NationalWatch

Secretary of State Marco Rubio fired back at Sen. Chris Van Hollen after the Maryland Democrat said he regretted voting for Rubio as President Donald Trump’s chief foreign affairs adviser, leading to a fiery exchange during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

Rubio testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the State Department’s budget proposal when Van Hollen used his time to tear into the State Department for revoking visas of those found disrupting college campuses or committing acts of violence.

“Your campaign of fear and repression is eating away at the foundational values of our democracy,” Van Hollen said, likening Rubio to the era of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. He added, “And I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for Secretary of State.”

“First of all, your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job,” Rubio replied.

JUDGE ON WARPATH PRESSES TRUMP DOJ ON ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION, ANSWERS LEAVE COURTROOM IN STUNNED SILENCE

“That’s just a flippant statement, Mr. Secretary,” Van Hollen shot back.

Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, interjected, asking Van Hollen to let Rubio respond to his claims without interruption. When Van Hollen asked if he can, in turn, respond to Rubio, Risch said, “Your time is up, Mr. Senator, and woefully used I might add.”

Rubio continued, saying that in the case of El Salvador, “we deported gang members … including the one you had a margarita with,” referencing Van Hollen’s visit to see deported “Maryland man” Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador. “And that guy is a human trafficker, and that guy is a gangbanger, and the evidence is going to be clear in the days to come.”

Van Hollen then jumped in, shouting to the chairman that Rubio “can’t make unsubstantiated comments like that.”

“Secretary Rubio should take that testimony to the federal court of the United States because he hasn’t done it under oath,” Van Hollen said before Risch banged the gavel to allow Rubio to continue.

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

Rubio continued: “About the student visas, let me say this. I don’t deport anybody and I don’t snatch anybody. The State Department does not have officers in the streets snatching everybody. What I do is revoke visas. And it’s very simple. A visa is not a right. It is a privilege.”

“People apply for student visas to come into the United States and study. And if you tell me you’re coming to the United States to lead campus crusades, to take over libraries, and try to burn down buildings and acts of violence, we’re not going to give you a visa,” he continued.

Van Hollen shot back that Rubio “was just blowing smoke here now.”

Rubio responded: “The bottom line is, if you’re coming here to stir up trouble on our campuses, we will deny you a visa. And if you have a visa, and we find you, we will revoke it.”

Rubio said the Trump administration will continue to revoke the visas of those who are here as guests and are disrupting college campuses.

A senior State Department official reacted to the exchange in a statement to Fox News Digital.

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“Once again, Senator Van Hollen proves that he cares more about illegal immigrants than his own constituents,” the senior State Department official said.

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. 

Murray began her tenure in the Senate in 1993. 

“Seriously?” Murray interjected. 

WATCH: RFK JR. REBUKES DEM SENATOR FOR PLAYING POLITICS WITH CANCER-STRICKEN CONSTITUENT: ‘YOU DON’T CARE’

“What have you done about it? Kennedy shot back. What have you done about the epidemic of chronic disease?”

As the two continued talking over one another, the subcommittee chair, Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, asked Kennedy to “hold back and let the senator ask the questions.”

“Mr. Secretary, I’m asking you a question about child care,” Murray continued. “I’m asking you who made the decision to withhold child care and development block grant funding?”  

“That was made by my department,” Kennedy responded. 

BEN & JERRY’S CO-FOUNDER ARRESTED PROTESTING SENATE HEARING: ‘RFK KILLS PEOPLE WITH HATE’

Kennedy appeared before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday morning to answer questions related to HHS’ budget proposal for fiscal year 2026. The hearing comes just after Kennedy joined lawmakers in both a Senate hearing and a House hearing, both of which included fiery exchanges between Kennedy and Democrat lawmakers. 

Murray continued in her questioning that the HHS was making vast cuts to scientists at the agency, which Kennedy dismissed, citing that he does not “trust” Murray’s information. 

“And you said last week, quote, ‘we were not cutting thousands of scientists,” Murray continued. “We are not cutting clinical trials.’ But I want you to know, in the last four months, you fired or pushed out nearly 5,000 NIH staff and terminated more than 1,600 NIH grants. That includes more than 240 clinical trials across the country. So whose decision was it to fire scientists and terminate these NIH grants and the clinical trial?” 

DEM LAWMAKER SEETHES RFK JR’S ‘LEGITIMACY’ AS HHS SECRETARY HAS ‘EXPIRED’ IN HEATED EXCHANGE

“Senator, I don’t trust your information with all due respect,” Kennedy responded, continuing that Murray’s previous remarks in a recent hearing were not correct. “You told me what, three days ago or four days ago, that we had cut a clinical trial in your state and … what you said turned out to be completely untrue. And you knew it was untrue because you corresponded with (Director of the National Institutes of Health) Jay Bhattacharya before that.” 

“You came here to argue with me,” Murray added. “I came here to ask you questions about your budget request. Your budget request is asking us to cut dramatically. But I am also making the point that Senator Baldwin made, that what you are doing right now is enacting your budget, that Congress has not passed, by cutting critical funding across the board.” 

The Washington Democrat previously exchanged barbs with Kennedy Wednesday, when Murray accused Kennedy and the Trump administration of delaying critical cancer care for one of her constituents. 

“Mr. Secretary, one of my constituents … she’s a mom of two from Bainbridge Island in Washington state,” Murray said in her opening line of questioning Wednesday. “She has been fighting aggressive stage four colorectal cancer for nearly five years now. Her best hope now is a clinical trial she’s participating in at the [National Institutes of Health’s] Clinical Center.” 

FDA’S LATEST MAHA MOVE WOULD WIPE OUT KIDS’ FLUORIDE PRESCRIPTIONS AS HEALTH RISK EVIDENCE MOUNTS

“But because of the thoughtless mass firing of thousands of critical employees across NIH and HHS that you carried out, Natalie’s doctors at that clinical center have told her they have no choice but to delay her treatment by an additional four weeks.”

“I can’t tell you that now, Sen. Murray,” Kennedy responded. “What I can tell you is that if you contact my office tomorrow, I’ll look specifically into that.” 

However, that answer from Kennedy was “not acceptable” to the senator.

“That is not acceptable,” Murray shot back, eventually demanding Kennedy provide her an update on Natalie’s case within 24 hours. “I want an answer.” 

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Kennedy added during Tuesday’s hearing that Murray’s constituent had qualified for the clinical trial “this week,” adding that “we shouldn’t be talking about patients’ private information,” with Murray agreeing. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this article. 

The Department of Justice has accused Rep. LaMonica McIver of assaulting two federal agents at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in New Jersey last month, according to a new charging document.

The document cites bodycam footage from law enforcement officers who recorded events as McIver and two other New Jersey lawmakers stormed the ICE facility. Prosecutors say the first officer McIver allegedly assaulted was a Homeland Security Investigations agent and the second was an ICE agent.

The DOJ accuses McIver of having “slammed her forearm into the body of a uniformed HSI agent and reached out and tried to restrain the agent by forcibly grabbing him.”

The charging document also states that McIver “pushed an ICE officer & used her forearms to forcibly strike the agent.”

BLUE STATE ICE FACILITY RAMPS UP SECURITY WITH NEW BARRICADES AMID CLASHES WITH PROTESTERS

McIver rejected the charges in a public statement, arguing they are “purely political.”

“Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district,” she wrote. “We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short. Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor Baraka.”

“The charges against me are purely political – they mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight,” she continued. “This administration will never stop me from working for the people in our district and standing up for what is right. I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received and I look forward to the truth being laid our clearly in court.”

DEM LAWMAKERS DEFEND ‘STORMING’ OF ICE FACILITY, SAY TRUMP ADMIN IS ‘LYING AT ALL LEVELS’

Prosecutors say McIver helped create a “human shield” and blocked agents from handcuffing Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after he ignored numerous warnings to leave the property and was told he would be arrested.

When the HSI agent told the mayor he was going to arrest him, McIver interjected and yelled “Hell no! Hell no! Hell no!” according to the charging document.

The HSI agent then ordered Baraka to put his hands behind his back and displayed his handcuffs. McIver and other members of Congress “surrounded the Mayor and prevented HSI from handcuffing him and taking him into custody,” prosecutors say.

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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem weighed in on the charges against McIver on Monday, saying, “no one is above the law.”

“If any person, regardless of political party, influence or status, assaults a law enforcement officer as we witnessed Congresswoman McIver do, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the secretary wrote. “We thank our brave ICE law enforcement officers for their service to this great nation.”

Read the DOJ’s full charging document below (App users click here)

The nation’s only sitting Black governor vetoed reparations legislation, dealing a blow to fellow Democrats and emphasizing his preference to “focus on the work itself” rather than form commissions.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore vetoed SB 587, legislation sponsored by state Sen. C. Anthony Muse, D-Forest Heights, that would have established the Maryland Reparations Commission.

The commission would have been tasked with providing recommendations by 2027 “relating to appropriate benefits to be offered to African Americans impacted by slavery and historic inequality.”

Moore, however, did not issue his veto in any sort of opposition to the overall idea.

DEM GOV SAYS MD, WITH $3B DEFICIT, HAS BEEN DOING DOGE ‘BEFORE ANYONE KNEW WHAT IT WAS’

“I applaud the legislature’s work on this bill, and I thank the Black Caucus for their leadership,” Moore said in his veto message.

“We have moved in partnership with leaders across the state to uplift Black families and address racial disparities in our communities. That is the context in which I’ve made this difficult decision.”

Moore took issue with the potential for more bureaucracy that the resolution would bear.

“[N]ow is not the time for another study,” he said, citing other recent commissions established, including the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“Now is the time for continued action that delivers results for the people we serve.”

MD GOV DEFENDS $190K TRUMP-CENTRIC IRISH CONSULTANT CONTRACT AS POTUS MOVES IN NEXT DOOR

Seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful, Moore said he will always defend the history of African Americans in Maryland and focus on narrowing the “racial wealth gap,” increasing minority homeownership and “closing foundational disparities.”

Maryland itself has a mixed history when it comes to slavery, the Civil War and the treatment of African Americans.

The state hosts the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, connecting important towns and sites on the Eastern Shore and into Delaware, where Tubman, her aligned families and groups aided runaway slaves on their way to the relative safety of the North.

Its position as an often South-friendly state just north of Washington, D.C., also complicated its position during the Civil War. John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, hailed from Bel Air, and his escape from Washington after the assassination led him through Confederate-friendly southern Maryland before crossing the Potomac into Virginia.

Dr. Samuel Mudd, the physician who abetted Booth and his colleagues after Lincoln’s murder, housed them at his property near Leonardtown.

Booth felt uncomfortable enough, however, in postwar Maryland that he fled to Virginia — where he was eventually surrounded and killed by U.S. Marshals at a barn whose foundation now sits unmarked in the middle of the U.S. 301 parkway through Fort A.P. Hill’s grounds.

Maryland’s legislative Black Caucus also released a statement Friday expressing their disappointment with Moore’s veto.

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“At a time when the White House and Congress are actively targeting Black communities, dismantling diversity initiatives, and using harmful coded language, Governor Moore had a chance to show the country and the world that here in Maryland we boldly and courageously recognize our painful history and the urgent need to address it.”

“Instead, the state’s first Black governor chose to block this historic legislation that would have moved the state toward directly repairing the harm of enslavement.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Partisan sparks are expected to fly on Tuesday as lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee face off over President Donald Trump‘s strict crackdown on illegal immigration.

The panel’s subcommittee on oversight is holding a hearing Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. on threats to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.

It comes as tensions still run high over the incident at Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey, last month, when three House Democrats and the city’s progressive mayor were accused of “storming” the facility in a protest against Trump’s handling of illegal immigrants.

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

One of those Democratic lawmakers, Rep. LaMonica McIver, is being charged with assault, while a charge of trespassing against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is being dropped. McIver called the charge “purely political.”

The Tuesday hearing will be led by Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., who represents the southernmost portion of the Garden State.

“While the Trump administration has taken decisive action to address this crisis, Democrat leaders have worked tirelessly to block those efforts. What happened in my home state of New Jersey is just the latest example, and it is simply unacceptable,” Van Drew told Fox News Digital.

“We witnessed protests, led by elected officials, turn violent against ICE officers who were just doing their jobs. These officials are more focused on protecting violent criminals than ensuring the safety of their own communities.”

He said the subcommittee’s probe would “expose how sanctuary policies and anti-enforcement rhetoric are putting public safety at risk.”

The top Democrat on the subcommittee is Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, a rising star on the left who has been known to make headlines for verbal outbursts – particularly targeting Republicans. Her office did not respond to a request for comment on the hearing. However, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., signaled he was ready to defend the Democratic officials in the middle of the Delaney Hall incident.

“I assume if they want to do anything to those three members, then I assume they’ll get a Trump pardon, right?” Moskowitz told Fox News Digital. 

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said he wanted to take time to review witnesses’ submitted testimony before talking about what he would say.

Meanwhile, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who is also on the panel, said: “What we’re trying to understand is, why in the world are Democrats hell-bent on stopping the president from deporting murderers and rapists and terrorists?”

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

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“I mean, they’re holding up ICE facilities, breaking into them. They’ve fought us every single step of the way,” Gill said.

“I think we’re going to put them on the spot and get to the bottom of it.”

The Democratic officials at the center of the Delaney Hall incident and their allies have contended that they had every right to be inside the facility as federal officials. Both sides have accused the other of assault and improper handling.

EXCLUSIVE: As the Trump administration and Republicans across the country push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies across the board, the executive director of a top consumer advocacy group spoke to Fox News Digital about what companies and institutions are doing to skirt those efforts.

“Over the last few months, we’ve sort of seen a phase shift in the ways that they’re trying to keep this DEI grift going,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told Fox News Digital about companies, organizations, hospitals and other entities that are attempting to rebrand DEI and environmental, social and governance in the Trump era. 

“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,” Hild said. “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.’”

Several major companies have publicly distanced themselves from DEI in recent months as the new administration signs executive orders eliminating the practice while making the argument that meritocracy should be the focus. 

RED STATE TREASURER REVEALS WHY STATE FINANCIAL OFFICERS HAVE ‘OBLIGATION’ TO COMBAT ESG, DEI

However, FOX Business exclusively reported in April on Consumers’ Research warning that some businesses appear to be rebranding the same efforts rather than eliminating them. 

“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,” Hild told Fox News Digital. 

KEY BIDEN AGENCY DROPPED $60K ON OVERSEAS CONFERENCE WITH DEI WORKSHOP: ‘SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN’

“They are mediocrities who have managed to get very high-level positions that they’re not qualified for by running this DEI grift, and they’re desperate,” he continued. “They can’t just move into running logistics for Amazon because that takes actual competence and intelligence and if you’re in a DEI department, you probably don’t have either of those things. So they are desperate to keep this grift going so they can justify their own existence. So they’re changing it into a new wrapper.”

Hild, who spoke to Fox News Digital at the State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Orlando, Florida, also explained some of the other issues Consumers’ Research is focused on going forward, including fighting “woke” hospitals in three different areas.

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“One is net zero pledges and activities that raise costs for consumers, patients having to pay more because these hospitals are investing millions, sometimes tens of millions of dollars, into green boondoggle projects that have nothing to do with the treatment of patients and the improvement of their health, but they do raise prices,” Hild said.

Secondly, Hild said that his group is concerned about DEI quotas at hospitals.

Hild explained that the third and “worst” issue is transgender surgeries and procedures being forced onto children.

“Pushing of radical left transgender ideology onto kids, and not just pushing it ideologically and rhetorically, but pushing it physically, and what I mean by that is the injection of damaging, lifelong damaging hormones into children to, quote, unquote, change their sex, which is impossible, and even worse, the actual surgical application, removal and mutilation of their genitals, which is a grotesque violation of the Hippocratic Oath,” Hild said.

Consumers’ Research has been actively involved in launching advertising campaigns against hospitals across the United States, including a recent campaign against Henry Ford Health in Michigan, calling out what it says are situations where hospitals are putting “politics over patients.”

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Institute of Peace, writing in a ruling that the removal of its board members and the takeover of its headquarters by members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are actions that are “null and void.” 

The response this week from U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell comes after the Institute filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in March calling for “the immediate intervention of this Court to stop Defendants from completing the unlawful dismantling of the Institute and irreparably impairing Plaintiffs’ ability to perform their vital peace promotion and conflict resolution work as tasked by Congress.” 

“The Administration removed the Institute’s leadership, including plaintiff Board members and its president in contravention of statutory limitations, and had personnel from a newly created federal office, called the Department of Government Efficiency, forcibly take over the Institute’s headquarters on March 17,” Howell wrote in her ruling. “With a newly installed USIP president, the Administration then handed off USIP’s property for no consideration and abruptly terminated nearly all of its staff and activities around the world.”

“Congress’s restrictions on the President’s removal power of USIP Board members are squarely constitutional, and the President and his Administration’s acts to the contrary are unlawful and ultra vires. The actions that have occurred since then – at the direction of the President to reduce USIP to its ‘statutory minimums’ – including the removal of USIP’s president, his replacement by officials affiliated with DOGE, the termination of nearly all of USIP’s staff, and the transfer of USIP property to the General Services Administration, were thus effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void,” she added. 

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

The Institute of Peace is an independent, national institution funded by Congress that was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration to promote peace and diplomacy on the international stage.  

“Congress has endorsed USIP’s important work by continuing to fund the Institute through appropriations bills signed by seven different Presidents from both major political parties, including the current President during his first term in office,” Howell said in the ruling.  

“In a drastic and abrupt change of course, within the first month of his second term, President Trump unilaterally decided that USIP is ‘unnecessary,’ issuing Executive Order 14217 to this effect, and then his Administration rushed through actions, including removal of Board members, to reach the professed goal of reducing all of USIP’s operations and personnel to the bare minimum to perform only mandated statutory tasks, while ignoring the broader statutory goals set out for this organization to fulfill,” she also said. 

Ultimately, Howell concluded, the Trump administration’s actions “represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better.”

JUDGE DENIES EMBATTLED GOVERNMENT-FUNDED AGENCY’S RESTRAINING ORDER REQUEST AGAINST DOGE 

The White House did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

In March, it said the Trump administration gutted the Institute of Peace of “rogue bureaucrats” who held a tense standoff with a DOGE team that required police intervention. 

“Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said at the time. “The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.” 

The administration now has 30 days to file an appeal to the ruling.

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“The United States Institute of Peace has existed for 40 years on a $50 million annual budget, but failed to deliver peace,” Kelly told the Associated Press. “President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum, and this rogue judge’s attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter.” 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants to put the kibosh on President Donald Trump’s plan for the U.S. military to accept a Boeing airplane from Qatar to be used as Air Force One.

The Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill that would prohibit utilizing Defense Department funding to procure, modify, restore, or maintain an aircraft for presidential flight if that aircraft was previously owned by a foreign government, foreign government-controlled entity, or foreign government representative.

“None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2025 or fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Defense may be made available for the procurement, modification, restoration, or maintenance of an aircraft previously owned by a foreign government, an entity controlled by a foreign government, or a representative of a foreign government for the purposes of providing presidential airlift options,” the text of the measure reads.

ESPIONAGE, CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS ABOUND FROM TRUMP DETRACTORS, ALLIES OVER QATARI JET OFFER

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House to request comment on Tuesday morning but did not immediately receive a response.

“Donald Trump has shown time and again – he will sell out the American people and the Presidency if it means filling his own pockets,” Schumer said, according to a press release. 

“Not only would it take billions of taxpayer dollars to even attempt to retrofit and secure this plane, but there’s absolutely no amount of modifications that can guarantee it will be secure. It is now on the Senate to prioritize our national security, protect Americans, and ensure that a foreign-owned plane never gets the call sign ‘Air Force One.’”

QATAR DUMPED BILLIONS INTO US SCHOOLS OVER LAST FOUR DECADES: REPORT

The proposal stands little chance of passage: Even if it were to clear both chambers of Congress where Republicans hold the majorities, the president could veto the measure, in which case passage would require enough votes to surmount a presidential veto.

“The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME! It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our Government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive,” President Trump declared in a Truth Social post last week.

QATAR OFFERS TRUMP JUMBO JET TO SERVE AS AIR FORCE ONE

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“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done. This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump added.

Trump indicated last week that he does not plan to fly in the plane after leaving office, but that the aircraft would be placed in his presidential library.

As she ran for the White House in the 2024 election cycle, Nikki Haley made her calls for “new generational leadership” a key component of her Republican presidential campaign.

And front and center from day 1 of her campaign as the former South Carolina governor and former United Nations ambassador declared her candidacy in February 2023 was her call for “mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”

As Haley challenged then-76-year-old former President Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination in hopes of eventually facing off in the general election against then-80-year-old President Joe Biden, the proposal became one of the most visible and at times controversial parts of her campaign stump speech.

DEMOCRATS RUN THE GAUNTLET AS THEY FACE QUESTIONS OVER BIDEN’S COGNITIVE ACUITY

Haley faced charges of ageism from a host of politicians opposed to the idea, including a now-83-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who at the time called her idea “absurd.”

While Haley’s campaign took off, and she ended up being the last Republican candidate standing against Trump during last year’s primaries, she eventually bowed out of the race in March 2024 as Trump marched toward clinching the presidential nomination.

BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEW

Fast-forward to today, and long-standing questions about Biden’s physical and mental fitness – and whether Democrats should have more forcefully urged him to bow out of the 2024 race – haven’t gone away; they’re front and center.

This as Biden’s condition is once again making headlines, courtesy of excerpts from a new book being released this week, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” which offers claims of a White House cover-up of the then-president’s apparent cognitive decline.

Additionally, last week’s leaked audio of Biden’s 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, in which the then-president appears to suffer memory lapses, is also fueling the conversation.

Hur, who investigated whether Biden years earlier had improperly stored classified documents, made major headlines early last year when he decided not to charge Biden but described the then-president as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

Last week’s developments were followed by Sunday’s blockbuster announcement that Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

The news, while eliciting sympathy from both sides of the political aisle, is unlikely to sidetrack the current firestorm over the former president’s mental acuity.

BIDEN’S DIAGNOSIS: CANCER DESCRIBED AS AGGRESSIVE

“While the media may have been shocked by Nikki’s call for mental competency tests, Americans never were,” a source in Haley’s political orbit told Fox News. “It was common sense. Nikki always believed our leaders should be completely transparent and remember who they serve: the American people. After a yearslong cover-up, those who hid President Biden’s mental decline must finally acknowledge what Nikki and the American people always knew to be true.”

Haley, who was 51 when she announced her candidacy in 2023, reupped her calls for a mental competency test throughout her campaign.

In January last year, during the heat of the primary battle, Haley pointed to some verbal stumbles by Trump on the campaign trail.

“He’s not what he was in 2016. He has declined. That’s a fact,” Haley said at the time.

Trump repeatedly fired back as he touted acing a cognitive test he took five years earlier and said, “I think I’m a lot sharper than her.”

A month later, after the release of Hur’s written report regarding Biden’s mental acuity, Haley said, “Joe Biden can’t remember major events in his life, like when he was vice president or when his son died.”

“That is sad, but it will be even sadder if we have a person in the White House who is not mentally up to the most important job in the world,” she added as she reiterated her calls for Biden to take a mental competency test “immediately.”

Haley, in a Fox News op-ed in May 2023, spelled out the specific test she recommended for politicians over age 75.

“The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test is a widely used tool for detecting cognitive decline,” Haley wrote at the time.

And she elaborated, “This is not a qualification for office. Failing a mental competency test would not result in removal. It is about transparency. Voters deserve to know whether those who are making major decisions about war and peace, taxation and budgets, schools and safety can pass a very basic mental exam.”

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Veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance, noting the current media spotlight on Biden, said it has “renewed concerns many Americans have about the age and ability of our elected officials. Public service demands clarity of thought, sound judgment, and the ability to manage complex issues.”

And Lesperance, president of New England College, said “Americans must conclude that a fair and nonpartisan cognitive assessment, perhaps irrespective of age, is important to ensure all who seek to lead are equipped to serve with the sharpness and clarity the role requires.”

Put aside politics for a moment, which I know is basically impossible in this supercharged environment.

There is no way not to feel sympathy for Joe Biden as a human being after his prostate cancer diagnosis was made public on Sunday. He has a serious, life-threatening disease.

I have plenty of medical questions about why Biden and his doctors waited so long to treat this particularly “aggressive” form of cancer until it spread to his bones. This is inexplicable to me. Now the Stage 4 cancer can’t be cured, though it could possibly be contained.

Was this part of the coverup of Biden’s dramatic decline in mental acuity, as documented in the new book “Original Sin”? How would voters have reacted if they had known that not only was Biden too old and feeble to run for a second term, but also had cancer?

BIDEN BATTLING ‘MOST AGGRESSIVE TYPE’ OF PROSTATE CANCER WITH BONE METASTASIS, MEDICAL EXPERT SAYS

But on a personal level, Biden’s life has been marked by tragedy, from the car accident that killed his first wife and daughter to the brain cancer that claimed his son Beau – which is why he announced a “Cancer Moonshot” as president.

Look, I’ve known Joe Biden for 40 years, and whatever you think of his politics, he’s a likable guy. I covered him as Senate Judiciary chairman. As vice president, he once sent my then-8-year-old daughter a handwritten note after she wrote a poem about them sharing the same birthday. He used to love talking to reporters. He would throw parties for the press and run around with a super soaker, spraying little kids. That was then.

But by 2023, he had no business running for president again, not when aides were debating whether he’d need a wheelchair in a second term, according to the Jake Tapper-Alex Thompson book. Many Democrats are angry that he’s reemerged in a rehab tour, wishing the 82-year-old man would just get off the stage.

The former president put out a photo with his wife yesterday, saying: “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places.”

Dr. Zeke Emanuel said on “Morning Joe” yesterday that the cancer has “been around for a very long time in President Biden – years… It is a little surprising to many of us oncologists that he wasn’t diagnosed earlier… He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021.”

But none of this matters to the far-right types, many of them based in Florida. 

POLITICAL WORLD REACTS TO FORMER PRESIDENT BIDEN’S ‘AGGRESSIVE’ CANCER DIAGNOSIS: ‘INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT’

Conservative influencer Roger O’Handley, writing under the name DC Draino (“America First”), wrote a screed that was retweeted or liked 10,000 times: “Some people seem to forget that he is a career criminal who almost destroyed America.”

According to Mediaite, another far-right commentator, Brenden Dilley (Warlord Dilley, “media personality”), says: “In order to believe the Biden cancer diagnosis, you have to first believe that Biden and his family would willfully tell you the truth about anything. In order for that to happen, you have to be f—ing retarded.” 

His solution: “Stage 5 prostate cancer.” In other words, death.

Presidential adviser Laura Loomer called this “a PR strategy to shame the Democrats who are coming out with a book about the cover up of Biden’s health crisis.”

Breanna Morello, a self-described “independent journalist”: “They want all the Monday morning shows talking about it because Jake Tapper has a book to sell. It’s a PR move.”

What these and other posts have in common is the lack of even a milligram of compassion for Joe Biden as a human being. Biden is evil, everything he does is evil, and if he dies, good riddance.

THE GREAT BIDEN COVERUP: AIDES DEBATED WHETHER TO PUT THE PRESIDENT IN A WHEELCHAIR

I find this inexplicably sad – win-at-all-costs politics is so all-consuming that human life is meaningless. 

Even President Trump dropped his usual attacks on his onetime opponent: “Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family and we wish Joe a fast and speedy recovery.”

See, that wasn’t so hard.

Elon Musk, who’s faded from the news, shared a post from Clint Russell, who tweets as Liberty Lockdown (“a podcast for those who demand freedom”):: 

“So the plan was to run Biden, lie about his cancer and dementia, get him back in the WH, and then have him immediately step aside so Kamala’s reign of terror could begin.

“All while trying to jail or kill DJT. Just making sure we’re all on the same page, here. These people are evil.” 

MEDICAL EXPERT ‘ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED’ BY TIMING OF BIDEN’S PROSTATE CANCER DIAGNOSIS

Musk responded with a “bullseye” emoji in a dart board. 

JD Vance, for his part, sought a middle ground:

“Look, I mean, first of all, of course, we wish the best for the former president’s health. But hopefully he makes the right recovery. Look, I will say, whether the right time to have this conversation is now or at some point in the future. We really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job.”

Taylor Lorenz, who worked for the New York Times and Washington Post before going independent, was joyful about Biden’s news: “Hopefully he rots in hell and rests in piss.”

I have defended her at times, but this is beyond appalling. Lorenz has disgraced herself.

Then again, she cheered when UnitedHealtcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered on the street, and refused to criticize the alleged shooter. What about his family? Too bad. Just zero regard for human life.

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

Now is it likely that some on the left will celebrate once Trump passes, which I don’t see happening until after he’s long out of office? Sure. This disease goes both ways. But that doesn’t make it right. 

It was Bill Clinton, during his impeachment over Monica Lewinsky, who accused his opponents of “the politics of personal destruction.” And that’s been used against the presidents who followed him. It’s a sickness that says human beings don’t count, only winning at all costs. 

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Footnote: The Biden announcement prompted some equally sad news from Scott Adams, the brilliant “Dilbert” creator and conservative, pro-Trump voice who hosts a morning coffee for subscribers: 

“Well, I’ve decided today’s the day I’m going to take the opportunity — since a lot of you are here — to make an announcement of my own. Some of you have already guessed, so it won’t surprise you at all, but I have the same cancer Joe Biden has. So I also have prostate cancer that has also spread to my bones. I’ve had it longer than he’s had — well longer than he’s admitted having it.

“My life expectancy is… maybe the summer. I expect to be checking out from this domain sometime this summer.”

What a tragedy.

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…

–Pope Leo XIV meets with JD Vance, Marco Rubio

-Trump kicks off 18th week in office with high-stakes calls to potentially broker Ukraine, Russia peace

–Biden speaks out for first time since cancer diagnosis

Ending Legal Protections

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to lift a lower court injunction that blocked President Donald Trump’s decision to terminate the protected legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants living in the U.S., in a win for the administration as it looks to deliver on its hard-line immigration enforcement policies.

The decision clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to terminate Biden-era Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for roughly 300,000 Venezuelan migrants living in the U.S. and allows the administration to move forward with plans to immediately remove these migrants, which lawyers for the administration argued they should be able to do.

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer argued as much when he asked the Supreme Court to lift the injunction this month, arguing in an emergency appeal that a lower court judge had overstepped their authority by blocking the administration from ending the program for certain Venezuelans…READ MORE

White House

LITMUS TEST: Spotlight on Biden’s cognitive decline forces Democrats to run the gauntlet

KUSHNER VOTE: Trump-pardoned real estate mogul Charles Kushner up for key diplomatic post

‘VILE’: Walz ripped for ‘sickening’ use of Nazi era language describing Trump’s immigration policy: ‘Anti-American’

NO CONCERNS: Trump remains confident in White House doctors despite Biden cancer diagnosis

‘HUGE ADVANTAGE’: Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ wins support from police for overtime tax elimination

GRIM NEWS: Obama reacts to Biden diagnosis: ‘Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer…than Joe’

World Stage

‘NOT SEEKING WAR’: Iranian president calls for negotiation and dialogue as nuclear talks continue

HISTORIC DEAL: UK, Europe strike post-Brexit deal on defense, trade issues

UKRAINE BOMBARDED: Russia bombards Ukraine with drones hours after Trump announces talks with Putin

‘GOD BLESS US ALL’: Trump to call Putin in a bid to end Russia’s ‘bloodbath’ war with Ukraine

FORCED RESET: Trump’s tough policies push UK, EU to significantly expand trade and defense

Capitol Hill

GAMBLING TAX DOLLARS: Republicans demand probe into DOD’s taxpayer-funded charges at casinos, bars and nightclubs

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: A user’s manual to where we stand with the ‘big, beautiful bill’

BRIDGE TOO FAR: Schumer slammed for claiming DOGE might be to blame for Mexican ship crashing into Brooklyn Bridge

Across America 

RADICAL TRANSPARENCY: FBI director opens up files on Nashville school shooting to rep for first time

‘ONLY PERSON ARRESTED’: Blue state political battle intensifies after Dem mayor’s arrest at ICE facility: ‘Outraged’

TAKE-HOME PAY DAY: New projection signals good news for families, workers in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

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

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was ripped on social media over the weekend for suggesting President Donald Trump was partially to blame for a Mexican Navy ship losing control and crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge.

“After being fully briefed on last night’s Brooklyn Bridge accident, one thing is predominantly clear: there are more questions than answers as it relates to exactly how this accident occurred,” Schumer said in a press release after a 150-foot-tall Mexican Navy training ship, Cuauhtémoc, reportedly experienced a mechanical issue before its masts crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two cadets on the ship. 

“Bridges serve as critical transportation arteries for commerce, emergency response, and daily travel, and many span key waterways that are vulnerable to both natural and man-made threats. The Coast Guard plays a crucial role in monitoring and securing these areas, deterring potential terrorist attacks, preventing illegal activities, and responding quickly to emergencies,” Schumer wrote. “At the same time, maintaining the structural integrity and safety of America’s bridges is critical to the economy and the well-being of communities. A failure or attack on a major bridge could disrupt supply chains, endanger lives, and cause massive economic losses. It is unacceptable that the Trump administration is potentially jeopardizing our national and economic security – as well as American lives.”

Schumer went on to point to the DOGE-implemented hiring freeze at the Coast Guard, arguing it could have impeded the Coast Guard’s Vehicle Traffic System, which works in a similar fashion to the air traffic control system.

TRUMP SAYS ‘THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG’ WITH TOP DEMOCRAT HE’S KNOWN ‘A LONG TIME’

Schumer’s claim drew immediate criticism from conservatives on social media as well as the Department of Homeland Security.

“Minority Leader Schumer’s accusations that a hiring freeze led to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Services not being adequately staffed are FALSE,” the official DHS account posted on X. 

“The US Coast Guard has been fully supported and been exempt from hiring freezes. Additionally, this incident had nothing to do with Vessel Traffic Services— when a ship loses propulsion in a high current area, the vessel needs to engage all capabilities to stop and ideally tugs are nearby to support. We encourage Minority Leader Schumer to get his facts straight before he misleads the American people.”

CREW ON MEXICAN NAVY TALL SHIP SEEN CLINGING TO RIGGING AFTER COLLISION WITH BROOKLYN BRIDGE, VIDEO SHOWS

“Mexican vessel: Loses control, hits bridge,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X. “Schumer: I’ll never forgive Drumpf for this!”

“Schumer is a stupid, evil man,” conservative radio host and Fox News host Mark Levin posted on X. 

“I, too, question Donald Trump’s leadership of the Mexican Navy,” substack writer Jim Treacher posted on X. 

“Elon and Trump Derangement Syndrome is out of control,” conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X. “Schumer is trying to pass the blame from the Mexican Navy onto them…”

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“He is an idiot,” senior counsel to Trump’s assistant AG Leo Terrell posted on X. 

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

“The U.S. Coast Guard’s New York Vessel Traffic Service was fully functional during the incident, operating in accordance with established procedures to manage commercial traffic and facilitate safe navigation,” a Coast Guard spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

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

White House’s visitor logs reveal that many of the top Democratic leaders who most vocally defended former President Joe Biden’s leadership capabilities were frequent White House visitors and were thus presumably aware of Biden’s worsening cognitive decline.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella slammed Democratic leadership for participating in what he called a “cover-up” and the “political scandal of the century.”

This comes as the 82-year-old former president’s condition is once again making headlines, courtesy of excerpts from a new book being released this week, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” which offers claims of a White House cover-up of the then-president’s apparent cognitive decline.

Additionally, last week’s leaked audio of Biden’s 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Hur, in which the then-president appears to suffer memory lapses, is also fueling the conversation.

DEMS FACE A LITMUS TEST OVER BIDEN’S COGNITIVE ABILITIES

Hur, who investigated whether Biden years earlier had improperly stored classified documents, made major headlines early last year when he decided not to charge Biden but described the then-president as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

Visitor logs reveal that four top Democrats made a total of 63 visits to the Biden White House between 2022 and 2024.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., made 21 visits to the White House in the span of just two years, 2022 through 2024, according to official visitor logs. This means that Jeffries would presumably have been very familiar with the former president’s condition.

Despite these visits, Jeffries continued to assert that he was confident in Biden’s leadership, even saying in a 2023 interview that based on firsthand knowledge of the former president “in a high stakes circumstance,” Biden was an “incredible leader, incredible negotiator, incredible strategist, and he’s strong, brilliant, understands nuance.”

TRUMP WISHES BIDEN ‘FAST AND SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY’ AFTER PROSTATE CANCER DIAGNOSIS

Again, Jeffries claimed that Biden was “one of the most accomplished American presidents in our history, and he has the vision, I believe, the ability, the capacity and the track record to make a case to the American people that will result in us being successful in November.”

Jeffries insisted as late as February that Biden was “the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump.”

The last several documented visits Jeffries made were shortly before Biden’s disastrous debate with President Donald Trump. Biden’s shockingly poor performance at this debate led to calls for him to step down, ultimately leading to his dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

In addition to Jeffries, several other top Democrats were also frequent White House visitors, including House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., as well as Reps. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.

Amid the Democratic turmoil in the wake of Biden’s poor debate performance, DelBene, who made five visits to the White House between 2022 and 2024, expressed continued support for Biden, saying: “The stakes are incredibly high this election, for all of us. That hasn’t changed after last week.”

DEM SENATOR SAYS BIDEN SHOULD HAVE DROPPED OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RACE MUCH SOONER

“The choice this November is crystal clear,” said DelBene. “Democrats who want to govern responsibly versus extremist Republicans obsessed with tax breaks for billionaires, rolling back reproductive freedom, and defending Trump’s attacks on our democracy.” 

Aguilar, who made 10 documented visits to the White House in the span of two years, continued to defend Biden even after the debate, saying in a July 9 press conference that “right now President Biden is the nominee, and we support the Democratic nominee.”

Meanwhile, Clark, who made 27 visits to the White House between 2022 and 2024 and was among Biden’s most vocal supporters up until his poor debate performance, refrained from taking a strong stance on whether Biden should remain in the race, saying, “The decision is up to the president.”

After Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, Clark praised the former president, saying that “around the globe, he is admired for his steady, experienced leadership — always honoring America’s crucial role as a facilitator of peace, democracy, and human rights.”

FORMER PRESIDENT ISSUES FIRST PUBLIC COMMENTS SINCE PROSTATE CANCER DIAGNOSIS

Jeffries, Clark, Aguilar and DelBene did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

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Marinella commented that “while Americans were asking questions, Democrat leaders lied to their faces and worked overtime to cover up the political scandal of the century.”

Marinella told Fox News Digital that “voters will never forget their disgusting deception.” 

House Republicans are channeling Edward Hopper this week as they try to pass President Trump’s big, “beautiful bill.”

Hopper is known for “Nighthawks,” one of the most iconic paintings in American history. The 1942 painting depicts four people in a diner in the middle of the night. A deserted streetscape commands the foreground. Two men – heads festooned with fedoras – sit separately at the counter, nursing coffee. One of the men has a cigarette tucked between his index and middle fingers. He’s positioned next to a woman with scarlet hair and a red dress. She appears to holding a bite of a doughnut or sandwich, studying it as though it were a rare artifact. She seems to debate whether she should eat it. A young counterman – attired in white with a crisp envelope hat – leans downward in search of glassware or dishes hidden underneath.

It’s the dead of night. Everyone is distant and detached. Even the couple – even though they sit side-by-side – don’t look at each other.

In Nighthawks, everyone appears as though they’re just trying to make it through the night to dawn.

It’s kind of what House Republicans are going through this week.

‘DEAD OF NIGHT’: DEMS ACCUSE GOP OF COWARDICE OVER LATE-NIGHT VOTES ON TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL’ BUDGET BILL

The House Budget Committee convened at 10:26 p.m. ET Sunday night to advance the tax cut and spending reduction package after a hiccup stalled the measure Friday afternoon. At 10:39 p.m. ET, the committee approved the bill 17-16 – with four House Republicans voting “present.”

The next stop is the House Rules Committee, the final parliamentary way station before depositing a piece of legislation on the floor.

At 12:31 a.m. ET Monday, the Rules Committee announced it would prep the bill for the floor – with a meeting at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. That session could last all day Wednesday. Literally. The Energy and Commerce panel met for 26 consecutive hours last week to prepare its section of the budget reconciliation measure. The Ways and Means Committee huddled all night long.

The group of House Republicans pushing to state and local tax for high-tax states (known as SALT) scheduled a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for 9 p.m. ET Monday. And it’s entirely possible that the House could be debating or even voting on the measure late Thursday, the wee hours of Friday morning or even Friday night.

This is how Capitol Hill rolls when there’s a big piece of legislation on the clock. The hours are late. The meetings are long. Lawmakers convene different sessions whenever they need to – just to get the measure across the finish line.

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO WHERE THE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ STANDS, AND WHAT HAPPENS SUNDAY IN THE BUDGET COMMITTEE

The only difference between the halls of Congress now and “Nighthawks” is that the coffee fueled the figures in the painting until dawn. It was 1942. But this is 2025. Edward Hopper would know nothing of Celsius or Red Bull.

There’s an actual parliamentary reason as to why the Budget Committee met so late on Sunday night after its stumble on Friday afternoon. And there’s a method to the Rules Committee’s 1 a.m. madness on Wednesday.

Let’s rewind.

The Budget Committee tried to blend the various provisions from nearly a dozen House committees into one unified legislative product midday Friday. That effort came up short. A total of five Budget Committee Republicans voted nay. They groused about spending cuts, green energy tax credits and the timeframe of work requirements for those on Medicaid.

Four of the five GOP noes were truly opposed. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Penn., voted nay so he could order a re-vote. Rules allow a member on the winning side of an issue (in this case, the nays), to ask for another vote later. Smucker supported the plan. But he then switched his vote to nay to be on the winning side. That teed up a possible re-vote.

REPUBLICANS READY LATE-NIGHT SESSION ON TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ AFTER GOP MUTINY

“Calling a vote moves the process forward. I think it’s a catalyst,” said Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Tex., after the failed vote Friday.

The Budget Committee then announced it would convene at 10 p.m. ET Sunday.

This is where things get interesting:

The key here was for the Budget Committee to finish its work before midnight Friday. Once it got rolling, the process would only consume 15 or 20 minutes. The Budget Committee approved the plan 17-16 with four Republicans voting “present.”

“We’re excited about what we did,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who was one of the GOPers who voted nay Friday.

But Norman still wasn’t excited enough to vote yes on Sunday night. He voted present.

“There’s so much more that we have to do to rein in government and rein in the costs and the deficits,” said Norman on FOX Business Monday.

But regardless, the measure was out of the Budget Committee before the witching hour on Sunday. And then came the Rules Committee announcement – just after midnight on Monday – about a session at 1 a.m. Wednesday to ready the “big, beautiful bill” for the House floor.

There are several reasons House Rules Committee Republicans decided to huddle at 1 a.m. et Wednesday. Let’s begin with the parliamentary one.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS FACE DOWN DEM ATTACKS, PROTESTS TO PULL ALL-NIGHTER ON TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The Budget Committee wrapped up just before midnight Sunday. The rules allow Democrats two full days to file their paperwork and viewpoints after that meeting. So, they had all day Monday and all day Tuesday. The Rules Committee needs an “hour” to announce its formally meeting. So, the “official” announcement of the Rules Committee meeting on Wednesday will go out just after 12:01:01 a.m. ET Wednesday. That triggers a 1 a.m. ET meeting on Wednesday.

Here are the other, more practical reasons.

Republicans need all the time they can get. There is talk of trying to vote on the floor late in the day on Wednesday. We’ll see about that. But the early Rules Committee meeting time makes that a possibility.

Second of all, it’s possible the Rules Committee meeting could consume the entire calendar day of Wednesday. Streams of lawmakers from both sides will file into the Rules Committee to propose various amendments. This is a protracted process.

But by the same token, meeting at 1 a.m. ET could diminish attendance. After all, who wants to show up at 1 a.m. ET for a meeting and maybe discuss your amendment at 6:30 a.m. ET? You get the idea. 

And once the bill gets out of the Rules Committee, expect late night meetings among Republicans as they try to close the deal. It’s possible the House could vote at virtually any time of day Wednesday, Thursday or Friday to pass the bill. That could be late in the evening. Or even overnight. They will vote when the bill is ready, regardless of the time on the clock.

Such is the lot drawn this week by House Republicans for the “big, beautiful bill.” Maybe they’ll have the votes. Maybe they won’t. Maybe they’ll pass more spending cuts. Maybe there’ll be a deal on SALT for state and local taxes. Maybe not. Maybe the vote comes at 3 in the afternoon. But more likely, sometime late at night.

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Just like in Nighthawks, everyone on Capitol Hill is just trying to make it through the night and to the dawn.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is launching an investigation into the City of Chicago for allegedly engaging in a pattern of discrimination based on race, which is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, sent a letter to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday to notify him that an investigation into civil rights violations was being opened.

“Our investigation is based on information suggesting that you have made hiring decisions solely on the basis of race,” Dhillon wrote. “In your remarks made yesterday at the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn, you highlight[ed] the number of Black officials in [your] administration.”

Johnson was a guest at the Apostolic Church of God, when he responded to critics who claim he only talks about hiring Black people.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TARGETS IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL, LAW JOURNAL FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

“No, what I’m saying is, when you hire our people, we always look out for everybody else. We are the most generous people on the planet,” he said. 

Johnson went on to list top officials in his administration, emphasizing their race.

For example, Johnson said his deputy mayor of business and economic neighborhood development is a Black woman.

Other positions filled by Black women that Johnson spoke about include the deputy mayor of infrastructure, the budget director and the commissioner of the department of planning and development.

AG BONDI LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO DEI ADMISSIONS POLICIES AT STANFORD, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS

Johnson also highlighted the chief operations officer and senior advisor as both being positions held by Black men.

“You then said that you were ‘laying’ these positions ‘out’ to ‘ensure that our people get a chance to grow their business,” Dhillon wrote to Johnson. “Considering these remarks, I have authorized an investigation to determine whether the City of Chicago is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above.

“If these kind of hiring decisions are being made for top-level positions in your administration, then it begs the question whether such decisions are also being made for lower-level positions,” she added.

RUMP DOJ SLAPS ILLINOIS, CHICAGO WITH LAWSUIT OVER SANCTUARY LAWS

Dhillon stressed that no conclusions have been made on the matter, and she welcomed his assistance with the investigation.

Johnson’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the investigation.

The Chicago mayor has made race-based comments in the past.

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After President Donald Trump was elected to a second term, Johnson claimed during a news conference that the new president is a threat to Black families in his city.

“His threat is not just towards new arrivals and undocumented families. His threats are also against Black families,” Johnson said. “We’re going to protect Black folks, Brown folks, Asian folks. The City of Chicago will be better, stronger and safer despite who’s in the White House.”

Fox News’ Patrick McGovern and Elizabeth Heckman contributed to this report.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted its first self-deport operation, dubbed “Project Homecoming,” with a charter flight on Monday from Texas, and made stops in Honduras and Columbia, taking 64 illegal immigrants who chose to self-deport back to their home countries.

DHS said in a post on X that all participants who chose to leave the U.S. were offered the same benefits as any illegal alien who self-deports using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App.

“They received travel assistance, a $1,000 stipend, and preserved the possibility they could one day return to the United States legally,” DHS said.

DHS also shared a video of the events leading up to the first flight, showing families preparing to leave Houston, where they were greeted and offered food, games and stuffed animals for their children.

TRUMP SIGNS EO OFFERING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ‘EXIT BONUS’ IN FIRST-EVER SELF-DEPORTATION PROGRAM

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the first ever self-deportation program which incentivizes illegal immigrants to voluntarily leave the U.S. on a free flight and with a cash bonus.

“Project Homecoming” authorizes government-funded flights and offers money to illegal immigrants who are willing to self-deport.

When Trump announced the signing of the order in a post on Truth Social, he said the program would end up saving taxpayers “billions and billions” of dollars.

DEMOCRAT FLOATS WORK VISA SUGGESTION IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP ADMIN’S $1,000 SELF-DEPORTATION OFFER

“We are making it as easy as possible for illegal aliens to leave America. Any illegal alien can simply show up at an airport and receive a free flight out of our country,” Trump said. “Illegals can book a free flight to any foreign country as long as it’s not here. You can go anywhere you want.”

DHS said days before the executive order was signed that migrants would be offered a $1,000 stipend each to leave. The department said this will be 70% cheaper for American taxpayers, as it currently costs DHS, on average, over $17,000 to arrest, detain, and deport someone.

“This deportation bonus will save American taxpayers billions and billions of dollars,” Trump said.

DHS UNLEASHES POSSIBLE MONEY-SAVING MEASURE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS TO SELF-DEPORT: ‘SAFEST OPTION’

Illegal immigrants are encouraged to use the CBP One app to arrange their deportations. The same app under the Biden administration was used to expedite migrants from scheduling appointments at official ports of entry before they were paroled into the U.S., which was discontinued on the first day of Trump’s second term.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem shared a post about the first “Project Homecoming” flight on X, advising those in the country to take advantage of the program.

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“If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home,” Noem wrote. “If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return. If you are in this country illegally, self-deport NOW and preserve your opportunity to potentially return the legal, right way.”

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

Following news that the House Rules Committee will convene at 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning to take the next steps in advancing President Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill, Democrats are accusing Republicans of cowardice for advancing the monumental bill “in the dead of night.”

The House Budget Committee reached an initial consensus to pass the bill to the Rules Committee late Sunday evening, after gaveling in at approximately 10:00 p.m. The Rules Committee must now take up the matter to set out the rules for debate and markup that are expected to take place next in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. 

Shortly after, the House Budget Committee passed the bill in a late-Sunday night vote, the House Rules Committee announced it would be considering the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The announcement, followed by the late-night Sunday vote, has stirred up criticism from Democrats who argue the late-night legislative sessions are the result of GOP cowardice.

“Republicans are scheduling votes in the DEAD OF NIGHT on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’ They advanced their bill last night at 10:30PM. The next vote is scheduled for 1AM on Wednesday. Why hide?” questioned Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “Maybe because this bill rips away health care from babies, new moms, and seniors.”

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

The legislative negotiations over the GOP’s budget bill have circulated around what federal programs, or funding, will need to be cut in order to extend the president’s tax cuts from his first term, which are set to expire. Among those cuts are new provisions to federal healthcare programs, like Medicaid, which Democrats have slammed as a move to take away public healthcare programs from those who need them the most.   

“Republicans know that their efforts to take away health care from millions of Americans is deeply unpopular. Republicans know that the effort to enact the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history, which will literally take food from the mouths of children, veterans and seniors, is deeply unpopular. Republicans know that providing billionaire donors with a massive tax break for people, like Elon Musk, and at the same time, exploding the deficit by trillions of dollars is deeply unpopular,” the Democrats’ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said during a Monday afternoon press conference. 

“That’s why Republicans are going to try to advance this bill in the dead of night at 1 a.m. in the morning.”

HAROLD FORD, JR. ARGUES TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ CUTS ONLY THE RICHEST PEOPLE’S TAXES

Republicans, however, have indicated their hope to pass their new budget bill by Memorial Day, and, in order to do that, the lengthy reconciliation process Republicans are using to get the bill passed must move quickly as the date is fast approaching. 

As a result of the looming Memorial Day deadline, Republicans appear to be moving the bill forward as quickly as possible, and, to do so, it is reportedly requiring the House Rules Committee to convene early Wednesday morning.  

“Under the rules, Budget Dems get two calendar days to file minority views after last night’s markup. That could take until midnight Tuesday. Rules then has a one hour notice requirement, hence starting at 1 am,” political commentator Brendan Buck said on X, citing someone with expert knowledge of the legislative process. 

BUDGET OFFICE WITH ‘FUNDAMENTALLY PROGRESSIVE ROOTS’ USED BY DEMS AS LATEST TOOL IN ANTI-TRUMP RESISTANCE

But that hasn’t stopped Democrats from claiming Republicans are engaging in late-night votes to somehow keep the budget bill process out of the limelight.

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“Remember when Republicans said late-night sessions were ‘not what the country needs or deserves’ during the American Rescue Plan? Now they’re getting ready to make dramatic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP so they can give tax breaks for billionaires – in the dead of night,” Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said following news of the Wednesday morning Rules Committee session. “Hypocrisy on full display.”

Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba is charging Rep. LaMonica McIver for her alleged misconduct toward law enforcement in front of Delaney Hall earlier this month, but she is dismissing the trespassing charge against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

“Today my office has charged Congresswoman McIver with violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a)(1) for assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement,” Habba said in a post on X on Monday.

In a letter posted with the comment, Habba announced that after extensive consideration, she was dismissing charges against Baraka.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was charged with class C misdemeanor trespassing at the facility, which is privately operated by the GEO Group, last week, and he had his first court appearance on Thursday, which Habba personally attended.

BLUE STATE ICE FACILITY RAMPS UP SECURITY WITH NEW BARRICADES AMID CLASHES WITH PROTESTERS

“We believe that I was targeted in this,” Baraka said outside the courtroom after his appearance.

Baraka and three congressional lawmakers – McIver, Robert Menendez Jr., and Bonnie Watson Coleman were outside the ICE facility last week with a group of protesters when the gates opened to allow an ICE bus in. All four officials then allegedly rushed through the gates past security, according to officials from the Department of Homeland Security. 

“If it was a typical U.S. citizen, and they tried to storm into a detention facility that’s housing dangerous criminals or any person at all, they would be arrested,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told “Fox News Live” host Kevin Corke Saturday. “Just because you are a member of Congress or just because you’re a public official, does not mean you are above the law.

DEM LAWMAKERS DEFEND ‘STORMING’ OF ICE FACILITY, SAY TRUMP ADMIN IS ‘LYING AT ALL LEVELS’

However, McIver and others allege that “ICE created chaos” and instigated the situation.

“The way we were treated at Delaney Hall is almost unbelievable. ICE shoved me, manhandled [Watson Coleman], and arrested [Baraka]. They disrespected us and tried to stop us from conducting the oversight we’re elected to do. But we’ll never back down in our fight for what is right,” McIver posted to X last week.

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The arrest came as activists had been calling for access to the facility for days, which is a privately run facility that was revamped as an immigration detention facility this year. The city says that the facility is operating without a valid certificate of occupancy, whereas the GEO Group maintains that they are in full compliance with city laws. 

DHS SAYS ‘ARRESTS ARE STILL ON THE TABLE’ AFTER NEW JERSEY HOUSE DEMS CAUGHT ON CAMERA ‘STORMING’ ICE FACILITY

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After another protest that went right up to the gates of Delaney Hall, large yellow barricades were placed in front of its entrance with signs warning against trespassing on private property. 

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

Following his phone calls with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, President Donald Trump appeared confident that peace talks between the two warring nations will soon be progressing.

In response to a reporter’s question outside the White House on Monday, Trump said that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is genuine in his seeking a peace deal.

“President Trump, do you think Vladimir Putin wants peace?” the reporter shouted across the lawn.

Trump stopped and responded: “I do. Yes.”

“Do you still trust Putin?” the reporter continued, to which Trump responded: “I do.”

TRUMP SAYS PUTIN IS ‘TIRED’ OF RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR 

Speaking later that same day, after an event honoring fallen law enforcement officers in the White House, Trump said that he believes Putin has “had enough” of the war. 

“I think he’s had enough. I think he’s had enough. It’s been a long time. This has been going on for more than three years. When you think, it’s been going on for a long time,” said the president. 

Meanwhile, Trump seemed less confident in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Asked whether Zelenskyy is doing enough to help the peace talks process along, Trump responded: “I’d rather tell you in about two weeks from now, because I can’t say yes or no.” 

“Look, he’s a strong person, Zelenskyy, a strong guy, and he’s not the easiest person to deal with,” said Trump. “But I think that he wants to stop, and it’s a very bad thing that’s happening over there. I think he wants to stop. But I could answer that question better in two weeks or four weeks from now. I hope the answer is that he wants to get it solved.”

RUSSIA BOMBARDS UKRAINE WITH DRONES HOURS AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCES TALKS WITH PUTIN

Trump also commented on newly inaugurated Pope Leo XIV, saying he would like to help facilitate peace between the two nations. Trump said that it would be “great” to have the peace talks at the Vatican.

“There’s tremendous bitterness, anger, and I think maybe that could help some of that anger,” said Trump. 

Trump and Putin held a two-hour call on Monday in what the U.S. said was a push to get Russia to end its deadly war in Ukraine. 

Both Trump and Putin described the call in a positive light, with the Kremlin chief saying it was “frank” and “useful,” but it is not immediately clear what results were achieved. 

Trump took to social media to praise the call as having gone “very well” and said, “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.”

RUBIO TEASES DETAILS OF POTENTIAL TRUMP, PUTIN IN-PERSON MEETING AFTER RUSSIA-UKRAINE CEASEFIRE TALKS STALL

“The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” he added. 

Putin, in a statement after the call, also noted that “a ceasefire with Ukraine is possible” but “Russia and Ukraine must find compromises that suit both sides.”

Any concrete details on the nature of these compromises remain unclear, despite negotiation attempts in Turkey on Friday, which Trump suggested failed because he needed to negotiate with Putin first.

In the lead up to the talks, Trump also spoke with Zelenskyy, along with other world leaders like U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, who said they discussed the urgent need for Putin to agree to an unconditional ceasefire or face serious repercussions, including more sanctions.

TRUMP KICKS OFF 18TH WEEK IN OFFICE WITH HIGH-STAKES BID TO BROKER UKRAINE, RUSSIA PEACE

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Russia currently occupies about 20% of Ukraine’s landmass. However, the Russian military’s advance has significantly slowed to a virtual stalemate. 

In October, Fox News Digital reported that Russia has suffered some 600,000 casualties in its war with Ukraine — more than its losses in every conflict since World War II combined.

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump spoke candidly about former President Joe Biden’s recent prostate cancer diagnosis on Monday, expressing sympathy while also suggesting that the situation should be investigated.

Biden’s team announced the diagnosis on Sunday afternoon, saying that the former statesman “was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.”

“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” the statement added.

“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” Biden’s team concluded. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”

‘SMALL NODULE’ FOUND IN BIDEN’S PROSTATE DURING ROUTINE EXAM, SPOKESPERSON SAYS

Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Trump called the news “very sad, actually.” 

“I’m surprised that…you know, the public wasn’t notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine [sic], that’s a long time,” Trump said. “I just had my physical… We had the doctors at the White House and over at Walter Reed, which is a fantastic hospital. I did a very complete physical, including cognitive tests.”

Trump also referenced Biden’s cognitive decline during his presidency, stating that “anybody running for president should take a cognitive test.”

“They say it’s unconstitutional. But I would say in that particular case, having a cognitive test wouldn’t be so bad,” the Republican said.

Trump also posited that the general public “wasn’t informed” about Biden’s medical situation, and suggested that the situation should be investigated.

OBAMA REACTS TO BIDEN CANCER DIAGNOSIS 

“I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor if it’s the same, or even if it’s two separate doctors,” Trump said. “Why wasn’t the cognitive ability, why wasn’t that discussed? And I think the doctor said he’s just fine. And it’s turned out that’s not so. It’s very dangerous.”

The president concluded by saying that the cancer diagnosis is “a very, very sad situation and I feel very badly about it.”

“I think people should try and find out what happened, because I’ll tell you….I don’t know if it had anything to do with the hospital,” Trump added. “Walter Reed is really good. There’s some of the best doctors I’ve ever seen.”

“Somebody is not telling the facts,” he concluded. “It’s a big problem.”

News of Biden’s aggressive cancer diagnosis shocked the country over the weekend. After receiving bipartisan messages of sympathy, the 82-year-old thanked his supporters on social media on Monday.

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“Cancer touches us all,” Biden wrote on X. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”