NationalWatch

The Pentagon has pulled key protections for its civilian workers and instructed managers to move with “speed and conviction” to fire underperforming workers, according to a memo issued last month.

The guidelines were issued on Sept. 30, just one day before the government shutdown, in a memo titled “Separation of Employees with Unacceptable Performance” to eliminate workers with “unacceptable” performance reviews.

“Supervisors and human resources (HR) professionals are directed to act with speed and conviction to facilitate the separation from Federal service of employees performing unsuccessfully,” reads the memo signed by Under Secretary of Defense Anthony Tata, the Pentagon’s top personnel policy officer.

The memo also states that managers will be held accountable for not addressing “poor employee performance.”

PENTAGON ANNOUNCES ‘ZERO TOLERANCE’ FOR MILITARY PERSONNEL MOCKING CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION

Some managers fear that the guidelines are too broad to where they could be used to fire anyone who does not support the Trump administration’s programs, according to The Washington Post.

It is unclear how many employees have been fired since the memo was issued last month.

“The Department is in the process of adapting to the new guidance outlined in Under Secretary of War Tata’s memo from September 30th and we have nothing specific to share at this time,” the Pentagon said in a statement to The Washington Post.

Nearly half of the Defense civilian workforce have been furloughed during the ongoing shutdown. The administration attempted to fire thousands of furloughed employees earlier this month, but the effort was blocked by a federal court.

FIRST ON FOX: NAVY SLASHES CIVILIAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS JOBS IN PUSH FOR MILITARY READINESS

The civilian firings are part of a larger effort by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to eliminate the “debris” he purports is standing in the way of his mission to carry out Trump’s agenda.

“The sooner we have the right people, the sooner we can advance the right policies. Personnel is policy,” Hegseth said last month during a speech at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

The memo makes it easier for managers to fire Defense civilian workers, creating additional subjectivity for job performance evaluations.

Managers are directed to cite criteria used in federal job evaluations known as Douglas Factors, but each factor in the new memo added language that could impact some of those considerations.

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“Every DoW position supports the mission, so deficiencies in any role can warrant strong action,” the memo reads under the Douglas Factor section that involves an employee’s roles and responsibilities.

The factors allow managers “flexibility to address performance issues swiftly and effectively,” according to the memo.

“This approach empowers supervisors to act decisively when performance undermines DoW’s objectives, reinforcing a culture of excellence. Supervisors are to use the Douglas Factors in consideration of their action,” the memo added.

While New York City doubles down on Trump resistance and socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani is heavily favored to be elected the next mayor of America’s largest city, a nearby suburb is going the opposite direction, and it is working “even better than anticipated,” according to the county’s top official.

In February, Nassau County, New York, launched a new partnership with the federal government to allow police to assist with immigration enforcement. The partnership was further expanded in March. Currently, ten Nassau County detectives have been trained and designated to work with ICE on apprehensions and investigations, and the county has reserved 50 jail cells for ICE to hold detainees for up to 72 hours for deportation or charges.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said, “Our communication has never been better with ICE.”

Though such policies are unlikely to be adopted in New York City, Blakeman said they are massively popular, including with the county’s Hispanic population. He also said the policies have been yielding results not only for the county but the entire region.

‘BIG CHANGE’: NASSAU COUNTY POLICE TO BEGIN ASSISTING WITH IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

“It’s very clear,” he said. “When you look at the results here in Nassau County, any chief executive of any county or any city or town or village in New York state, or in America for that matter, should look very closely at reconsidering and cooperating with ICE because they’re doing a great job in keeping our county safer. And they would do a great job keeping the rest of the communities throughout the United States safer if people work with them instead of working against them.”

Blakeman said that, in September alone, Nassau County Police worked with ICE to arrest 47 illegal immigrants, 28 of whom were involved with gang activity, including drug dealing, attempted murder, carjacking and robbery. 

“That’s 47 people who won’t be preying on our communities going forward. So, I think it’s been tremendously successful,” he said.

He also said the Nassau County Jail has processed over 2,000 ICE cases.

“That’s another 2,000 people that are off the streets of not only Nassau County, but the whole metropolitan area. So, we’re not only keeping Nassau County safe, but we’re also keeping the rest of the metropolitan area safe by cooperating with ICE,” he said.

MAMDANI TAKES AIM AT TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION POLICIES IN FIERY STATEN ISLAND SPEECH: ‘WE ARE FIGHTING TO KEEP NYC A SANCTUARY CITY’

While New York City is infamous across the country for its sanctuary and soft-on-crime policies, Blakeman said that, in Nassau County, the message has been received, and criminal illegals and migrant gangs “know that we are very tough on crime here” and that “if they’re arrested, they’re going to be incarcerated or deported.”

The result, Blakeman said, is that overall crime in Nassau County has gone down by 14%, and provisional data on opioid, fentanyl and other drug-related deaths show they have gone down by over 20% compared to the previous year.

Still, he said, he is worried about the possibility of an electoral victory by Mamdani, which he said could have broader implications for Nassau County and the entire region.

“I’m very concerned about what our relationship will be with NYPD if Zohran Mamdani becomes the mayor. So, that is a very big concern for me as the county executive of a community that borders New York City,” he said.

WATCH: SCATHING REPORT EXPOSES WHAT NEW YORKERS THINK OF SANCTUARY POLICIES AS MAMDANI VICTORY LOOMS

“I am very concerned that we will not get accurate intelligence from NYPD. I would be very concerned about sharing sensitive intelligence with NYPD. Certainly, I would be reticent to go on joint operations unless our detectives and our police officers were protected when they go into the city of New York.

“It will certainly make our life more difficult for our police officers and our corrections officers and our sheriffs,” he added. “It will make our job a lot harder, but we’ll do what we got to do to protect Nassau County.”

Blakeman said he has already met with Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Rider to strategize for the possibility of a Mamdani victory.

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“We’re hoping that the people of New York City see him for what he is. He’s a communist, he’s a virulent antisemite and he’s someone that does not share American values. And he has said he wanted to defund the police, that he wants to use social workers instead of cops to investigate crimes. I mean, it’s just craziness coming out of this guy’s mouth. So, it’ll make our life more difficult if he becomes mayor, but we’ll do what we have to do.

“My No. 1 job is to make sure that we have a very safe community. The fact that we’re the safest county in America and we’re one of the largest counties in America is a credit to our police officers, our sheriffs and our cooperation with our federal agencies,” he said, adding the ICE partnership has “worked even better than anticipated.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday poured cold water on speculation that President Donald Trump could attempt a third term in 2028, citing the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment and saying he sees “no path” to changing it.

“There is the 22nd Amendment,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol, adding that while Trump enjoys teasing Democrats with “Trump 2028” hats and slogans, the Constitution is clear.

“I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution because it takes about ten years,” Johnson said. “You’d need two-thirds of Congress and three-fourths of the states to ratify [it]. I don’t see the path for that.”

Johnson said he had spoken with Trump about an hour before the news conference, calling the president’s “2028” talk “trolling” aimed at opponents. “It’s one of the most popular hats ever produced, and it drives the Democrats crazy,” he said.

JOHNSON SENDS CRITICAL SIGNAL TO SCHUMER AS DEMS DIG IN ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CHAOS

The speaker’s comments follow Trump’s own remarks earlier this week appearing to rule out a constitutional workaround.

Asked Monday aboard Air Force One en route to Tokyo whether he might attempt a return as vice president in 2028, Trump laughed.

“I wouldn’t do that. I think it’s too cute,” Trump said. “Yeah, I would rule that out because it’s too cute.”

TRUMP ANSWERS QUESTION ON WHETHER HE’LL TRY TO RUN AGAIN

His dismissal echoed Johnson’s view that the 22nd Amendment remains an immovable barrier.

Ratified in 1951 after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office, the 22nd Amendment limits presidents to two elected terms. Amending it would require two-thirds approval in both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states. The ratification process, Johnson noted, typically takes a decade or longer.

Following his news conference, Johnson was pressed in the Capitol hallways by Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram about the ongoing government shutdown, now approaching one month.

JOHNSON RAISES STAKES ON SCHUMER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BARRELS INTO WEEK 3

“The president tried his best to negotiate with the Democrat leaders. They effectively gave him the middle finger in the Oval Office,” Johnson said. “This is a congressional problem.”

He argued that there was “nothing more for [Trump] to do,” noting that Republicans had already offered a “clean” continuing resolution. “Talking with [Democrats] and trying to negotiate is a waste of time,” Johnson said.

The speaker accused Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., of clinging to a “long laundry list of crazy partisan spending priorities,” and said reopening the government would require “a few commonsense, centrist, moderate Democrats who care about the American people more than their political games.”

Johnson said he remains focused on the next three years of the Trump administration rather than hypothetical questions about 2028.

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It remains to be seen whether any Trump allies formally propose a constitutional amendment, though Johnson insisted he sees no chance of success.

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

Senate Republicans offered a rare rebuke against President Donald Trump and his trade strategy on Tuesday, despite still remaining largely in lockstep amid the ongoing government shutdown.

A handful of Senate Republicans joined Senate Democrats to end Trump’s use of emergency powers to implement steep, 50% tariffs on Brazil. While the resolution, led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., advanced from the upper chamber, it can’t be taken up in the House until early next year.

That’s because House Republicans recently passed a rule that would not allow the chamber to consider legislation dealing with Trump’s tariffs until January of next year.

TRUMP ASKS SUPREME COURT FOR URGENT RULING ON TARIFF POWERS AS ‘STAKES COULD NOT BE HIGHER’

Five Senate Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, joined all Senate Democrats to advance the resolution with a 52-48 vote.

Their defection from their GOP colleagues comes after Vice President JD Vance warned lawmakers not to vote against Trump’s usage of tariffs during Senate Republicans’ closed-door lunch earlier on Tuesday.

Vance argued after the lunch that tariffs give Trump leverage to craft new trade deals that benefit the country and urged Republicans not to break ranks against the president.

“To vote against that is to strip that incredible leverage from the president of the United States. I think it’s a huge mistake and I know most of the people in there agree with me,” he said.

Trump initially used emergency powers to enact stiffer tariffs on Brazil in July and argued “that the scope and gravity of the recent policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Brazil constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the U.S.

SCHUMER AGAIN BLOCKS GOP BID TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT AS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS GO UNPAID

It’s not the first time the Senate has disapproved of Trump’s tariffs. Earlier this year, Republicans joined Democrats to rebuke Trump’s emergency declaration for 25% tariffs against Canada, and they tried and failed to reject his use of global tariffs. 

Kaine also has plans to bring two more resolutions, one to block tariffs on Canadian goods and the other on Trump’s global tariffs, later this week.

“It makes no sense to impose tariffs on Brazil, and it’s just being done to back up the president’s friend,” Kaine told reporters ahead of the vote.

DEMOCRATS EYE KEY OBAMACARE DEADLINE AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENTERS 4TH WEEK

Kaine was referring to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who at the time of Trump’s declaration, was being prosecuted for an attempted coup after an election loss in 2022. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September.

Paul argued that “emergencies are like war, famine, tornado, not liking someone’s tariffs is not an emergency.”

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“Tariffs are an import tax, they are a tax, not a tax on China,” Paul said. “It’s a tax on the people who buy stuff from China, which are mostly Americans. Taxes are supposed to originate in the House, so I will continue to vote to end the emergency.”

When asked why more Senate Republicans hadn’t joined him on his tariff position, Paul said, “Fear.”

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…

–Abrego Garcia to remain in US for high-stakes ‘vindictive’ prosecution hearing

-NYC mayoral hopeful Mamdani hit with criminal referrals over alleged illegal foreign donations

-Whistleblower warns illegal immigrants are sending ‘shockwave’ through crucial industry

Schumer again blocks GOP bid to reopen government as air traffic controllers go unpaid

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked Republicans’ 13th attempt to reopen the government after having nearly a week to mull their options — and with a series of pressure-point deadlines rapidly closing in.

On the 28th day of the shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., tried to advance the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) and was again foiled by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Democratic caucus.

Failure to reopen the government on Tuesday came as air traffic controllers missed their first payday. The military is set to miss its first full payday on Friday. Then there is the looming cliff for federal nutrition benefits on Saturday — the same day as open enrollment begins nationwide for Obamacare…READ MORE.
 

White House

DEBUNKED: Walz repeats debunked claim that Trump considers White House ballroom ‘top priority’

HIDDEN NUMBERS: Top Trump officials urged to close ‘critical gaps’ in illegal alien crime reporting: ‘Growing problem’

LEGAL SHOWDOWN: Trump files ‘powerhouse’ appeal in Manhattan DA case to toss ‘most politically charged prosecution’ in history

SANCTIONS THREAT: Federal judge threatens Bondi, Noem with sanctions over Abrego Garcia comments

World Stage

ROCKET MAN REDUX: Trump dangles ‘big as you get’ carrot in bid to tempt Kim and jump-start new North Korea talks

GLOBAL GAMBLE: Trump predicts ‘very happy’ outcome ahead of face-to-face with China’s Xi after tariff threats

PEACE VIA POWER: Trump rallies US military’s might, floats armed forces pay raise as he addresses sailors in Japan

Capitol Hill

BLAMING ICE: Senate Dem Dick Durbin accuses Trump admin of ‘terrorizing people in their homes’

TIME IS MONEY: Banks, credit unions urge Congress to end government shutdown as economic fallout grows

WITCH HUNT PAYBACK: House Democrats accuse Trump of trying to ‘steal’ $230M from taxpayers through DOJ

MONEY TALKS: Bombshell video surfaces of Biden aide admitting he stood to receive millions for 2024 victory

SOCIALIST VS SPEAKER: Mamdani accuses Johnson of trying to ‘distract’ as House Speaker calls Jeffries’ endorsement the end of Dems

CITIZENSHIP PROBE: House Republican demands Zohran Mamdani be stripped of citizenship, deported over ‘anti-Israel’ stance

Across America 

SCANDAL-OPOLY: LOOK: Republicans hand out ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ cards mocking Virginia AG hopeful Jay Jones’ scandals

RED TAPE: Businessman-turned-gubernatorial candidate reveals how Dem regulations destroyed his family’s company

TROUBLING DISCOVERY: Ohio uncovers over 1,000 noncitizens registered to vote, sends cases to DOJ for prosecution

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

Virginia Democrats who once championed redistricting reform are now drafting a constitutional amendment to let them redraw the state’s U.S. House district maps — a reversal critics say undermines their own 2020 push for an independent commission.

The legislature reconvened in a special session in Richmond this week, where Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas sparred with critics on X, ripped former President Donald Trump and mocked Republicans with a GIF of herself dancing to Famous Dex’s “Hoes Mad.”

Lucas, of Portsmouth, previously heralded the state’s successful Democrat-led 2020 effort to create an independent redistricting commission to draw decennial legislative maps – but claimed more recently that Trump was to blame for her change of heart.

“These pieces of enabling legislation create a complete redistricting package to work alongside the historic constitutional amendment,” Lucas said at the time, calling the original plan a populist, “equitable, transparent and bipartisan process.”

TEXAS GOP LAWMAKERS POISED TO FINALIZE TRUMP-BACKED MAP AFTER DEM REDISTRICTING WALKOUT ENDS

Critics on X locked on to her and other Democrats’ past support for the redistricting commission, with one writing that “Louise doesn’t care about democracy.”

More than two-thirds of voters approved the original commission at the ballot box, as one critic quipped that Lucas “now wants to throw all those votes in the trash.”

“No Kings (Or Queens) Amirite?” the critic quipped.

Lucas retweeted the critic, and blamed Trump for her apparent flip-flop:

“Yep, that would be correct! Did you not read my previous post? When D. Trump pushed for Texas to redistrict prior to the midterms, all of that went right out the window,” Lucas said.

“So you can bet your a– that Democrats are ready for this fight,” she said, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin repeatedly decried the maneuver as a power grab, and Virginia’s entire federal Republican delegation convened in Richmond to speak out against it.

FORMER DEMOCRATIC ADVISOR SAYS PARTY’S RHETORIC ON REDISTRICTING IS GETTING ‘A LITTLE OUT OF CONTROL’

The Democrat responded by slamming the congresspeople, posting with a GIF of CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer announcing “breaking news,” which transitioned into a grinning Lucas tossing a paper and dancing as “Hoes Mad” played in the background.

Lucas separately added that the lawmakers – Reps. Morgan Griffith of the New River Valley, Jennifer Kiggans of the Hampton Roads-Tidewater area, John McGuire of Southside Virginia, Rob Wittman of the Northern Neck and Ben Cline of the Shenandoah Valley, should be more concerned about the government remaining shut down.

She shared an image of a 10-1 Democratic map of Virginia that a data scientist created that would leave only Griffith in office if implemented – with a GIF captioned “taking notes.”

“This rank hypocrisy only serves to strengthen our position. They can join the unemployment line with the federal employees they have turned their backs on,” Lucas said.

Lucas said Republicans are “nuts” to believe Democrats will be “steamrolled.”

“Donald Trump started this mess so we will fight fire with fire.”

DEMS SUGGEST GOP REDISTRICTING HAS FORCED THEM TO PLAY PARTISAN POLITICS, REPUBLICANS ARGUE NOTHING’S CHANGED

Both Democratic groups in favor – like Blue Virginia – and some other observers had dubbed the current effort a “Scott-mander” or “Scotty-mander” – after House Speaker Don Scott, D-Norfolk and Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon.

Surovell had motioned to block the official reading of a message from Youngkin to the legislature as it reconvened, according to Virginia Mercury reporter Markus Schmidt.

Surovell reportedly called Youngkin the “most partisan” governor in state history and a man more concerned about presidential aspirations.

One Surovell critic remarked on X that notorious former Confederate officer Gov. “Extra Billy” Smith would like a word, in regard to hyper-partisanship.

Beyond Senate leadership, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger’s past support for the 2020 redistricting commission — whose maps are now under threat — resurfaced as Youngkin accused her of being “bought and paid for by the far left” after a PAC tied to Obama ally Eric Holder poured money into her campaign.

OBAMA’S ‘WINGMAN’ DUMPS $300K INTO NEW VIRGINIA REDISTRICTING FIGHT AS DEMS CALL LAWMAKERS BACK

“All it took was $150,000 from the Democrat Redistricting Committee to change her position,” Youngkin said, warning voters to support Winsome Earle-Sears as his successor.

Spanberger originally said: “Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy and weakens the individual voices that form our electorates.”

State Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Midlothian, mocked Spanberger by retweeting her original opposition to gerrymandering – adding the response: “Update?”

Back in Democratic leadership, state Sen. Mamie Locke of Hampton – who co-sponsored the original commission amendment — wrote in 2018 that “citizens… need to have the ultimate say in how these lines are drawn,” and that she hoped other lawmakers would agree with the creation of the commission that is now in jeopardy.

State Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Short Pump, also previously opposed gerrymandering, saying at the time of the original commission’s founding that Virginia Democrats rightly made “fair elections part of their campaigns.”

In a 2020 column for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, VanValkenburg said that as a high school civics teacher, his own students dubbed partisan redistricting efforts “cheating with maps.”

NEWSOM-STYLE REDISTRICTING EFFORTS CRITIQUED BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS AS RECENTLY AS JULY, STATEMENTS SHOW

“Make no mistake, it’s on us to end this practice,” he wrote at the time. “Let’s live up to our own high standards… and pass meaningful reform now.”

Five years later, VanValkenburg offered a different take in Monday comments about the GOP delegation’s visit to Richmond in protest.

“These GOP members could be back in D.C. voting on a bill to end mid-decade redistricting to stop all states, including GOP ones,” he said.

“A bill was introduced to do just that! But they really only care about helping Trump. Not representing Virginians. Miss me with these crocodile tears.”

On the campaign trail, Republican lieutenant governor candidate John Reid slammed Democrats for calling lawmakers back to Richmond.

He also highlighted a short clip of state Del. Bonita Anthony, D-Norfolk, who offered brief honorific remarks during Monday’s session to praise a group that helps what she called “birthing people.”

Elsewhere, critics of the sudden redistricting effort shared other historical quotes warning of such politicking.

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One came from the most famous Virginia Democrat in history, President Thomas Jefferson – who once offered a premonition:

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., questioned the validity of pardons granted by former President Joe Biden after the release of a high-profile report by the House Oversight Committee.

“It sounds like a terrible novel or something, but this is reality,” Johnson said in response to the House GOP’s allegations that Biden’s inner circle conspired to hide signs of mental decline in the former president.

“And so the pardons, for example, he pardoned categories of violent criminals and turned them loose on the streets, and he didn’t even know who. He didn’t even know what the categories were, apparently, much less the individual people, that he pardoned.”

Johnson said the pardons were “invalid on their face.”

“I mean, I used to be a constitutional litigator. I would love to take this case,” he said.

The committee’s GOP majority released a 100-page report on Tuesday morning detailing findings from its months-long probe into Biden’s White House, specifically whether his inner circle covered up signs of mental decline in the ex-president, and if that alleged cover-up extended to executive actions signed via autopen without Biden’s full awareness.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., heaped doubt on whether Biden actually signed off on all of his executive actions when the autopen was used — in particular, the thousands of clemency orders he authorized during his term.

Comer said Biden’s autopen-authorized actions should be considered “void” and called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review the matter.

Asked at his press conference about whether there was a legal avenue to nullify Biden’s executive actions signed by autopen, Johnson signaled that he saw such an opportunity as it related to Biden’s pardons specifically.

“You can’t allow a president to check out and have unelected, unaccountable, faceless people making massive decisions for the country,” Johnson said.

A Biden spokesperson pushed back on the committee’s conclusions in a statement to Fox News Digital made Tuesday morning, however.

“This investigation into baseless claims has confirmed what has been clear from the start: President Biden made the decisions of his presidency. There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing. Congressional Republicans should stop focusing on political retribution and instead work to end the government shutdown,” the spokesperson said.

In an interview with The New York Times in July, Biden affirmed he “made every decision” on his own.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford may be the Navy’s newest carrier, but it hasn’t shied away from conflict since its first full-length deployment in 2023.

That year, the Ford originally departed for a deployment to Europe in May, but eventually spent the tail end of it in the Eastern Mediterranean after Hamas’ initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Now, the Navy’s most advanced carrier finds itself at the foreground of yet another critical conflict as it heads to the Caribbean amid President Donald Trump’s crusade against drugs, which is exerting even more pressure on Venezuela.

The Trump administration has enhanced its naval assets in the Caribbean in recent months, and sent several U.S. Navy guided missile destroyers to boost its counter-narcotics efforts there starting in August. 

TRUMP TOUTS US STRIKE AS MADURO SLAMS MILITARY ‘THREAT’ OFF VENEZUELA

And on Friday, the Pentagon announced it would send the Ford from Europe to the Caribbean as operations there heat up in U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). To date, the U.S. has conducted more than a dozen strikes against alleged drug boats in the region.

The deployment signifies a massive step for the Trump administration as it claims it is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug smugglers, and brings a host of new capabilities and firepower to deter any aggression at Latin America’s doorstep. 

The Ford is the first carrier of its class, and is equipped with more than 20 brand-new technologies, and key design updates, which aim to increase air operations while also accommodating a smaller crew. The carrier’s command center for the ship is placed closer to the rear of the Ford to create more space on the flight deck, so more aircraft can be ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Additionally, the carrier is outfitted with a new electromagnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS, which is designed to offload aircraft from the ship rather than using a steam-powered catapult system, like the ones installed on every other carrier.

During its deployment to the Caribbean, the Ford likely will be conducting strike operations on land, and providing close air support for special operations troops, according to experts. While the new technologies aren’t likely a huge game changer in the Caribbean conflict, the carrier’s presence does give the U.S. military additional flexibility to conduct operations there, according to experts.

US BOLSTERS MILITARY PRESENCE IN CARIBBEAN NEAR VENEZUELA AMID TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO HALT DRUG TRAFFICKING

“I estimate the FORD will be doing strike operations against narcotics trafficking and manufacturing sites ashore as well as providing close air support to special operations troops,” Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Institute think tank’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, said in a Monday email to Fox News Digital. 

Clark said the carrier’s new technologies will prove “helpful” during the deployment, but aren’t expected to make a “big difference” in the Caribbean. But the carrier’s presence there does indicate the U.S. is keeping a closer eye on the region, which could suggest the U.S. is more prone to work with regional governments to curb human trafficking and illegal immigration.

TRUMP UNLEASHES US MILITARY POWER ON CARTELS. IS A WIDER WAR LOOMING?

Brent Sadler, a senior fellow for naval warfare and advanced technology at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, said that the carrier’s deployment will allow Trump additional resources to target cartels. Meanwhile, Trump routinely has said for weeks he is considering employing land operations against Venezuela, following his directed strikes at sea.

“The Ford’s arrival in SOUTHCOM area is not unprecedented but given the ongoing attacks on Cartel boats significant. I see this move as intended to deter Venezuela from escalating the crisis and providing the President extra options should he want to increase the attacks on the Cartels,” Sadler said in an email to Fox News Digital on Monday. “That said, I would anticipate the Ford’s air wing being very active in air surveillance and defense.”

Presidents have the authority to direct deployments of military assets, and both Republican and Democratic presidents have done so. For example, former President Joe Biden ordered the Ford to head to the Eastern Mediterranean after the Israel-Hamas war broke out in 2023.

US MILITARY BUILDUP IN CARIBBEAN SEES BOMBERS, MARINES AND WARSHIPS CONVERGE NEAR VENEZUELA

Even so, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns about the legality of Trump’s recent strikes. For example, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a war powers resolution this month that would prohibit U.S. armed forces from engaging in “hostilities” against Venezuela.

“The Trump administration has made it clear they may launch military action inside Venezuela’s borders and won’t stop at boat strikes in the Caribbean,” Schiff said in an Oct. 17 statement.

However, Trump has brushed off lawmakers’ concerns about the legality of the strikes. Instead, he told reporters Oct. 14 that the alleged drug vessels are “fair game” because they are “loaded up with drugs.”

The Trump administration has sought to crack down on the flow of drugs into the U.S. and designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa, and others as foreign terrorist organizations in February.

After news broke that Trump was deploying the Ford to the region, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused Trump of “fabricating a new eternal war.”

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“They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war,” Maduro said in a national broadcast on Friday.

The Trump administration refuses to recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state, and has said he is a leader of a drug cartel instead.

FIRST ON FOX: With one week until the high-stakes Election Day in New York City, a campaign finance watchdog group, the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, filed two criminal referrals against the Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday.

A review of finance reports earlier this month revealed that Mamdani’s campaign had accepted nearly $13,000 from at least 170 donors from outside the United States, raising questions about his campaign’s financial compliance, as only U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents are permitted to contribute to American political campaigns.

“These are not isolated incidents or clerical errors,” Dan Backer, a national campaign finance expert and president of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “This was a sustained pattern of foreign money flowing into a New York City mayoral race which is a clear violation of both federal law and New York City campaign finance rules. Mamdani’s campaign was on notice for months that it was accepting illegal foreign contributions, and yet it did nothing meaningful to stop it.”

CRF sent the criminal referrals to Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday morning, citing potential violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act, which makes it unlawful to “accept or receive” contributions from foreign nationals in any federal, state or local election.

MAMDANI PROPOSES MASSIVE AMOUNT OF LEGAL DEFENSE FUNDING FOR IMMIGRANTS IN ‘TRUMP-PROOFING’ NYC PLAN

“The law is crystal clear that foreign nationals may not participate in American elections, and that includes making contributions. Yet Mamdani’s campaign repeatedly accepted donations from individuals abroad,” Backer added, arguing that “whether through negligence or intent, this conduct undermines the integrity of the democratic process.”

ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S $1M FUNDRAISING HAUL FUELED BY OUT-OF-STATE DONORS, DATA REVEALS

The DOJ referral calls for a criminal investigation “into potential FECA violations,” while the Manhattan referral cites “possible violations of New York Election Law § 17.152, which makes it a misdemeanor for two or more persons to conspire to promote an election by unlawful means.”

“Foreign money in American elections is not just a technical violation, it is a threat to self-government,” CRF Chairman Shaun McCutcheon said. “Every dollar illegally funneled into a campaign from abroad dilutes the voice of lawful American voters. This case must be investigated immediately, and those responsible held accountable.”

According to a Fox News Digital review of New York City Campaign Finance Board filings, Mamdani’s campaign collected roughly $13,000 from donors listing foreign addresses, including one $500 donation in January from his mother-in-law in Dubai, which was refunded four days later.

As of Oct. 14, filings revealed 91 of the foreign donations had been refunded, totaling $5,723.50.

The New York Post was the first to report on the out-of-town donations. The Mamdani campaign told the outlet last month that “we will of course return any donations that are not in compliance with CFB law.”

But CRF argued that “returning questionable donations doesn’t cure the violation.”

“CRF respectfully urges you to investigate and prosecute Mamdani’s apparent acceptance of illegal contributions from foreign nationals for his mayoral campaign,” Becker wrote in the criminal referrals.

While acknowledging that some of the donations from outside the country could be from “U.S. citizens living abroad who are legally entitled to contribute,” Becker argued that “the totality of the circumstances suggests a reasonable likelihood a substantial number of these contributions are illegal.”

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“Despite being well aware of this influx of illegal foreign contributions, it appears he did nothing throughout most of 2025 to prevent his campaign from accepting them in the first place,” Becker charged.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

House Democrats accused President Donald Trump on Monday of attempting to use the Department of Justice to improperly pay himself for legal damages he has incurred over the past decade, and they demanded senior department officials recuse themselves from the matter.

In a public letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and senior official Stanley Woodward, House Judiciary Committee Democrats called the possible payout “a blatantly illegal and unconstitutional effort to steal” millions of dollars from taxpayers.

Trump’s interest in the payout was first reported last week by the New York Times, which said Trump began seeking what amounted to $230 million through an administrative claims process that top DOJ officials would typically need to approve. Trump filed the claims in 2023 and 2024, before he took office, according to the report.

The committee Democrats, led by ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., warned of repercussions for paying Trump and demanded a slate of nonpublic information about Trump’s reported requests, laying the groundwork for a possible future investigation if they were to take the majority and gain subpoena power in a year.

TRUMP SUGGESTS DOJ OWES HIM MONEY FOR PAST CASES

“You could face civil liability, ethics investigations, professional discipline, and potential criminal liability for conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the lawmakers wrote.

They have been among many Democrats, and some Republicans, to scrutinize the president for potentially accepting the lump sum from a department he now runs.

Trump recently addressed the report in the Oval Office, saying “it would be awfully strange” to pay himself. Trump is reportedly seeking payments for damages incurred by the DOJ’s investigations into alleged Trump-Russia collusion and former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations.

“In other words, did you ever have one of those cases where you have to decide how much you’re paying yourself in damages?” Trump said. “But I was damaged very greatly. And any money that I would get, I would give to charity.” 

TRUMP, DEMOCRATS LOCKED IN ENDLESS CYCLES OF PAYBACK AFTER COMEY INDICTMENT AND TARGETING PRESIDENT’S ENEMIES

House Democrats countered that Trump “does not get the right to take a bribe or kickback just by promising to give the proceeds to charity.”

They also demanded Blanche and Woodward, who worked on Trump’s legal defense team during his criminal prosecutions, recuse themselves from any decisions about compensating Trump.

Asked for comment, a spokesman for committee Republicans accused the Democrats of fixating too much on Trump.

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“Democrats should focus on opening the government and paying federal workers, many of whom live in Ranking Member Raskin’s district, rather than obsessing over President Trump who clearly did nothing wrong,” committee spokesman Russell Dye said. “But sadly, their priority will always be attacking President Trump instead of paying the troops, air traffic controllers, and families who are hurting because of the Democrat shutdown.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked Republicans’ 13th attempt to reopen the government after having nearly a week to mull their options — and with a series of pressure-point deadlines rapidly closing in.

On the 28th day of the shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., tried to advance the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) and was again foiled by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Democratic caucus.

Failure to reopen the government on Tuesday came as air traffic controllers missed their first payday. The military is set to miss its first full payday on Friday. Then there is the looming cliff for federal nutrition benefits on Saturday — the same day as open enrollment begins nationwide for Obamacare.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS MISS FULL PAYCHECK BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, DUFFY SAYS

In the background, Republicans are considering a series of one-off bills to pay the troops, certain federal workers, air traffic controllers and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, but whether they make it to the floor remains to be seen.

Thune threw cold water on the prospect of the piecemeal “rifle shots” coming to the floor. Republicans will discuss the bills during their closed-door lunch later Tuesday, which will be attended by Vice President JD Vance.

“There’s not a high level of interest in doing carve-outs or so-called rifle shots,” he said. “Most people recognize the way to get out of this mess is to open up the government.”

Still, lawmakers with bills that could pay portions of the federal workforce were hopeful their legislation would get a shot. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, whose bill would pay air traffic controllers, said, “I certainly hope so,” when asked if it would get a vote.

FLIGHT DELAYS WORSEN AS UNPAID AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS FEEL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN PAIN

And Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., whose bill to pay working federal workers and the troops was blocked last week, but could get a second wind this week.

He and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., are working at arm’s length — Johnson said they last spoke Friday — on a compromise version of the bill, but he wasn’t hopeful that it would see the light of day despite agreeing to concessions demanded by Democrats.

“I want to make this permanent. Let’s stop, again, let’s take the ability to punish federal employees because of our dysfunction away forever. We’ll add furlough employees, and we’re not changing anything in terms of the president’s authority — that would be adjudicated in the court,” Johnson said. “So the question is, will they take ‘yes’ for an answer?”

FEDERAL WORKERS BRACE FOR MISSED PAYCHECK AS SHUTDOWN ENTERS 5TH WEEK

Schumer railed against Republicans ahead of the vote, and blamed President Donald Trump for being overseas this week as a reason that no forward progress was being made on reopening the government.

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He also went after Thune for again bringing the same bill to the floor and reiterated that Democrats’ position, which is to get an ironclad deal to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies, hadn’t changed.

“It’s a partisan bill and does nothing, most importantly, does nothing to solve the [Obamacare] crisis,” Schumer said. “Just now, here on the floor, the Republican leaders seemed perplexed about what precisely it is that Democrats are pushing for. He knows damn well what Democrats want. It’s the very same thing that a vast majority of Americans want, including nearly 60% of MAGA voters. We want lower healthcare costs now.”

FIRST ON FOX: As Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones faces mounting backlash over multiple scandals, Republicans are handing out Monopoly-style cards to voters mocking the Democrat’s controversies.

Fox News Digital obtained images of the cards from the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which first distributed them during its “Hit the Road, Jay” media tour in Roanoke and the neighboring Shenandoah Valley.

Four cards, designed to resemble those in Charles B. Darrow’s famous board game based off Atlantic City real estate, include images of Jones taking the place of “Uncle Pennybags.”

“RAGA is spotlighting that it’s rules for Jay, but not for thee, whether it’s zero accountability for murderous text messages or zero punishment for crimes that land most Virginians behind bars,” RAGA executive director Adam Piper told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

MIYARES DEMANDS JONES’ OUSTER AFTER COURT DOC INDICATES RECKLESS DRIVING CASE UNDER FURTHER CRIMINAL PROBE

Some of the cards included an orange “Chance” card reading “Rules for Jay but not for thee” – “Community service for political gain” – “Paid by law firm for community service” – “Now under criminal investigation for fraud.“

That card references criticism of Jones having filed 1,000 hours of community service with his own political action committee and the NAACP following a 116-mph reckless driving arrest.

Critics have suggested there is more to the sworn affirmation of those service hours as the second county prosecutor in a week filed a recusal request from the otherwise murky ongoing investigation.

JAY JONES’ ‘TWO BULLETS’ SCANDAL OVER VIOLENT TEXTS EXPECTED TO DOMINATE VIRGINIA AG DEBATE

A Fox News Digital freedom of information request for New Kent County seeking communications and records between the signatories of those sworn hours and the county itself remains outstanding.

Two other cards – one in “Community Chest” yellow and the other in “Chance” orange — mimic the well-known “Get out of jail free” card but featuring Jones’ face instead of Pennybags.

A fourth card modeled off of Monopoly’s “Community Chest” selections includes a recounting of the substance of Jones’ scandalous texts that came to light earlier this month:

“Jay Jones believes: [checkmark] political opponents should die, [checkmark] political opponents’ kids should die, [checkmark] cops should die.”

“No wonder Jay Jones voted for no-cash bail.”

LIBERAL MEDIA DOWNPLAYS SCANDAL OF DEM VIRGINIA AG HOPEFUL JAY JONES’ TEXTS FANTASIZING MURDER OF GOP LAWMAKER

A RAGA official told Fox News Digital that the cards continue to be distributed among many of Virginia’s county and independent-city Republican Party offices to share with the public.

A moving billboard featuring the card images was also dispatched to roam around the capital city of Richmond this week.

That timing coincides with Virginia Democrats reconvening a special session that never officially closed earlier this term in order to ram through a constitutional amendment that would allow them to redraw congressional district boundaries.

JAY JONES INVOKES TRUMP NEARLY 50 TIMES DURING VIRGINIA AG DEBATE, TIES MIYARES TO ‘MAGA’

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running for governor and currently presides over the otherwise Democratic-majority state Senate, condemned the move and called it a ploy to try to pull her off the campaign trail.

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She is expected to hold a campaign rally with Gov. Glenn Youngkin near South Boston, Va., later Tuesday.

Fox News Digital reached out to Jones’ campaign for comment.

New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani accused House Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday of seeking to “distract” Americans from Republicans’ “lack of results” by lambasting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for endorsing the democratic socialist’s progressive campaign platform. 

During Johnson’s daily press conference on the 27th day of the government shutdown, the House GOP leader ripped Jeffries for endorsing Mamdani’s mayoral campaign on Friday, calling it the “clearest sign yet that this radical insurgent movement in the Democrat Party is succeeding.”

“Speaker Johnson should be sitting members of Congress, as opposed to using his time to try and attack our campaign,” Mamdani fired back from Manhattan on Monday. “But I understand if I was one of the leaders of the Republican Party that had led a campaign that promised Americans a lower cost of living and cheaper groceries, and all I could deliver for them was a government shutdown, then I, too, would be looking to distract in any way that I could from those lack of results.”

After withholding his endorsement for months, Jeffries, who represents Brooklyn in the U.S. House of Representatives, on Friday affirmed his support for the Democratic mayoral nominee, applauding Mamdani’s focus on “addressing the affordability crisis” and representing all New Yorkers.

CLINTON CAMPAIGN ALUM URGES JEFFRIES, SCHUMER NOT TO ‘TAKE THE BAIT,’ GET ‘BULLIED’ INTO MAMDANI ENDORSEMENT

“I endorse the Democratic ticket,” Jeffries said.

Johnson told reporters on Monday that Jeffries’ endorsement represents the end of “what has always been known as the Democrat Party in America.”

ZOHRAN MAMDANI LANDS LONG-WAITED KEY ENDORSEMENT IN NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL RACE

“After a months-long pressure campaign from the far left, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries finally relented. He gave in, and he gave his endorsement to the socialist running to be mayor of New York City. The House Democrats, they’ve shown the world what they really believe. There is no longer a place for centrists and moderates in their party,” Johnson added.

“He is a Marxist,” Johnson claimed, while criticizing his record.

“Zohran Mamdani is expected to take the helm of one of the most important cities in the world and the largest city in America, and he now has the full blessing of the Democrat leader in the House of Representatives. It is shocking, and that leader and all the other Democrats are going to co-own the consequences of what they do to America’s largest city.”

Johnson urged reporters to question House Democrats about whether they agree with Jeffries’ endorsement of the “Marxist agenda.”

“What we’re witnessing is truly the end of the Democratic Party, as we’ve known it,” Johnson warned.

And Johnson charged Democrats, once again on Monday, of bending the knee to the “Marxists in their party.”

“Just like they decided to save their own skin that they had to endorse the Marxist Mamdani in an unprecedented move, they have also decided they had to shut down the government in an unprecedented move, no matter the pain it inflicts upon hard-working American people,” Johnson added.

Democrats have said they would not accept any federal funding bill that does not also include an extension of Obamacare subsidies that were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic — but which are set to expire at the end of this year.

Republicans’ plan, a short-term extension of FY2025 federal funding called a continuing resolution (CR), passed the House on Sept. 19 but has since stalled in the Senate.

The GOP has relentlessly blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for shutting down the government to appease the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, as Mamdani maintains the lead in New York City’s mayoral race and buzz swirls regarding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘s political ambition.

Republicans have accused Democrats of holding Americans and the government hostage over partisan demands, while Democrats warned that the GOP would be responsible for hiking healthcare costs for millions of Americans if the enhanced COVID-era subsidies are allowed to expire.

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While Jeffries finally endorsed Mamdani on Friday, Schumer has yet to endorse the democratic socialist candidate. 

As Axios reported last month that Ocasio-Cortez is gearing up to run for Schumer’s Senate seat or for president in 2028, prompting Republicans to accuse Schumer of maintaining a red line on continuing resolution (CR) negotiations in order to appease his party’s progressive wing.

Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries and Johnson for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

A federal judge in Tennessee is threatening Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and other Department of Justice and DHS employees with sanctions if they make any prejudicial statements about Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s criminal case.

U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, who is overseeing the case, wrote in a filing Monday that, “DOJ and DHS employees who fail to comply with the requirement to refrain from making any statement that ‘will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing’ this criminal prosecution may be subject to sanctions.”

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national deported earlier this year before being returned to the U.S., is facing federal charges of human smuggling and conspiracy. Bondi has described him as a full-time smuggler who made more than 100 trips transporting women, children and MS-13 gang-affiliated persons throughout the U.S.

“The high-profile nature of his immigration case resulted in government officials and those supportive of Abrego regularly commenting to the media. Now that he has been indicted in this District, Abrego asks the Court to freeze extra-judicial comments to ensure his Constitutional right to an impartial jury,” Crenshaw wrote in a memorandum opinion.

TOP TRUMP OFFICIALS SUBPOENAED IN ABREGO GARCIA HEARING FOR ‘VINDICTIVE’ PROSECUTION

In that filing, the judge wrote, “Media attention about Abrego started in March 2025 when the United States sent him to El Salvador, months before his indictment in the Middle District of Tennessee.”

“Government employees have made extrajudicial statements that are troubling, especially where many of them are exaggerated if not simply inaccurate. These statements made allegations regarding Abrego’s ‘character or reputation’ and expressed government officials’ views on Abrego’s ‘guilt or innocence,’” the judge said.

DOJ SIGNALS IT WOULD RATHER DEPORT ABREGO GARCIA THAN PROSECUTE HIM

The judge continued, “For example, the DHS Secretary stated that Abrego is a ‘MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator’… Similarly, on June 6, 2025, the Attorney General stated that Abrego played ‘a significant role in an alien smuggling ring … [that] this was his full-time job, not a contractor … [that] [h]e was a smuggler of humans and children and women … [and that] [h]e made over 100 trips.’”

Crenshaw also declared the Trump Cabinet members were in violation of a local court rule limiting remarks from government officials relating to an active criminal case, although he stopped short of issuing a gag order, according to Politico.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Justice Department and Homeland Security for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Following several high-profile, deadly auto accidents involving illegal alien truck drivers, a commercial trucking industry leader is blowing the whistle on the devastating “shockwave” illegal drivers carrying sanctuary state licenses have had on the industry.

Mike Kucharski, co-owner and vice president of JKC Trucking, which is based in Illinois, told Fox News Digital that in addition to endangering American roads, illegal alien commercial drivers have been “killing the trucking business.”

He said that though the problem has only recently been brought to the forefront of the public consciousness in recent months, drivers and trucking businesses have been feeling the impacts for years.

“We knew there was an issue right after COVID because the rates dropped down, and we just thought, ‘Okay, look, it’s just inflation … the wars, etcetera, all these aspects causing the volumes to be down. We’re thinking, ‘Okay. In the long run, these volumes will go back up to what they were pre-COVID conditions or just go back to regular volumes, and we’ll be back in business.’ But what happened? The complete opposite happened,” he said. “They went down and stayed down, and we never knew, as truckers, what was the problem.”

WHITE HOUSE SAYS CALIFORNIA GRANTED LICENSE TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKER CHARGED IN FATAL DUI CRASH

Now, with recent revelations from the Trump Department of Transportation and Secretary Sean Duffy about rampant illegal alien truckers on American roads, Kucharski said the truth is finally out.

Duffy issued a bombshell report on Thursday accusing California of violating federal law by issuing a commercial driver’s license to a foreign asylum seeker whose semi-truck crash killed three people last week.

The report alleges that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration ignored a federal order to halt noncompliant licenses and revoke improperly issued credentials, a failure that, according to Duffy, cost “three innocent souls.”

Federal regulators uncovered flaws in how California licenses were obtained by certain commercial truck drivers. The 2025 Annual Program Review and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) concluded that the state’s commercial driver’s license (CDL) system suffered from “systemic policy, procedural, and programming errors” when it came to handling non-domiciled licenses.

In an audit letter dated Sept. 26, 2025, investigators also discovered that California had issued CDLs to non-domiciled drivers that were valid even after their federal work authorization expired.

BLUE STATE INVESTIGATES HOW ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKER GOT LICENSE BEFORE DEADLY FLORIDA CRASH

Kucharski explained further that, though a heavily regulated industry, illegal alien truck drivers can exploit a “loophole” in the system by obtaining non-domiciled commercial drivers’ licenses from states such as California and New York. They are then able to outcompete legitimate trucking businesses by charging lower prices, leading to the demise of many American small businesses in the industry.

“As a business owner, I was thinking, ‘Well, who is taking all these loads?’ Now I could figure it out that this is another shockwave that’s hitting the truck industry after COVID and violent volatility, these [non-domiciled] drivers are coming in and doing it for cheaper because they don’t care, and … they don’t have social security numbers, and I assume they’re probably not filing for taxes. So, if you’re not going to pay all your bills, of course, you can do it cheaper and keep on trucking.”

“All our truckers are fighting for the same load, and it goes to the lowest bidder,” he went on. “If you have these drivers coming in that are non-domiciled, they have no family here, they have no home, they live in their truck … They’re saying, ‘Okay, look, all the market’s doing for $2,000, we’ll do it for $1,700.’ So, it’s putting small trucking businesses out of business every day.”

“We’re over-regulated, honestly, in the trucking industry. And if you’re overregulated, you think, ‘Well, there’s no way that this could happen, and it is happening, right now as we speak,” he said. “It’s eye-opening, disturbing and jaw-dropping.”

Kucharski called on Duffy as well as other industry leaders to take action.

Along with the report last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an emergency interim final rule that tightened standards for non-domiciled CDLs nationwide. In the rule, stipulations changed and limited eligibility to applicants holding certain employment-based visas. It requires every state to verify their legal status through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database.

Under the new rule, any non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit or CDL must expire no later than the end date on the driver’s federal immigration record or after one year, whichever comes first. It also maintains that states must keep proof of their lawful presence on file for at least two years.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCK DRIVER IN FATAL CALIFORNIA CRASH SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAD LICENSE: DOT REPORT

In response to Kucharski’s criticisms, a spokesperson for Newsom told Fox News Digital that “California continues to follow federal rules regarding CDLs.”

“Lost in the immigrant-bashing is the fact that drivers holding a California-issued CDL are involved in fatal crashes at a rate far lower than the national average.  If the focus were on safety, California should be a poster child, not a scapegoat,” the spokesperson said.

“Consistent with federal law, California issued commercial driver’s licenses only to drivers if the federal government confirmed their legal presence,” the spokesperson went on, adding, “The Trump administration didn’t like these federal rules and just recently changed them to restrict refugees, DACA holders, and others from being able to apply for a CDL.”

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“This is a very serious crisis issue,” Kucharski said. “The trucking industry depends on trust. That means ensuring every driver on the road is properly licensed, well-trained, and mentally and physically fit to operate heavy equipment.”

“All I can say is strategies like this remind us that reform isn’t just about policies, [its] about human lives. And it’s on all of us, from the regulators to the fleet owners, to the driver trainers, to ensure the system works the way it should.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to Hochul’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Christina Shaw contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Air Force Academy graduate and Iraq War veteran Jennifer-Ruth Green says she’s “ready to finish the mission” as she launches a second Republican congressional bid in northwest Indiana for a seat long held by Democrats.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” Green said in a campaign launch video shared first with Fox News Digital on Tuesday, as she jumped into the U.S. House race in Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, which is represented by three-term Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan.

Green, who came within five points of defeating Mrvan in the 2022 midterm elections, says her rematch in Indiana could be crucial in deciding if the GOP keeps control of its fragile House majority next year.

“When we fire Frank Mrvan and take back northwest Indiana for the first time since 1928, Republicans will keep the House and stop radical Democrats from impeaching President Trump,” Green emphasized in her video.

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And in an interview with Fox News Digital, she added, “I firmly believe that the control of the House might just come down to Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, and I want to be on the team to make sure we can have a credible agenda to support President Trump.”

Green launched her campaign the day after Republican Gov. Mike Braun called state lawmakers back for a special legislative session to redraw the GOP-dominated state’s congressional districts.

It’s part of a broad Republican effort orchestrated by President Donald Trump and his political team to pad the GOP House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Democrats need a pickup of just three seats to win back control of the House.

FIVE KEY RACES TO WATCH IN THE 2025 ELECTIONS

Trump is aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats, fighting back, aim to blunt the GOP effort by pushing redistricting in blue-leaning states.

Republicans currently control seven of Indiana’s nine congressional districts, and any new map passed by the state’s GOP super majority in the legislature would likely shift the 1st Congressional District from blue-leaning to a red-leaning seat.

“We believe Indiana’s First District… will become much more Republican,” a memo from the Green campaign states.

And Green, in her Fox News Digital interview, argued, “I am in support of redistricting. I really believe that it’s time for us to fight fire with fire, and we’ve seen how Democrats around the country have taken this opportunity … in their states to gerrymander.

Green, following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, joined the Air Force. A 2005 Air Force Academy graduate, she began her military career in aviation before transitioning to serve as a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and deploying to Baghdad during the Iraq War.

She’s currently a lieutenant colonel in the Indiana Air National Guard and “as Indiana’s first secretary of public safety, I supported our first responders and helped the Trump administration remove dangerous illegal immigrants from our streets.”

She also founded a faith-based nonprofit to “help at-risk youth through aerospace training.”

Green, who outraised Mrvan in her 2022 campaign, is the only major Republican candidate to jump into the 2026 race. Pointing to her fundraising prowess, her campaign memo touts that Green “is the only candidate Republicans can put forward in this race to raise the money needed to win a hard-fought battle for this seat.”

“When we fire Frank Mrvan and take back northwest Indiana for the first time since 1928, Republicans will keep the House,” Green said in her campaign video.

And she pledged, if elected to Congress, to “stand shoulder to shoulder with our president to rebuild American manufacturing for middle class jobs, fight for bigger paychecks and lower prices, support our farmers and rural communities, secure the border and deport violent, illegal immigrants, back the blue, and defend the right to life and the Second Amendment.”

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Green, in her Fox News Digital interview, praised Trump, saying, “I believe that he’s doing a great job. He is taking care of our country, leading it in the right direction.”

Asked if she would like the president’s help on the campaign trail, she said, “I look forward to bringing him out to northwest Indiana if he would come.”

FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of parental rights organizations have signed onto a letter sent to all 50 states calling for top-to-bottom statewide audits of education laws and policies warning that DEI, poor hiring practices, and discrimination based on sex and gender continues to be prevalent in K-12 schools nationwide. 

The letter, sent by Defending Education along with over 20 other parental rights in education groups, urges leaders in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., to repeal or revise any provisions that allow race or sex-based preferences in hiring and programming, violate titles VI, VII, or IX of the Civil Rights Act or Equal Protection Clause, and undermine student safety with poor vetting in hiring practices. 

“It has become common practice for states to violate federal law in the name of diversity,” Erika Sanzi, senior director of communications at Defending Education, told Fox News Digital. 

“With so many ideological bullies in state government and in our schools, cowardice and ignorance have ruled the day for far too long. State laws, regulations and practices that promote (and even require) race and sex-based discrimination must be exposed and eliminated. It’s time that every state cleans up the mess they’ve made in the name of DEI.”

BOMBSHELL REPORT EXPOSES ‘DEEPLY CONCERNING’ MIDWEST UNIVERSITY INITIATIVE PUSHING FAR-LEFT K-12 LESSON PLANS

Teacher vetting is a top concern voiced in the letter, specifically the resignation of Des Moines, Iowa, Superintendent Ian Roberts after he was detained last month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following a brief car chase. He was taken into custody because he had “a final order of removal and no work authorization,” authorities said at the time.

Roberts entered the United States illegally from Guyana and was not legally authorized to work in the U.S. after his employment authorization card expired in 2020.

Homeland Security officials said that Roberts faced weapon possession charges from Feb. 5, 2020, and was given a final order of removal by an immigration judge in May 2024. After his arrest, authorities said they found a loaded handgun in his vehicle.

Additionally, numerous examples of teachers being accused of sexually abusing children have been reported in recent years. The letter states that “a public school employee who sexually abuses children is, on average, passed to three school districts and can abuse up to 73 children before they are fired or face legal consequences.”

“Collective bargaining agreements negotiated between teacher unions and school districts are a key contributor to the problem, as they often allow for scrubbing of personnel files, so no record of abuse is left once an offender leaves the system,” the letter says. “This widespread lack of transparency in educational employment is staggering and unacceptable.”

NEW K-12 SCHOOL FOCUSES ON PROMOTING AMERICAN PRINCIPLES, ELIMINATING ‘WOKE IDEOLOGY’

Some of the groups signed onto the letter include School Boards for Academic Excellence, Parents Unite, Protective Parent Coalition, Conservative Ladies of America, Awake Illinois, Power2Parent, and Californians for Equal Rights Foundation. 

The Trump administration has taken efforts to roll back DEI practices across the board, including with an executive order combating the practice in the federal government, in the military, and in schools.

As a result, Fox News Digital has reported on several examples of companies and schools failing to eliminate their DEI programs, but instead rebranding them using different terminology and moving DEI employees to other departments.

“It is the exact same toxic nonsense under a new wrapper, and they’re just hoping to extend the grift, because a lot of these people, I would say most of the people, working in DEI are useless,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told Fox News Digital earlier this year.

“At first, they just pushed back on, tried to defend DEI itself, but when that became so obvious that what DEI really was was anti-White, anti-Asian, sometimes anti-Jewish discrimination in hiring and promotion, they abandoned that. Now what they’re trying to do is simply change the terminology that has become so toxic to their brand. So we’re seeing a lot of companies move from having departments of DEI, for example, to ‘departments of belonging’ or ‘departments of inclusivity.’”

CRITICS SAY K-12 ETHNIC STUDIES PUSH TEACHING STUDENTS ABOUT CISHETERONORMATIVITY, BLACK PANTHER PARTY

Additionally, Defending Education warns that many current state laws are not in line with federal guidance.

Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and legal fellow at Defending Education, told Fox News Digital, “Our assessment of state education laws coast-to-coast reveals a troubling reality: many state laws are at odds with federal anti-discrimination provisions and are going to invite federal scrutiny. State laws like those in Iowa, Illinois, and Maine demand race and sex-based preferencing in everything from programs to sports, scholarships to employment.”

“The Civil Rights Act’s mandates of equality in educational programs aren’t being realized in too many American classrooms, and the duty to secure those promises lies with the state leaders tasked with passing and enforcing state laws. It’s time for states to clean house — because at bottom, education is, and always has been, a state proposition.”  

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Over the last several years, a few dozen DEI consultant groups have racked up over a hundred million dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts from K-12 schools across the country, according to a report from Defending Education earlier this year, first reported by Fox News Digital.

In total, the groups collected over $123 million from public schools in 40 states. The report found public school DEI contracts in both red and blue states, from Florida and Alabama to California and Washington.

“Public education is a state responsibility,” Defending Education wrote in a press release, along with links to the letters sent to each individual state. 

“Yet every state that accepts federal funds must follow federal civil rights law. Too many states are out of compliance, whether through race-based hiring and programming, restroom/locker room and athletic policies that violate sex equality or the scrubbing of personnel records that allow predators to move between schools undetected. Our organizations are calling for ‘legal housekeeping’ to ensure that schools operate lawfully, transparently, and in the best interests of students and families.”

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) conduct a “comprehensive” investigation into former President Joe Biden’s autopen use.

The committee’s GOP majority released a 100-page report on Tuesday morning detailing findings from its months-long probe into Biden’s White House, specifically whether his inner circle covered up signs of mental decline in the ex-president, and if that alleged cover-up extended to executive actions signed via autopen without Biden’s full awareness.

“Faced with the cognitive decline of President Joe Biden, White House aides — at the direction of the inner circle — hid the truth about the former president’s condition and fitness for office,” the report said.

The report also detailed a “haphazard documentation process” for pardons made by Biden, which the committee argued left room for doubt over whether the former president made those decisions himself.

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“In the absence of sufficient contemporaneous documentation indicating that cognitively deteriorating President Biden himself made a given executive decision, such decisions do not carry the force of law and should be considered void,” the GOP report said.

“The Department of Justice should immediately conduct a review of all executive actions taken by President Biden between January 20, 2021, and January 19, 2025. Given the patterns and findings detailed herein, this review should focus particularly on all acts of clemency. However, it should also include all other types of executive actions.”

In addition to concerns about who signed off on Biden’s executive actions, Comer spent part of the report raising concerns about Hunter Biden’s role in the pardon process.

Fox News Digital previously reported that ex-Biden Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told investigators that Hunter Biden was in the room for some pardon discussions — specifically the controversial preemptive pardons the ex-president gave to his relatives.

“It was towards the end,” said a portion of Zients’ transcript included in the report. “What comes to mind is the family discussions. But I don’t know — that doesn’t mean that was it. It was the pardons towards the end, very end of the administration. And I think it was a few meetings, not many meetings.”

Comer’s report said, “Zients testified that President Biden included his son, Hunter Biden, in the decision-making process for and meetings about pardons.”

“This apparently included the meeting to discuss the pardons of five Biden family members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and the members of Congress who served on the Select Subcommittee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, and their staff,” the report said.

The Oversight Committee called a total of 14 witnesses across three months, mainly consisting of top Biden administration aides — including some who had known him for decades.

Despite nearly 47 hours of interviews and sworn depositions, however, Comer suggested he believed aides covered for Biden even in the committee room.

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“Throughout the Committee’s investigation, senior Biden White House aides presented a perspective of President Biden’s cognitive health completely disconnected from that of the American public,” the report said.

“Not one of the Committee’s 14 witnesses was willing to admit that they ever had a concern about President Biden being in cognitive decline. In fact, numerous witnesses could not recall having a single conversation about President Biden’s cognitive health with anyone inside or outside of the White House.”

Comer spent a significant amount of time in the report criticizing former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor. O’Connor’s sworn deposition was among the shortest sit-downs of the investigation, with the doctor having invoked the Fifth Amendment for all questions save for his name.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital alongside the report, Comer called for the D.C. Health Board of Medicine to investigate O’Connor — and potentially bar him from practicing medicine.

The GOP report called O’Connor’s alleged decision to not conduct a cognitive exam with Biden during his four-year term “reckless” and accused him of making “grossly misleading medical assessments.”

“His refusal to answer questions about the execution of his duties as physician to the president — combined with testimony indicating that Dr. O’Connor may have succumbed to political pressure from the inner circle, influencing his medical decisions and aiding in the cover-up — legitimizes the public’s concerns that Dr. O’Connor was not forthright in carrying out his ultimate duties to the country,” the report said.

“The Committee recommends that the District of Columbia Board of Medicine review the actions taken by Dr. O’Connor while serving as the White House physician to President Biden for any potential wrongdoing in the medical care of the former president –– including whether Dr. O’Connor produced false or misleading medical reports to the American people.”

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O’Connor’s lawyers previously told Fox News Digital that he invoked the Fifth Amendment over concerns that the scope of the committee’s probe could run afoul of doctor-patient confidentiality standards.

Biden’s allies have repeatedly denounced Comer’s probe as political and having no basis in reality. 

Multiple people who spoke with the committee have argued that concerns about Biden’s mental acuity were made worse by the media and Republican pundits, particularly after his disastrous June 2024 debate against current President Donald Trump.

In an interview with The New York Times in July, Biden affirmed he “made every decision” on his own.

The U.S. Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile would put Moscow well within target range if President Donald Trump were to fulfill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request.

The Tomahawk has long been one of the most recognizable weapons in America’s arsenal. At $2 million per missile and $6 million per launcher, it can strike up to 1,500 miles into enemy territory.

If the United States were to authorize Ukraine to use it, it would mark a dramatic escalation in both capability and psychology. For the first time, Russian forces and strategic sites far beyond the front lines — including inside Russian territory — would fall within reach of a Western-supplied, precision long-range weapon that Moscow has no reliable defense against.

Unlike the shorter-range Storm Shadow or ATACMS systems already used by Kyiv, the Tomahawk would give Ukraine the ability to strike targets hundreds of miles inside Russia — air bases, ammunition depots, logistics hubs and naval assets supporting the war in Ukraine. That reach would instantly change the strategic balance.

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Critically, it would give Ukraine the ability to hit at Russia’s energy industry, which, through exports to nations like China, Iran and India, funds the war effort.

Ukraine has used ATACMS systems to strike behind enemy lines in Russian-occupied Ukraine and near Russia’s borders — helicopter shelters, ammunition depots and runways. But even as missiles regularly rain down on Kyiv, its defense forces have not been able to respond in kind to Moscow, leaving the Kremlin hub unscathed and largely secure after three and a half years of war.

Recently, Ukraine used U.K.-made Storm Shadow missiles to strike a gun depot in Russia. The U.S. supplies targeting data for the Storm Shadow, and The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration had lifted a ban on using the missiles to strike inside Russia.

“Transferring Tomahawks to Ukraine would mark a major inflection point for Western support of Ukraine,” Hudson Institute defense analyst Can Kasapoglu wrote in a recent essay. “The Tomahawk is one of the most effective missiles in the arsenals of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations.”

Kasapoglu noted that the Tomahawk’s strategic appeal “lies less in its raw explosive yield and more in its precision.”

For Moscow, the implications would be profound. Russia’s military doctrine has long depended on the assumption that its homeland infrastructure — especially command and logistics networks — would remain beyond direct threat from Western-supplied weapons. The introduction of Tomahawks into Ukrainian hands would destroy that assumption overnight.

The missile’s ability to fly low and evade radar would make it extremely difficult for Russian defenses to stop. Even advanced systems like the S-400 or S-500, already stretched across multiple fronts, could not guarantee interception. Each missile launched would carry not only destructive power but psychological weight — forcing Russia to divert resources away from its offensive operations in Ukraine to protect bases hundreds of miles away.

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“Such a move would inevitably free up airspace for the Ukrainian Air Force’s growing fleet of F-16 aircraft and Western-supplied ground-attack smart munitions,” Kasapoglu wrote.

It would also inject uncertainty into Russian planning. Commanders would have to assume that every major staging area — from Belgorod to the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol — could be targeted. That uncertainty erodes confidence, slows operations, and imposes constant strain on air defense assets.

Trump explained on Wednesday why he did not provide Tomahawks to Ukraine despite speculation that he would do so.

“There is a tremendous learning curve with the Tomahawk. It’s a very powerful weapon, very accurate weapon,” Trump said Wednesday. “And maybe that’s what makes it so complex. But it will take a year. It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it, and we know how to use it. And we’re not going to be teaching other people. It will be just too far out into the future.”

Trump also made clear he believes the U.S. has few to spare.

“We need Tomahawks for the United States of America too. We have a lot of them, but we need them.”

The U.S. supply of Tomahawks is classified. But analysts say providing Ukraine with the missiles would weaken preparations for conflict in the Indo-Pacific. 

“Tomahawk is one of the few munitions (Patriot is another) that would be useful both in Ukraine and the Western Pacific,” an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said. 

The Department of War has already established a review process to ensure that weapons offered to Ukraine do not weaken what it regards as higher priority needs. 

“This review process will almost certainly raise objections to this transfer, and presidential intervention may be required,” the analysis found. 

Over the weekend, Zelenskyy told Axios Ukraine would welcome other long-range missiles as well. 

“We speak not only about Tomahawks. The U.S. has a lot of similar things that doesn’t require much time for training. I think the way to work with Putin is only through pressure,” Zelensky said.

Earlier in the week, he expressed skepticism that Ukraine could win the war.

“They could still win it. I don’t think they will, but they could still win it,” Trump told reporters Monday.

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Putin’s calculus depends heavily on escalation control — the belief that NATO will stop short of providing weapons capable of directly threatening Russian territory. Tomahawks would shatter that red line. For the Kremlin, it would signal that Washington is prepared to move from containment to punishment — just after Trump triggered sanctions on Russia’s lucrative energy exports.

Putin told journalists this week that if Russia were attacked with Western long-range missiles, the response would be “very serious, if not overwhelming. Let them think about it.”

Former President Joe Biden suggested that the U.S. is currently facing “dark days.”

During a ceremony where he was honored with a lifetime achievement award for inspired leadership from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, Biden described the current state of affairs as the “worst” he has seen in his many decades of “elected public life,” opining that “our very democracy is at stake in my view.”

“Friends, I can’t sugarcoat any of this. These are dark days,” Biden asserted.

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But the Democrat said the U.S. is one of the only nations that comes out of each crisis it faces “stronger” than before.

Biden said he believes the U.S. will “emerge… stronger, wiser, more resilient, more just, so long as we keep the faith,” urging people to “fight like hell.”

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The lifetime achievement award recognizes Biden for serving 36 years as a senator, eight years as vice president alongside President Barack Obama, and four years as president. Before his time in federal posts, he served on the New Castle County Council in Delaware.

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Biden, who left office earlier this year at the age of 82, was the oldest person ever to serve as president in American history.