NationalWatch

FIRST ON FOX: Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst introduced legislation Thursday that would clear the way for the Trump administration to sell underutilized federal buildings, Fox News Digital learned. 

“Despite President Trump calling federal employees back to work, vacant government buildings could easily be mistaken as future locations for Spirit Halloween stores,” Ernst said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

“For too long, the entrenched bureaucracy has used red tape to prevent these ghost towns from being sold off,” she continued. Her Disposal Act “immediately lists six prime pieces of D.C. real estate on the auction block and slashes through pointless regulations to fast-track the sale of the government’s graveyard of lifeless real estate to generate hundreds of millions of dollars and save taxpayers billions.” 

Ernst is the founder and chair of the Senate Department of Government Efficiency Caucus, and first exposed the federal government’s lack of use of its federal buildings back in 2023 when she released a “naughty list of no-show federal agencies” following the pandemic, when federal employees worked from home amid government-mandated shutdowns. 

SHUTDOWN FACES TAXPAYER RECKONING AS LAWMAKER WORKS TO EXPOSE ‘TRUE COST OF DEMOCRATS’ POLITICAL STUNT’

Dubbed the “Disposing of Inactive Structures and Properties by Offering for Sale And Lease (DISPOSAL) Act,” the legislation works to renew efforts to sell six pieces of underutilized federal properties in Washington, D.C., that headquarter various federal agencies. 

The legislation specifically calls on the General Services Administration to sell the Frances Perkins Federal Building, home to the United States Department of Labor; the Department of Energy’s James V. Forrestal Building; the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Building, which is home to the Office of Personnel Management; Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, where the Department of Housing and Urban Development was headquartered before announcing in June it planned to move; United States Department of Agriculture’s headquarters at the Department of Agriculture South Building; and the Hubert H. Humphrey Federal Building, which headquarters the Department of Health and Human Services. 

ERNST DEMANDS $2T IN FEDERAL CUTS, URGES TRUMP TEAM TO ‘MAKE DC SQUEAL’ AMID SHUTDOWN FIGHT

There are an estimated 7,700 vacant federal buildings nationwide and another 2,265 that are largely sitting empty, according to Ernst’s office. 

The Office of Management and Budget reported in 2023 that the annual cost of operating federal buildings deemed “underutilized” sits at $81.346 million, while the General Services Administration reported in 2025 that deferred maintenance and repair backlogs at federal buildings exceeds $6 billion and will balloon to more than $20 billion in five years. The General Services Administration identified hundreds of “non-core” federal properties across the nation in March that could be put up for sale. 

Mold, cockroaches and undrinkable water also have plagued the federal buildings, according to various recent media reports. 

HOUSING COSTS ARE CRUSHING FAMILIES – HERE’S THE WAY OUT

The legislation would clear the path for the Trump administration to make additional sales down the line, should it pass. Sales of federal buildings are wrapped in red tape and procedures, with the bill working to streamline the process by mandating the sale of up to 20 additional federal buildings per calendar year, and charging the GSA chief with determining whether a sale or ground lease would be in the “best interests of the United States.”

President Donald Trump‘s DOGE efforts to slim down the size of the federal government and remove overspending and fraud have been a hallmark of his first back in office. Trump repeatedly has railed against federal employees who stopped reporting to the office since the pandemic, vowing during his joint address to Congress in March that “unaccountable bureaucracy” will end. 

“We have hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have not been showing up to work,” he said. “My administration will reclaim power from this unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true democracy to America again. Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office immediately.” 

Ernst and DOGE previously successfully mandated the sale of the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in June, which headquartered Voice of America in a 1.2 million-square-foot building. Only 72 people worked in the building as of 2024, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Fox News Digital reported back in February that the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters in D.C., which can accommodate roughly 6,000 people, had become so desolate of employees during the Biden administration that it looked like an off-season “Spirit Halloween” store. Administration officials confirmed to Fox News Digital at the time that one HUD office even still had a business card left over from the first Trump administration still tacked on a white board when officials with the second administration reported to work following Trump’s inauguration. 

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Ernst’s October legislation follows a bill she introduced in June that called for the sale of six federal properties that would yield at least $400 million in revenue while canceling roughly $2.9 billion in overdue maintenance at the buildings. 

The FBI has a longstanding pattern of using its internal review processes to dissuade whistleblowers, a former special agent told Fox Digital.

What started in 2021 as a workplace conflict for Special Agent Valentine Fertitta snowballed into a years-long dispute when Fertitta escalated concerns about his treatment, his wife said. 

Emily Fertitta, who also served in the bureau under the Biden administration, believes that’s emblematic of a larger problem. 

“A very simple equal employment opportunity case has grown into this huge whistleblower case that has implications for everybody,” she said. “National security retaliation is huge for so many whistleblowers.” 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE BIDEN’S FBI OF RETALIATING AGAINST WHISTLEBLOWER WHO EXPOSED MISCONDUCT

After a deployment overseas, Valentine Fertitta returned home with serious injuries that limited his participation at work for the FBI. After a manager took issue with his reduced productivity, the agency blocked him from consideration of a promotion in 2021 — a decision Valentine Fertitta believed violated the FBI’s policies and federal employment law, according to the family’s attorney. 

“Val’s supervisor at the time — this guy is just obsessed with statistics,” Matthew Crotty, the Fertitta family’s legal counsel said. “He was a troublemaker, really obsessed with advancing in his career.” 

But that was only the beginning of Valentine Fertitta’s conflict with the FBI.

TERRY ROZIER’S ATTORNEY ACCUSES FBI OF SEEKING ‘MISPLACED GLORY’ WITH NBA PLAYER’S ARREST

Believing that his management had violated government protections against injured employees among other employment safeguards for veterans, Valentine Fertitta filed a whistleblower complaint. Not long after, he received his first-ever negative work performance review, was denied access to trainings, was asked to provide past, present and future medical records and more, according to his wife.

Exasperated, Valentine Fertitta appealed his case to the Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management (OARM) — the FBI’s internal body charged with acting as a backstop against whistleblower retaliation. 

Less than a month later, the FBI opened an evaluation of his security clearance, according to their lawyer.

“The key thing is the timing,” Crotty said. “Within two weeks of Val starting this OARM process, the FBI starts to investigate Val’s suitability to hold a top-secret security clearance.”

“The way the FBI can essentially fire you without saying ‘you’re fired’ is to just revoke your clearance,” Crotty added. 

Emily Fertitta explained that the process carries with it some punitive effects. Among them: suspension of pay during the time of review.

Emily Fertitta said the investigation also put pressure on her. As a part of the security clearance evaluation, she said the bureau asked her to testify against her husband in what was going to be a three-day interview. When she asked for legal counsel, she said the FBI denied her request. 

Emily Fertitta decided to quit the agency. She said her husband’s clearance dispute is ongoing.

FBI AGENTS FIRED AFTER KNEELING AT GEORGE FLOYD PROTEST IN 2020: REPORTS

The Supreme Court has granted the FBI broad powers to make decisions about its employees and their security clearances, with few exceptions. That means that for their duration at the bureau, FBI agents have no external recourse to appeal a clearance dispute. Crotty said that goes for a lot of the internal review measures inside the FBI.

“It doesn’t matter who’s in the White House. It’s a structural FBI thing. It’s been going on since Hoover,” Crotty said, referring to the FBI’s original director. “This is an agency that makes loyalty part and parcel to its core — and if you go against it by trying any of these internal processes — [they] are going to get back at you.”

“This is what lawmakers need to know,” Crotty said. 

Emily Fertitta said other whistleblowers face similar opposition, pointing to public reporting provided by the FBI. 

The OARM, the body that Valentine Fertitta had appealed to shortly before his clearance evaluation began, records complaints that the FBI has received from whistleblowers who believe they’ve faced some sort of retribution. In the past 10 annual reports submitted to Congress, OARM has received 107 complaints. In that time, OARM identified nine cases of retaliation. 

“This is much bigger than Val and Emily. It applies to so many other people who just don’t have the ability to speak up,” Emily Fertitta said. 

She said the Biden administration did little to address the issue and hopes that, amid Trump’s openness to retool government structures, the new administration will follow through on promises of reform. 

“Congress could fix this without costing the taxpayer a dime by saying hey, if you’re a reservist at the FBI, you can go to federal court — just like an Amazon worker can — you can make that claim before a federal jury in federal court. That’s what needs to change,” Crotty said.

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“Having a couple of jury verdicts that nail the FBI on retaliation; once the FBI starts cutting checks for millions of dollars in jury verdicts, that’s how stuff gets fixed,” he added.

According to Crotty, the Fertitta family has a pending civil case against the FBI. That litigation faces delays amid pending internal FBI deliberations over Mr. Fertitta’s security clearance, he said.

The FBI declined to comment on the Fertitta case.

ELIZABETH, N.J. – With under a week to go until Election Day and New Jersey’s gubernatorial race barreling toward a possible photo finish, both major party candidates are touting robust early voting numbers.

“We’re seeing such great results in the vote by mails and the early voting,” Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill told Fox News Digital on Wednesday after a meet and greet at a senior center in this northern New Jersey city.

But Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli, in a Fox News Digital interview before huddling with supporters at a restaurant in the central New Jersey township of Robbinsville, highlighted that “we’ve had more Republicans return vote by mail ballots than ever before.”

FIVE KEY RACES TO WATCH WITH TWO WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY

The race in New Jersey — which, along with Virginia, are the only two states to hold gubernatorial contests in the year after a presidential election, giving them outsized national attention — may come down to which party does a better job energizing their voters and turning out their base.

Over 800,000 votes have already been cast in the Garden State race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, with the majority coming through mail-in-balloting.

TRUMP PARACHUTES INTO KEY 2025 RACE

But nearly a quarter of a million people have cast a ballot in early in-person voting, which kicked off on Saturday. That figure already surpasses the turnout in the nine-day early voting period in the last gubernatorial election four years ago.

Overall, roughly double the number of registered Democrats than Republicans have voted early, which continues a trend seen in the past few election cycles.

Sherrill, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who flew helicopters during her military career and briefly served as a federal prosecutor before first winning election to Congress in 2018, called the early voting numbers “really great news.”

“Certainly the trend is much better than ’21,” Sherrill noted, as she pointed to the gubernatorial election four years ago, when Ciattarelli, during his second bid for governor, came close to upsetting Murphy.

Ciattarelli, noting the in-person voting totals since Saturday, emphasized that “we’re matching them, voter for voter, here in the early voting. We’re in great shape. We’re heading toward a victory.”

MAGA STARS HIT THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN CRUCIAL GUBERNATORIAL SHOWDOWN

Asked what kind of turnout he needs next Tuesday on Election Day to overcome Sherrill’s overall early voting advantage, Ciattarelli didn’t give a number.

But he said, “It’s all about turnout, and I’m very, very pleased with the energy. The energy demonstrates that we’re gonna have a good turnout, and the fact that we’ve gotten such a warm reception in minority communities across the state, as well as the endorsement of various Democrats across state, says we’re gonna win.”

Sherrill on Thursday teams up for two events with one of the Democratic Party’s best communicators — former transportation secretary and former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. And the past two weekends some of the other biggest names in the party, Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Wes Moore of Maryland, campaigned with her.

And the most popular Democrat in the country — former President Barack Obama — will headline a rally with Sherrill in Newark on Saturday during the final weekend before Election Day.

MAGA STAR JOINS CIATTARELLI ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN NEW JERSEY AS REPUBLICANS AIM TO FLIP GOVERNOR’S OFFICE

Asked if the high-profile surrogates are being used to amp up enthusiasm among Democrats, Sherrill said, “I think we’re seeing great energy.”

But Ciattarelli claimed that “her campaign has lacked energy from the very start. It’s too late now.”

Ciattarelli was joined on the campaign trail the past two weeks by two top MAGA stars and leading allies of President Donald Trump — Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS

Trump headlined a tele-rally for Ciattarelli last Friday, on the eve of the start of early voting, and his campaign told Fox News Digital that another tele-rally with the president is expected before Election Day.

In a likely close election where getting base voters to the polls will be crucial, the hope is that the tele-rallies with the president, and the recent campaign trail stops by Ramaswamy and Donalds will energize MAGA supporters, many of whom are low-propensity voters who often skip casting ballots in non-presidential election years.

While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past 10 elections.

And Trump made major gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, losing the state by only six percentage points, a vast improvement over his 16-point deficit four years earlier.

This year’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia are viewed, in part, as ballot-box referendums on Trump’s unprecedented and explosive second-term agenda.

At this month’s second and final debate, Sherrill charged that her GOP rival had “shown zero signs of standing up to this president. In fact, the president himself called Jack 100% MAGA, and he’s shown every sign of being that.”

Asked whether he considered himself part of the MAGA movement, Ciattarelli said he was “part of a New Jersey movement.”

CLIFF-HANGER: CIATTARELLI, SHERRILL CLAIM UPPER HAND IN CRUCIAL NEW JERSEY SHOWDOWN FOR GOVERNOR

When asked to grade the president’s performance so far during his second term, Ciattarelli said, “I’d certainly give the president an A. I think he’s right about everything that he’s doing.”

“I think that tells us all we need to know about who Jack Ciattarelli’s supporting. I give him an F right now,” Sherrill responded, as she pointed to New Jersey’s high cost of living.

In the weeks since the final debate, Sherrill has highlighted that Ciattarelli gave Trump an A rating.

At her senior center stop on Wednesday, Sherrill argued that Trump is a political anchor on Ciattarelli.

“Given that the president is raising costs on everyone, it really hurts anyone associated with him and certainly my opponent has really gone in lockstep with the president, giving him an A,” she charged.

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Ciattarelli, a one-time certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics and winning election as a state lawmaker, landed Trump’s endorsement earlier this year, in the GOP gubernatorial nomination race. Trump’s backing helped Ciattarelli cruise to an easy and convincing primary victory in a nomination race that centered on support for the president.

He has repeatedly criticized Sherrill for her focus on Trump, and said earlier this month that “there’s obviously a whole lot of people across the state of New Jersey that are pleased with the job the president’s doing.”

Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida says he will introduce legislation prohibit welfare for noncitizens.

“I am going to introduce a bill to ban all non-citizens from any form of welfare. No Food Stamps. No Section 8 housing. No Medicaid. No Cash Assistance. Not one penny. Not one. If you want free stuff, go home,” he wrote in a post on X.

While U.S. citizenship is a constitutional requirement to serve in Congress, Fine recently introduced a separate bill that would prohibit individuals with dual or foreign citizenship from being elected to federal office. 

HOUSE REPUBLICAN SAYS PEOPLE CELEBRATING CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH ‘MUST BE THROWN OUT OF CIVIL SOCIETY’

“No person, without regard to whether that person is a United States national, may be elected to the office of Representative or Senator if that person is a national of any country other than the United States,” the measure reads.

“In a globalized world, dual citizenship is more common than ever, and while that’s fine for private citizens, it’s not acceptable for lawmakers entrusted with America’s national interests,” Fine noted.

REPUBLICAN LABELS MAMDANI AS ‘LITTLE MORE THAN A MUSLIM TERRORIST,’ ADVOCATES YANKING CITIZENSHIP, DEPORTATION

Fine, who previously served in the Florida state legislature, was elected to the U.S. House earlier this year after winning a special election.

Then-President-elect Donald Trump had backed Fine in November, writing on Truth Social, “Should he decide to enter this Race, Randy Fine has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, RANDY, RUN!”

‘SPEAK ENGLISH, PERIOD’: GOP BILL AXES INTERPRETER LOOPHOLE IN CITIZENSHIP EXAM

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More recently, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Fine “is doing a fantastic job representing Florida’s 6th Congressional District” and reaffirmed his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”

The U.S. is scaling back its military presence in Romania as Eastern Europe continues to grapple with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Some have expressed concern that this could mean American troops withdrawing from Europe, something the Pentagon denies.

U.S. Army Europe and Africa announced on Wednesday that the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division would redeploy to their Kentucky-based home unit without replacement. The statement explained that this was part of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s “deliberate process to ensure a balanced U.S. military force posture.”

“This is not an American withdrawal from Europe or a signal of lessened commitment to NATO and Article 5. Rather this is a positive sign of increased European capability and responsibility,” U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in the statement. “Our NATO allies are meeting President Trump’s call to take primary responsibility for the conventional defense of Europe. This force posture adjustment will not change the security environment in Europe.”

However, NATO allies and some Republican lawmakers do not see the move as a sign of trust.

WHITE HOUSE REJECTS ‘BLANK CHECKS’ FOR UKRAINE, PRESSES NATO TO SHOULDER COSTS

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., issued a joint statement rebuking the move.

“We strongly oppose the decision not to maintain the rotational U.S. brigade in Romania and the Pentagon’s process for its ongoing force posture review that may result in further drawdowns of U.S. forces from Eastern Europe,” Wicker and Rogers’ statement read. 

The lawmakers said the move goes against their March 19 declaration that they would not accept significant changes to the U.S.’s military structure “without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress.”

President Donald Trump told reporters earlier this month that the U.S. was not planning on withdrawing troops, but that “we may move some around a little bit.”

‘PUTIN IS PUSHING THE LIMITS’: EASTERN ALLIES WARN TRUMP NOT TO PULL US TROOPS

Wicker and Rogers praised Trump for the statement and added: “U.S. force posture in Europe needs to be updated as NATO shoulders additional burdens and the character of warfare changes. But that update must be coordinated widely both within the U.S. government and with NATO.”

The lawmakers took issue with the timing of the decision, pointing out that just weeks ago Russian drones violated Romanian airspace. They expressed concern that moving troops “prematurely” could undermine deterrence.

“This decision also sends the wrong signal to Russia at the very moment President Trump is applying pressure to force Vladimir Putin to come to the table to achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine,” Wicker and Rogers added. 

“The president has it exactly right: now is the time for America to demonstrate our resolve against Russian aggression. Unfortunately, the Pentagon’s decision appears uncoordinated and directly at odds with the President’s strategy.”

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Romania’s Defense Ministry said that approximately 1,000 U.S. troops would continue to be stationed in the country after the forces are scaled back, according to Reuters.

“The American decision is to stop the rotation in Europe of a brigade that had elements in several NATO countries,” the defense ministry said, according to Reuters.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released on Wednesday 197 subpoenas that the Biden administration’s FBI used to seek testimony and documents related to hundreds of Republicans and GOP entities as part of the bureau’s Arctic Frost probe, the precursor to former special counsel Jack Smith’s election investigation.

“Arctic Frost was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus,” Grassley said at a press conference. “Contrary to what Smith has said publicly, this was clearly a fishing expedition.”

Standing alongside Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., called the subpoenas “nothing short of a Biden administration enemies list.”

JACK SMITH INVESTIGATORS NEED TO ‘PAY BIG’ FOR JAN. 6 PHONE RECORDS PROBE, WARNS SEN. GRAHAM

The subpoenas included nonpublic, confidential grand jury material that Grassley said he obtained through whistleblower disclosures.

They sought certain communications with media companies, including Fox News, CBS, Sinclair and Newsmax and with “any” members and aides in Congress. They also sought sweeping financial information from conservative entities.

Grassley has been releasing troves of documents related to Arctic Frost, a probe he says was politicized and lacked basis. Smith used the probe to bring criminal charges against Trump related to the 2020 election.

Lenny Breuer, a lawyer for Smith, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital that Smith stands by his offer to appear publicly before the Senate and House to testify about his special counsel work.

“As we informed congressional leaders last week, Jack is happy to discuss his work as Special Counsel and answer any questions at a public hearing just like every other Special Counsel investigating a president has done,” Breuer said, adding that Smith wants a public hearing “so the American people can hear directly from him.”

House lawmakers have called on Smith to interview with them behind closed-doors, while Grassley has said he is still seeking more information from Smith and not ready for a public hearing.

JACK SMITH DEFENDS SUBPOENAING REPUBLICAN SENATORS’ PHONE RECORDS: ‘ENTIRELY PROPER’

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also raised at the press conference the controversial subpoenas for eight Republican senators’ phone records, which did not include the contents of phone calls but rather details about when calls were place and to whom. Cruz said he was also among the targeted senators, but he said his phone company, AT&T, resisted complying with the request and that AT&T was ordered by a federal judge not to inform Cruz about the request for a year. Grassley said Verizon told him that Cruz’s office’s Verizon landline was also “affected” but did not elaborate.

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“We are going to get the answers of every person who signed off on this abuse of power, and mark my words, there will be accountability,” Cruz said, signaling that the senators’ inquiry into Arctic Frost was far from over.

Smith brought four charges against Trump in 2023 alleging he illegally attempted to overturn the election, but the former special counsel encountered numerous hurdles during the federal court proceedings in D.C. and eventually was forced to dismiss the case after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DOJ policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents.

Colorado has accused President Donald Trump of unconstitutionally retaliating against the state by ordering U.S. Space Command to move from Colorado Springs to Alabama — punishment, the complaint says, for its mail-in voting system — in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The state alleges the relocation was politically driven, violated constitutional limits on executive power and threatened billions in economic losses.

Trump announced the move Sept. 2, ending a yearslong fight over Space Command’s home base. The complaint cites him as saying Colorado’s mail-in voting “played a big factor” in his decision.

“The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems — they do mail-in voting,” Trump is quoted as saying in the lawsuit. “They went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections, and we can’t have that. When a State is for mail-in voting, that means they want dishonest elections because that’s what that means.”

TRUMP CAPS WEEK WITH BOLD MILITARY MOVES FROM PENTAGON NAME CHANGE TO CARTEL CRACKDOWN

The 21-page lawsuit names Trump, the Defense and Air Force departments, and their secretaries as defendants and seeks to block the move through a court order.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser claims Trump’s directive “violates the Tenth Amendment, the Elections Clause, and the separation of powers” by punishing a state for how it runs its elections.

“Colorado has exercised its sovereign power to create and implement this voting system, as the Constitution expressly provides and as the Framers envisioned,” the lawsuit reads. “Sovereignty means the freedom to choose, regardless of the President’s view about the wisdom, efficacy, or appropriateness of that judgment.”

DC ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES TRUMP OVER NATIONAL GUARD ‘INVOLUNTARY MILITARY OCCUPATION’

The suit also alleges the Pentagon broke federal law by skipping required procedures and failing to notify Congress before relocating a major command.

Colorado claims the move would cost thousands of jobs, billions in investment, and billions more in taxpayer money to relocate an operational headquarters.

“Agency Defendants are expeditiously moving forward to carry out the President’s decision,” the complaint states, quoting a Pentagon spokesperson who confirmed the shift to Huntsville, Alabama.

ALABAMA LAWMAKERS HAIL TRUMP’S SPACE COMMAND HQ DECISION AND WARN DELAYS IN MOVE RISK SECURITY

Colorado’s mail-in voting system, enacted in 2013, lets voters cast ballots by mail, at drop boxes or in person. The filing calls it the “gold standard” for secure, accessible elections and notes bipartisan support. 

“Coloradans love being able to vote from home,” one Republican lawmaker said earlier this year, according to the complaint.

The state rejects Trump’s claims of “massive voter fraud” or “crooked elections,” saying its system includes strict security audits and paper-ballot safeguards. 

“Colorado and other similar States impose strenuous security requirements, with detailed security auditing, to ensure free and fair elections,” according to the complaint. “The President’s claims that foreign countries and others print millions of illegal ballots is likewise completely false. President Trump’s statements and beliefs on mail-in voting are simply untethered from the facts.”

The White House pushed back on the criticism, arguing that the decision restores Trump’s initial vision for U.S. Space Command and strengthens America’s defense posture.

“President Trump chose Huntsville to house SPACECOM during his first term – it was Joe Biden who made the politically-motivated decision to relocate the headquarters to Colorado,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The Air Force’s merit-based decision of Huntsville is a win for national security and displays President Trump’s commitment to securing the United States’ global dominance.

“This location puts them in the best situation to improve readiness and protect our national interests while providing the necessary infrastructure capacity, community support, cost-effectiveness, and more,” Kelly added.

U.S. Space Command, created during Trump’s first term in 2018 to oversee military operations in space, was permanently based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs under President Joe Biden in 2023. 

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The complaint argues Trump’s reversal violates the constitutional balance of power, which reserves election regulation to the states. “The President’s decision thus offends the fundamental design of the Constitution in two ways, violating both federalism and separation-of-powers principles,” the lawsuit states.

“If allowed to stand, the President’s action here would fundamentally alter the balance of power between the States and the federal government,” the complaint says. “Future Presidents, Republican and Democratic alike, could use the same tactics to punish States.”

Colorado is asking the court to declare Trump’s order unconstitutional, block the move, and require federal agencies to follow procedural law. The state also seeks reimbursement for legal fees.

A small contingent of Senate Republicans again joined with Senate Democrats to reject President Donald Trump’s tariffs — this time on Canadian goods.

The Senate advanced a resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on a bipartisan basis to terminate the emergency powers Trump used to declare retaliatory tariffs against Canada earlier this year.

Roughly the same core group of Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Senate Democrats to reject the duties. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., opted to vote against this latest attempt to reject Trump’s tariffs. 

SENATE REPUBLICANS DEFY VANCE’S WARNING, VOTE TO BLOCK TRUMP’S BRAZIL TARIFFS AMID SHUTDOWN

“The vice president came up yesterday to try to corral Republicans at their lunch,” Kaine said before the lunch. “That shows the White House is worried about defectors on this.”

Indeed, their votes against Trump’s tariffs on Canada came after Vice President JD Vance warned Republicans that it would be a “huge mistake” to break with the White House on the president’s tariff strategy, and he argued that using duties on countries across the globe offered leverage to generate better trade deals in return.

Paul, one of the co-sponsors of Kaine’s resolution, has consistently rejected Trump’s usage of tariffs and argued that it was a tax on consumers in the U.S. rather than on foreign countries.

SCHUMER, DEMS CALL ‘BULL—-‘ ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER FOOD STAMP SHUTDOWN THREAT

He noted that the message it would send to the White House, despite pressure from Vance to support Trump’s duties, was “that a rule by emergency is not what the Constitution intended, that taxes are supposed to originate in the House of Representatives.”

The resolution was in response to Trump’s usage of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in July to impose tariffs on Canadian goods. The tariffs on the country vary, with Trump initially placing 35% duties on the country earlier this year, along with a blanket 50% tariff on steel from other countries.

However, he recently cranked up the tariffs on Canada by 10% following an ad that ran last week that featured former President Ronald Reagan, which used audio from the former president’s 1987 “Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade.”

TRUMP SLAPS CANADA WITH EXTRA 10% TARIFF OVER ‘FRAUDULENT’ REAGAN ADVERTISEMENT: ‘HOSTILE ACT’

Trump railed against the ad, which was run by the government of Ontario, Canada, and declared, “ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” in a post on Truth Social.

The latest tariff vote is the second in a trio of resolutions from Kaine and several Senate Democrats. Despite the resolution terminating Trump’s emergency powers on tariffs in Brazil and Canada both advancing in the Senate, they will likely stall in the House.

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McConnell staked his position against the tariffs in a statement, where he argued that retaliatory tariffs have negatively affected Kentucky farmers and distillers.

“Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive. The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule. And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise,” he said. “This week, I will vote in favor of resolutions to end emergency tariff authorities.”

FIRST ON FOX: The campaign for “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar recently sent over a thousand dollars to a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that partnered with a Palestinian university with alleged terrorist ties, according to new Federal Election Commission filings reviewed by Fox News Digital.

The Palestine House of Freedom, also known by its Arabic name, “Dar Alhurriya,” is a nonprofit headquartered just blocks from the U.S. Capitol building. 

According to a video on the group’s website, it is “dedicated to the liberation of Palestine” and “the dismantling of apartheid in Palestine and the establishment of a free, democratic state from the river to the sea.”

The group’s website emphasizes that Israel is “operating as an apartheid state.” The website further states that its mission is to “embark on an aggressive educational campaign targeting everyone from lawmakers, staffers, the media, to the general public” to “show how dismantling apartheid and establishing a free democratic Palestine from the River to the Sea with equal rights, is the path to peace and will benefit all parties involved.”

PRO-PALESTINIAN CONFERENCE PANELIST CALLS US ‘EVIL,’ URGES ‘DESTROYING THE IDEA OF AMERICA’

The filings show that Omar’s campaign, Ilhan for Congress, sent $1,559.25 to the anti-Israel Palestine House of Freedom for “event tickets” in September. However, it is unclear which event the payments were for.

The Palestine House of Freedom made headlines earlier this year for hosting a fundraiser in June for the Palestinian Birzeit University, a school that has alleged terrorist ties and has seen its student council elections favor the pro-Hamas wing of student council members, according to The Washington Reporter.

The university’s student council has long been dominated by the Hamas-affiliated Al-Wafaa bloc and has been previously dubbed, “Terrorist University.” Student campus parades have also reportedly included people marching with mock suicide bomb vests and rockets, as reported by Memri TV.

A Fox News Digital review found that the Hamas-affiliated Al-Wafaa bloc has won several student council elections at Birzeit dating back to the 1990’s, including victories in 2022 and 2023. After the 2023 victory, a top Hamas operative reportedly told the Middle East Monitor the victory represents an “extension” of the movement.

“The second message is that the bloc has proven its ability to adapt to changes, overcome complexities, and fill the void created by arrests, martyrdom, or deportation,” Ismail Haniyeh, who was head of Hamas’ Political Bureau until he was assassinated by Israel Defense Forces last year in Tehran, told the Middle East Monitor.

He added that Hamas is “unbreakable” in its homeland and that it will confront the “occupier, oppression and terrorism.” This wasn’t the first time a top Hamas operative praised the Al-Wafaa bloc’s victory at Birzeit. In 2017, a top Hamas spokesperson reportedly congratulated the student body on the election results.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK LABELS NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI A ‘JIHADIST’

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., sent a letter Sept. 29 to Harvard University, expressing concern about the university’s failure to issue a public decision on its prior partnership with Birzeit. In the letter, the lawmakers called Birzeit “an institution whose student body overwhelmingly supports Hamas” and a school that “explicitly endorses a U.S. designated terrorist organization.”

Harvard announced this spring it would not renew its cooperation agreement with Birzeit and would issue a permanent decision about the partnership after an internal review, according to The Harvard Crimson.

According to the June event’s flyer, all the proceeds from the Palestine House of Freedom fundraiser, “From Birzeit and Beyond: How academia shapes resistance and resilience,” went to Birzeit.

DEMS SILENT ON PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATE’S NAZI-STYLE TATTOO AFTER KNOCKING HEGSETH FOR CHRISTIAN SYMBOL

Omar was one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress in 2018. She has taken heavy criticism for making anti-American and antisemitic comments over the years, including saying that “some people did something” in reference to the 9/11 attacks and saying that “Israel has hypnotized the world.” She later apologized for the comment about Israel.

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In September, a vote to censure Omar over comments she made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk narrowly failed to pass the House of Representatives.

Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard, the Palestinian House of Freedom, Omar’s office and Ilhan for Congress for comment but did not receive a response by press time.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reaffirmed his support for Andrew Cuomo on social media Wednesday, saying the former New York governor’s experience and toughness make him the best choice to lead New York City as voters begin casting early ballots.

Bloomberg said on X, “Four months ago I endorsed @AndrewCuomo because I thought his management experience and government know-how made him the best choice for New Yorkers. I still do. And today, with early voting underway, I wanted to reiterate my support for Andrew Cuomo.

“Being Mayor of New York City is the second toughest job in America, and the next mayor will face immense challenges.

“Andrew Cuomo has the experience and toughness to stand up for New Yorkers and get things done. I hope you will join me in supporting him.”

NEW POLL REVEALS MAMDANI STILL HOLDS COMMANDING DOUBLE-DIGIT LEAD OVER RIVALS IN NYC MAYORAL RACE

Fox News Digital has reached out to Cuomo’s campaign for comment on the matter.

Bloomberg, who served three terms as mayor, first endorsed Cuomo two weeks before New York City’s June 24 primary, just four days before early voting began.

At the time, Bloomberg said he cares “deeply about the future of our city, and since leaving office, it has been difficult to watch its struggles, especially since the pandemic. In sizing up the field in the race for mayor, there is one candidate whose management experience and government know-how stand above the others: Andrew Cuomo.”

With just over a week until Election Day, state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani holds a double-digit, 10-point lead in the race for mayor of New York City, though Cuomo is narrowing the gap, according to the latest public polling.

NEW POLL REVEALS MAMDANI’S LEAD IS SHRINKING AS CUOMO GAINS GROUND IN NYC SHOWDOWN

Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist state lawmaker from Queens, shocked the political world in June by defeating Cuomo and nine other candidates to win the Democratic nomination. He now holds 43% support among likely voters, according to a survey released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University.

Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid multiple scandals and is running as an independent after losing the primary, had 33% support in the poll.

The survey was conducted Thursday through Monday, after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams endorsed Cuomo in a bid to defeat Mamdani. Adams, who had been seeking re-election as an independent, dropped out late last month, though his name remains on the ballot.

FINAL STRETCH: MAMDANI’S LARGE LEAD SHRINKING AS CUOMO GAINS GROUND IN NYC MAYORAL RACE

Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, running again as the Republican nominee, had 14% support in the poll. The poll also showed 6% of likely voters are undecided and 3% refused to respond.

Mamdani’s 10-point advantage over Cuomo is down from his 13-point lead in Quinnipiac’s previous poll, which was conducted at the beginning of October.

Cuomo sharpened his attacks on Mamdani in the final stretch, warning that “mayhem” would follow a Mamdani victory.

Meanwhile, Sliwa, a longtime fixture in New York City politics, has faced mounting pressure to drop out, clearing the way for a one-on-one race between Cuomo and Mamdani.

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Among those urging Sliwa to end his bid is billionaire businessman and conservative radio host John Catsimatidis, a top New York City Republican and ally of President Donald Trump.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser, Andrew Mark Miller and Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump announced that he has ordered the United States to resume nuclear weapons testing “immediately,” saying he directed the Department of War to match other nations’ programs. He called the move a necessary step to maintain global parity.

Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday night: “The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office.”

“Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years,” Trump said. “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

The announcement comes days after Trump warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the U.S. has a nuclear submarine stationed “right off their shores.” The warning followed Russia’s recent missile tests.

TRUMP REPOSITIONS 2 NUCLEAR SUBMARINES AFTER ‘HIGHLY PROVOCATIVE’ RUSSIAN COMMENTS

Trump made the comments during a conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday morning, saying the U.S. is “not playing games” with Putin.

“Russia said this week that they’ve tested a new missile that can go more than 8,000 miles. Is that saber-rattling for you? What is that?” a reporter asked.

PUTIN HAILS SUCCESSFUL TEST OF NUCLEAR-POWERED UNDERWATER TORPEDO

“I know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores. So, I mean, it doesn’t have to go 8,000 miles, and they’re not playing games with us. We’re not playing games with them either,” Trump responded.

“We test missiles all the time. But, you know, we do have a submarine, a nuclear submarine. We don’t need to go 8,000 miles. And I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying either, by the way. You ought to get the war ended. A war that should have taken one week is now in its soon [to be] fourth year. That’s what you ought to do instead of testing missiles,” he added.

TRUMP FREEZES OUT PUTIN FOR LACK OF ‘ENOUGH ACTION’ TOWARD PEACE — FUTURE TALKS UNCERTAIN

Trump later hinted he may impose additional sanctions on Russia, telling reporters simply, “You’ll find out.”

Russia’s defense ministry said Sunday it successfully tested a nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, claiming it can travel more than 8,000 miles and pierce defense systems. Putin said Russia is moving to deploy the weapon.

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Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin the missile traveled 8,700 miles and remained airborne for about 15 hours during its October 21 test.

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

The legal team representing two boys suspended for questioning a transgender classmate’s access to the boys’ locker room have now filed an amended federal complaint alleging fresh factual claims and a new conspiracy charge, as they escalate their federal case against the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) in Virginia.

America First Legal and the Founding Freedoms Law Center, who are representing the boys and their families, added new factual allegations to their previously submitted federal complaint on Wednesday, alleging LCPS engaged in a conspiracy to retaliate against the boys. It also claimed there were alleged inconsistencies in the district’s handling of its Title IX investigation that found the boys guilty of sexual harassment and suspended them for 10 days.   

“Loudoun County Public Schools’ Title IX investigation into our clients inexplicably relied on non-credible evidence, ignored credible witness testimony, failed to interview key
witnesses, deleted potentially exonerating video evidence, and failed to disclose LCPS’s own admission that the allegations against our clients did not constitute sexual harassment,” said Ian Prior, Senior Counsel at America First Legal. 

VIRGINIA PARENTS CRUSH FUNDRAISING GOAL FOR TRANS LOCKER ROOM FIGHT AFTER JUDGE ORDERED MASSIVE BOND 

“Making matters worse, and as we set forth in the amended complaint, it appears that the school board was passing along confidential information to a political action committee for the purpose of further retaliating against our clients and their families. If proven true at trial, and we intend to do exactly that, this entire affair is a travesty of justice, a waste of taxpayer money to defend, and everything that is wrong with the Loudoun County School Board and its misplaced priorities.”

Earlier this year, LCPS, located in Northern Virginia, launched a Title IX sexual harassment investigation into two high-school-aged boys after they were videotaped by a biological female who identified as transgender inside the boys’ locker room. The video caught them outwardly complaining to each other about the fact that there was a biological girl who identified as a boy using their facilities.

Before taking the case to federal court, the boys and their parents sought to appeal LCPS’s Title IX sexual harassment finding to keep the boys from being suspended or marked as sexual harassers on their permanent record. However, their appeal was ultimately denied by the district, leading the families to pursue action in federal court.

On Wednesday, the families turned up the heat with fresh allegations not laid out in their original complaint, including that the district conspired with a local political action committee, Loudoun for All, for the purpose of retaliating against the boys and their families. 

The amended complaint also points to inconsistencies in the district’s Title IX investigation, such as relying on non-credible evidence, ignoring credible evidence and witness testimony, misrepresenting evidence, failing to interview key witnesses, and failing to disclose potentially exonerating evidence. 

PRESSURE MOUNTS ON VIRGINIA DEMS TO CLEARLY STATE VIEW ON TRANS BATHROOMS AFTER BOMBSHELL EMAILS

The fresh complaint claims that days after the federal court issued a preliminary injunction halting LCPS from suspending the boys or making Title IX findings part of their student record, the district reached out to Loudoun For All and corroborated with them in a press release and other messaging materials that included “a number of false and defamatory allegations” used to generate a public narrative against the boys and their families. The press releases and other materials, such as a timeline of the case’s events, were listed on the political action committee’s website, Facebook page, Reddit account and Bluesky account, and allegedly also contained privileged, confidential information pertaining to the case cited in a subsequent local media report titled, “Locker Room Lawsuit Against LCPS Involves Misinformation, Loudoun4All Says.” 

The press release Loudoun For All put out accused the boys’ parents of “orchestrat[ing] a coordinated campaign of disinformation, knowingly misrepresenting facts to fuel political outrage,” and argued that they were trying to “inflame voters ahead of an election.”

It also claimed that 24 witnesses corroborated that the boys’ called the female student, who identifies as transgender, a “girl,” “it,” “girl-boy,” and told them “get out” while inside the boy’s locker room. But, according to the boys’ legal counsel, witnesses never corroborated these claims and the female student’s accusations of when the harassment took place appeared to be inconsistent.

Loudoun For All did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

WOMAN DISROBES AT CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD MEETING IN PROTEST OF LOCKER ROOM POLICIES  

Meanwhile, the complaint also alleges that LCPS failed to disclose that a video cited as evidence in the district’s Title IX finding against the boys included the female student saying “I got it” while laughing. It adds that the district allegedly deleted other video the female student took of boys using or coming out of the bathroom.

The amended complaint notes that despite inconsistencies in the female student’s story at times, they were credited with “superior credibility” by Title IX investigators in the district. Furthermore, it claims that a threat assessment of the male students found no threat and the district had previously concluded that a situation similar to the one at hand resulted in the district finding no cause for a sexual harassment under federal law.   

LCPS declined to comment on the amended complaint, telling Fox News Digital that it is the district’s practice not to comment on pending legal matters.

Shortly after LCPS denied the boys’ Title IX appeal, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found LCPS violated Title IX by discriminating against the boys on the basis of sex. Specifically, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights determined LCPS “failed to meaningfully investigate complaints of sexual harassment by two male students concerning the presence of a member of the opposite sex in male-only intimate spaces yet thoroughly investigated the female student’s sexual harassment complaint about the boys.”

Both of the boy’s parents told Fox News Digital in August that their sons attempted to voice discomfort to school officials about the female classmate using their locker room, but that their complaints fell on deaf ears.   

The Trump administration indicated LCPS would lose federal funding if they did not rescind its suspensions and sexual harassment findings against the two boys, review its initial findings, and investigate the Title IX complaint the boys filed against the female student for videotaping them in the locker room, which the boys’ attorneys say was ignored by the district.

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“The amended complaint we filed today unveils Loudoun County Public Schools’ sham targeting of these boys while it ignored numerous, credible threats to their privacy and safety,” said Victoria Cobb, President of the Founding Freedoms Law Center. “As alleged, a female student repeatedly filmed male students, including while using the bathroom, yet Loudoun did nothing. Instead, Loudoun appears to have conspired with an outside political organization to continue its attacks against these boys and their parents.”

The Trump administration has also included LCPS among a list of five Northern Virginia school districts in violation of Title IX due to their locker room and bathroom policies. As a result of that determination, the districts’ federal funding will now be “done by reimbursement only” and the Trump administration commenced proceedings to potentially terminate their funding altogether, the Education Department indicated over the summer. 

FIRST ON FOX: Fairfax County officials are in the hot seat after the Trump Department of Homeland Security says their sanctuary policies allowed an illegal alien to walk free despite having been arrested ten times and having 19 criminal charges, including for malicious shooting and unlawful wounding.

The top Fairfax County official is disputing DHS’ characterization of it as a sanctuary county. However, Salvadoran national Jorge Armando Melendez-Gonzalez, 27, was arrested 10 times and has been charged with 19 different crimes in just over seven years, between March 19, 2018, and July 18, 2025, according to DHS.

He was finally arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 24 after DHS said officials at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center declined to honor an immigration detainer it lodged against him on July 18.

The July detainer was not the first time Fairfax County ignored an ICE request to hold Melendez-Gonzalez. ICE also lodged a detainer against him in 2023. According to DHS, “Fairfax County officials refused to honor the immigration detainer and released this dangerous criminal alien back into the community.”

ICE NABS 3-TIME DEPORTED ILLEGAL ALIEN CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER: ‘GOOD RIDDANCE’

The agency said that Melendez-Gonzalez entered the U.S. illegally in June 2015. An immigration judge ordered his removal from the country just over a year later in October 2016.

Despite this, Melendez-Gonzalez stayed in the country for just over ten years, racking up a long list of offenses in Virginia. He has arrests for three counts of malicious shooting, unlawful wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, assault and battery, assault on a family member, grand larceny, trespassing, possessing a false government identification, public intoxication, disturbing the peace and making a false statement to a law enforcement officer.

He has two felony convictions for unlawful wounding stemming from a 2023 shooting, which carry sentences of three years in confinement. However, his sentence was suspended down to a year.

According to a statement by the Fairfax County Police Department, detectives arrested Melendez-Gonzalez in August 2023 in connection with a shooting that injured three men outside a business in Falls Church, Virginia.

Fox News Digital reached out to Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano, a Democrat, for the reason for Melendez-Gonzalez’s sentence being suspended. A spokesperson for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office declined to comment, referring Fox News Digital to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, which the spokesperson said, “is responsible for handling ICE detainers.”

SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SCREAMS DURING VIRAL DC ARREST: ‘WHAT I VOTED FOR’

Allyson Conroy, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, which runs the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, told Fox News Digital that “we did not have a judicial warrant on file from ICE for Jorge Armando Melendez-Gonzalez for either date, Aug. 28, 2023, nor for July 18 of this year.”

Conroy said that “as such, the Sheriff’s Office could not maintain custody over Mr. Melendez-Gonzalez.”

Regarding the suspension of Melendez-Gonalez’s sentence, Conroy said that decision “is in the discretion of the judge or the assigned Commonwealth’s Attorney,” adding, “You should contact those individuals for further information.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to representatives for Fairfax County regarding the Fairfax County Circuit Court’s decision but did not immediately receive a response.

Fairfax County Chairman Jeffrey McKay, also a Democrat, responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by saying, “Fairfax County, through the Board of Supervisors, does not control or make decisions regarding ICE detainers or judicial sentencing; those responsibilities fall to the Sheriff and the courts, respectively.”

He said that Fairfax County “does not consider itself a sanctuary jurisdiction and continues to follow all applicable federal and state laws.”

ILLEGAL MIGRANT WITH HISTORY OF CHILD ABUSE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO RAM ICE AGENTS IN COLORADO

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, however, placed the blame squarely on the county’s sanctuary policies.

“These sanctuary policies make Virginians less safe,” McLaughlin told Fox News Digital.

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“Fairfax County refused to honor two ICE arrest detainers and chose to release this criminal back onto Virginia’s streets. Virginia sanctuary politicians protected this criminal illegal alien and allowed him to terrorize American citizens,” she added.

“Thanks to the brave men and women of ICE law enforcement, this serial violent criminal with 10 previous arrests, is now off of Virginia’s streets,” said McLaughlin.

As President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping prepare to meet Thursday, one soft-spoken U.S. export star will take center stage: soybeans. The humble crop, a $30 billion pillar of U.S. agriculture exports, has become a powerful symbol of the economic interdependence and political tension between Washington and Beijing. 

In short, soybeans have come to embody the volatility of the U.S.–China trade war. Beijing halted purchases of American soybeans on the heels of retaliatory tariffs on the crop, responding to Trump’s earlier duties on Chinese goods. 

China pivoted to suppliers in Brazil and Argentina, a move that underscored how quickly global trade patterns can shift and how vulnerable U.S. farmers are to diplomatic rifts between Washington and Beijing.

CHINA TRADE FREEZE SQUEEZES US SOYBEAN FARMERS AS COSTS CLIMB, PROFITS VANISH

What began as tit-for-tat posturing between the world’s two largest economies has turned into a symbolic and economic gut punch for Trump’s rural base, whose livelihoods depend on the very trade ties now caught in the crossfire.

According to the American Soybean Association, the U.S. has traditionally served as China’s leading soybean source. Prior to the 2018 trade conflict, roughly 28% of U.S. soybean production was exported to China. Those crop exports fell sharply to 11% in 2018 and 2019, recovered to 31% by 2021 amid pandemic-era demand and eased back to 22% in 2024.

But some policy experts argue that China’s shift away from U.S. soybeans was already underway.

BEIJING IS QUIETLY DICTATING THE TRADE WAR’S NEXT MOVES AS TRUMP AND XI PREPARE TO MEET

“China was always going to reduce its reliance on the United States for food security,” Bryan Burack, a senior policy advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at the Heritage Foundation told Fox News Digital. “China started signing purchase agreements with other countries for soybeans well before President Trump took office,” he said, adding that Beijing has “been decoupling from the U.S. for a long time.”

“Unfortunately, the only way for us to respond is to do the same and that process is painful and excruciating,” Burack said.

But for farmers thousands of miles from Washington and Beijing, those policy shifts translate into shrinking markets and tighter margins.

“We rely on trade with other countries, specifically China, to buy our soybeans,” Brad Arnold, a multigenerational soybean farmer in southwestern Missouri, told FOX Business. He said that China’s decision to boycott U.S. soybean purchases “has huge impacts on our business and our bottom line.”

AMERICAN SOYBEAN FARMERS FACE FINANCIAL CRISIS AS CHINA TRADE DISPUTE THREATENS LIVELIHOODS

“There are domestic uses for soybeans, looking at renewable diesel, biodiesel specifically produced from soybeans,” Arnold said. “In the grand scheme of things, that’s such a small percentage currently, you know it’s going to take a customer like China to buy beans to make a noticeable impact. You can’t take our number one customer, shut them off and just overnight find a replacement.”

That reliance on China adds new weight to the diplomatic stage this week, as Trump and Xi prepare to meet in South Korea. The two leaders will meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Busan, South Korea, marking their first in-person talks since Trump’s return to office. 

Ahead of the meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected China to delay rare earth restrictions and resume U.S. soybean purchases, calling it part of a “substantial framework” both sides aim to maintain. Bessent also said that trade negotiations were moving toward averting a fresh 100% U.S. tariff on Chinese goods.

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And in a possible gesture of easing tensions, Reuters reported that China bought around 180,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the run-up to Trump and Xi’s meeting.

Whether it marks a true thaw in U.S.–China trade relations or just a temporary reprieve, the purchase underscores how deeply intertwined diplomacy and agriculture remain.

Fox Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.

A Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois has been indicted on federal charges relating to an incident in which protesters allegedly attacked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle outside a Chicago suburb facility last month.

Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh, 26, who has branded herself a “Gen Z influencer” running for Congress in Illinois’s 9th District, is accused of conspiracy to impede or injure an ICE officer while on duty in Broadview, Illinois, Sept. 26, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Abughazaleh had been expected to win the Democratic nomination to succeed Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., 81, who is retiring.

Five other protesters were also indicted with Abughazaleh, including one of her associates and two other political candidates. 

DHS RIPS ‘DISHONEST, DESPERATE’ GEN Z CANDIDATE WHO RAGED AGAINST KRISTI NOEM’S ‘CRIMES’ AT ANTI-ICE PROTEST

The defendants include Andre Martin, described in the indictment as an associate who worked for or with her; Michael Rabbit, a Democratic committee person in Chicago’s 45th Ward; Catherine Sharp, a candidate for the Cook County Board of Commissioners; and Brian Straw and Joselyn Walsh, who are listed as Illinois residents.

According to the indictment, a group of individuals surrounded a government vehicle with “intent to hinder or impede” operations by “aggressively” banging and pushing the car. The protesters allegedly etched derogatory messages including the word “PIG” into the car, broke a side mirror and damaged a rear windshield wiper.

The indictment also alleges that Abughazaleh moved to the front of the government vehicle during the confrontation, pressing her hands against the hood and using her body to block its path. 

“No one is above the law, and no one has the right to obstruct it,” Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general, said in a statement Wednesday. “The Department of Justice will never tolerate such conduct and will continue to hold accountable anyone who seeks to impede lawful federal operations.”

“All federal officials must be able to discharge the duties of their office without confronting force, intimidation or threats,” Andrew S. Boutros, United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, added in a statement Wednesday.  

“As we have warned repeatedly, we will seek to hold accountable those who cross the line from peaceful protests to unlawful actions or conspiracies that interrupt, hinder or impede the due administration of Justice.”

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED AFTER RAMMING BORDER PATROL IN CHICAGO AMID VIOLENT CLASH WITH PROTESTERS

Abughazaleh responded to the charges in a post on X Wednesday, claiming she is being targeted for exercising her First Amendment rights.

“This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt at silencing dissent, a right protected under the First Amendment,” Abughazaleh said. “This case is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish those who dare to speak up. That’s why I’m going to fight these unjust charges.”

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge April Perry, who is also presiding over a separate case involving President Donald Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. Perry had previously blocked the deployment of troops, saying there was no evidence of a “danger of rebellion” in the state after the Trump administration had requested an emergency stay.

ARCHITECT OF LA ICE RAIDS REPORTEDLY ARRIVES IN CHICAGO AS FOCUS SHIFTS TO WINDY CITY, AGENT’S HISTORY

Protests at the ICE facility have recently thrust Abughazaleh into the spotlight, including an incident last month when an agent reportedly threw her to the ground, a moment that went viral on social media.

The “Gen Z influencer” is a former video producer at the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, which has developed a large TikTok following. 

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Abughazaleh’s indictment comes shortly after another Democratic politician, Rep. LaMonica McIver D-N.J., was charged with assaulting ICE agents, underscoring an increase in cases involving political figures allegedly interfering with immigration enforcement.

Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.

Halloween is only days away, and parents and children are flooding stores in search of the best costumes and the scariest monster, vampire and ghoul decorations.

But the author of new children’s book “All Hallows’ Eve” is calling on families to search for something else: the true spiritual meaning of Halloween.

“By writing this story, I wanted to try to do my little part to reclaim Halloween for what it truly is: a deeply spiritual holiday centered on prayer, penance, remembrance of the dead,” said Anthony DeStefano, an author known for his Christian-themed books for adults and children.

“I wanted to give children and their parents an engaging way to celebrate Halloween in line with their faith without losing the fun, the mystery, and even the scary excitement that kids naturally love about that season.”

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DeStefano said he wants his faith-based book to put “the ‘hallow’ back in Halloween” as celebrations and spending hit record highs. In 2025, Americans are expected to spend a record $13.1 billion on celebrating Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation.  

DeStefano says his message is especially relevant today, pointing to the death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and the shooting at a school Mass at Minneapolis’ Annunciation Catholic Church, as reminders of the reality of evil and risks that can come with openly expressing one’s faith.

“I do not think these are isolated events,” he said. “I think they’re symptoms of a deeper hostility toward faith that’s been very apparent in the way Hollywood, the legacy media, the academic world, and the left have been mocking religion for decades.” 

“Halloween isn’t about glorifying darkness,” DeStefano said. “It’s about shining a light on the reality of death, the fact that eternal life has triumphed, and that’s what makes it so powerful if we understand it correctly.” 

DeStefano warned that modern culture has distanced itself from those roots. He said Halloween has become a “festival of evil,” and embracing the dark side of the holiday can be “fundamentally unhealthy.” 

Halloween has long been marked by ghost stories, cursed dolls and evil spirits. Films and tales often center on exorcisms, haunted houses and witches casting spells from bubbling cauldrons to curse others. 

He said that there has been a growing fascination within the media that “glorifies” evil and that this kind of entertainment can “dull our moral senses.”

HORROR FRIGHTENS FANS FAR BEYOND HALLOWEEN

“All Hallows’ Eve” tells the story of a group of friends who stumble upon a mysterious old woman who sweeps graves in a cemetery every night, according to the book description. She prays for the souls of the dead buried below, who are stuck in purgatory, and teaches the children the true meaning of the holiday. 

Purgatory is understood as a temporary and intermediate afterlife state that provides spiritual cleansing to souls before entering heaven, per Catholic doctrine. 

In the Catholic tradition, All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day take place over three consecutive days known collectively as Allhallowtide, a time to honor the saints and pray for the souls of the dead.

TRICK OR TREAT: CONGRESS FACES ‘CHAMBER OF HORRORS’ AS GOVERNMENT FUNDING DEADLINE LOOMS

DeStefano said he’s not discouraging families from enjoying the usual Halloween traditions but urged parents to teach their children about the holiday’s origins and the importance of honoring the dead.

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He said Halloween can also carry a message of hope. He said dressing up as a mummy, ghost, or skeleton can be a good reminder that Halloween is also a time to pray for loved ones who have passed away.

“If someone we love has died, if our grandmother or grandfather has died, someday we’re going to get to see them again in heaven, and we’re going to be able to run up to them again, kiss them, hug them, and feel the warmth of their skin and hear their voices again,” he said. “That’s what this holiday is about.”

When President Donald Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, it could reset relations with the global power that’s long been defined as America’s greatest geopolitical threat.

The meeting comes at a critical moment — as both nations navigate escalating trade tensions, military posturing in the Pacific and a race for dominance in critical technologies that will shape the century ahead.

Global markets will be watching closely to see how the meeting unfolds. A successful meeting could end with the U.S. backing off of its threat of triple-digit tariffs and China allowing for more exports of rare earth minerals and magnets.

The Trump administration has announced the world’s two biggest economies have brokered the framework of an agreement both sides may sign during the meeting of principals on Thursday. The agreement would see Beijing defer export restrictions and avert the additional 100% tariff that was set to take effect on Saturday — an effective return to the status quo before the trade standoff began in the spring.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES MEETING WITH XI JINPING AT SOUTH KOREA APEC SUMMIT SCHEDULED FOR NEXT MONTH

Other U.S. priorities are sure to come up: increasing Chinese purchases of American agricultural products, finalizing the Chinese sale of TikTok and getting China to do more about the flow of precursor chemicals for drugs like fentanyl to the U.S.

“China’s going to be working with me,” Trump said when asked what Beijing would do to cut back on fentanyl trafficking.

Xi, meanwhile, is expected to try to get Trump to understand his side on the Taiwan issue. U.S. military planners for years have expected Beijing to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027 and prepared for a war scenario in which the U.S. would step in on behalf of the island democracy.

TRUMP ARRIVES IN SOUTH KOREA FOR KEY TALKS AHEAD OF APEC SUMMIT, XI MEETING — NO KIM JONG UN REUNION

Trump struck an optimistic tone about the planned meetup in Busan, South Korea — his first sit-down with Xi in six years.

“That’s a big, big meeting, and I think it’s going to work out very well, actually. I think it’s going to be great for everybody,” Trump said during a dinner with business leaders Tuesday in Tokyo.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Trump and Xi would “consummate [the TikTok] transaction in South Korea on Thursday.”

But others are less optimistic that TikTok will hand over total control to an independent U.S. company.

“I believe Xi Jinping views this as a strategic asset,” Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chair of the House Select Committee on competition with China told “‘Face the Nation.”

“That’s why he didn’t want to sell it to some of the other American companies that were interested in purchasing it. So as long as they’re involved, I think we have to recognize that TikTok, even an American version, still could be open to influence from the Chinese Communist Party.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to reassure Taipei that “no one is contemplating” veering away from Taiwan in exchange for preferential trade terms.

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The summit comes just after Trump shored up relations with Japan and South Korea.

“I want to just let you know anytime you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there,” Trump said to Japan’s new prime minister, Senae Takaichi. “We are an ally at the strongest level.”

With less than a week until Election Day, Zohran Mamdani holds a double-digit, 10-point lead in the race for the nation’s most populous city, but former Gov. Andrew Cuomo keeps narrowing the gap, according to the latest public polling.

Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist state lawmaker from the New York City borough of Queens, who shocked the political world in June with his convincing win over Cuomo and nine other candidates to capture the Democratic Party’s mayoral nomination, stands at 43% support among likely voters, according to a survey released Wednesday from Quinnipiac University.

Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid multiple scandals and who is running as an Independent candidate in the general election after losing the primary, had 33% support in the survey.

The survey was conducted Thursday to Monday, after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams endorsed Cuomo in a bid to defeat Mamdani. The embattled Democratic mayor had been running for re-election as an Independent but dropped out of the race late last month, although his name remains on the ballot.

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING AND ANALYSIS ON THE NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL ELECTION

Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee in the Democratic-dominated city, stood at 14% in the poll. According to Quinnipiac University, 6% of likely voters are undecided and 3% refused to respond. 

CHECK OUT WHICH CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR THIS MAJOR NEW YORK CITY NEWSPAPER ENDORSED

“Make no mistake: The race is tightening, and Andrew Cuomo is closing in fast,” Cuomo campaign spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in a statement. 

Mamdani’s 10-point advantage over Cuomo is down from his 13-point lead in Quinnipiac’s previous poll, which was conducted at the beginning of October. And this latest poll matches the Suffolk University poll released Monday that similarly found Mamdani losing ground with a now 10-point lead. 

“This is the second poll in a week showing Zohran Mamdani stuck below 45 percent of the vote — despite a lack of scrutiny and glowing press coverage — and Andrew Cuomo gaining,” Azzopardi said, while adding that Mamdani is “stuck in the mud.”

“The momentum is with Andrew Cuomo — and it’s only growing everyday,” Cuomo’s campaign said. 

Cuomo has turned up the volume on his criticisms of Mamdani during the closing stretch of the campaign, with dire warnings that “mayhem” would follow a Mamdani victory in the mayoral election.

When asked by Fox News’s Alexis McAdams if Mamdani thinks he “has it in the bag,” Mamdani said on Monday that he isn’t taking anything for granted. 

“If you want to take something for granted, that’s what Andrew Cuomo did in the primary. We don’t want to end up like Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani said. 

Meanwhile, Sliwa, a longtime fixture in New York City politics, has been the target of a pressure campaign to drop out of the race to set up a one-on-one matchup between Cuomo and Mamdani, in a frantic effort to avert a Mamdani victory. 

Among those urging Sliwa to end his bid is billionaire businessman and conservative radio host John Catsimatidis, a top New York City Republican and ally of President Donald Trump.

The Ugandan-born Mamdani, if elected, would become the first Muslim and first Millennial mayor in New York City’s history.

Mamdani surged to the Democratic primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City’s high cost of living. It was fueled by a grassroots army of supporters and backing from top national progressive champions, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The 34-year-old made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) “tuition-free,” freezing rents on municipal housing, offering free childcare for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores.

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Mamdani has been heavily criticized by his rivals not only for his far-left proposals, but also for his criticism of Israel, his past negative comments regarding the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and his proposal to shift certain responsibilities away from the NYPD and focus on social services and community-based programs.

The Mamdani campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s comment request. 

FIRST ON FOX: Law enforcement officers have made more than 1,700 arrests in Memphis, Tennessee, in the one month since the Trump administration began surging resources to the notoriously crime-ridden city, according to statistics shared with Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

People were arrested for homicides, drugs, gun charges and sex offenses, and they included 126 “known gang members,” according to the data. Additionally, seven dozen missing children were located, and 293 firearms were seized as part of the Department of Justice-led effort.

Attorney General Pam Bondi thanked Memphis’ Democratic leadership for its cooperation in a statement to Fox News Digital and touted the department’s successes.

“Tolerating crime is a choice. Under President Trump, we choose law and order: residents of our cities do not have to live in fear of violent crime,” Bondi said. “Our federal surge into Memphis has put gang members behind bars, rescued dozens of children, and proven that collaboration between federal and local law enforcement can quickly make American cities safe again. I am grateful to all of our partners, especially Memphis leadership, for working closely alongside our agents.”

TRUMP ORDERS NATIONAL GUARD, FBI TO MEMPHIS IN NEW CRIME CRACKDOWN

A review by local outlet WSMV found that Memphis had the highest violent crime rate in the country in 2024. A city dashboard showed that since Sept. 1, serious crime in Memphis has dropped 46%.

The statistics provided to Fox News Digital also included details of several arrests. They showed an alleged All On The Blade gang member was arrested for first degree murder, an alleged Bullet to Bullet gang member was arrested for attempted second degree murder, an alleged Sureno 13 gang member was arrested while allegedly inside a stolen car containing methamphetamine and two Chinese noncitizens, including one allegedly in the country illegally, were arrested with more than $1 million in cash on them.

More than a dozen federal agencies are participating in the surge, which Trump announced as a “Memphis Safe Task Force” from the Oval Office last month alongside Bondi and other Cabinet members and Tennessee leaders.

A person familiar with the operation said the federal presence, including the National Guard, will remain in Memphis for now and that there is no set end date.

In addition to National Guard troops, the DOJ’s components on the ground in Memphis include the FBI; U.S. Marshals Service; the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A string of local and state law enforcement are also involved.

MEMPHIS RESIDENTS SPLIT OVER NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT TO FIGHT CITY’S CRIME

The task force represents a broader trend of the Trump administration executing crime and immigration enforcement operations in blue cities that the president has described as crime-infested “war zones,” a characterization that state and local leaders have widely rejected. Chicago, Portland, and parts of California have all been targets.

In stark contrast to the mass protests and federal lawsuits that cropped up in those jurisdictions, Memphis has been more welcoming of the federal and military reinforcements. Tennessee is a solid red state, and Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, approved of deploying National Guard troops to aid in the crackdown. The governor was sued by some local leaders over the decision.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young has been less warm than Lee to the task force initiative but has remained cooperative. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

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In a viral clip, a Memphis resident was seen thanking Trump this month while saying she has no interest in politics.

“I will say thank you to Trump for bringing these National Guards and doing what they’re doing down here in Memphis,” the woman said. “For the first time in five years — I’ve been in my home for five years — and for the first time my kids have been able to play in the backyard and be able to do it comfortably. I haven’t heard a gunshot in two weeks.”

FIRST ON FOX: A former Biden administration spokesman and a veteran GOP communicator who both advise affordability-focused policy group the Cost Coalition are backing New Jersey Democrat Mikie Sherrill’s run for governor, Fox News Digital has learned.

“After analyzing the plans of both candidates in the New Jersey governor’s race, the difference between Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli on this defining issue of affordability is enormous,” Cost Coalition advisers Andrew Bates and Terry Holt wrote in their joint endorsement first obtained by Fox News Digital Wednesday. “Mikie Sherrill has bold ideas to use the specific powers of the governorship to make a difference that families will feel.”  

Bates served as the senior deputy press secretary of the White House under the Biden administration, and was a strong supporter of the former president amid his mounting health concerns during the 2024 election. Holt is a longtime Republican communicator and strategist who previously served as former Republican House Speaker John Boehner’s senior adviser, and as the national spokesman for the 2004 Bush–Cheney campaign before launching his own communications firm, Holt Communication Strategies. 

The Cost Coalition is a bipartisan group of President Donald Trump critics focused on lowering costs for U.S. residents and slashing the national debt by supporting leaders who “invest in solutions that strengthen the economic security of American families,” according to the group. 

NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR HOPEFUL ATTENDS ‘NO KINGS’ PROTEST, VOWS TO FIGHT TRUMP ‘TOOTH AND NAIL’

The Cost Coalition launched in April 2025, with Holt and Bates slamming Trump’s economic policies in comment to The Associated Press at the time, claiming the president’s “agenda is an economic crisis threatening your livelihood and standard of living.”

The Cost Coalition includes a handful of allies from former Vice President Kamala Harris‘ 2024 campaign for the Oval Office, including Republican strategist Austin Weatherford, who headed up “Republicans for Harris;” Harris’ former national faith and engagement director Rev. Jennifer Butler; and the Harris campaign’s national director of veteran and military family engagement, The Associated Press reported in May. 

The Cost Coalition’s endorsement of Sherrill Wednesday argued that policies coming out of Washington, D.C., are “worsening the cost crisis in America, forcing New Jersey families to pay higher and higher prices for everything from utilities to groceries to health care.”

“Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, it’s undeniable that New Jerseyans need economic relief from inflationary tariffs, cuts to American energy and health care made to lower taxes for the rich, and trillions in new debt,” the pair wrote. “To take on the growing affordability crisis, the bipartisan Cost Coalition was founded to support leadership that puts pocketbook issues of working families front and center.” 

Affordability is a top issue for both Sherrill and her Republican opponent for the governorship, Jack Ciattarelli, in a state notorious for sky-high taxes and chronic housing woes. Sherrill has campaigned on ordering a state of emergency over its electricity prices in order to freeze rates, supporting consolidating school districts to drive down property taxes, and lowering food costs by encouraging additional grocery store locations in the state to promote competition, the New Jersey Monitor reported.

SHERRILL PULLS OUT ALL STOPS WITH OBAMA ENDORSEMENT, STAR-STUDDED NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN PUSH AS RACE TIGHTENS

“Sherrill will reduce grocery costs by rooting out price gouging and ensuring small businesses can compete with big chains,” Holt and Bates continued in their endorsement. “And she will cut red tape that is keeping home prices high, stop pharmacy middle-men from making drug prices even higher than they already are, and help create and keep good-paying New Jersey jobs.”

“Sherrill has been straight with voters about her opposition to the inflationary Washington policies that are supercharging costs, including tariffs — a historic tax hike on working people — cuts to health care and clean energy, and adding trillions in new, unsustainable debt to give tax breaks to those who need them least,” they added. 

Ciattarelli, who is backed by Trump, also has focused his campaign on affordability, pinning blame on Democrats for skyrocketing electricity costs in the state, vowing to ban wind farms and instead further diversify the state’s energy resources with natural gas and nuclear power. Ciattarelli also has supported capping property taxes, restructuring income tax rates and rolling out incentives for small businesses, such as shielding small business owners from paying taxes on their first $100,000 in income. 

“Energy — electricity in specific — is one of the reasons why we have an affordability crisis,” the Republican candidate said during an October appearance on “Fox & Friends.” “The current administration has failed us. My opponent has doubled down. There’ll be no wind farms off our Jersey Shore, we’ll pull out of RGGI — which is a carbon tax policy that’s failed our state — and we’ll lower electricity bills on day one.”

Holt and Bates said they watched the New Jersey gubernatorial debates and gave Ciattarelli the “benefit of the doubt” before endorsing Sherrill. 

BLUE STATE GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEES TRADE BARBS OVER CRUCIAL ISSUE WEEKS AHEAD OF ELECTION DAY

“Unfortunately, Jack Ciattarelli and his Washington backers support the Washington agenda that is driving costs and inflation up,” they wrote. “To give Ciattarelli the benefit of the doubt, we watched the debate closely in case he produced any last-minute plans to put New Jersey’s economy first. But he gave Washington’s cost-raising record an ‘A plus.’ So the bipartisan Cost Coalition gives him an ‘F.'” 

The most recent endorsement follows other high-profile Democrats backing Sherrill ahead of Election Day, including former President Barack Obama filming a video endorsement ahead of hitting the campaign trail the weekend before the election, while former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also are joining Sherrill for campaign events. Former President Joe Biden has not made any public endorsements in 2025. 

Off-season election year 2025 will only hold a handful of high-profile races, such as the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections and the New York City mayoral race. 

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The New Jersey election will be held Tuesday. 

Republicans, including Trump, have promoted that the deep blue state could flip red this year after the Trump campaign made inroads with Garden State voters during the 2024 race. Trump cut his 2020 loss from 16 points to six in 2024, with Republicans also flipping five countries red during the most recent federal election cycle.