NationalWatch

President Donald Trump has not directed his administration to declassify documents related to former President Joe Biden’s health and an alleged “cover-up” of the 46th president’s slipping mental acuity while commander in chief, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. 

“The president can declassify anything that he wants. Has he looked to see if there are any records here that would contradict what we’ve been told about Joe Biden’s decline?” Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Leavitt during a press briefing Thursday.

“He has not directed anyone, to my knowledge, to look into that,” Leavitt responded. “But, surely, I can ask him if he intends to.” 

BIDEN’S WOES CONVERGE: LAST-MINUTE PARDONS UNDER FIRE, CALLS FOR PROSECUTION MOUNT FOLLOWING HUR TAPE RELEASE

Biden’s health is back in the national spotlight after audio recordings of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur were released Friday. The recordings showed the former president tripping over his words, slurring sentences, taking long pauses between answers and struggling to remember key moments in his life, including the year his son Beau Biden died of cancer. 

Hur led an investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents after Biden’s departure as vice president during the Obama administration. Hur announced in February 2024 he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, saying Biden is “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., May 22, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden’s office revealed Sunday the former president was battling an “aggressive” prostate cancer that had metastasized. 

After the election cycle, a handful of books documenting the 2024 election cycle and Biden’s apparent health decline have hit store shelves claiming that Biden staffers were aware of and fretted about the president’s mental decline, but publicly promoted him as physically and mentally fit to serve as president. Fox News Digital has extensively covered concerns about Biden’s mental acuity and health dating back to the 2020 election cycle. 

“I think the president has spoken on this pretty extensively,” Leavitt added at the news conference. “And I have spoken about it extensively from this podium as well, how it was truly one of the worst political scandals this country has ever seen, that the previous administration covered up the decline in the former president’s mental and physical ability. And it’s now all coming out. But the American people knew the truth, and that’s one of the many reasons why President Trump won the election on Nov. 5.” 

President Joe Biden listens during a visit to the D.C. Emergency Operations Center July 2 in Washington.  (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

CRITICISMS MOUNT THAT BIDEN IS A ‘SHADOW’ OF HIMSELF AFTER DISASTROUS DEBATE: ‘NOT THE SAME MAN’ FROM VP ERA

Doocy asked Leavitt specifically about the Biden administration’s use of an autopen, which Trump has argued was used by Biden staffers to sign official White House documents without Biden’s approval. 

Damilic Corp. President Bob Olding anchors a sheet of paper as the Atlantic Plus, the Signascript tabletop model autopen, produces a signature at the company’s Rockville, Md., office, June 13, 2011. (Manuel Balce Ceneta, File/The Associated Press) )

“Specifically, (Trump) talks about the autopen. He thinks that staffers were using this autopen. Is there some kind of, like a badge, that you have to swipe to use an autopen? Is there a record of that?” Doocy asked. 

WHAT IS AN AUTOPEN? THE SIGNING DEVICE AT THE HEART OF TRUMP’S ATTACKS ON BIDEN PARDONS

“I can tell you here at this White House, the president signs any document that has legal implications,” Leavitt responded. “The president signs every executive order. He signs every proclamation. He signs pretty much every document that is needed for the president’s signature, with the exception of maybe some letters to children. From what we have heard and seen, that was not the case in the previous administration. And the president is raising good questions that are worth looking into.” 

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, May 4, 2025.  (Manuel Balce Ceneta/The Associated Press)

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Autopen signatures are automatically produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature. 

The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project first investigated the Biden administration’s use of an autopen earlier this year and found that the same signature was on a bevvy of executive orders and other official documents, while Biden’s signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature.

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending amid a crackdown on illegal behavior on college campuses.

California U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White barred the government from arresting or incarcerating the plaintiffs and similar students and from transferring any of them outside the jurisdiction of their residence.

His order also prohibits the administration from imposing any adverse legal effect on students and from reversing the reinstatement of the legal status until the case is resolved. 

However, students can still be arrested for committing violent crimes.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BEGINS NEW WAVE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT VISA REVOCATIONS: ‘NO ONE HAS A RIGHT TO A VISA’

The Trump administration has targeted universities and foreign students amid a crackdown on antisemitism on college campuses nationwide.    (AP Images)

The government’s actions “wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continue to do so,” said White. 

More than 4,700 international students had their permission to study in the U.S. canceled this spring as the Trump administration cracked down on foreign nationals protesting on American university campuses. 

Department of Homeland Security officials said they ran the names of student visa holders through an FBI-run database that contains the names of suspects and people who have been arrested, even if the charges were dropped or they were never charged with a crime.

Some students have left the U.S. rather than risk arrest or deportation. 

RUBIO FIRES BACK AFTER DEM SENATOR SAYS HE REGRETS VOTING FOR HIM OVER VISA REVOCATIONS

The government contends it was exercising its ability to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act. DHS officials said the students don’t need the court’s protection because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reinstated legal status and was mailing status reactivation letters to affected students.

However, White said the erroneous revocations remained on the students’ record, impacting their ability to obtain a new visa or change their nonimmigrant status. 

Trump has targeted college students and universities amid a crackdown on antisemitism and other illegal behavior.  

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said it was eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to “pro-terrorist conduct” at campus protests. The Ivy League school has failed to comply with its requests for the behavioral records of student visa holders, DHS said. 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem looks on at the Coast Guard Academy Commencement in New London, Connecticut, U.S. May 21, 2025.  REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin

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“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments.”

“Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused,” she added. “They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Two young Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed in an antisemitic attack in Washington D.C. Wednesday night. 

It was the latest incident being investigated by federal authorities as domestic terrorism.

The U.S. has seen an increase in antisemitic attacks and violent pro-Palestine protests amid the war between Israel and Hamas. 

But the incidents of domestic terrorism aren’t limited to antisemitism. Extremists who hold anti-American sentiment have attempted attacks on vehicles, military bases and more. 

Here is a breakdown of the domestic terrorism incidents in the U.S. this year: 

Shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. 

On Wednesday, May 21, a pro-Palestinian man opened fire outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. 

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, two staffers of the Embassy of Israel to the U.S.—a couple set to be engaged—were shot and killed as they left the museum’s event focused on finding humanitarian solutions for Gaza. 

Lischinsky was born in Israel and grew up in Germany. His father is Jewish, and his mother is Christian.

Milgrim was an American employee of the embassy.

TWO ISRAELI DIPLOMATS SHOT, KILLED DURING EVENT AT CAPITAL JEWISH MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON, DC

Authorities took Elias Rodriguez, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, into custody. Upon being taken into custody, Rodriguez began shouting, “Free, free Palestine!” 

This image shows Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were the latest victims in a long history of attacks on Israeli embassy staff members.  (Image of police vehicle: Photo by Tom Brenner for the Washington Post via Getty Images. Image of Sarah and Yaron: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

The FBI is investigating the incident as a possible hate crime and investigating any ties to terrorism. 

Steven Jensen, the assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington field office, said in a news conference that the federal law enforcement entity is working alongside the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to “look into ties to potential terrorism or motivation based on a bias-based crime or a hate crime.”

Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing

On May 17, a bombing took place at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, Calif. The bombing killed the suspect and injured four others.

Authorities identified the perpetrator of the incident as a 26-year-old suspect motivated by a fringe ideology known as “pro-mortalism.” 

“Pro-mortalism,” a radical offshoot of anti-natalism, views human reproduction as inherently immoral and embraces death as a moral corrective.

According to federal and local law enforcement, the suspect targeted the American Reproductive Centers facility specifically to destroy human embryos stored on-site.

FBI IDENTIFIES IVF CLINIC BOMBER AS ‘PRO-MORTALIST’ WHO OPPOSED BIRTH WITHOUT CONSENT

Surveillance footage and online postings suggest he parked in the rear of the building to remain unnoticed, ingested drugs and then detonated an explosive device – killing himself in the process. 

The FBI has classified the bombing as an act of domestic terrorism, citing the ideological motivation behind the violence. 

Officials have said that it is the first high-profile case linked to the pro-mortalist ideology and are now monitoring it as a potential emerging threat. Authorities have urged families and communities to remain vigilant for signs of ideological extremism, especially among those who may feel disenfranchised. 

Attempted mass shooting at Michigan military base 

Earlier this month, a former Michigan Army National Guard member, Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, was arrested for allegedly planning a mass shooting near the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) center at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan. 

Said planned to carry out the attack on behalf of ISIS. 

Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, of Melvinville, Mich., was arrested on Tuesday, May 13, for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired attack at the Tank-Army Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) in Warren, shown right. (U.S. Department of Justice/AP)

Said “launched his drone in support of the attack plan” and told an undercover FBI agent in the lead-up to the foiled plot he recommended that “everyone have about seven magazines because you don’t want to be in there and run out of ammo,” according to officials. 

KASH PATEL DELIVERS FIERY WARNING AFTER FBI DISRUPTS MASS SHOOTING TERROR PLOT TARGETING MILITARY

Said is now facing charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years per count if convicted. 

The FBI disrupted the attempted attack, with FBI Director Kash Patel telling Fox News Digital that any individual targeting the U.S. military or conspiring with foreign terrorist organizations will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” 

“Let this be a warning: Anyone who targets our military or conspires with foreign terrorist organizations will be found, stopped and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Patel told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “I commend the men and women of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and our law enforcement partners for their continued dedication to protecting the American people.”

Tesla attacks 

Since January, there have been a number of instances of vandalism, arson and targeted shootings against Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations across the nation. 

Tesla vehicles and dealerships have been targeted nationwide amid Elon Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been focused on slashing wasteful spending and fraud within the federal government. Musk is the co-founder and CEO of Tesla. 

Tesla New Mexico (U.S. Department of Justice)

The FBI launched a task force to crack down on violent Tesla attacks. 

FBI LAUNCHES TASK FORCE TO CRACK DOWN ON VIOLENT TESLA ATTACKS, MITIGATE THREATS

The FBI’s task force was created in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and will coordinate investigative activity.

A threat tag has been created at the FBI to streamline reports and a command post at FBI headquarters has been created. It consists of a joint FBI/ATF task force to mitigate that threat stream. 

Elon Musk, Tesla fire and Tesla boycott poster (Musk, Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images, Getty. )

TESLA ARSONS PROBED AS ‘DOMESTIC TERRORISM’ CHEERED BY ‘ANTI-CAPITALIST’ GROUP LINKED TO 2020 RIOTS

The FBI is treating the attacks as “domestic terrorism.” Attorney General Pam Bondi called the attacks on Tesla “domestic terrorism,” and the Department of Justice announced charges against suspects in Tesla arson cases. 

Musk spoke out against the “deranged” attacks, suggesting that “there’s some kind of mental illness thing going on here, because this doesn’t make any sense.” The billionaire even alluded to “larger forces” potentially behind the attacks that have sprung up across the nation.

The White House pushed back against questions from a reporter challenging statements by the Trump administration regarding the treatment of White South African farmers — after President Donald Trump showed a video allegedly depicting burial sites of them at the White House on Wednesday. 

While hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trump aired a video in the Oval Office that showed white crosses that Trump said were approximately 1,000 burial sites of White Afrikaner South African farmers. Trump has claimed these farmers are being killed and forced off of their land. 

But Yamiche Alcindor with NBC News questioned White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on the credibility of the video, amid reports that the crosses were from a memorial demonstration following the murder of a White farming couple, not actual burial sites. 

TRUMP CONFRONTS SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT WITH VIDEO ON TREATMENT OF WHITE FARMERS

Yamiche Alcindor of NBC News questioned White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on a video President Donald Trump aired Wednesday at the White House regarding the treatment of White South African farmers.  (William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)

“We know that that was not true and that the video wasn’t true,” Alcindor said during the White House press briefing on Thursday. 

Leavitt and Alcindor sparred and talked over one another, with Alcindor asking, “What protocols are in place when there’s unsubstantiated information being put out for the world and world leaders?”

Leavitt then stepped in and ended the exchange, claiming the video was not unsubstantiated. 

“What’s unsubstantiated about the video?” Leavitt said. “The video shows crosses that represent the dead bodies of people who were racially persecuted by their government. In fact, The Associated Press, of all places, has a picture of that very monument in the caption from The Associated Press is ‘Each cross marks a white farmer who has been killed in a farm murder.’” 

TRUMP TO MEET LEADER OF ‘OUT OF CONTROL’ SOUTH AFRICA AT WHITE HOUSE

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (Getty Images)

“So it is substantiated. But it’s not just by that video and the physical evidence that everybody saw on display in the Oval Office, but also by another outlet in this from The Associated Press,” Leavitt said. “So you should take it up with them if you believe the claim is unsubstantiated. And that’s a ridiculous line of questioning.” 

The crosses depicted were part of a demonstration that occurred after a white, farming couple was killed in 2020, according to The Associated Press, citing local news reports from South Africa.

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President Donald Trump, right, and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, speak during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump told Ramaphosa at the White House that the burial sites by the side of the road are visited by those who want to “pay respects to their family member who was killed.” 

“Have they told you where that is, Mr. President?” Ramaphosa said. “I’d like to know where that is. Because this I’ve never seen.” 

“I mean, it’s in South Africa, that’s where,” Trump said. 

“We need to find out,” Ramaphosa said.

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire on Thursday became the first state in New England to ban so-called sanctuary cities.

“There will be no sanctuary cities in New Hampshire, period, end of story,” Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte said at a bill signing ceremony at the state Capitol.

Speaking with Fox News Digital minutes later, Ayotte noted that the measures she signed “ban sanctuary cities in New Hampshire but also allow cooperation between all of our law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.”

New Hampshire joins a growing number of states in banning sanctuary cities, which is a term used to describe jurisdictions that put some limits on cooperating with efforts by federal authorities to deport illegal immigrants. 

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER CRACKING DOWN ON SANCTUARY CITIES 

Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire signs into law two bills that ban sanctuary cities at the Statehouse in Concord, N.H., on Thursday. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

Ayotte, a former state attorney general who later served six years representing New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate, made banning sanctuary cities a key element in her successful 2024 run for governor. Ayotte’s campaign slogan was “Don’t Mass up New Hampshire,” as she took aim at neighboring Massachusetts’ more lenient migrant policies. 

“I campaigned on making sure we would not have sanctuary cities here in New Hampshire, and we don’t want to go the way of Massachusetts that has had a billion-dollar illegal immigration crisis,” the governor said in her national digital exclusive interview with Fox News.

Ayotte noted that she supports “legal immigration, but when people aren’t following our laws, we need to enforce our laws and this is about public safety.”

“New Hampshire is ranked the safest state in the nation, and I was glad I was able to sign the bill banning sanctuary cities to make sure we remain that way,” the governor added.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING AND COVERAGE OF THE IMMIGRATION ISSUE

The two bills were passed in the GOP-dominated state legislature mostly along party lines.

State Sen. Bill Gannon, the top sponsor in the state Senate, said that the measures would “make us an even safer place to work, live, and raise a family.”

And state Rep. Joe Sweeney, the lead House sponsor, said that “we are taking the handfcuffs off our law enforcement officers, and hopefully they’ll be able to work with our federal government, ICE, to put the handcuffs on the criminal illegal aliens that are violating and disobeying our laws.”

President Donald Trump repeatedly took aim at sanctuary cities as he made the issue of illegal immigration a key component to his successful 2024 campaign to win back the White House.

And Trump last month signed an executive order putting some muscle behind his threat to pull federal funding from sanctuary cities.

Some Democrats in New Hampshire, who opposed the measure, pointed to Trump’s efforts in the nation’s capital.

WHAT AYOTTE TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT SECURITY THE NATION’S NORTHERN BORDER

“What this bill does, under the guise of enabling New Hampshire law enforcement to support federal immigration efforts, is to make our state a willing accomplice in a politically manufactured campaign of state terrorism against a group of people, the vast majority of whom came here not to victimize America, but because they love America and they believe America is good,” state Rep. David Meuse told reporters. 

Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire highlights her state’s status as the safest in the nation as she signs into law two bills that ban sanctuary cities, at the Statehouse in Concord, N.H., on Thursday. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

But Ayotte, asked about the lack of support from across the political aisle for the two bills, said, “I don’t understand where the Democrats are on these policies.”

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According to the New Hampshire Municipal Association, there are no sanctuary cities in the state, while a handful of cities and towns in the state have described themselves as “welcoming cities” that encourage a welcoming environment for all people, regardless of their race, ethnicity or origin.

But state Republican lawmakers pointed to between nine and 12 cities and towns in New Hampshire that they have identified over the years as welcome or sanctuary cities.

In a speech Thursday in North Carolina to soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pledged to restore what he called the U.S. military’s “warrior ethos” and announced pay raises for paratroopers.

Speaking during All American Week at Fort Bragg, Hegseth laid out President Donald Trump’s vision focused on combat readiness, merit-based standards, and investment in the American warfighter.

“We’re going to bring it back to the basics,” Hegseth said. “We’re going to restore the warrior ethos… and we are across our formations, a standard that’s set here every single day.”

According to the Department of Defense, Hegseth used the occasion to announce an increase in hazardous duty incentive pay, known as jump pay. It will rise from $150 to $200 per month for paratroopers, and for the first time, jumpmasters will receive an additional $150 on top of their existing pay.

SECRETARY OF THE ARMY DAN DRISCOLL: ARMY UNVEILS MODERNIZATION PLAN BECAUSE, ‘NO LOBBYIST EVER WON A WAR’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“For the first time in 25 years… we are increasing jump pay,” Hegseth said. “Not only are we increasing jump pay, but… jumpmasters… are going to receive an additional $150 a month in incentive pay.”

He added: “Here’s to our paratroopers, our jumpmasters, who do the difficult things in difficult places that most Americans can never imagine.”

Hegseth told the crowd that troops remain the focus of every major Pentagon decision. 

“Inside the corridors of the Pentagon, you are on our minds, with the decisions we make in budgets, in planning, in deployments, in orders, in reorganizations. We have you and your families in mind.”

HEGSETH ORDERS REVIEW OF MILITARY FITNESS AND GROOMING STANDARDS: ‘OUR ADVERSARIES ARE NOT GROWING WEAKER’

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, right, speaks as Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listen during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In his remarks, Hegseth shared a core defense strategy promoted by Trump: prioritize readiness, reject identity politics, and reassert American deterrence.

“We will focus on readiness, on training, on warfighting, on accountability, on standards. Black, white, male, female, doesn’t matter. We’re going to be colorblind and merit-based warfighters just like you are here in the 82nd.”

This return to fundamentals, Hegseth argued is necessary to rebuild the force and deter growing global threats. 

“President Trump is committed to historic investments inside our formations. Our promise to you is that when the 82nd Airborne is deployed… you will be equipped better than any other fighting force in the world.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Drawing a contrast with prior administrations, Hegseth referenced global instability, including the war in Ukraine, the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“Unfortunately, for a number of years, the world watched and wondered where American leadership and American strength was,” he said. “By putting America first, we will reestablish peace through strength.”

Hegseth closed by honoring the legacy and future of the 82nd. 

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“Like those who came before you, you keep showing the world the stuff you’re made of. Because we know you are ready for the important work that lies ahead.”

The Army office of Public Affairs did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) event Thursday that the Trump administration is making history with its approval of numerous waivers that will eliminate junk food from food stamp programs. 

Rollins was in Nebraska on Monday to sign the first alongside Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. She has also signed a waiver for Indiana and Iowa, “with half-a-dozen more coming down the line,” she said.   

“We are on track to sign multiples of snap waivers to get junk food and sugary drinks out of our food stamp system,” Rollins said at the Thursday afternoon event, centering around the release of a 69-page report from the Trump administration’s MAHA Commission on how to effect change around childhood chronic disease. 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL NEW FOOD STAMP WORK REQUIREMENTS FOR TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The Trump administration’s Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, signaled Thursday she will be signing multiple waivers to let states ban junk food from food stamp programs, after signing a few this week, describing the effort as historic for any presidential administration. (Getty Images/iStock)

“That has never happened before under Republican or Democrat administrations,” Rollins added. “We have never made that happen before. So I am so proud and so grateful.”

On average, 42 million low-income Americans receive food stamp assistance each month, according to the MAHA report released at Thursday’s event. It added that 1 in 5 American children under 17 receive SNAP benefits.

With Nebraska’s waiver, it became the first state in the nation to bar recipients of federal food stamp programs from using the money to buy junk food, soda and other high-sugar items. The exemption will begin as a two-year pilot program, local media reported.

REPUBLICAN BILLS PUT TAXPAYER-FUNDED JUNK FOOD ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

Several GOP-led states are lining up to ban junk food from food stamp programs via a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  (iStock)

Other GOP-led states, including Texas and West Virginia, have applied for this waiver.

“SNAP was created to increase access to nutritious food; however, many SNAP purchases are for food with little to no nutritious value,” Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott wrote in a letter to Rollins requesting a waiver last week. 

“Under the Trump administration, for the first time since the program was authorized, states can take steps to eliminate the opportunity to buy junk food with SNAP benefits and assure that taxpayer dollars are used only to purchase healthy, nutritious food.”

West Virginia, Nebraska and Texas have all requested waivers to rid junk food from food stamp programs. [FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: West Virginia Gov. Patric Morrisey (R); Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R); Texas Gov. Greg Abott]  (GETTY IMAGES/FOX NEWS)

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West Virginia’s Governor Patrick Morrisey, one of the leaders requesting a waiver, has also been spearheading other MAHA efforts in his state. In March, Morrisey signed House Bill 2354 into law, which made it the first state in the nation to begin prohibiting certain synthetic dyes and additives used in food items sold in the state.

The Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump’s removal of two Democratic appointees from federal boards, handing the administration a legal victory and settling a high-stakes dispute over the president’s power to fire agency officials.

The Thursday ruling comes after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to temporarily halt the reinstatement of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) member Cathy Harris, two Democrat appointees who were abruptly terminated by the Trump administration this year. 

Both had challenged their terminations as “unlawful” in separate lawsuits filed in D.C. federal court.

However, the high court suggested that it could block attempts to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who, according to Trump, has complained has not cut interest rates fast enough. 

APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP FROM FIRING FEDERAL BOARD MEMBERS, TEES UP SUPREME COURT FIGHT

Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor attend the 60th inaugural ceremony on Jan. 20, 2025, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.  (Ricky Carioti /The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The issue confronting the justices was whether the board members, both appointed by President Joe Biden, can stay in their jobs while the larger fight continues over what to do with a 90-year-old Supreme Court decision known as Humphrey’s Executor, in which the court unanimously ruled that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.

The court’s three liberal justices dissented. 

“Not since the 1950s (or even before) has a President, without a legitimate reason, tried to remove an officer from a classic independent agency,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Kagan wrote that her colleagues were telegraphing what would happen. 

Split image shows fired NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, President Donald Trump and fired MSPB member Cathy Harris. (NLRB/Getty/C-SPAN)

“The impatience to get on with things—to now hand the President the most unitary, meaning also the most subservient, administration since Herbert Hoover (and maybe ever)—must reveal how that eventual decision will go,” she wrote.

Lawyers for the Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to either keep Wilcox and Harris off the job while the case moves through the lower courts, or to resolve the issue directly. They asked the justices to grant certiorari before judgment – a fast-track procedure the court uses occasionally to bypass the appeals process in cases of significant national importance.

They urged that Wilcox and Harris not be reinstated to their positions, arguing in their reply brief that the “costs of such reinstatements are immense.”

They argued that keeping both Wilcox and Harris in place would “entrust” the president’s powers “for the months or years that it could take the courts to resolve this litigation,” something they said “would manifestly cause irreparable harm to the President and to the separation of powers.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is shown at dusk on June 28, 2023 in Washington, DC (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“The President would lose control of critical parts of the Executive Branch for a significant portion of his term, and he would likely have to spend further months voiding actions taken by improperly reinstated agency leaders.”

Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted 7–4 to restore Wilcox and Harris to their respective boards, citing Supreme Court precedent in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States and Wiener v. United States – landmark rulings that upheld limits on the president’s power to remove members of independent federal agencies.

The majority noted that the Supreme Court has never overturned the decades-old precedent upholding removal protections for members of independent, multimember adjudicatory boards – such as the NLRB and MSPB – and said that precedent supported reinstating Wilcox and Harris.

It also rejected the Trump administration’s request for an administrative stay, which would have allowed their removals to remain in place while the challenge proceeds in court. 

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly told the courts of appeals to follow extant Supreme Court precedent unless and until that Court itself changes it or overturns it,” judges noted in their opinion. 

The ruling would have temporarily returned Harris and Wilcox to their posts – but the victory was short-lived. The Trump administration quickly appealed to the Supreme Court, which granted an emergency administrative stay blocking their reinstatement.

In their own Supreme Court filings, lawyers for Wilcox and Harris argued that the court should reinstate them to their roles on their respective boards until a federal appeals court can consider the matter.

APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN’S DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN ALIEN ENEMIES ACT IMMIGRATION SUIT

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, March 31, 2025. (Pool via AP) (Pool via AP)

Both Wilcox and Harris opposed the administration’s effort to fast-track the case, warning against skipping the normal appeals process and rushing arguments. “Rushing such important matters risks making mistakes and destabilizing other areas of the law,” Harris’s lawyers told the Supreme Court this week.

Wilcox, the NLRB member, echoed this argument in her own brief to the high court. 

Counsel for Wilcox cited the potential harm in removing her from the three-member NLRB panel – which they argued in their filing could bring “an immediate and indefinite halt to the NLRB’s critical work of adjudicating labor-relations disputes.”

“The President’s choice to instead remove Ms. Wilcox does not bring the Board closer in line with his preferred policies; it prevents the agency from carrying out its congressionally mandated duties at all,” they said.

Harris and Wilcox’s cases are among several legal challenges attempting to clearly define the executive’s power. 

Hampton Dellinger, a Biden appointee previously tapped to head the Office of Special Counsel, sued the Trump administration over his termination. Dellinger filed suit in D.C. district court after his Feb. 7 firing.

President Donald Trump and an image of the U.S. Supreme Court building.  (Getty Images)

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He had maintained the argument that, by law, he could only be dismissed from his position for job performance problems, which were not cited in an email dismissing him from his post.

Dellinger dropped his suit against the administration after the D.C. appellate court issued an unsigned order siding with the Trump administration.

The Justice Department, for its part, said in February a letter to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that it was seeking to overturn Humphrey’s Executor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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…

• House GOP leadership takes victory lap after passing Trump’s ‘one big, beautiful bill’
• ‘Security incident’ reported outside CIA headquarters
• New book reveals Biden’s inner circle worried about his age years before botched debate performance

Noem Nixes Harvard Visas

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to “pro-terrorist conduct” at campus protests, Fox News Digital has learned. 

It’s a severe consequence for what DHS claims is Harvard’s refusal to comply with its requests for behavioral records of student visa holders. 

“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused. They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”…READ MORE

Sec. Kristi Noem and Harvard protests (Reuters)

White House

GRADING TRUMP: Trump’s 2nd-term approval ratings dip despite border security gains

YOU’RE NOT FIRED: Federal judge blocks Trump admin moves to dismantle Dept of Education

WHITE HOUSE WHITEWASH: New book exposes how top Biden comms staffer was ‘tip of the spear’ covering up Biden’s cognitive decline

WORLD CLASS: First lady embarks on ‘new frontier’ in publishing with audiobook of memoir

(Courtesy of Melania Trump.)

World Stage

FOREIGN TAKEOVER: New law would stop foreign adversaries from ‘buying up our country’ while Americans can’t afford homes

HERE TO HELP: Red Cross fighting to reach hostages, alleviate ‘catastrophic’ situation in Gaza

‘CHEATED’ AMERICA: Republicans look to stop China’s ‘backdoor’ tariff-dodging scheme

Will the tariff truce with China give President Donald Trump a political bounce? (Fox News)

Capitol Hill

‘A PRICE TO PAY’: Democrats predict passing Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ will cost many Republicans their seats

BIG BILL, BIGGER DRAMA: Winners, losers, and grab-bags from House GOP’s narrow passage of ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

‘I’M GOING TO GO’: Ilhan Omar refuses to answer reporter questions on fatal shooting of Israeli Embassy workers

Deputy Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks during a news conference on possible government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol on September 20, 2023 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

NANCY VS NANCY: Mace sounds off on stock trading in Congress, Pelosi remains silent: ‘Something doesn’t add up’

BORDER BOLSTER: Bipartisan Senate bill targets border human, drug trafficking with innovative technology

Across America 

‘EVIL OF ANTISEMITISM’: White House decries ‘evil of antisemitism,’ vows justice after fatal shooting of Israeli embassy staffers

NEW TACTIC: ICE begins new, nationwide effort to arrest illegal aliens at immigration hearings

SICKEST GENERATION: RFK Jr.’s highly-anticipated MAHA report paints dismal state of child health, national security concerns

SPLIT DECISION: Supreme Court upholds Oklahoma decision, in blow to religious charter schools

This split image shows the US Supreme Court justices and a school choice protester (SCOTUS/Getty )

‘DID THIS FOR GAZA’: Who is the suspect in the killing of 2 Israeli embassy staffers?

HISTORY OF TERROR: Gunman kills Israeli embassy couple in Washington, following decades of embassy-targeted attacks

TERROR AT HOME: Antisemitic shooting of Israeli diplomats adds to alarming rise in domestic terrorism

ENFORCEMENT FIRST: This state just became the latest in the country to ban sanctuary cities

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

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump Department of Homeland Security is calling out a Biden-appointed “activist” judge in Massachusetts who paused the deportation of an illegal alien who DHS says sexually assaulted a disabled woman with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old.

The DHS shared a filing from the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry that says Burmese illegal Nyo Myint was convicted of attempted first-degree sexual assault of an individual incapable of consent.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that Myint, who was living in Lincoln, Nebraska, sexually assaulted a 26-year-old woman “with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old.”

“This ‘Lincoln man’ is an illegal alien and one of the monsters that the activist Massachusetts district judge is trying to bring back to the United States after he was deported yesterday,” McLaughlin said.

IMMIGRATION EXPERT WARNS CHINESE ILLEGAL ALIENS USING CANADIAN CITY AS GATEWAY TO US

The Trump Department of Homeland Security bashed a Biden-appointed “activist” judge in Massachusetts who paused the deportation of an illegal alien who DHS says sexually assaulted a disabled woman with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old. (Nebraska Sex Offender Registry courtesy of DHS and ICE)

DHS has said Myint had a final order of removal issued against him Aug. 17, 2023.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy of Massachusetts issued the ruling Tuesday night, ordering President Donald Trump’s administration to maintain custody of eight illegal immigrants deported to South Sudan in case he rules the removals unlawful and they must be transferred back to the U.S.

Murphy’s ruling said the government must “maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other third country, to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful.”

After the ruling, McLaughlin called the decision “deranged,” saying “these depraved individuals have all had their day in court and been given final deportation orders.”

MOM OF GIRL ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY ILLEGALS SAYS WILDLIFE REFUGE RENAMING ‘MEANS THE WORLD’ TO FAMILY

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk down a street during a multi-agency enforcement operation in Chicago Jan. 26, 2025. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“A reminder of who was on this plane: murderers, child rapists, an individual who raped a mentally and physically disabled person,” McLaughlin added. “The message this activist judge is sending to victims and their families is we don’t care. President Trump and Secretary Noem are working every day to get vicious criminals out of our country while activist judges are fighting to bring them back onto American soil.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

According to DHS, the other illegals on the plane were Enrique Arias-Hierro, a Cuban national convicted of homicide and other crimes; Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones, another Cuban convicted of attempted first-degree murder with a weapon; Thongxay Nilakout, a citizen of Laos, convicted of first-degree murder and robbery; Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez, a Mexican national convicted of second-degree murder; Dian Peter Domach, a citizen of South Sudan convicted of robbery and possession of a firearm; Kyaw Mya, a citizen of Burma convicted of lascivious acts with a child victim less than 12 years of age; and Tuan Thanh Phan, a Vietnamese national convicted of first-degree murder.

The White House also issued a statement in response, saying the ruling is “another attempt by a far-left activist judge to dictate the foreign policy of the United States — and protect the violent criminal illegal immigrants President Donald J. Trump and his administration have removed from our streets.”

ICE CAPTURES ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WANTED FOR ALLEGEDLY KILLING MOTHER IN DUI CRASH

President Donald Trump delivers remarks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Trump chimed in on Truth Social, saying the ruling has forced the deportation flight to pause in Djibouti.

Trump slammed Murphy as “a Federal Judge in Boston, who knew absolutely nothing about the situation, or anything else,” and “ordered that EIGHT of the most violent criminals on Earth curtail their journey to South Sudan.”

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The president urged the Supreme Court to end the trend of judges inhibiting his administration’s deportation agenda.

“The Judges are absolutely out of control, they’re hurting our Country, and they know nothing about particular situations, or what they are doing — And this must change, IMMEDIATELY!” he said. “Hopefully, the Supreme Court of the United States will put an END to the quagmire that has been caused by the Radical Left.”

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

House Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” on Thursday morning, working through overnight committee meetings, last-minute huddles in the speaker’s office and even a last-minute assist from the president. 

But while House GOP leadership preached party unity as they passed The One Big Beautiful Bill Act by just one vote, two House Republican holdouts were unwavering in their concerns about the $36 trillion national debt crisis and ultimately voted “no.” 

Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, took their concerns to social media on Thursday, telling their constituents exactly why they bucked the Republican Party on Trump’s key legislative agenda. 

“While I love many things in the bill, promising someone else will cut spending in the future does not cut spending. Deficits do matter and this bill grows them now. The only Congress we can control is the one we’re in. Consequently, I cannot support this big deficit plan. NO,” Davidson said early this morning before the vote was final. 

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

Left: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025; Right: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) attends the inauguration of President Donald Trump.  (Left: WIN MCNAMEE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images; Right: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Massie responded soon after, telling Davidson he agreed and “if we were serious, we’d be cutting spending now, instead of promising to cut spending years from now.”

HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER PASSING TRUMP’S ‘ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

“I’d love to stand here and tell the American people, ‘We can cut your taxes and increase spending and everything is going to be just fine.’ But I can’t do that because I’m here to deliver a dose of reality. This bill dramatically increases deficits in the near-term, but promises our government will be fiscally responsible five years from now. Where have we heard that before?” Massie said on the House floor. 

President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talk with reporters after a House Republican Conference meeting on the budget reconciliation bill in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The Kentucky congressman, who regularly sports a national debt clock pin, presented a bleak reality for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on Thursday as most Republican holdouts rallied behind the final manager’s amendment. “This bill is a debt bomb ticking,” Massie said. 

When White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about Massie and Davidson voting against the bill, she said the president believes they should be primaried. 

“I don’t think he likes to see grandstanders in Congress. What’s the alternative? I would ask those members of Congress. Did they want to see a tax hike? Did they want to see our country go bankrupt? That’s the alternative by them trying to vote ‘no.’ The president believes the Republican Party needs to be unified,” Leavitt said. 

GOP HOLDOUTS UNMOVED BY TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL’ TRIP TO CAPITOL HILL

Massie, who has been campaigning on Trump calling him a grandstander, even fundraised on Leavitt’s comments, writing on X, “The big beautiful bill has issues. I chose to vote against it because it’s going to blow up our debt. For voting on principle, I now have the President AND his press Secretary campaigning against me from the White House podium. Can you help me by donating?”

Former Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., who served as Chair of the House Freedom Caucus, has spoken out against the country’s debt crisis amid House negotiations, piled on the national debt criticism on Thursday, writing, “The Big Ugly Truth is that the Big Ugly Bill will push the Big Ugly Debt over $60 trillion.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans celebrated passing Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on Thursday.  (Getty Images)

Good found himself out of the job when he lost the Republican primary to now-Rep. John McGuire of Virginia last year. 

He was one of just a handful of House Republicans who endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries, and then Trump threw his political might behind McGuire.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a multi-trillion-dollar piece of legislation that advances Trump’s agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. 

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While the bill seeks to make a dent in the national debt crisis by cutting roughly $1.5 trillion in government spending, the United States still has over $36 trillion in debt and has spent $1.05 trillion more than it has collected in fiscal year 2025, according to the Treasury Department.

“I think the most essential truth in American politics is that nobody actually really cares about the national debt or deficit. It’s too abstract to saturate public sentiment,” Fox News Digital columnist David Marcus said after the bill passed. 

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

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican is hoping to ensure that families of fallen loved ones can mourn at their gravesides on federal holidays, days they are usually closed to visitation.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., is introducing legislation Thursday that would require the more than 170 cemeteries overseen by the federal government to stay open during legally recognized holidays, including Memorial Day, Christmas, Independence Day and others. 

Cemeteries operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs and National Parks Service are typically closed during major holidays, save for Arlington National Cemetery, which is open on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, but closed for all other holidays. 

DEMOCRATS PREDICT PASSING TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ WILL COST MANY REPUBLICANS THEIR SEATS

Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) at the National Republican Senatorial Committee building on June 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Daines said in a statement to Fox News Digital that holidays like Memorial Day give Americans “the opportunity to remember all those brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms.” 

“Our national cemeteries should be open on these special days, so that family and friends can pay their respects to their loved ones,” he said. “I’m proud to introduce this bill to ensure that our fallen service members can receive the tributes and honor that they deserve.”

TRUMP SUPRISES 104-YEAR-OLD WWII VETERAN WITH BIRTHDAY MESSAGE AFTER VIRAL TIKTOK INVITE 

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) questions U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) during his Senate Foreign Relations confirmation hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 15, 2025, in Washington, D.C. ( Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The federal government began operating national cemeteries during the Civil War in the early 1860s to offer final resting places for fallen Union soldiers, according to the National Park Service. 

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The practice has since grown into over 170 different national cemeteries operated by three government agencies, the Department of Defense, the VA and the National Park Service. Not every state, however, has a national cemetery. 

Montana, which Daines represents in the Senate, is home to two national cemeteries: the Fort Missoula Post Cemetery and Yellowstone National Cemetery.

One of the nation’s most highly ranked high schools is once again in the spotlight over its admissions policies after the U.S. Department of Education announced it would be launching an investigation into the matter. 

The announcement comes after the state’s Republican Attorney General, Jason Miyares, said his office has found reasonable cause after a multi-year investigation determining that Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), which is overseen by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) system, operates an admissions process that discriminates against applicants of Asian heritage.

“The Fairfax County School Board made clear its intended outcome was to reduce opportunities for Asian American students—and that’s exactly what occurred,” Miyares said. “These students are not statistics. They are sons and daughters, neighbors, classmates and Virginians who deserve equal protection and opportunity under the law.”

The controversy began in 2020 when TJHSST made changes to its admissions policies to sensibly promote diversity. This was done through the elimination of standardized testing and application fees for interested students, implementing a holistic review process that considers factors like socioeconomic status and geographical location, and seething aside a certain number of spots for students from each middle school in the county.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN MOVES TO DISMANTLE DEPT OF EDUCATION

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology is located in the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Northern Virginia. It has consistently ranked among the best schools in the nation.   (Google Maps)

In response, parents filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging that the new admissions policy discriminated against asian students. A federal district court subsequently ruled in favor of the parents, but that ruling was later overturned by a federal appeals court.

The U.S. Supreme Court eventually declined to hear the case, effectively cementing the appeals court’s ruling. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented and warned of the possible implications the appeals court’s ruling could have for other admissions policies at other schools across the country.

BIDEN EDUCATION DEPT PUT PRIORITY ON PRONOUNS, LEFT BACKLOG OF NEARLY 200 ANTISEMITISM COMPLAINTS: OFFICIAL

Miyares has been investigating TJHSST’s admissions policies since 2023, concluding this week that there was reasonable cause to determine FCPS was “discriminating against Asian American students.”

According to Miyares, when TJHSST first implemented its new admissions policy, Asian American students made up over 65% of the school’s admitted classes. But over a period of just one year, Asian American admissions dropped 19 points, he noted. 

Attorney General of Virginia Jason Miyares sits in his office in Richmond, Virginia.  (Photo by Julia Rendleman for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“Internal communications confirm that this outcome was intentional. The Board reviewed proposal after proposal until it could guarantee the racial ‘diversity’ the Board was after,” Miyares office said. “And in the zero-sum game of school admissions, achieving the Board’s preferred racial balance meant that fewer Asian American students would be accepted.”

SPARKS FLY BETWEEN EDUCATION SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON AND DEM REP. WATSON COLEMAN: ‘YOU SHOULD FEEL SHAMEFUL’

The Department of Justice said Wednesday it would work with the Department of Education to probe the potential Title VI violation, after Miyares’ office referred the matter to them for investigation. The Trump administration has threatened to withhold funding from schools over potentially discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, FCPS said the matter has already been settled by courts that have said there is no merit behind allegations its admissions policies are discriminatory. (Getty Images)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, FCPS said the matter has already been adjudicated by the courts, which it said have determined there is no merit behind the allegations that its admissions policies are discriminatory. 

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Nonetheless, the statement said the district was reviewing materials from the Attorney General and will issue a more detailed response in the near future.

“This matter has already been fully litigated. A federal appellate court determined there was no merit to arguments that the admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology discriminates against any group of students,” the statement read. “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) division leadership and counsel are currently reviewing the documents released today by the Attorney General and will issue a more detailed response in the coming days. FCPS remains committed to providing a world-class education for all of our students.”

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin had just met with one of the slain Israeli Embassy staffers earlier in May, posting to social media Thursday that he is “heartbroken” over her tragic shooting by a “Jew-hating radical.”

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, two staffers of the Embassy of Israel to the United States — a couple set to be engaged — were shot and killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., Wednesday night. 

FBI INVESTIGATING KILLING OF ISRAELI EMBASSY EMPLOYEES AS POSSIBLE HATE CRIME

Zeldin posted to X Thursday afternoon that he had met Milgrim, who was an American employee of the embassy, two weeks ago in his office. 

FATAL SHOOTING OF ISRAELI EMBASSY WORKERS IN DC SPARKS OUTRAGE FROM TRUMP, ISRAELI PRESIDENT

“I just met Sarah two weeks ago in my office at EPA HQ,” Zeldin posted. “She struck me as a young woman filled with life and positivity.”

“Heartbroken to learn she was one of two tragically murdered last night by a Jew-hating radical screaming ‘Free Palestine,’” he continued. “May Sarah and Yaron rest in peace.” 

Sarah Lynn Milgrim, left, and Yaron Lischinsky, were about to be engaged.  (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

TWO ISRAELI DIPLOMATS SHOT, KILLED DURING EVENT AT CAPITAL JEWISH MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON, DC

Zeldin shared a smiling photo of himself and Milgrim from the day they met. 

Milgrim and Lischinsky were killed as they left the museum’s event focused on finding humanitarian solutions for Gaza. 

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin posted to X May 22, 2025, that he had met Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who was an American employee of the embassy, two weeks ago in his office.  (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Lischinsky was born in Israel and grew up in Germany. His father is Jewish and his mother is Christian.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Authorities took Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old man from Chicago, into custody. Upon being taken into custody, Rodriguez began shouting: “Free, free Palestine.” 

The FBI is investigating the incident as “an act of terror.” 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is eliminating the student visa program at Harvard University due to “pro-terrorist conduct” at campus protests, Fox News Digital has learned. 

It’s a severe consequence for what DHS claims is Harvard’s refusal to comply with its requests for behavioral records of student visa holders. 

Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students in the 2025-2026 school year and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status to reside in the U.S. before the next academic year begins. 

“As a result of your brazen refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas rhetoric, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a letter to Maureen Martin, the university’s director of immigration services. 

RUBIO FIRES BACK AFTER DEM SENATOR SAYS HE REGRETS VOTING FOR HIM OVER VISA REVOCATIONS

DHS Sec. Kristi Noem offered Harvard 72 hours to provide the information requested for an opportunity to regain its visa program for the next school year.  (REUTERS/Michelle McLoughlin)

Noem offered Harvard 72 hours to provide the information requested for an opportunity to regain its visa program for the next school year. 

She called the move the “direct result of Harvard’s epic failure to comply with simple reporting requirements.” 

The records requested include any footage of protest activity involving students on visas and the disciplinary records of all students on visas in the last five years. 

Noem said last month she had requested records related to visa-holding students enrolled in the university and Harvard’s counsel did not provide adequate information to meet the demand. After the DHS general counsel asked again for the information, Harvard provided an “insufficient, incomplete and unacceptable response,” she said. 

“Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of antisemitism in society and campuses. 

Harvard is losing its visa privileges over refusal to comply with DHS records requests.  (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Requested records also include footage or documentation of illegal, dangerous or violent activity by student visa holders, any records of threats or the deprivation of rights of other students or university personnel.

Harvard could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Last month, Harvard announced it would allow foreign students to accept admission to both Harvard and a foreign university as backup amid the Trump administration’s threats to move to block Harvard’s authorization to host them. Typically, students must accept enrollment at Harvard by May 1 and can’t commit to another university. 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BEGINS NEW WAVE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT VISA REVOCATIONS: ‘NO ONE HAS A RIGHT TO A VISA’

Pro-Gaza protests have persisted at universities since after the October 7th, 2023 attacks. ( REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

At least a dozen Harvard students have had their authorization to study in the U.S. revoked over campus protest activity. 

The Trump administration has already frozen close to $3 billion in federal funding to the university, largely dedicated to research, and launched investigations across the departments of Justice, Education and Health and Human Services. They claim Harvard has failed to address campus antisemitism and eradicate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in its policies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress this week the State Department had probably revoked “thousands” of student visas by this point and would “proudly” revoke more. 

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“We’re going to continue to revoke the visas of people who are here as guests and are disrupting our higher education facilities,” he said Tuesday. “A visa is a privilege, not a right.” 

The crackdown on university policies comes after a wave of pro-Gaza student protests and encampments swept schools across the nation since the beginning of Israel’s offensive campaign to eradicate Hamas after the October 7 attacks to pressure university administrations to divest from Israel. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., avoided answering questions from reporters and refused to condemn the shooting in Washington, D.C., that killed two Israeli Embassy staffers departing the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday evening. 

“I’m going to go for now,” Omar, the first Somali American elected to Congress, told reporters when asked if she would react to the shooting. 

A spokesperson for Omar did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were departing an event at the museum on Wednesday evening when they were gunned down and killed. The two were planning to get engaged soon, according to the Embassy of Israel. 

CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS DIGITAL’S COVERAGE OF ‘ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED’

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., one of the first two Muslim women in Congress, has been a vocal advocate for the Palestinian cause. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

A pro-Palestinian man, identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, was arrested in connection with the case, according to authorities. 

Omar, one of the first two Muslim women in Congress, has been a vocal advocate for the Palestinian cause. She has come under scrutiny for comments toward the Jewish community, including when she appeared at a Columbia University encampment in April 2024 and said that all Jewish kids should remain safe “whether they’re pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”

Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, was also arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest at Columbia University that same month. 

Lischinsky, born in Israel, grew up in Germany. While his father is Jewish, his mother is a Christian, and the family is considered Christian. Milgrim was an American employee working for the Israeli Embassy. 

WHO IS THE ANTI-ISRAEL SUSPECT IN THE KILLING OF 2 ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFFERS?

Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were about to be engaged. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

President Donald Trump and other Republicans have been outspoken and labeled the attack an act of antisemitism. 

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” he wrote on Truth Social post. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen! God Bless You ALL!”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Additionally, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that those responsible for the attack would face justice. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has come under scrutiny for comments toward the Jewish community. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the murder of two staff members from the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC,” Rubio wrote Thursday on X. “Our prayers are with their loved ones. This was a brazen act of cowardly, antisemitic violence. Make no mistake: we will track down those responsible and bring them to justice.” 

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from dismantling the Department of Education on Thursday, ruling that it cannot be done without congressional approval.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun’s order blocks the Trump administration from carrying out the mass-firing at the DOE announced in March and orders that any employees who were already fired be reinstated.

Joun’s order noted Trump’s repeated calls to shut down the department while on the campaign trail, and argued the reduction in force was his means of doing so.

“The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is plainly not true,” Joun wrote.

‘ACTIVIST’ JUDGES KEEP TRYING TO CURB TRUMP’S AGENDA – HERE’S HOW HE COULD PUSH BACK

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to conduct a massive reduction in force at the Department of Education. (Reuters)

“Defendants do acknowledge, as they must, that the Department cannot be shut down without Congress’s approval, yet they simultaneously claim that their legislative goals (obtaining Congressional approval to shut down the Department) are distinct from their administrative goals (improving efficiency). There is nothing in the record to support these contradictory positions,” his ruling continues.

Read the full ruling below (App users click here)

The ruling comes just a day after another federal judge blocked Trump’s administration from firing two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton found that allowing unilateral firings would prevent the board from carrying out its purpose.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION GUTS INSTITUTE OF PEACE OF ‘ROGUE BUREAUCRATS’ AFTER DOGE STANDOFF IN GOVERNMENT OFFICE

Walton wrote that allowing at-will removals would make the board “beholden to the very authority it is supposed to oversee on behalf of Congress and the American people.”

The oversight board was initially created by Congress to ensure that federal counterterrorism policies were in line with privacy and civil liberties law.

President Donald Trump’s administration has faced heavy opposition from federal courts. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The two plaintiffs, Travis LeBlanc and Edward Felten, argued in their lawsuit that members of the board cannot be fired without cause. Meanwhile, lawyers for Trump’s administration argued that members of other congressionally created boards do have explicit job protections, and it would therefore be wrong for Walton to create such protections where they are absent.

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“The Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields told the Associated Press. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

The Supreme Court on Thursday voted in a 4-4 vote to uphold the Oklahoma State Supreme Court’s decision in a landmark school choice case. 

Justices issued a one-sentence ruling upholding the lower court’s decision, saying only: “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court.”

The state had ruled that providing state funds for a religious charter school violated the First Amendment. 

Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the ruling, resulting in the 4-4 split.

The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved St. Isidore’s contract request in June 2023, making them eligible to receive public funds.

But its ability to receive it was later blocked by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled that using public funds for the school was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. 

That argument was appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case last October.

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During oral arguments, the justices focused on two major questions. The first is whether charter schools should be treated as public schools, which are considered extensions of the state, and therefore subject to the Establishment Cause and its ban establishing or endorsing a religion, or whether it should be considered a private entities or contractor.

The case is the first of its kind to involve religious charter schools.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” passed the House of Representatives early on Thursday morning with few Republican defections.

It is a significant victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who navigated deep inter-party friction within the House GOP Conference to deliver a product from which few Republican lawmakers ultimately defected.

The bill is a sweeping multi-trillion-dollar piece of legislation that advances Trump’s agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. It’s sought to make a dent in the federal government’s spending trajectory by cutting roughly $1.5 trillion in government spending elsewhere. The U.S. government is over $36 trillion in debt and has spent $1.05 trillion more than it’s collected in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the Treasury Department.

The bill passed 215 to 214 with just two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, voting against it. All Democrats voted against the bill as well, and House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., voted “present.”

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ PASSES KEY HOUSE HURDLE AFTER GOP REBEL MUTINY

President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., talk with reporters after a House Republican Conference meeting on the budget reconciliation bill in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Republicans spent more than 48 hours continuously working on the bill from the time it came before the House Rules Committee – the final gatekeeper before a House-wide vote – at 1 a.m. on Wednesday to when it passed the chamber just after 7 a.m. on Thursday.

“It quite literally is morning again in America,” Johnson said. “What we’re achieving today is nothing short of historic.”

All the while, Democratic lawmakers attempted a variety of delay tactics, from introducing amendments targeting key Trump policies to forcing several procedural votes on the House floor ahead of debate on the legislation.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., notably spoke on the House floor for over 30 minutes just before the vote in a last-ditch effort to stretch out the seemingly endless day of debate and votes.

“This bill represents a failed promise. Last year, Donald Trump and House Republicans spent all of their time to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America,” Jeffries said on the House floor. “We’re now more than 120 days past the inauguration. Costs aren’t going down, they’re going up.” 

Tensions flared at multiple points as visibly weary lawmakers continued to fight their ideological battle into the early morning. 

HOUSE GOP TARGETS ANOTHER DEM OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF BLOCKING ICE AMID DELANEY HALL FALLOUT

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., who was presiding over the House at the time, warned Jeffries multiple times to address the chair in his remarks rather than directly attacking Republicans sitting across the chamber.

“Every time I’m interrupted, that’s going to add another 15 minutes to my remarks,” Jeffries said as Democrats sitting around him sounded off in support.

The bill seeks to permanently extend Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) while also implementing newer Trump campaign promises like eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay, and giving senior citizens a higher tax deduction for a period of four years.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., spoke for over half an hour on Thursday morning (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The legislation also included new funding for the border and defense, including more money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations and $25 billion to kick-start construction of a “Golden Dome” defense system over the U.S.

Cuts include new work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients, as well as putting more of the cost-sharing burden on states that took advantage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s expanded Medicaid enrollment by giving illegal immigrants access to the healthcare program.

The legislation would also roll back a host of green energy tax credits awarded in former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – which Trump vowed to repeal in its entirety on the campaign trail. 

It also would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by roughly 20% by introducing some cost-sharing burdens on the states and increasing the amount of able-bodied Americans facing work requirements to be eligible for food stamps.

All House Democrats rejected the bill, accusing Republicans of disproportionately favoring the wealthy at the expense of critical programs for working Americans. Republicans, on the other hand, have contended that they are preserving tax cuts that prevent a 22% tax increase on Americans next year if TCJA was allowed to expire, as well as streamlining programs like Medicaid and SNAP for vulnerable Americans who need it most.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., voted against the bill as expected (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, chair of the House’s 189 member-strong Republican Study Committee, told Fox News Digital, “This transformational legislation permanently extends President Trump’s historic tax cuts, provides unprecedented funding for border security, and obliterates the last four years of catastrophic Democratic policies.”

And while most GOP lawmakers united on the final bill, divisions appeared to persist until the final moments. Conservatives had pushed for more aggressive targeting of Medicaid waste and Biden green energy subsidies, while blue state Republicans pushed for tax relief for Americans in high-cost-of-living areas. 

To resolve outstanding differences, House Republican leaders released a list of eleventh-hour changes to President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” hours before their full chamber is expected to consider the legislation.

New provisions in the bill include a ban on federal funding for transgender adults’ medical care, and $12 billion in new funding to reimburse states for money they spent countering the former Biden administration’s border policies. 

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

A key request from fiscal conservatives was also honored, with House GOP leaders apparently agreeing to speed up the implementation of work requirements for certain able-bodied recipients of Medicaid.

The bill initially had Medicaid work requirements going into effect in 2029.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, one of the fiscal hawks leading GOP opposition to the bill, told Fox News Digital just after midnight Thursday that he was not sure if the legislation went far enough – but suggested the White House could persuade him with other avenues for change.

“There are things in the executive space, executive actions that we think could take care of … some of our concerns on the Medicaid expansion,” Roy said.

The legislative update also included a victory for blue state Republicans who have been pushing for a higher state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap – the current $10,000 cap would be quadrupled to roughly $40,000, but only for people making less than $500,000 per year. The $10,000 cap was first instituted in TCJA. 

“This is what real leadership looks like. President Trump and House Republicans made a promise to the American people to secure our border, protect seniors, cut taxes on tips and overtime, and shut off the spigot of benefits for illegal immigrants,” first-term Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. 

Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital, “More than 77 million Americans made clear at the polls that they want President Trump’s America First agenda codified into law, and our ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’ delivers on this promise.”

But while House GOP leaders are enjoying their hard-fought victory now, the battle over Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is not over.

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Senate Republicans have already signaled they expect to make changes to the bill when it reaches the upper chamber, despite House GOP leaders publicly urging them to amend as little as possible.

There is a significant number of senators who have expressed wariness at the level of Medicaid and SNAP cuts sought by the House. An increase to the SALT deduction cap could also be met with skepticism in the Senate, where no Republican represents a blue state – unlike the House, where New York and California districts are critical to the majority.

The House and Senate must pass identical bills before sending them to Trump’s desk for a signature. GOP leaders have signaled they hope to do that by the Fourth of July.

Four months into his second tour of duty in the White House, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings remain slightly underwater.

The president stands at 46% approval and 54% disapproval in a new national survey by Marquette Law School. And Trump is at 42% approval and 52% disapproval in a Reuters/Ipsos poll. 

Most, but not all, of the latest national surveys place the president’s approval rating in negative territory, with a handful indicating Trump is above water.

Trump has aggressively asserted executive authority in his second term, overturning longstanding government policy and aiming to make major cuts to the federal workforce through an avalanche of sweeping and controversial executive orders and actions, with some aimed at addressing grievances he has held since his first term.

TRUMP’S APPROVAL RATINGS ARE UNDERWATER, BUT DEMOCRATS FACE RECORD-LOW POLLING NUMBERS

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office on May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump started his second administration with poll numbers in positive territory, but his poll numbers started to slide soon after his late-January inauguration.

But two issues where the president remains at or above water in some surveys are border security and immigration, which were front and center in Trump’s successful 2024 campaign to win back the White House.

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Trump stands at 56% approval on border security and 50% approval on immigration in the Marquette Law School poll, which was conducted May 5-15.

But Trump’s muscular moves on border security and immigration, which have sparked controversy and legal pushback, don’t appear to be helping his overall approval ratings.

“Immigration is declining now as a salient issue,” said Daron Shaw, who serves as a member of the Fox News Decision Team and is the Republican partner on the Fox News poll.

Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas, said “immigration and especially border security are beginning to lose steam as one of the top-three issues facing the country. Republicans still rate them fairly highly, but Democrats and independents, who had kind of joined the chorus in 2024, have moved on and in particular moved back to the economy as a focal point.”

Pointing to Trump, Shaw added that “when you have success on an issue, it tends to move to the back burner.”

Contributing to the slide over the past couple of months in Trump’s overall approval ratings was his performance on the economy and, in particular, inflation, which were pressing issues that kept former President Joe Biden’s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency.

Trump’s blockbuster tariff announcement in early April sparked a trade war with some of the nation’s top trading partners and triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.

President Donald Trump announces the implementation of tariffs on countries across the globe during a White House event on April 2, 2025. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

But the markets have rebounded, thanks in part to a truce between the U.S. and China in their tariff standoff as Trump tapped the brakes on his controversial tariff implementation.

Trump stood at 37% approval on tariffs and 34% on inflation/cost of living in the Marquette Law School poll. And he stood at 39% on the economy and 33% on cost of living in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was conducted May 16-18.

Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist and former RNC and Bush administration official, pointed to last year’s election, saying, “The main reason Trump won was to lower prices. Prices haven’t lowered, and polls are reflecting that.”

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“With the exception of gas prices, there hasn’t been much of a reduction in prices,” Shaw said.

“Prices haven’t come down, and it’s not clear that people will say the absence of inflation is an economic victory. They still feel that an appreciable portion of their money is going to pay for basic things,” he added. “What Trump is realizing is that prices have to come down for him to be able to declare success.”