’s remarks in a recent interview with Time magazine in which he said he would leave it up to individual states on whether those traveling outside their state to seek abortions should be punished.

“Now, [Trump] wants to go even further, making it clear he would sign a national abortion ban if elected,” Biden claimed. “Just yesterday, he once again endorsed punishing women for getting the care they need.”

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The former president did not endorse a national abortion ban in the Time interview and explicitly stated the issue should be left to the states.

“Trump is worried the voters will hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he created. He’s right. Trump ripped away the rights and freedom of women in America,” Biden concluded. “This November, voters are going to teach him a valuable lesson: Don’t mess with the women of America.”

Florida’s citizens will vote in November on a proposed constitutional ballot amendment to guarantee a right to abortion up until fetal viability. 

FIRST ON FOX: Former President Trump condemned the violent anti-Israel protests erupting on college campuses overnight, telling Fox News Digital that “weak and ineffective leadership” at universities must be immediately “replaced,” while declaring that antisemitism “must be stopped quickly and effectively.

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee was reacting to chaos on college campuses across the nation—from UCLA to Tulane University to Columbia University to the University of Arizona and beyond. 

Pro-Palestinian agitators clashed with pro-Israel students on UCLA’s campus overnight, with local officials warning students that the campus was “out of control” and “no longer safe.” 

Police with riot gear arrived at UCLA shortly after 1:00 a.m. at UCLA to gain control of campus amid hours of violence between anti-Israel and pro-Israel counterprotesters. 

TRUMP DECRIES COLUMBIA AGITATORS, CALLS CHARLOTTESVILLE ‘PEANUTS’ COMPARED TO CAMPUS ANTI-ISRAEL UNREST

“This violence has to stop immediately,” Trump told Fox News Digital early Wednesday morning. “Weak and ineffective leadership at colleges and universities must be replaced, and fast.” 

UNIVERSITIES CRACK DOWN ON ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS AS PROTESTERS CALL FOR ‘AMNESTY’

“Antisemitism cannot be allowed to fester,” Trump said. “It must be stopped quickly and effectively.” 

Students have been arrested at Columbia University, City College of New York, Tulane University, the University of Arizona and more. Police dispersed gas, fired rubber bullets and clashed with demonstrators at the Arizona encampment. State troopers were seen on campus with pepper ball guns and gas masks. 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LOCKS DOWN CAMPUS BUILDINGS FOLLOWING OVERNIGHT MUTINY: ‘EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY’

Violence broke out at an anti-Israel demonstration at UCLA overnight, including fights, items thrown and pepper spray being deployed.

A demonstrator shot off a can of pepper spray and objects were thrown during the protest, Fox 11 reported. A police expert told the outlet that “professional agitators” appeared to be on the scene. Fireworks were also among the items thrown during the protest.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the violence on UCLA’s campus “absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable.” 

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In New York, beyond arrests, NYPD officers restored the American flag on the City College of New York campus after it was replaced with a Palestinian flag by anti-Israel agitators during a protest. 

Donald Trump is making the most of his day off from court this week.

With the judge in the former president’s first criminal trial using Wednesdays to handle other business from other cases he’s handling, Trump is heading to two crucial states that may decide the winner of his 2024 rematch with President Biden.

Trump is making campaign stops in Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial battlegrounds he narrowly captured in his 2016 presidential election victory but where he fell short four years later as he lost his re-election bid.

It’s the former president’s second swing through the two Great Lakes swing states in a month.

“Those two states are absolutely essential to both campaigns, followed pretty closely by Pennsylvania,” longtime Republican strategist and presidential campaign veteran David Kochel said. “Those are two states where the Trump campaign should live.”

NEW POLL POINTS TO MAJOR ENTHUSIASM GAP IN BIDEN-TRUMP REMATCH

Trump’s unexpected victories in Michigan and Wisconsin, along with Pennsylvania, over 2016 Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton shattered the so-called “blue wall” of states that Democrats had counted on for nearly a quarter-century.

And Trump’s victories in all three states symbolized his ability to flip blue-collar voters, giving the GOP hopes of a long-lasting electoral realignment in the so-called Rust Belt.

But four years later, Biden narrowly captured all three states as his party partially reconstructed the “blue wall.” And Democrats won gubernatorial elections that same year in Michigan and Wisconsin – flipping Republican-held governors’ offices – and in 2022 flipped a crucial Senate seat in Pennsylvania that was vital to keeping their majority in the chamber.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLS SHOW IN THE 2024 ELECTION

While they’re enjoying a winning streak, Democrats are taking nothing for granted. Many recent polls suggest Trump holds a slight edge over Biden in all three states.

“It’s no surprise to anyone that Michigan and Wisconsin are important Midwest battleground states for November. President Trump is leading in both because Biden’s failure and weakness is felt in every town and city,” Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes told Fox News.

Trump’s first stop on Wednesday is Waukesha, Wisconsin, which is about 20 miles west of downtown Milwaukee, where his campaign said the former president will “contrast the peace, prosperity and security of his first term” with what they argue is “Joe Biden’s failed presidency.”

The former president is expected to shine a spotlight on rising prices, which have been a persistent problem for the Biden administration for three years, and on the surge of migrants at the nation’s southern border that has sent shock waves across the country.

Trump will then hold a rally in the evening in Freeland, Michigan, about 120 miles north of Detroit. During his stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a month ago, Trump spoke out against what he called “Biden’s border bloodbath.”

Hughes said that during his stops in Wisconsin and Michigan, Trump will “demonstrate to the people of these states and the nation that he is ready to win and make America great again.”

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Biden has made multiple trips to Michigan and Wisconsin this year, and his campaign enjoys a formidable advantage in both states when it comes to organization and ground-game efforts.

“Trump heads to the states with no campaign infrastructure to speak of in either battleground – while President Biden and Democrats have 44 offices in Wisconsin and 30 in Michigan,” Biden’s campaign said in a statement. “Trump’s former minority outreach center in Milwaukee is becoming an ice cream shop.”

But Biden’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas has strained support among Michigan’s large pool of Arab-American voters. And while the president enjoys plenty of union endorsements, Trump has made inroads with some of the state’s autoworkers as he’s repeatedly targeted Biden’s push for electric vehicles in the battle against climate change.

“There’s a ton of opportunity in Michigan for Trump,” Kochel said. “I think Trump has made a pretty compelling argument on Biden overplaying his hand on EVs and trying to wedge some of those autoworkers away.”

While Trump also spotlights in both states what he characterizes as a surge in crime during the Biden administration, he’s coming under attack from Democrats over the issue of abortion and over his repeated unproven claims that his 2020 election loss was due to voter fraud.

Republican allies of Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election results in both states by pushing slates of fake electors.

Biden campaign communications director in Wisconsin Brianna Johnson said last week that Trump was coming to the Badger State “in a desperate bid to do damage control on his record of ripping away women’s freedoms and encouraging thousands of rioters to try to violently overturn an election.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Donald Trump’s hush money trial was back in action yesterday, and there was news right out of the box.

Judge Juan Merchan, to absolutely no one’s surprise, ruled that Trump had violated his gag order – and fined him $9,000.

Now that’s just pocket change for him, but the larger point is that Merchan ruled against the former president on nine of the 10 accusations, a thousand bucks a pop. The order barred him from attacking witnesses, but Trump has repeatedly said it’s unfair and unconstitutional to keep him, as a presidential nominee, from speaking out and responding to attacks from the likes of Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

COLUMBIA PROTESTORS OCCUPY BUILDING AS TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN FOR ANTISEMITIC DEMONSTRATIONS

The judge had castigated Trump for breaching the gag order during oral arguments, and scolded his attorney Todd Blanche for “losing all credibility” in defending his client. So it didn’t take a soothsayer to divine how he would rule.

Merchan ordered Trump to remove the offending posts, and said he would be subject to further fines and possibly incarceration (which is up to 30 days). No way I see that happening, even if Trump punched a witness in the nose. That would cause a surge in public sympathy, even among some Trump critics, and give the defendant something to take to the appeals court in arguing that the judge was blatantly biased against him.

The first witness, Gary Farro, Cohen’s former banker, delivered testimony that was very damaging to Trump’s fixer. It’s sure to be cited when Cohen, a disbarred lawyer who has served prison time, takes the stand.

But Michael Cohen isn’t on trial. Donald Trump is. And none of the testimony got to the central allegation–which Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg has stretched into a felony–that Trump falsified expense records to reimburse Cohen.

Farro said he had no indication that the account Cohen was establishing – with $131,000 from his home equity line – was related to a political candidate. That, he said, might have required additional scrutiny.

Nor did Farro know the account was related to someone in the adult film business. “It is not an industry we do work with,” he said.

Next, Cohen created an account under Essential Consultants, and transferred it to an account that lawyer Keith Davidson maintained for Stormy Daniels. Cohen, he said, listed it as “retainer,” an obvious falsehood. 

If he had known, Davidson said when he took the stand, that this was a shell company and not an operating business, he would not have approved it.

Davidson also represented Karen McDougal, the Playboy playmate, and what followed seemed to belie her later proclamation that she didn’t want to be “the next Monica Lewinsky.” She told him her 10-month relationship with Trump was “sexual in nature” (which he denies).

Davidson started shopping her story.

He texted Enquirer Editor Dylan Howard in June 2016: “I have a blockbuster Trump story.”

Howard responded: “I will get you more than ANYONE for it.”

THE ANTI-TRUMP MOVEMENT’S SECRET ZOOM CALLS GIVE THEIR TARGET AMMO

And: “Did he cheat on Melania?”

Davidson was also pitching McDougal to ABC.

He arranged a meeting with David Pecker’s American Media Inc., but the company declined, citing a lack of evidence.

Later on, though, Davidson offered an AMI deal that would pay McDougal for fitness columns. “She did not want to tell her story,” the lawyer testified. “She liked the AMI deal, which wouldn’t force her to do that.” Yep, we now know why.

Davidson asked for an initial million-dollar payment. Howard cautioned it would be more hundreds than millions.

A couple of clips were played, one from the E. Jean Carroll deposition and one from a North Carolina rally, weeks before the election, in which Trump said: “I’m being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It’s a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are.”

In the AMI deal, McDougal was granted rights to an “affair with a married man,” who Davidson testified with Trump. 

They finally got to Stormy Daniels, whose manager told Davidson that “some jerk called me and was very, very aggressive.” It was Cohen.

Davidson said his call to Cohen was met with “a hostile barrage of insults, insinuations and allegations… He was just screaming.” 

When the “Access Hollywood” tape came out, there was a “crescendo” of interest in the Stormy story, said Davidson. His own view of the candidacy: “Trump is F***ed.”

“Final nail in the coffin,” said Howard.

Davidson testified that he was handed off to Cohen once again, with Dylan Howard “washing his hands of the deal.

“The moral of the story is nobody wanted to talk to Cohen,” Davidson said. But the $130,000 deal finally got done when Cohen said he’d pay the money himself.

And yet it wasn’t a blockbuster day. One pet peeve: Since we’re all dependent on reporters’ feeds from inside the courtroom, after the networks go to break, they jump ahead to what’s happening at that moment and you miss what you missed. At one point, CNN got bored and switched to police and protestors confronting each other at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill–though nothing was happening except a standoff. Fox switched to Columbia anti-Israel demonstrators continuing to occupy a building.

At the trial, there were technical witnesses like the C-SPAN archive director and a court reporter official. This was so dull that I would have fallen asleep faster than Trump could close his eyes.

Sure, these are building blocks, but you’d think the Bragg prosecutors would want to maintain the momentum from the damaging testimony last week of David Pecker, the Enquirer’s former publisher.

But it bears repeating: Pecker (who has immunity) isn’t on trial. McDougal isn’t on trial. Stormy isn’t on trial.

This other stuff may make for titillating drama, or would if there were cameras in the courtroom. But the case, even in anti-Trump Manhattan, will come down to whether prosecutors can prove that Trump committed a crime–and all he needs is one holdout juror.

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES

Footnote: One person is kinda, sorta on trial, with his famous client, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan report.

Trump has “griped” that his lead lawyer Todd Blanche has been “insufficiently aggressive” and wants him to “attack witnesses, attack what the former president sees as a hostile jury pool, and attack the judge.” He’s also complained about high legal fees.

They write in the New York Times that Trump views himself as his own best legal strategist and casts about for attorneys who will do what he wants, such as contest the 2020 election. He has told associates he needs “a Roy Cohn,” who represented him early in his career and was repeatedly indicted and later disbarred.

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Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said their team was “focused entirely on fighting a ‘ridiculous’ case and that ‘anonymous comments from people who aren’t in the room are just that…I would be highly skeptical of any gossip or hearsay surrounding this case.”

The nation’s most populous state is growing again.

California gained population last year for the first time since 2019, according to a new estimate released Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.

The net increase of just over 67,000 residents in 2023 — a 0.17% increase — stopped a three-year trend of population decline, which included the state’s first-ever year-over-year loss during the pivotal census year of 2020 that later led to California losing a congressional seat. The state estimates California now has more than 39.1 million residents.

AMID CALIFORNIA EXODUS, STATE POPULATION PROJECTED TO BE SAME IN 2060 AS TODAY, DATA SHOWS

The Newsom administration had blamed the decline on a combination of increased mortality rates during the coronavirus pandemic, a declining birth rate and a slowdown in legal international immigration caused by the pandemic and stricter immigration rules during President Donald Trump’s administration.

But critics pointed to a surge of people leaving California for other states, interpreting it as residents fed up with higher taxes, a larger homeless population and a shortage of housing while Democrats have been in power.

More people still left California in 2023 than moved here from other states, but it was far less than previous years. In 2021 — when the coronavirus was still surging and more people were transitioning to remote work — California lost a net 355,648 people because of domestic migration.

In 2023 — with the pandemic winding down and companies placing more emphasis on returning to in-office workspaces — 91,189 more people moved away from California than into the state. That number is much closer to pre-pandemic trends, according to Walter Schwarm, chief demographer for the California Department of Finance.

“We saw it increase at the beginning of the pandemic because there was a certain amount of individuals who moved out of state associated with the ability to work remotely, but we’ve seen that trend reverse,” said H.D. Palmer, spokesperson for the California Department of Finance.

Meanwhile, growth from legal international immigration — which has been California’s growth engine for decades — rebounded with a net gain of 114,200 people in 2023, or almost back to the same level it was before the pandemic.

“With immigration processing backlogs largely eliminated and deaths returning to long-term trends, a stable foundation for continued growth has returned,” the Department of Finance noted in a news release announcing the estimate.

California’s economy has shown signs of strain recently. The state is in the middle of back-to-back multi-billion dollar budget deficits because of declines in state tax revenue. California’s unemployment rate is 5.3%, which is above the national average and the highest of any state. And the state’s stalwart technology industry has been beset by layoffs as companies deal with a slowdown in investments.

Despite that, the population increased in 31 of California’s 58 counties — including nine of the 10 counties with populations over 1 million. Los Angeles County — the nation’s most populous with more than 9 million residents — grew slightly by 0.05%, while nearby Orange County grew by 0.31%.

California’s population had been booming ever since it became a state in 1850 as a gold rush prompted a surge of people crossing the frontier to seek their fortune in the West. The state had notable surges following World War II fueled by a burgeoning aerospace industry and again in the 1980s and 90s with the technology boom in Silicon Valley.

By 2019, California was threatening to break the 40 million population threshold. But that milestone never happened as the state began a period of population decline in 2020.

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The California Department of Finance releases two population estimates each year: One for the previous calendar year and one for the previous fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. The estimate released Tuesday was for the previous calendar year, offering an estimate of the state’s population as of Jan. 1, 2024.

California bases its estimate on a number of factors, including births and deaths, drivers license address changes, vehicle registration and enrollment in the government-funded health insurance programs of Medicaid and Medicare.

U.S. Census data released in December showed California with a population of 38.9 million people as of July 1, 2023. The Newsom administration’s estimate is higher, they said, because it includes more updated data from driver’s licenses changes and tax filings.

The Biden administration is considering welcoming certain Palestinians to the U.S. as refugees as they seek to escape war-torn Gaza amid the ongoing war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas.

Senior officials across several federal U.S. agencies have discussed in recent weeks the details of potential options to accept Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent U.S. residents, internal federal government documents show, according to CBS News.

One proposal involves using the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to bring Palestinians with U.S. connections who have escaped Gaza and entered neighboring Egypt, the documents reveal.

U.S. officials have also considered welcoming additional Palestinians out of Gaza and are processing them as refugees if they have American relatives, according to the documents. This proposal would have to rely on coordination with Egypt, which has thus far been reluctant to welcome large numbers of people from Gaza.

TOP UN COURT REJECTS REQUEST FOR GERMANY TO HALT MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL

People from Gaza who pass a series of eligibility, medical and security screenings would qualify to be flown to the U.S. with refugee status, which includes permanent residency, resettlement benefits like housing assistance and a path to American citizenship.

The number of people eligible is expected to be relatively small, but the proposed plans could provide a lifeline to some Palestinians seeking to escape the Israel-Hamas war.

This, as the Hamas-run government’s Health Ministry estimates more than 34,000 dead, more than 77,000 injured and hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced in Gaza.

Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people, prompting military retaliation from Israeli forces. Hamas also kidnapped more than 200 people, with many of them still in captivity.

“Since the beginning of the conflict, the United States has helped more than 1,800 American citizens and their families leave Gaza, many of whom have come to the United States,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “At President Biden’s direction, we have also helped, and will continue to help, some particularly vulnerable individuals, such as children with serious health problems and children who were receiving treatment for cancer, get out of harm’s way and receive care at nearby hospitals in the region.”

HOUSE REPUBLICANS URGE BIDEN TO PRESS ICC NOT TO CHARGE NETANYAHU, ISRAEL OFFICIALS WITH WAR CRIMES

“The United States also continues to be the largest contributor of humanitarian assistance to Gaza to address the dire conditions, and we are pressing hard to get more urgently-needed aid in to more people as soon as possible,” the spokesperson continued. “We have also been clear and consistent: the United States categorically rejects any actions leading to the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza. The best path forward is to achieve a sustainable cease-fire through a hostage deal that will stabilize the situation and pave the way to a two-state solution.”

The proposals also come after President Biden issued a memorandum on Deferred Enforced Departure in February for certain Palestinians who were already in the U.S.

The plan to bring certain Palestinians to the U.S. as refugees would represent a shift in longstanding U.S. government policy and practice, as the U.S. refugee program has not resettled Palestinians in large numbers since its inception in 1980.

In the past decade, the U.S. has resettled more than 400,000 refugees fleeing violence and war across the world, but less than 600 were Palestinian. In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. accepted 56 Palestinian refugees out of the more than 60,000 refugees resettled during that 12 month span, according to data from the State Department.

For applicants to qualify to enter the U.S. as a refugee, they must prove they are fleeing persecution based on certain factors, such as nationality, religion or political views.

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The administration’s plans to welcome Palestinian refugees, even if only a small number, could lead to criticism from Republican lawmakers who look to make the illegal immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border a central issue ahead of the November elections.

Shortly after Hamas’ attack against Israel on Oct. 7, top Republicans said the U.S. should not welcome Palestinian refugees, claiming that they are antisemitic and potential national security risks.

The Biden administration in recent years has dramatically increased refugee resettlement. Officials have established a goal of accepting up to 125,000 refugees in fiscal year 2024, which ends at the end of September.

The refugee resettlement was cut to record lows during the Trump administration.

Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies are signaling that the push by some GOP rebels to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is not gaining traction within the Republican base.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has for weeks insisted that the GOP voter base is infuriated with Johnson and is behind her push for his removal. 

But her resolution, known as a motion to vacate, has sat untouched for nearly 40 days. And after a weeklong recess, even Johnson’s conservative critics returned to Washington on Monday saying they heard little to none from their constituents about the matter.

“I think the GOP base wants Republicans to live up to what they ran on,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. “Look, if you could go down any street in America and say, ‘What’s your top 10 priorities?’ Would [motion to vacate] come up? No. Will what they’re paying? Yes.”

TENSIONS ERUPT ON HOUSE FLOOR AS CONSERVATIVES CONFRONT JOHNSON ON $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., conceded that all lawmakers must answer to their individual districts, but when speaking for his own, he said voters are far more concerned about the border than about House GOP party politics.

“You’ve got terrorists on known watch-lists coming from the north and south borders. And meanwhile, we’re talking about inner squabbling,” Mills said. “I’m sorry, but like, my constituents are less concerned about who’s sitting as speaker right now and are more concerned about securing the border and being able to afford how to live.”

Another conservative Freedom Caucus ally, Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, similarly said he has heard little from Republicans in his Texas district on the motion to vacate.

3RD REPUBLICAN CALLS FOR SPEAKER JOHNSON’S OUSTER OVER $95B FOREIGN AID PLAN

“I don’t think the average citizen … is concerned about who the speaker of the House is. They’re concerned about what I’m doing, and they’re concerned about the nation as a whole, but the speaker doesn’t impact them day to day,” Self said. “There are people who are very energized about it, don’t get me wrong, but the bulk are not.”

One GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak freely said their constituents outright rejected Greene’s effort when they spoke with them back home. 

“Nobody is pushing it except [Greene],” the GOP lawmaker said. “At home, no one wants it.”

House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., suggested that toppling Johnson could lead to a worse result for the GOP in the end.

“I think what the base wants is just the opportunity for the things that we all believe in to start coming to fruition. That’s what the base cares about,” he said. “When you have the makeup of our conference like we do, I don’t know how we come out of a motion to vacate with a more conservative solution.”

Greene filed her resolution in late March in protest of Johnson’s bipartisan work on government spending and foreign aid. 

Her resolution earned two co-sponsors in Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., after the House passed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine this month, but for the most part, it has fallen flat within the GOP.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE CALLS JOHNSON’S FOREIGN AID PACKAGE HIS ‘3RD BETRAYAL’ OF AMERICAN PEOPLE

Even Johnson’s critics in the House Freedom Caucus have distanced themselves from the push to oust Johnson, signaling little appetite for the three weeks of chaos that followed the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last fall.

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Greene told Steve Bannon on his “War Room” podcast last week that Johnson “betrayed” Republican voters and suggested they were as angry – if not angrier – than when former President Trump lost re-election.

“This is different,” she said. “They’re angry on a whole other level. And here’s what really worries me: They’re done with Republican leadership like Mike Johnson, who totally sold us out to the Democrats.”

Trump spoke out in support of Johnson last week.

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

FIRST ON FOX: The House Judiciary Committee is investigating a top prosecutor on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Trump for his past work as a senior Justice Department official during the Biden administration. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is demanding that Attorney General Merrick Garland turn over records related to the employment of Bragg prosecutor Matthew Colangelo amid a “perception” of coordination. 

Colangelo delivered opening arguments for Bragg in the Trump trial alleging “a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up.” 

BRAGG ‘ALLOWED POLITICAL MOTIVATIONS’ TO ‘INFECT’ PROSECUTION OF TRUMP, HOUSE JUDICIARY GOP SAYS

“The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Garland, obtained by Fox News Digital. “Since last year, popularly elected prosecutors—who campaigned for office on the promise of prosecuting President Trump—engaged in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former President of the United States and current leading candidate for that office.” 

Jordan pointed to Bragg’s indictment of Trump, charging the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts. His unprecedented and historic criminal trial is underway for its third week. 

A charge of falsifying business records typically is a misdemeanor, but Bragg must convince the jury that Trump allegedly falsified those records in the furtherance of “another crime.” Prosecutors suggest that other crime is a violation of New York State Law — to prevent or promote election. On its face, as a stand-alone offense, that charge is also typically a misdemeanor. Coupling the alleged falsification of business records with alleged prevention or promotion of election becomes a felony crime, according to Bragg. 

“New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg is engaged in one such politicized prosecution, which is being led in part by Matthew B. Colangelo, a former senior Justice Department official,” Jordan wrote. “Accordingly, given the perception that the Justice Department is assisting in Bragg’s politicized prosecution, we write to request information and documents related to Mr. Colangelo’s employment.” 

Jordan claims that Colangelo’s employment history “demonstrates his obsession with investigating a person rather than prosecuting a crime.” 

NY VS TRUMP: THE EVIDENCE PROSECUTORS CAN PRESENT IF FORMER PRESIDENT TESTIFIES

Jordan pointed to Colangelo’s work at the New York Attorney General’s Office, where he ran investigations into Trump and led a “wave of state litigation against Trump administration policies.” 

Jordan said on the first day of the Biden Administration, Jan. 20, 2021, Colangelo began serving as an acting associate attorney general. Colangelo then became the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General. 

Colangelo joined Bragg’s office in December 2022, after the resignations of Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne — prosecutors who were investigating Trump and resigned in protest of Bragg’s initial unwillingness to indict the former president. 

“Bragg hired Mr. Colangelo to ‘jump-start’ his office’s investigation of President Trump, reportedly due to Mr. Colangelo’s ‘history of taking on Donald J. Trump and his family business,” Jordan wrote. “Mr. Colangelo is now a lead prosecutor in President Trump’s trial.” 

NY PROSECUTORS REVEAL ‘ANOTHER CRIME’ TRUMP ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO CONCEAL WITH FALSIFIED BUSINESS RECORDS

Jordan reminded Garland that Bragg’s prosecution of Trump “concerns federal subject matter identical to a matter that the Justice Department closed in 2018, raising concerns that a state-level prosecutor is seeking to relitigate an issue on which the federal government previously declined prosecution.” 

Bragg’s prosecution relies “heavily” on testimony of ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, making false statements to Congress and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison. 

“In the years since, Cohen has been vocal about his deeply personal animus toward President Trump,” Jordan wrote. 

Jordan went on to demand documents and information about Colangelo’s work at the Justice Department related to Trump and Cohen. 

“As the Committee has previously explained, Bragg’s politicized prosecution of President Trump has serious consequences for federal interests,” Jordan wrote. “That a former senior Biden Justice Department official is now leading the prosecution of President Biden’s chief political rival only adds to the perception that the Biden Justice Department is politicized and weaponized.” 

TRUMP TRIAL: FORMER PRESIDENT ‘INNOCENT,’ DEFENSE SAYS AS DA ALLEGES ‘CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY’

Jordan requested documents from January 2021 through December 2022 between or among Colangelo and any employee of Bragg’s office, New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, Fulton County, Ga. District Attorney Fani Willis’ office or the Justice Department’s special counsel office referring or relating to Trump, the Trump Organization, or any other entity owned by or associated with Trump. 

Trump has argued that the cases against him in all jurisdictions — Bragg’s; Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference charges; Smith’s classified records charges; and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ charges — have been brought against him for the purposes of election interference and in coordination with President Biden. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

Trump also was hit with a now-slashed $454 million judgment out of a non-jury civil fraud trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit. He is appealing that ruling. 

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Meanwhile, Jordan is requesting all personnel files related to Colangelo; all communications between the DOJ and Bragg’s office relating to the prosecution of Trump; all records relating to the conviction of Cohen at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York. Jordan requested Garland produce the records by May 14. 

The investigation into Colangelo comes just days after the Jordan and Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released their 300-page report saying Bragg  “allowed political motivations and animus to infect its prosecutorial discretion.” 

FIRST ON FOX: U.S. troops could be forced into a Russian war if the surrounding NATO countries fail to increase their military spending, according to former President Mike Pence’s lobbying group, Advancing American Freedom (AAF).

In a memo sent to Congress on Tuesday, AAF claims several countries have not fulfilled their NATO-sanctioned 2% obligation, leaving the heaviest burden on the U.S. In 2014, only the U.S., U.K., and Greece upheld its treaty obligations during Russia’s Crimea invasion, with non-compliant countries averaging 1.3% of GDP on defense.

What’s more, under the Biden administration, some countries like Turkey, Norway and Italy have regressed, moving closer to 2014 levels despite overall spending growth, according to the memo.

“By contrast, the Trump-Pence Administration made improving allied-burden sharing a major priority for foreign policy to significant effect,” the memo reads. 

UKRAINE IMPLEMENTS PASSPORT RENEWAL RESTRICTION FOR MILITARY-AGE MEN OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY

“This trend is especially alarming to observe in countries bordering Russia and Ukraine,” the memo said, adding that “the countries closest to the conflict ought to be carrying the lion’s share of the burden.”

The 2% obligation refers to the commitment made by NATO allies to allocate at least 2% of their GDP to defense spending. 

While all NATO countries in the region raised defense spending after Crimea’s annexation, Norway and Romania reduced military expenditures during the Biden administration, despite increased Russian activity as it launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. AAF concluded the U.S. “must find ways to encourage and, if necessary, pressure its allies” to uphold its end of NATO’s burden-sharing commitment.

“Unless these trends are reversed, our deterrence strategy will fail, Russia will likely invade a NATO ally, and the U.S. will be required to send troops overseas to honor our Article 5 mutual defense pledge,” the memo reads.

KEY NATO ALLY SHOCKS WITH ITS ‘SINGLE LARGEST’ PLEDGE TO UKRAINE: ‘THEY NEED OUR SUPPORT’

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Marc Short, chairman of the AAF board, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that “NATO has been rightly criticized by many conservatives for the United States paying the bill while our European allies skimp out and fail to meet basic spending requirements for membership despite flush social spending.”

“Amid a new Cold War with the Chinese Communist Party, a resurgent Russia, and their partner in crime in the Middle East, Iran, the Biden Administration has neglected to strengthen NATO by holding members accountable for the 2% obligation,” Short said. “Under the Biden Administration, just one NATO member has joined the 2% club.”

CHINA IS RAPIDLY EXPANDING ITS INFLUENCE IN OUR BACKYARD AND US MUST ACT NOW

On Monday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that vital U.S. weapons were starting to arrive in Ukraine in small amounts, but that it needed to move faster. NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg also told Ukrainians on Monday that his alliance’s members had failed to live up to their promises of military aid in recent months, but said the flow of arms and ammunition would now increase.

Last week, U.S. Congress also passed a months-long debated $60 billion aid package for Ukraine’s continued war endeavors against Russia. The controversial aid was tacked onto a $95 billion foreign aid package that President Joe Biden signed shortly after. 

Reuters contributed to this report.