NationalWatch

Sparks flew on Capitol Hill Wednesday as Education Secretary Linda McMahon faced off with Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., in a fiery exchange during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in the latest clash over the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.

The war of words began when Watson Coleman asked, “Do you believe that there is illegal discrimination against people who are Black or brown, and other types of discrimination in jobs and education in this country?”

“I think it still exists in some areas,” McMahon replied.

‘EDUCATORS WILL BE FIRED’: REPUBLICANS CHEER TRUMP ORDER DISMANTLING EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AS DEMS SEETHE

Watson Coleman pressed further: “Then can you tell me why the Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Education is being decimated?”

McMahon responded, “Well, it isn’t being decimated. We have reduced the size of it. However, we are taking on a backlog of cases that were left over from the Biden administration.”

Watson Coleman grew visibly frustrated and accused the administration of racial bias in immigration and education policies, saying its actions amounted to “favoritism and prioritization of white over color.”

In a blistering rebuke, Watson Coleman said, “Your rhetoric means nothing to me. What means something to me is the actions of this administration. I’m telling you, the Department of Education is one of the most important departments in this country. And you should feel shameful to be engaged with an administration that doesn’t give a damn.”

STUDENT LOANS, PELL GRANTS WILL CONTINUE DESPITE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT DOWNSIZING, EXPERT SAYS

McMahon, remaining composed, replied, “I am the secretary of Education who has been approved to run this agency by Congress. And I was appointed by the president. And I serve at his pleasure under his mandate. So, therefore, the direction of his administration is what I will follow.”

The exchange came as part of a larger hearing in which McMahon laid out President Donald Trump’s 2026 education budget proposal, which calls for a $12 billion cut to the Education Department, a 15% reduction.

McMahon described her work as the department’s “final mission”: to wind it down and restore education oversight to states, parents and local educators.

“Let’s focus on literacy. What we’re seeing in those scores is a failure of our students to learn to read,” McMahon said. “We’ve lost the fundamentals.”

Chairman Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., praised McMahon’s approach, noting, “Despite $3 trillion in federal education spending since 1980, student achievement has not improved. The answer is not more money. It’s more accountability and local control.”

The plan consolidates 18 federal programs into a single $2 billion block grant to states. Democrats labeled the proposal as a backdoor effort to gut federal support for public schools.

On student loans, McMahon said the department has begun recovering repayments after years of Biden-era pauses and confusion.

“Since we restarted collections in May, we have recovered nearly $100 million,” she said.

She also defended staffing cuts and administrative restructuring, stating, “We’re delivering on all of our statutory requirements with fewer people and lower overhead.”

Republicans on the subcommittee shared their support for charter schools and school choice. McMahon, in agreement, pointed to a proposed $60 million increase in charter school funding.

“We’ve got about a million students on charter school waiting lists,” she said. “Parents should be deciding where their children can go to school and get the best education.”

Democrats also criticized McMahon for not defending early childhood education, particularly Head Start, even though the program technically falls under the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Every Head Start program in the country has three days of funding. That’s not someone else’s problem. It’s America’s children,” said Rep. Josh Harder, D-Calif.

McMahon responded, “The earlier we can start education, the better, but I don’t believe the federal government is responsible for everything. That’s where states can lead.”

The Trump administration also defended its position forcefully outside the hearing room.

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“On the topic of corruption, let’s not forget that the Department of Education was created by President Carter in an attempt to win voters,” Savannah Newhouse, Education Department press secretary, said in a statement to Fox News Digital following the exchange.

“Since then, we have spent over $3 trillion pretending the department is necessary as student learning outcomes have not improved,” she continued. “While the congresswoman from New Jersey basks in her five minutes of fame, the Trump administration is working to improve student outcomes and ensure American families have access to the quality education that they deserve.”

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…

-Trump confronts South Africa’s president with video on treatment of White farmers

-Florida Sen Moody rolls out measure to expedite removal of criminal illegal immigrants

-Justice Department begins dismissing Biden-era police lawsuits against Minneapolis and Louisville

China Sounds Alarm Over Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’

China is concerned by President Donald Trump’s proposal for a new U.S. missile defense system, called the Golden Dome, which is designed to protect against adversarial attacks on America.  

Golden Dome has a “strong offensive nature and violates the principle of peaceful use in the Outer Space Treaty,” Chinese Foreign Minister Mao Ning said Wednesday. 

“The project will heighten the risk of turning space into a war zone and creating a space arms race, and shake the international security and arms control system,” Mao said. “We urge the U.S. to give up developing and deploying global anti-missile system.”…READ MORE 

White House

DIPLOMATIC RECKONING: Trump to meet leader of ‘out of control’ South Africa at White House

 ‘PROMISE KEPT’: Rising star takes victory lap after Trump DOJ rolls back massive Biden anti-police push: ‘Undo the damage’

‘CAPACITY FOR DENIAL’: Biden family misled public on Beau’s cancer diagnosis, new book says

‘LOT OF QUESTIONS’: Harris, Becerra covered up Biden mental decline, California Democratic candidate for governor says

World Stage

CRITICAL AID: At least 82 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza as critical aid fails to reach Palestinians

WALKING THE FRONT LINES: Putin visits Kursk region for first time since booting Ukrainian forces from territory

‘STRETCHING’ THE SYSTEM?: Israel encircles 2 of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals, groups say

Capitol Hill

PRICE TO PAY: Dems warn House Republicans will pay price at ballot box for passing Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’

LEFT FLANK ASSIST: Trump and Cruz’ No Tax on Tips plan passes Senate with unexpected help from Dem

ART OF THE DEAL?: House Freedom Caucus heading to White House after delay play on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

‘STOPS THE MUTILATION’: Marjorie Taylor Greene pushes bill to punish those who perform gender transition measures on minors

‘IMMENSE SADNESS’: Virginia Democratic Rep Gerry Connolly dead at 75

‘CHARGES ARE ABSURD’: Dem Rep. McIver expected to make first court appearance after Newark incident

INCHING CLOSER: Speaker Johnson reaches tentative deal with blue state Republicans to boost cap on SALT deduction

‘EMBRACE A GOOD IDEA’: Senate unanimously approves $25,000 tax break for tipped workers

SURPRISE SUPPORT: Trump and Cruz’ No Tax on Tips plan passes Senate with unexpected help from Dem

CRUNCH TIME: White House urges immediate vote on GOP’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

Across America 

MEDICAL MISTRUST: US officials delayed warning public about heart inflammation risk from COVID shot: report

‘HEINOUS’: DHS exposes crimes by migrants deported to South Sudan as judge threatens to order their return

SAIL TO SNAG: No distress calls made from Mexican Navy tall ship that crashed into Brooklyn Bridge, Mexican Navy chief says

BIDEN BACKLOG: Biden Ed Dept put priority on pronouns, left backlog of nearly 200 antisemitism complaints: official

CHANGE OF PLANS: Federal judge slaps hold on new Oklahoma immigration law

DOJ CRACKDOWN: DOJ investigating Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying about COVID decisions, source confirms

CUSTODY BATTLE: Federal judge rules US must keep track of migrants deported to South Sudan during legal fight

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

The typically calm confines of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee were the site of several clashes Wednesday between Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and Democrats on the panel adjudicating his annual budget request.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., rattled off a list of cancers he claimed Zeldin’s actions at the agency could cause, remarking the New York Republican must be proud of how many regulations he’s slashed in such a short time. 

“Your legacy will be more lung cancer — it’ll be more bladder cancer, more head and neck cancer. There’ll be more breast cancer, more leukemia and pancreatic cancer, more liver cancer, more skin cancer, more kidney cancer, more testicular cancer, or colorectal cancer — more rare cancers of innumerable varieties. That will be your legacy. … My kids are gonna be breathing that air just like yours,” he said.

“If your children were drinking the water in Santa Ana, Mr. Zeldin… maybe you would give a damn,” he said after holding up a glass of water and claiming the EPA’s move toward streamlining its grants and expenditures will lead to a panoply of bad outcomes.

KASH PATEL ENRAGES SCHIFF IN CLINTONIAN BATTLE OVER THE WORD ‘WE’ AND A JANUARY 6 SONG

“You need the money for a tax cut for rich people because you’re totally beholden to the oil industry,” Schiff fumed, accusing Zeldin of unlawful termination of congressionally appropriated grants.

“You could give a rat’s a– about how much cancer your agency causes,” Schiff said, raising his voice as Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., banged the gavel to note his time was up.

Earlier in the hearing, Zeldin clashed with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., over grant reviews and claimed the administrator couldn’t “get [his] story straight.”

Whitehouse appeared to make the claim that the EPA was not individually reviewing each of the grants it was canceling and cited court testimony from Zeldin official Travis Voyles that he had conducted an “individualized review” as of February.

FLASHBACK: SCHIFF, WHO REPEATEDLY CLAIMED EVIDENCE OF RUSSIAN COLLUSION, DENOUNCES DURHAM REPORT AS ‘FLAWED’

“You guys are gonna have to start getting your story straight because there are three completely different statements, and they cannot all be true. It cannot be that Voyles personally himself conducted—”

“He did,” Zeldin cut in.

“… the review of 781 grants—” Whitehouse continued.

“He did; I did,” Zeldin cut in again.

“… and that [Deputy Administrator Daniel] Coogan saw to it that it was individually done,” Whitehouse said as the two men talked over each other.

After some more back-and-forth, Zeldin told Whitehouse that it must be a “crazy concept” for him to consider that more than one person could review the hundreds of grants in question and for more than one per calendar day.

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Zeldin said he and his EPA colleagues have been “busting their a–” to identify waste and abuse and that Whitehouse was only interested in scoring political points.

“I’m using the facts as your employees stated them,” Whitehouse claimed.

“We’re on it every single day, because we have a zero-tolerance policy towards wasting dollars,” Zeldin shot back.

“You don’t care about wasting money,” he went on, adding that he had promised committee member Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., at a prior hearing that he would make reviewing grants in this way a priority of his tenure. “I have to come back here in front of Sen. Ricketts today, and even though you don’t care about wasting tax dollars, Sen. Ricketts does.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., chair of the Committee on Environment and Public Works for comment, but did not hear back by press time.

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans outperformed Democrats on voter registration in four key battleground states between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, according to research by the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC). 

The bipartisan political consultant non-profit teamed up with analysts from Data Trust, a conservative organization, and Target Smart, which has aligned with Democrats in past election cycles. Compiling data from the 2020 and 2024 elections in Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Pennsylvania, the research suggests a national shift in voter registration toward the Republican Party.

“We wanted a bipartisan analysis because there are so many conventional wisdoms this election challenged,” Larry Huynh of Trilogy Interactive and Democrat AAPC Board President said. “The data was pretty clear that the Democrats were caught off guard with voter registration and turnout efforts and failed to mount a sufficiently compelling counter-effort to compete. We should all learn from this and take a deeper dive into our voter registration and turnout operations.”

AAPC unveiled the research this week during the 2025 Pollie Awards, a political communications awards program, in Colorado Springs, Colo. 

FOX NEWS VOTER ANALYSIS: HOW TRUMP REGAINED THE WHITE HOUSE

“The Trump campaign and the Republican Party deserve considerable recognition for their voter registration success and turnout efforts and the party should try to build on these successes,” Kyle Roberts of AdImpact and the incoming Republican AAPC Board President told Fox News Digital. 

BIDEN AIDE INTIMIDATED REPORTER INVESTIGATING FORMER PRESIDENT’S MENTAL DECLINE WITH ‘TACIT THREAT:’ BOOK

From 2020 to 2024, the bipartisan political analysis found the share of registered Democrat voters dropped in all four battleground states. Meanwhile, the share of registered unaffiliated and Republican voters increased in Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Pennsylvania, according to the data compiled by Data Trust and Target Smart. 

In three out of four of the states analyzed, unaffiliated voters accounted for the largest electoral increase. Democrats saw the largest electoral drop between 2020 and 2024 across the four battleground states, following the same trend as voter registration. 

Voter turnout across party lines dropped in three out of the four battleground states analyzed, the data revealed. And while Democrat turnout dropped more than Republican turnout in those three states, the difference was less than a percentage point in every state but Arizona. 

Data Trust and Target Smart also analyzed trends across demographic groups, including Black, Hispanic and rural voters. The overall increase in Republican registration, turnout and electoral growth was consistent across the demographic groups analyzed. 

President Donald Trump won all seven battleground states in 2024 – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Republicans maintained control of the House of Representatives and won back the Senate. 

70% of voters believed the country was on the wrong track and wanted change in the 2024 presidential election, according to Fox News Voter Analysis. The economy and immigration were top issues as Trump tied inflation to President Joe Biden’s administration and vowed to secure the border on his first day in office. 

As AAPC seeks to analyze Republicans’ inroads with swing state voters in 2024, Democrats are facing their own reckoning this week as a new book reveals the alleged “cover-up” of Biden’s cognitive decline. 

CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson’s book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” released on Tuesday, paints an unflattering picture of Democrats’ losses in 2024. 

While political commentators focus on what Democrats did wrong in 2024, AAPC’s new data reveals what Republicans did right on voter registration and turnout. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Republican National Committee (RNC) opened “Black Americans for Trump” and “Latino Americans for Trump” offices across the battleground states in 2024, seeking to expand their reach among traditionally Democrat voting blocs. 

Over 160,000 volunteers joined the RNC’s “Protect the Vote” efforts on election integrity in 2024, which included more than 100 lawsuits and recruiting poll watchers across the country. Seizing on Republicans’ election distrust following Trump’s loss in 2020, the RNC built a coalition of supporters across the country that propelled voters to the polls and landed Trump a win in 2024. 

Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion this week that the U.S. could walk away from supporting Ukraine if peace talks with Russia stagnate could serve as catnip for the Kremlin, according to experts who say Russian President Vladimir Putin might choose to smother progress in hopes of getting America to wash “its hands of the war.”

While President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. may disengage from the negotiations as a last resort if they prove futile, Vance has taken the rhetoric a step further by saying the U.S. is definitely open to doing so. 

“We’re more than open to walking away,” Vance told reporters on board Air Force Two on Monday, just moments before a high-stakes phone call between Trump and Putin. “The United States is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes.”

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned that no one wins if the U.S. steps aside from the talks, except for Russia. 

“It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace because the only one who benefits from that is Putin,” Zelenskyy wrote in a Monday post on X.

Vance’s remark about abandoning mediation between the two countries would only embolden Russia, even though a lack of U.S. involvement still wouldn’t give Putin everything he wants, according to John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program, a nonprofit research institute based in Washington.

For the moment, Moscow still benefits from U.S. involvement in the talks because the Kremlin wants the U.S. to help advance a deal that benefits Russia and alleviates sanctions, Hardie said.

“But, for the Kremlin, the United States washing its hands of the war would be the next best outcome if it means an end or reduction to U.S. support for Ukraine, especially since President Trump may well move to normalize relations with Russia anyhow,” Hardie told Fox News Digital. “So the administration’s threat to walk away risks perversely incentivizing Kremlin intransigence. A better approach would be to ramp up the economic and military pressure on Russia if Putin continues to reject compromise.”

Russia still desires normalization with the U.S., which can only happen if the war ends swiftly and relatively amicably, said Peter Rough, a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute think tank. 

“That reset in relations is a giant carrot the administration is dangling in front of the Kremlin,” Rough told Fox News Digital. “If the U.S. walks away because Russia will not make peace, however, then that carrot disappears as well.”

Rough noted that other administration officials besides Vance, including Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have mentioned the possibility of walking away from a deal, so Vance’s comments don’t necessarily reflect a huge change in policy. And it’s unclear right now what exactly stepping aside would mean.

“The purpose of those comments has been to impress on the Kremlin that U.S. patience is not limitless,” Rough said. 

Vance hasn’t shied away from issuing bold foreign policy statements since becoming vice president. From sparring with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February to appearing to counter Trump when Vance remarked in May that the war in Ukraine was far from over after Trump indicated a deal might emerge soon, Vance has been outspoken in a way most vice presidents haven’t been.

When asked for comment or if there were any concerns about Vance’s Monday statement, the White House referred Fox News Digital to Vance’s office. Vance’s office declined to provide comment when asked if his remarks would encourage Russia to sit the negotiations out and continue its attacks.

WHY ZELENSKYY KEEPS PUSHING NATO MEMBERSHIP EVEN THOUGH TRUMP SAYS IT’S NOT HAPPENING 

‘Fundamental mistrust’

Vance has adopted an outspoken approach as vice president, starting off with his fiery February statements at the Munich Security Council in which he asserted that Europe needed to “step up in a big way to provide for its own defense.” 

That boldness has carried over into the Russia-Ukraine negotiations, where Vance has taken a proactive approach, at times appearing to be forging his own path.  

Vance and Rubio engaged in discussions to end the conflict in Ukraine with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome on Sunday, among other issues. Vance and Rubio also discussed the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war with Vatican prelate Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher on Monday. 

Aboard Air Force Two on Monday, Vance said the negotiations had reached “a bit of [an] impasse” between the two countries and that the conflict is not the Trump administration’s war to wage but rather belongs to former President Joe Biden and Putin. 

“There is fundamental mistrust between Russia and the West. It’s one of the things the president thinks is, frankly, stupid, that we should be able to move beyond,” Vance told reporters. “The mistakes that have been made in the past, but … that takes two to tango.”

“I know the president’s willing to do that, but if Russia’s not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to have to say … this is not our war,” Vance said. “It’s Joe Biden’s war, it’s Vladimir Putin’s war. It’s not our war. We’re going to try to end it, but if we can’t end it, we’re eventually going to say, ‘You know what? That was worth a try, but we’re not doing it anymore.'”

TRUMP INSISTS UKRAINE-RUSSIA PEACE DEAL IS CLOSE, BUT MISTRUST IN PUTIN LEAVES EXPERTS SKEPTICAL

Vance’s Monday statement came just before Trump was scheduled to speak with Putin, seemingly undercutting the high-leverage telephone call and also underscoring Vance’s influence over foreign policy matters in the White House. 

Specifically on Ukraine negotiations, Vance has remained outspoken, engaging in confrontation when Zelenskyy visited the White House in February. 

In that exchange, Vance accused Zelenskyy of being “disrespectful” after Zelenskyy pointed out that Putin has a track record of breaking agreements and countered Vance’s statements that the path forward was through diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. 

“Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?” Vance asked at the Oval Office meeting. 

Almost immediately after the U.S. signed a minerals deal with Ukraine on May 1, Vance said the war in Ukraine wouldn’t end in the near future, despite the fact that Trump indicated the previous week that an agreement was on the horizon. 

“It’s not going anywhere,” Vance told Fox News on May 1. “It’s not going to end anytime soon.” 

Still, he characterized the agreement as “good progress” in the negotiations. 

Trump’s talk with Putin

Trump and Putin spoke over the phone Monday to advance peace negotiations to halt the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, just days after Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey to conduct their first peace talks since 2022. 

After the call, Trump said both countries would move toward a ceasefire and advance talks to end the war. 

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested continued U.S. involvement may not be a viable option moving forward, but he has been reticent about specifics on what would actually prompt him to walk away from the talks. For example, Trump said on May 8 in an interview with NBC News that he believes peace is possible but that the U.S. wouldn’t act as a mediator forever.

“Well, there will be a time when I will say, ‘OK, keep going, keep being stupid,” Trump said in the interview. 

“Maybe it’s not possible to do,” he said. “There’s tremendous hatred.”

Still, Trump signaled that the U.S. would take a backseat in the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv after his call with Putin. 

“The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” Trump said in a Monday post on Truth Social. 

Trump has continued to distance the U.S. from the conflict, and he later described the conflict as a “European situation.” 

“Big egos involved, but I think something’s going to happen,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “And if it doesn’t, I’ll just back away and they’ll have to keep going. This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation.”

Trump also doubled down on extracting the U.S. from the war, claiming it didn’t involve U.S. personnel. 

“It’s not our people, it’s not our soldiers … it’s Ukraine and it’s Russia,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday while hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

TRUMP SAYS HE COULD ‘WALK AWAY’ FROM RUSSIA-UKRAINE TALKS, CITES ‘TREMENDOUS HATRED’ ON BOTH SIDES

According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, sanctions against Russia could ramp up in the event Russia fails to cooperate. 

“President Trump has made it very clear that if President Putin does not negotiate in good faith that the United States will not hesitate to up the Russia sanctions along with our European partners,” Bessent said Sunday in an interview with NBC. 

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Vance has previously said the concessions that Russia is seeking from Ukraine to end the conflict are too stringent but believes there is a viable path to peace and wants both to find common ground. 

“The step that we would like to make right now is we would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another,” Vance said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington on May 7.

Russia’s demands include Ukraine never joining NATO and preventing foreign peacekeeper troops from deploying to Ukraine after the conflict. Russia is also seeking to adjust some of the borders that previously were Ukraine’s.

The White House is throwing its weight behind House Republicans’ version of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on Wednesday, pressing lawmakers to vote on the measure “immediately.”

“The Administration strongly supports passage of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill
Act,” the White House said in a statement of Trump administration policy obtained by Fox News Digital.

“This bill implements critical aspects of President Trump’s budgetary agenda by delivering bigger paychecks for Americans, driving massive economic growth, unleashing American energy, strengthening border security and national defense, preserving key safety net programs for Americans who need them, while ending waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending, and much more.”

It comes hours after the conservative House Freedom Caucus called for a delayed vote amid continued disagreements over rollbacks to Medicaid coverage.

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

“I’m not sure this can be done this week. I’m pretty confident it could be done in 10 days. But that’s up to leadership to decide,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told reporters.

The group is meeting with Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at the White House on Wednesday afternoon in a bid to resolve differences.

Meanwhile, a White House official told Fox News Digital that the administration wants the House to vote on the bill at some point Wednesday.

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

“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reflects the shared priorities of both Congress and the Administration. Therefore, the House of Representatives should immediately pass this bill to show the American people that they are serious about ‘promises made, promises kept,'” the new White House statement said. 

“President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal.”

The statement ended by affirming that Trump would sign the legislation into law if it got to his desk – a significant endorsement of House GOP leaders’ plans.

The bill itself is not yet finished, however. Republican leaders have signaled they are including additional provisions via a “manager’s amendment” that are expected to cover Medicaid work requirements and an amended state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap.

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House conservatives have been pushing for the bill to include more aggressive cuts to Medicaid – specifically the expanded population who became eligible under the Affordable Care Act – and a full repeal of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its green energy subsidies.

Trump paid a rare visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday where he personally told House Republicans he wanted the bill passed as soon as possible.

The Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, has insisted that it is pushing to enact Trump’s campaign promises to the fullest possible extent.

Before President Donald Trump’s dramatic reveal of the “Golden Dome” missile defense project on Tuesday, the proposal wasn’t even on the radar of many lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Several senators told Fox News Digital they had received no briefing on the initiative’s costs – and some hadn’t heard of it at all.

“I don’t support blank checks. I haven’t seen the cost figures,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. 

Two senior members of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, one Republican and one Democrat, asked, “what’s Golden Dome?” in response to questions about the project Trump commissioned in January. 

CHINA ACCUSES US OF ‘TURNING SPACE INTO A WARZONE’ WITH TRUMP’S GOLDEN DOME MISSILE DEFENSE PROJECT

Trump’s sweeping plan – pitched as an American version of Israel’s Iron Dome – carries an ambitious price tag and timeline. He’s floated a $125 billion estimated cost and says it could be built in three years, by the end of his term. A government funding package moving through Congress, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, includes $25 billion to jumpstart the project.

But defense experts and even some Republican allies anticipate the cost to be much higher. 

“This is not going to be a $25 billion or $35 billion project. It will likely cost in the trillions if and when Golden Dome is completed,” said Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., who announced plans to form a Golden Dome Caucus during a recent Washington Times defense industry event earlier this month. 

Sheehy warned that simply scaling up Israel’s Iron Dome to protect the U.S. is “a fundamentally different technological proposition.”

“The challenges don’t scale linearly with the size of Israel, which is the size of New Jersey,” he added.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated the project could cost around $500 billion – though some believe even that figure is likely too low.

CBO estimated that the space-based interceptors portion of the dome could cost at least $161 billion but up to $542 billion. But it didn’t account for any ground-based interceptors in that cost. 

“I’ve been 34 years in this business, and I’ve never seen an early estimate that was too high,” said Space Force chief of space operations Gen. Chance Saltzman. “We don’t always understand the full level of complexity until you’re actually in execution, doing the detailed planning.”

LASERS, SPACE RADARS, MISSILE INTERCEPTORS: DEFENSE LEADERS LAY OUT VISION FOR TRUMP’S ‘GOLDEN DOME’ PROJECT

Some Republican lawmakers suggest the potential benefits outweigh the massive spending required.

“It might very well prevent a war,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-N.D., said. “When we talk about spending billions on defense, that is small compared to one single major war – not only in trillions of dollars, but in bloodshed.”

Once a missile is launched toward the U.S. homeland, the Golden Dome system aims to detect it, and orbital systems would aim to hit the missile during its “boost” phase, either with a laser or a kinetic interceptor. Otherwise, ground-based systems could deploy to knock it off its path.  

Others noted competing defense priorities.

“That’s gonna be a long, drawn-out process, and it’s gonna cost a lot of money,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. “Right now, we’re redoing our missile silos… we’re transitioning to different types of warfare. If we’re gonna do [Golden Dome], we do it the right way.”

Supporters of the plan argue that technological advances have dramatically lowered the cost of missile defense, enough to potentially flip decades-old strategic assumptions.

Chuck DeVore, a defense expert at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and former Reagan administration official, said the old logic – that it’s always cheaper to build offensive missiles than defenses – may no longer apply.

“That calculation is changing now,” DeVore said. “With low-cost orbit launches and inexpensive electronics, it may actually be less expensive to defend against nuclear missiles than to build them. If that’s the case, we’re at a truly revolutionary inflection point.”

DeVore also warned that traditionalists in the defense establishment may push back.

“You’re going to see people defending the status quo,” he said. “They’ll say we need that money for more conventional defense – more divisions, more jet fighters, maybe another aircraft carrier.”

Still, DeVore argued that a homeland missile defense system is overdue.

“The ability to truly defend the homeland and save American lives is better than mutual assured destruction – especially in an age of nuclear proliferation where we can’t always be sure where the threat is coming from.”

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Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., agreed on the project’s importance, even as he said he hadn’t been briefed on the cost and needs of the project. 

“I think it’s the most important thing we could do to keep our homeland safe.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with Rep. Brad Sherman during a House hearing on Thursday, telling the California Democrat that “this is not a game show” when Sherman demanded that he only answer questions with a “yes” or a “no.”

Rubio testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., fielding questions on foreign aid, nuclear proliferation in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the war in Ukraine and more. Sparks began to fly early on when Sherman questioned Rubio on a potential nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia.

“First, I will tell you that there has been no conversation about entering into one. For example, during the recent trip,” Rubio began before Sherman cut him off.

“I’ve got limited time,” the congressman interjected. “Either give me a yes or a no.”

RUBIO FIRES BACK AFTER DEM SENATOR SAYS HE REGRETS VOTING FOR HIM, SPARKING TENSE EXCHANGE

“Well, I’m going to give you my answer if you want my answer,” Rubio replied.

But Sherman cut Rubio off, stating that he was reclaiming his time.

“Well, reclaim your time. But it’s not a game show,” Rubio said. “I get to answer. These are complex questions.”

“Mr. Secretary, I’m reclaiming my time,” Sherman said. “The filibustering takes place in the Senate. Not here.”

“I’m not filibustering. I’m trying to answer your question,” Rubio replied.

Sherman then moved on to his next question, asking whether Rubio could assure Congress that the Trump administration would continue sanctions on Iran until they verifiably agree to abandon all nuclear enrichment.

“That’s a yes or no question,” Sherman told Rubio.

Rubio replied: “No, it’s not.”

RUBIO, KAINE CLASH ON SOUTH AFRICAN REFUGEES: ‘YOU DON’T LIKE THAT THEY’RE WHITE’

“Well, can you give me a yes or no? Should I go on to go on to the next?” Sherman asked.

“We believe that Iran should not be allowed to enrich uranium, correct,” Rubio answered. 

“You believe that?” Sherman asked.

“We believe that an acceptable deal with Iran is one in which they cannot enrich, because if they can enrich, they can weaponize,” Rubio said.

“I know why we don’t want – I asked you will we agree, will we continue the sanctions until they verifiably agree to get rid of enrichments.”

“Oh, you have nothing to worry about,” Rubio said. “The worry was the previous administration. This administration–” 

“Your refusal to give me an answer is loud and clear,” Sherman interjected before shouting over Rubio that he was reclaiming his time.

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The House hearing brought Rubio to testify on the State Department’s posture on protecting American interests. Throughout the hearing, Rubio asserted that any actions taken by the government must have measurable outcomes for the American people, specifically making the country safer, stronger or more prosperous.

U.S. health officials knew about the risks of myocarditis from COVID-19 vaccines but downplayed the concern and delayed informing the public about the risks of taking the jab — that is according to a new Senate report released by Sen. Ron Johnson Wednesday.  

Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has been investigating the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. Earlier this year, he subpoenaed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for records relating to COVID-19 vaccine safety data and communications about the pandemic. 

SEN. RON JOHNSON: THE COVID COVER-UPS HAVE TO END

The interim report, spanning 55 pages, obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, revealed that Biden administration officials “withheld crucial health information from the Subcommittee and the public.” 

Since 2021, Johnson has sent more than 70 oversight letters, which he says were “either completely ignored or inadequately addressed.” 

The report highlights the records Johnson has obtained pursuant to the subpoena from the new, Trump administration-led health agency. Specifically, the report focuses on HHS’ awareness of and response to cases of myocarditis—a type of heart inflammation—following COVID-19 vaccination.

SCIENTISTS FIND CLUES ON WHY COVID VACCINE CAUSES CHRONIC HEALTH PROBLEMS IN SOME

Johnson’s report says the 2,473 pages of records he obtained “contain evidence of the Biden administration’s efforts to downplay and delay warning the public about the risks of myocarditis associated with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.” 

The report points to records from May 2021, in which health officials at HHS discussed whether to issue a formal warning about myocarditis.

According to the report, the formal warning about myocarditis was initially going to be distributed nationwide as a Health Alert Network message, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is CDC’s “primary method of sharing cleared information about urgent public health incidents with public information officers; federal, state, territorial, tribal, and local public health practitioners; clinicians; and public health laboratories.” 

However, Johnson’s report said that health officials at CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “ultimately decided against issuing a formal HAN and, instead, posted ‘clinical considerations’ on CDC’s website about myocarditis.” 

“Based on the subpoenaed records the Subcommittee has received to date, as well as public FOIA documents, this interim report will highlight records and present a timeline showing U.S. health officials knew about the risk of myocarditis; those officials downplayed the health concern; and U.S. health agencies delayed informing the public about the risk of the adverse event.” 

FLASHBACK: GOP SENATORS INVOKE STATUTE TO FORCE HHS ANSWERS ON COVID ORIGINS: ‘FULL-FLEDGED COVER-UP’

The report also highlights the Israeli Ministry of Health notifying officials at the CDC in February 2021 of “large reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people, following the administration of the Pfizer vaccine.” 

The report also highlights documents showing CDC officials discussing “safety signals” for myocarditis with mRNA vaccines in April 2021 based on Defense Department and Israeli data, but “still not taking immediate steps to warn the public.” 

Documents obtained by Johnson also show CDC officials communicating with Moderna and Pfizer representatives about the risks. 

Johnson also obtained “draft meeting notes from late May 2021 exchanged between U.S. public health officials which included the question: ‘Is VAERS signaling for myopericarditis now?,’ and the answer: ‘For the age groups 16-17 years and 18-24 years, yes.’” 

“VAERS” is an acronym for the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. 

FLASHBACK: SEN. RON JOHNSON CONFRONTS HHS SECRETARY ABOUT REDACTED FAUCI EMAILS ON COVID-19 ORIGINS

“Rather than provide the public and health care providers with immediate and transparent information regarding the risk of myocarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration waited until late June 2021 to announce changes to the labels for the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines based on the ‘suggested increased risks’ of myocarditis and pericarditis,” the report states. “Even though CDC and FDA officials were well aware of the risk of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination, the Biden administration opted to withhold issuing a formal warning to the public for months about the safety concerns, jeopardizing the health of young Americans.” 

The report added that the Biden administration’s decision “to downplay the COVID-19 vaccine health risks and delay warning the public about cardiac-related adverse events associated with the mRNA vaccines jeopardized the public’s health.” 

According to the report, as of April 25, 2025, VAERS reported 38,607 deaths and more than 1.6 million “adverse events worldwide associated with the administration of COVID-19 injections.” 

Of the more than 38,000 deaths, the report said 25% occurred on Day 0, 1, or 2 following injection, compared to “2,663 deaths reported to VAERS associated with the flu vaccine over a period of 35 years.” 

“No other reports of adverse events associated with any other drug or vaccine even come close to these statistics,” the report states. “And yet, those who oversaw the development and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines continue to insist it is safe and effective, without providing the data to prove their claims.” 

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Johnson’s report demands that the “full extent” of the Biden administration’s “failure to immediately warn the public about all COVID-19 vaccine adverse events must be completely exposed.” 

“The American people fund the federal health departments and agencies with their hardearned tax dollars,” the report states. “The information developed by these departments and agencies belong to the American people, and should be made fully and transparently available.” 

The report states that as “the roadblocks are removed and more documents that have been hidden and withheld for years become available, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will provide transparency and let the American public see what is their right to see.” 

Amid claims that President Joe Biden declined mentally while in office, Golden State gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa has suggested that former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Health And Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccerra were involved in a cover-up.

Becerra is also running for governor, while the prospect of a potential Harris bid looms large over the field. 

Current California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is not eligible to run again because he’s currently serving his second term, and the state constitution stipulates that, “No Governor may serve more than 2 terms.”

“What I’ve seen in news coverage and excerpts from the new book ‘Original Sin’ is deeply troubling. At the highest levels of our government, those in power were intentionally complicit or told outright lies in a systematic cover up to keep Joe Biden’s mental decline from the public,” Villaraigosa said in a statement.

DEM SENATOR SAYS ‘NO DOUBT’ BIDEN DECLINED COGNITIVELY DURING PRESIDENCY

“Now, we have come to learn this cover up includes two prominent California politicians who served as California Attorney General – one who is running for Governor and another who is thinking about running for Governor,” he declared. 

Becerra and Harris have both previously served as California state attorney general.

“Those who were complicit in the cover up should take responsibility for the part they played in this debacle, hold themselves accountable, and apologize to the American people. I call on Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra to do just that – and make themselves available to voters and the free press because there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Villaraigosa declared in another portion of his statement.

BIDEN’S ‘LAST KNOWN’ PROSTATE CANCER SCREENING WAS OVER A DECADE AGO, AS QUESTIONS MOUNT OVER DIAGNOSIS

Fox News Digital reached out to the office of Kamala Harris and the Office of Joe and Jill Biden but did not receive responses from either office by the time of publication.

“It’s clear the President was getting older, but he made the mission clear: run the largest health agency in the world, expand care to millions more Americans than ever before, negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs, and pull us out of a world-wide pandemic. And we delivered,” Becerra noted in a statement, according to reports.

During an appearance on “The View” earlier this month, Biden rejected the notion that he suffered significant decline in his cognitive abilities during his last year in office.

BIDEN AIDE INTIMIDATED REPORTER INVESTIGATING FORMER PRESIDENT’S MENTAL DECLINE WITH ‘TACIT THREAT:’ BOOK

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Biden has been “diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” a statement from his personal office recently noted.

Fox News’ Peter Doocy contributed to this report

EXCLUSIVE: A Biden-appointed federal judge could decide Wednesday morning that a plane carrying illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes to South Sudan has to return. 

The plane is carrying eight men – all of whom are convicted of crimes ranging from homicide to robbery, according to details exclusively provided by the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS says they have been compliant with all court orders to date.

“No country on earth wanted to accept [the migrants] because their crimes are so uniquely monstrous and barbaric,” Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said at a press conference Wednesday. “These heinous individuals have terrorized American streets for too long.”

Cuban citizen Enrique Arias-Hierro is convicted of homicide, armed robbery, false impersonation of an official, kidnapping, and robbery strong arm. He was arrested on May 2 by ICE. Another Cuban citizen, Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Quinones, was arrested by ICE on April 30, and he’s convicted of first-degree murder with a weapon, battery and larceny, as well as cocaine possession and cocaine trafficking.

INCOMING TRUMP ADMIN, CONGRESS SHOWDOWN LOOMS WITH SOUTH AFRICA OVER SUPPORT FOR RUSSIA, US FOES

Thongxay Nilakout, a Laos citizen who was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery and was sentenced to life behind bars, is also on the flight. He was arrested in January by ICE. Mexican citizen Jesus Munoz-Gutierrez is convicted of second-degree murder, and was taken into ICE custody earlier this month.

Dian Peter Domach of South Sudan is convicted of a DUI, “possession of burglar’s tools and possession of defaced firearm; sentenced to 18 months confinement” and “robbery and possession of a firearm; sentenced to 8 years confinement.” He was arrested by ICE earlier this month.

TRUMP ADMIN MAKES NEW MOVE TO BRING SOUTH AFRICAN REFUGEES TO US AS PRESIDENT BLASTS NATION’S RULERS AGAIN

Two Burmese citizens, Kyaw Mya and Nyo Myint, are also headed to the African nation on the flight. Mya is convicted of “Lascivious Acts with a Child-Victim less than 12 years of age.” He was sentenced to 10 years behind bars, but he was paroled after four years. Myint is convicted of “first-degree sexual assault involving a victim mentally and physically incapable of resisting” and faced 12 years behind bars. He was also charged with “aggravated assault-nonfamily strongarm.” Both were arrested by ICE in February.

Vietnamese citizen Tuan Thanh Phan, a citizen of Vietnam is convicted of “first-degree murder and second-degree assault.”

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts, a Biden appointee, ruled on Tuesday night that the Trump administration must maintain custody of the migrants in case he rules their removal unlawful, and they must be transferred back to the U.S.

TRUMP ADMIN ENDS DEPORTATION PROTECTIONS FOR MASSIVE NUMBER OF VENEZUELANS AMID ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

Lawyers for illegal immigrants from Myanmar, also called Burma, and Vietnam accused the Trump administration of illegally deporting their clients to third-party countries. They argue the deportations violated Murphy’s previous court order mandating that migrants be granted “meaningful opportunity” to establish that sending them to a third country would make them unsafe.

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Murphy previously found that any plans to deport people to Libya without notice would “clearly” violate his ruling regarding third-party deportations, which also applies to people who have otherwise exhausted their legal appeals.

We are now in the range where the House could potentially debate and vote on the “big, beautiful bill.” 

A vote could come as early as later today or tonight. That may still be a little optimistic, but when things are ready, the House could vote at any time of the day or night between now and Sunday. 

The goal of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is to vote on the plan before Memorial Day. Fox is told that slamming this up against the holiday recess actually helps the GOP get votes, because members really want to get away for events, graduations and Memorial Day parades. 

SPEAKER JOHNSON REACHES TENTATIVE DEAL WITH BLUE STATE REPUBLICANS TO BOOST CAP ON ‘SALT’ DEDUCTION

The House Rules Committee – which serves as the gateway to the House floor for legislation – began its meeting at 1 a.m. ET. It could go all day, but what we’re waiting for is a final “manager’s amendment” from Johnson to make all of the fixes to court the votes of skeptical Republicans. The key to that amendment is to repair things – and not break something else. 

REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS SAY THEY ‘STAND UNITED’ IN SUPPORT OF TRUMP’S ‘ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

There appears to be an agreement to raise the SALT cap (state and local taxes) for high-tax states. 

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So, we’re in the go zone for a potential vote. Other hiccups could arise. And remember that it‘s about the math. The GOP can only lose three votes on its side and still pass the bill. 

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying to Congress about his decisions made during the COVID-19 pandemic while serving as governor, a source familiar with the probe confirmed to Fox News.

The New York Times first reported that the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington opened the inquiry into Cuomo about a month ago after senior officials in the DOJ demanded an indictment of New York City Mayor Eric Adams for corruption charges be dismissed.

The DOJ declined to comment to Fox News.

The Trump administration is now in an unusual spot of ending a criminal case against Adams while opening a new case into Adams’ main rival within months of each other.

Cuomo is running in the Democratic primary to serve as the next mayor of New York City, while Adams is seeking re-election as an independent candidate.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN ASKS TRUMP DOJ TO CRIMINALLY PROSECUTE EX-NEW YORK GOV ANDREW CUOMO

“We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now? The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple—something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against,” Rich Azzopardi, Cuomo’s spokesperson told Fox News. “Governor Cuomo testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political.”

The former governor was grilled by Republican lawmakers last year about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. House Republicans subsequently recommended the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against him. They accused him of intentionally lying to Congress during the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the excessive number of nursing home deaths.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., referred Cuomo to President Donald Trump’s Justice Department for criminal prosecution. 

BILL MAHER SUGGESTS ANDREW CUOMO’S NURSING HOME SCANDAL MAY COST HIS NYC MAYORAL CAMPAIGN

Cuomo – the Democratic scion now considered the current frontrunner in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary in June – was first referred to the Biden Justice Department for criminal prosecution in October 2024. 

Former Rep. Brad Wenstrup, then-chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said Cuomo made “multiple criminally false statements” to Congress about his handling of the 2020 COVID-19 nursing home death scandal. 

Cuomo, who was governor at the time, issued a March 2020 directive that initially barred nursing homes from refusing to accept patients who had tested positive for COVID-19. The directive was aimed at freeing up beds for overwhelmed hospitals. 

More than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients were released from hospitals into nursing homes under the directive, which was later rescinded amid speculation that it had accelerated outbreaks. 

SECOND COVID NURSING HOME DEATH’S CASE AGAINST CUOMO TOSSED

The eight plaintiffs in the case argued that their loved ones contracted COVID-19 in nursing homes and died as a result of the directive. They accused Cuomo and his administration of being civilly liable for their deaths as well as being liable for failing to accurately report the number of nursing home deaths in New York state that resulted from the virus. 

Cuomo has previously said that the directive was based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance at the time.

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A report released in March 2022 by the New York state comptroller found Cuomo’s Health Department “was not transparent in its reporting of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes” and it “understated the number of deaths at nursing homes by as much as 50%” during some points of the pandemic. 

In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi last month, Comer said “to our knowledge, the Biden Administration ignored this referral despite clear facts and evidence.” He requested that Bondi review the referral and “take appropriate action.” 

“Andrew Cuomo is a man with a history of corruption and deceit, now caught red-handed lying to Congress during the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home tragedy in New York,” Comer said in a statement Monday. “This wasn’t a slip-up – it was a calculated cover-up by a man seeking to shield himself from responsibility for the devastating loss of life in New York’s nursing homes. Let’s be clear: lying to Congress is a federal crime. Mr. Cuomo must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The House Oversight Committee is prepared to fully cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation into Andrew Cuomo’s actions and ensure he’s held to account.” 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Government watchdog group Democracy Restored is calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate U.S. attorneys in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), accusing them of potentially seeking to undermine Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s efforts to end New York City’s driving tax, also known as a congestion tax.

New York City’s congestion pricing program essentially assesses drivers a toll for driving on some streets in Manhattan, with the price varying depending on the time of day. 

Late in the night of April 23, SDNY attorneys representing Duffy and the Department of Transportation published an 11-page confidential memo in federal court in Manhattan, explaining that the Trump administration’s argument to end the NYC driver’s tax was weak and included “considerable litigation risk.” The next day, the memo was taken down from the public case docket, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District said the filing was a mistake.

In response, officials at the Transportation Department said they would be transferring the case to the DOJ’s civil division, according to the New York Times. Fox News Digital reached out to the DOT to confirm the attorneys involved in the mistaken filing were off the case, but did not immediately receive a response.

TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SEAN DUFFY BLAMES BIDEN ADMIN FOR DATED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM

“It’s imperative to know whether this filing was inadvertent, and incompetent, or something worse,” Houston Keene, the director of Democracy Restored said. “The memo contains confidential legal advice that just happens to criticize the secretary and department’s legal strategy — quite an inconvenient document to have made public for lawyers doing their best for their client.”

Democracy Restored said in its letter that more fact-finding must take place, but indicated there are “a variety” of potential ethical and legal violations associated with the mistaken filing, particularly if the act was done on purpose. 

While it can not be concluded whether the act stemmed from incompetence, or whether it was purposeful, Democracy Restored points to the “partisan political activity” and involvement in political non-profits by the attorneys involved, suggesting it could shed light on the motivations behind the action. 

EXCLUSIVE: ‘SHADY TRIAL LAWYER PIPELINE’ FUNNELING MILLIONS TO DEMOCRATS, ACCORDING TO REPORT

According to Democracy Restored, the attorneys involved were all registered Democrats and had a history of donating to Democratic political candidates and campaigns. The attorneys’ public social media posts also showed them supporting left-wing political groups and acts of defiance against President Donald Trump’s executive directives.

“US Attorneys must be nonpartisan and objective in their work and the partisan backgrounds of these attorneys add to the doubts,” Keene said. “Far too many questions remain unanswered about this incident. The DOJ must investigate this matter immediately.”

In early January, NYC launched its congestion pricing program, or driver’s tax, which imposed a $9 daytime toll on most individuals driving their cars into Manhattan’s core, south of Central Park. A month later, the Trump administration issued a federal order meant to halt the program by March 21, but the tolls have continued as the result of a federal lawsuit filed by New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the state agency that runs New York City’s public transit system. 

IF THESE STATES DON’T COMPLY, WE WON’T APPROVE THE FLOW OF THE BILLIONS GOING TO THEM: SEAN DUFFY

The Department of Transportation and the MTA subsequently reached an agreement extending the deadline to end the program until at least the fall. Earlier this month, as the legal battle over the matter has continued, New York City and the MTA requested a federal judge block the Trump administration’s efforts to squash the program. City officials say the program has significantly reduced congestion, improving travel times due to reduced traffic. 

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Because the program involves tolls on federal highways, it must have Department of Transportation approval.

The Justice Department declined to comment for this article. Fox News Digital also reached out to the Department of Transportation and the office of the U.S. Attorney or the Southern District of New York, but did not hear back in advance of publication.    

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

President Donald Trump’s rallying speech to House Republicans Tuesday morning wasn’t enough to convince some holdouts to unite behind his “big, beautiful bill” ahead of a planned vote this week.

Trump urged Republicans to cease infighting on Medicaid reform and state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps at the House GOP’s weekly conference meeting. Several Republicans who emerged said they were still concerned enough to oppose the bill, however.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and representatives Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler and Andrew Garbino of New York told Fox News Digital Tuesday they would vote against the bill if changes were not made.

On the other hand, Trump did persuade some people. Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, one of several Republicans to sink a committee vote on the bill Friday, told reporters he would review it and make a “judgment call” ahead of a 1 a.m. meeting to advance the bill through the House Rules Committee.

INSIDE TRUMP’S URGENT MEETING WITH HOUSE GOP TO PASS THE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Norman said Trump did a “fantastic job” and delivered “one of the best speeches I’ve heard” at the House GOP meeting, and he urged his blue state colleagues to “take the words the president said to heart about SALT.”

CONSERVATIVE RIPS BLUE STATE REPUBLICAN’S PROPOSAL TO RAISE TAXES ON WEALTHY IN SALT DEBATE

Norman and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, are both members of the powerful rules panel who have not been shy about their concerns with the current bill. The committee acts as the final gatekeeper before most legislation sees a full House vote.

Roy did not appear to attend Trump’s speech but told reporters Monday evening the 1 a.m. Wednesday vote should be postponed.

But the New York Republicans weren’t budging after Trump’s “big, beautiful” speech, maintaining the bill doesn’t go far enough to deliver for middle-class New Yorkers on the SALT deduction cap.

“This is the single biggest issue that I’ve talked about, and, with all due respect to the president, I’m not budging,” Lawler said. 

“Between property taxes and income taxes, it blows well past the $30,000 cap with the $400,000 income cap. So, as I’ve said repeatedly, that is insufficient. We will continue the dialogue with leadership, but as it stands right now, I do not support the bill,” Lawler said. 

Lawler said SALT is one of the biggest issues affecting his district in New York and campaigned on never supporting a tax bill that doesn’t “adequately lift the cap.”

“The president can say whatever he wants, and I respect him, but the fact is, I certainly understand my district. I’m one of only three Republican members that won in a district Kamala Harris won, and I did so for reasons,” Lawler said. 

“We need a little more SALT on the table to get to this,” fellow New York Republican LaLota added. “I hope the president’s presence motivates my leadership to give us a number that we can go sell back home.”

LaLota said while he is still a “no,” he hopes “the president’s presence here today motivates some folks in the Ways and Means Committee and my leadership to give us a number to which we can actually say ‘yes.’”

When asked if Trump did enough to ease concerns in Tuesday’s meeting, Garbarino, another New York Republican, said, “No. There were no specifics. … It was more of a rally. We need to get this done.”

“We share President Trump’s call for unity within the House Republican Conference,” Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., said in a joint statement after Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill. 

“We hope his remarks today motivate the Speaker to advance a SALT proposal that delivers meaningful relief for our middle-class constituents, as we have worked in good faith with House Leadership for more than a year,” the statement from Kim, Garbarino, Lawler, LaLota and Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J., said.

Meanwhile, Trump urged Republicans not to “f— with” Medicaid in his speech, though different factions came to different conclusions about what he meant.

Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who was not in the room for Trump’s speech, called for more cuts to the entitlement program in an X post Tuesday afternoon but told Fox News Digital he was opposed to the legislation as written.

“I agree with President Trump — we must crush the waste, fraud, and abuse. Liberal states like California and New York are abusing Medicaid — and making you pay for it. Illegal aliens and freeloaders have no right to taxpayer-funded benefits,” Ogles said on X.

Other fiscal conservatives, like Ogles, who were in the room, said the bill does not go far enough to reform Medicaid and would also vote “no” in the bill’s current form. 

“I think it’s inappropriate for us to say we’re not going to touch it and then leave all of this fraud that’s happening in the system,” Burlison said. 

Harris, the House Freedom Caucus chair, said, “I can’t support the bill. It does not eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid. The president called for waste, fraud and abuse to be eliminated. I don’t think that’s where the bill sits.”

Massie, known for being a libertarian, was unconvinced by Trump’s appearance, telling reporters that his constituents didn’t “vote for increased deficits and Biden-level spending.”

He acknowledged that younger members or those who harbor ambitions for higher office would likely fall in line, however.

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“I think he probably closed the deal in there,” Massie said. 

SALT deduction caps and Medicaid remain two of the biggest sticking points in Republican negotiations. SALT deduction caps primarily benefit people living in high-cost-of-living areas like New York City, Los Angeles and their surrounding suburbs. Republicans representing those areas have argued that raising the SALT deduction cap is a critical issue and that a failure to address it could cost the GOP the House majority in the 2026 midterms.

Republicans in redder, lower-tax areas have said in response that SALT deductions favor wealthy people living in Democrat-controlled states and that such deductions reward progressive high-tax policies.

It was Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that first instituted caps on SALT deductions, setting the maximum at $10,000 for both married couples and single filers.

SALT Caucus members have rejected House Republican leaders’ offer to increase that to $30,000.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, are pushing for the bill to be more aggressive in cutting waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system, including a faster timeline for implementing work requirements for able-bodied recipients. Currently, the legislation has work requirements kicking in 2029.

They also want to restructure Medicaid cost-sharing to put a bigger burden on the states. Moderates, meanwhile, have been wary of making significant cuts to the program.

House GOP leaders are hoping to hold a full House vote on the bill this week.

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…

-Inside Trump’s urgent meeting with House GOP to pass the ‘big, beautiful bill’

-GOP senators renew call for DOD watchdog to probe former Joint Chiefs boss Milley for alleged misconduct

-Expert reveals how companies are rebranding ‘toxic’ DEI policies to skirt Trump-era bans

RFK Jr. vs. Murray, Round Two

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed Washington Sen. Patty Murray during a Tuesday Senate hearing for allegedly “presiding over the destruction” of Americans’ health across her more than 30 years in the upper chamber. 

“You’ve presided here, I think, for 32 years. You presided over the destruction of the health of the American people. Our people are now the sickest people in the world,” Kennedy said to Murray during a tense back and forth Tuesday morning. 

The Washington Democrat previously exchanged barbs with Kennedy on Wednesday, May 14, when Murray accused him and the Trump administration of delaying critical cancer care for one of her constituents… READ MORE

White House

MINE, BABY, MINE: Trump admin hits bullseye with first US mine for key mineral used in military ammo, night-vision, Big Tech

NO ‘ISOLATED CASE’: Federal air marshals surveilled Trump Cabinet member Gabbard in 2024, Rand Paul says

‘NULL AND VOID’: Federal judge blocks Trump dismantling of US Institute of Peace

World Stage

‘UTTER NONSENSE’: Iran’s Khamenei says Americans should avoid talking ‘nonsense’ in nuke talks

‘FAKE NEWS’: Trump hostage envoy dismisses report of Trump Israel abandonment threat as ‘fake news’

Capitol Hill

POLITICALLY MOTIVATED: Sparks expected to fly at high-stakes House hearing on threats against ICE

CHEERS AND JEERS: Trump supporters find unlikely common ground with blue state congressman at town hall: ‘I love it’

LAWMAKER CHARGED: DOJ cites bodycam footage in charging document for House Dem McIver

‘VERY UNITED PARTY’: Trump heads to Capitol Hill to push ‘big, beautiful bill’

ON THE HILL: Trump faces uphill battle to secure votes for ‘big, beautiful bill’ before recess

‘STEP UP’: GOP senator says federal government is ‘going to need to play a big role’ after tornadoes ravage Midwest
 

Across America 

FLASHBACK: Remember when Nikki Haley called for mental competency tests for all politicians 75 or older?

STEEL CURTAIN: Pittsburgh’s progressive mayor faces stiff challenge from ‘old guard’ in primary

FULLY REIMBURSED: Texas lawmakers seek to get federal reimbursement for Biden-era border control expenses

REPARATIONS NIXED: Maryland’s first Black governor blocks reparations bill, disappointing fellow Democrats

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: More polling problems for this blue state Democratic governor facing re-election next year

CASE DISMISSED: Alina Habba drops federal trespassing charge against Dem mayor, offers ICE facility tour

BANNED: Nebraska becomes first state approved to ban soda purchases with food stamps

BOTTOMS UP: Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tears into Trump while launching gubernatorial bid

TENSIONS FLARE: Tensions flare at school board meeting after trans athlete wins multiple track events

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

FIRST ON FOX: Most of the nation’s Republican governors on Tuesday signed on to a letter of support for the massive GOP-crafted budget bill advancing President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit. 

The letter was sent to the White House as the massive measure, known as Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” is slowly making its way through numerous votes and hurdles in the House of Representatives.

And the letter, shared first with Fox News by the Republican Governors Association (RGA), came as Trump made a rare visit Tuesday morning to Capitol Hill to rally Republicans in support of the legislation.

INSIDE TRUMP’S URGENT MEETING WITH HOUSE REPUBLICANS

“As Republican Governors, we stand UNITED in strong support of your One, Big, Beautiful Bill. This landmark piece of legislation embodies your powerful vision to bring about the next great American revival. It truly delivers on the bold promises all Republicans made to the American people to restore the security, prosperity, and fiscal sanity for our nation,” stated the letter, which was signed by 20 of the nation’s 27 GOP governors.

And the governors argued that “after four long years of tremendous hardship under President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the American people cannot wait any longer for Congress to enact the One, Big, Beautiful Bill.”

“The American people have witnessed the tireless work undertaken by you and your administration to reverse the disastrous consequences of President Biden’s failed and often illegal policies,” the governors claimed. “You have demonstrated a commitment to using every ounce of Executive authority available to reinstitute fiscal sanity, fight the deep state, secure our borders, and achieve energy dominance.” 

With a fragile, razor-thin majority in the House, GOP leaders in the chamber cannot afford more than a couple of Republicans to hold out against the bill in order to pass it and send it to the Senate. No Democrats in the House are expected to vote for the measure.

Upon arriving on Capitol Hill, Trump suggested that any GOP lawmaker who votes against the bill would be “knocked out so fast,” as he mentioned a couple of “grandstanders.” 

He urged House Republicans must get his “one big, beautiful bill” done, and added that the GOP is a “very unified party.”

While Trump’s meeting with the House Republicans was kept behind closed doors, two people in the room told Fox News Digital that the president warned House Republicans to not “f— around” with Medicaid and state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps, two significant points of contention for warring conservative and moderate GOP factions.

The Republican governors, in their letter to Trump, said that “we agree with you; Republicans must UNIFY around this unprecedented piece of conservative legislation.”

“We stand by your side and will support you in any way to ensure this necessary piece of legislation is enacted,” they added.

The letter was signed by Govs. Kay Ivey of Alabama, Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Sarah Sanders of Arkansas, Brian Kemp of Georgia (the chair of the RGA), Brad Little of Idaho, Mike Braun of Indiana, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Jeff Laundry of Louisiana, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Mike Kehoe of Missouri, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Jim Pillen of Nebraska, Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Bill Lee of Tennessee, Greg Abbott of Texas, Spencer Cox of Utah, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, and Mark Gordon of Wyoming.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.

Are there any Democrats out there who aren’t running for president? Sure doesn’t seem that way.

Back in the day, potential candidates would deny even thinking about it.

I remember interviewing Marco Rubio in a Senate hallway about whether he might run in 2016. He denied even contemplating it. I knew it was bull. He knew it was bull. And, of course, he ran–and lost to Donald Trump.

It’s like when candidates or officeholders say they never look at polls, or offer some bromide on how the only poll that counts is Election Day. Hogwash. They all look at polls, erratic as they may be, or talk to consultants who look at the surveys for them.

LESS THAN 4 MONTHS INTO TRUMP’S 2ND TERM, DEMS ARE ALREADY EYEING THE 2028 RACE

But now a new dynamic is taking hold, one that might be summarized as: Hell yeah, I’m running!

I mean, there are obligatory nods to focusing on next year’s midterms. But there is no longer the Kabuki dance of pretending a lack of interest.

The New York Times has a nice piece on this. 

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is telling reporters he “would consider” a White House run. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says if he’s “asked to serve” – by whom? – he will do “whatever it takes” to run. Excuse me, how does Walz’s big flop as Kamala’s running mate qualify him for the top spot?

HEATING UP: NEWSOM, PRITZKER, BUTTIGIEG MAKE EARLY MOVES IN 2028 PRESIDENTIAL RACE 

Arizona’s Ruben Gallego, who’s been a senator for about 12 minutes, said he’s awaiting the birth of his third child but added: “Babies get older.”

Many of these White House wannabes have little name recognition, which means they have nothing to lose by running, which can at least lead to a cable news contract.

Pete Buttigieg, having been bitten once by the bug, is obviously running again, but the former Transportation secretary is playing coy–”Right now I’m not running for anything” – right – but it’s nice to hear from people who backed him.

My favorite quote is from Gallego, who told NBC: “Has it ever crossed my mind? Of course,” adding an expletive. “I’m an elected official. It crosses my mind.”

DEMOCRATS ARE MAKING EARLY MOVES TO LINE UP 2028 PRESIDENTIAL BIDS

The prognosticators have counted at least 19 potential contenders. Many of them won’t make it to Iowa. Or won’t make it to the debate stage because their polls are too low. Or are forced out of the race when their fundraising dries up.

The Great Mentioner was openly replaced by the media, which in turn yielded to social media and podcasters. But the good old legacy media – now deemed a grievous insult – still have the chance to do the most original reporting.

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It’s expensive to cover campaigns. Media organizations are charged for riding on Air Force One or private charters. Their bosses must pay for their food and lodging for days on end. Some expense account dinners are legendary.

But it’s fun, largely a young person’s game. They’re not sitting in some air-conditioned studio. Which is why you’re reading about this now, over 3½ years before the next presidential election. 

The U.S. Senate has passed a new bill that would offer a tax deduction on tips worth up to $25,000.

This bill, if enacted into law, would also extend to business tax credits for payroll taxes on tips in beauty and spa services.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, is pushing the proposal – which passed unanimously – an outcome considered rare for substantive legislation.

NEW PROJECTION SIGNALS GOOD NEWS FOR FAMILIES, WORKERS IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

There are stipulations in the new bill: an employee with compensation exceeding $160,000 in the prior tax year would not be eligible to claim the new tax deduction for tips.

The bill is limited to cash tips received by occupations that are customarily tipped. 

“Tipped occupations” are jobs where tips are common in the U.S., such as waiters, waitresses and professionals providing beauty services like barbering, hair care, nail care, esthetics, body and spa treatments.

‘FAILURE’S NOT AN OPTION’: TRUMP BUDGET BILL WILL BE ‘BIG’ HELP FOR SENIORS, TOP HOUSE TAX-WRITER SAYS

The Budget Lab at Yale say they estimate there will be approximately 4 million workers in tipped occupations in 2023. 

They must also be reported by the employee to the employer for withholding payroll taxes. Under the current law, only tips exceeding $20 per month are required to be reported.

According to the report by Budget Lab, a non-tipped worker in 2023 was a minimum of approximately 10 years older than the typical tipped worker.  They also say one-third of the number of tipped workers were below 25, with 13% being teenagers.

This new bill, if passed, would cost $110 billion in federal revenues over 10 years, according to estimates by the center-right Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

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Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, pointed out during her floor speech that this bill was one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign promises.

“I am not afraid to embrace a good idea, wherever it comes from. So I agreed we need to get this done,” she said.

The passing of this bill through the Senate occurs as congressional Republicans attempt to seek advancement of a massive tax cut and spending package that will create a tax break on tips for the next four years.

The next step is the House of Representatives before it becomes law.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has reached a tentative deal with blue state Republican lawmakers to boost the cap on state and local tax deductions, or “SALT,” to $40,000 in President Donald Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill,” Republican sources confirmed to Fox News late Tuesday. 

The proposed cap – which is up from $30,000 – would be per household for taxpayers making less than $500,000 per year. 

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

 It remains unclear whether GOP hardliners who oppose raising the SALT cap deductions will sign off on the measure. 

The tentative agreement, first reported by Politico and confirmed by Fox News, comes as House GOP factions have been engaged in high-stakes debates on taxes, Medicaid, and green energy subsidies while crafting the president’s “big, beautiful bill.”

SALT deduction caps primarily benefit people living in high-cost-of-living areas like New York City, Los Angeles, and their surrounding areas. 

BLUE STATE REPUBLICANS THREATEN MUTINY OVER STATE AND LOCAL TAXES IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Republicans representing those areas have framed raising the SALT deduction cap as an existential issue, arguing that a failure to address it could cost the GOP the House majority in the 2026 midterms. 

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Meanwhile, Republicans representing lower-tax states are largely wary of raising the deduction cap, believing that it incentivizes blue states’ high-tax policies. 

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