NationalWatch

It must be something about October and two-year intervals in Congress.

Congress was paralyzed for more than three weeks without a leader two years ago this October as the House unceremoniously ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

And Congress is paralyzed again this October – unable to find the votes to re-open the government.

“There’s nothing for us to negotiate,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “We did the job to keep the government open. And now it’s on the Senate Democrats.”

OMINOUS RED AND ORANGE SKIES HAD CAPITOL HILL TAKE NOTICE AS SHUTDOWN LOOMED

But Democrats say that’s the problem. There haven’t been negotiations. Save for a brief White House meeting last week between President Trump and the top four bipartisan, bicameral Congressional leaders a day before the shutdown.

“The Majority Leader in the Senate, John Thune, R-S.D., talks about, ‘we’ll have conversations.’ We need more than conversations. We need a real negotiation,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., on Fox.

So there are no talks. And the sides are seemingly talking past each other.

It seems as though Congress is positively heading nowhere as shutdown negotiations drag on. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

So, they’ve turned to handicapping.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., gamed out that the shutdown would run another week.

“It won’t end until everybody in the Senate takes their ego out back and shoots it. And then it’ll end,” predicted Kennedy.

It always is, and always will be about the math.

Senate Republicans can conjure up the votes of 55 senators to break a filibuster on the House-passed bill to fund the government. But they need 60 yeas. And Republicans are determined to stick to their playbook.

“I can tell you there’s more than five Democrats in the Senate who know that (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. has led them into a box canyon with this Schumer shutdown,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Fox. “But the consequences will start to pile up.”

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: SENATE REVOTES TODAY ON ENDING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wouldn’t directly answer a question about what would trigger federal firings. But Leavitt made clear that jobs hung in the balance.

“We don’t want to see people laid off. But unfortunately, if this shutdown continues, layoffs are going to be an unfortunate consequence of that,” said Leavitt.

Democrats excoriated the Trump Administration for hinting it would cut programs and jobs in agencies important to Democrats.

“Americans really hate bullies. And this kind of bullying from the White House is going to backlash because they understand that an authoritarian president uses grants to New York for infrastructure, laying off workers, deliberately inflicting pain,” predicted Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Don’t inflict unnecessary pain and then boast about it.”

Some Republicans practically reveled in the White House approach.

“All’s fair in love and war. I think that there’s a price to pay for the Democrats shutting this down,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. “These will be part of the consequences.”

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., argued that the shutdown is “collective punishment” and undercuts Republicans equally harshly. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

But one Democrat argued that the Trump administration’s gambit would also undercut Republicans and voters who supported the president. Even in blue states.

“There’s a lot of folks in Vermont, there’s lot of folk in Illinois who voted for President Trump. So this sort of collective punishment,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Fox. “I think it’s a really bad idea.”

But the president is coy about when the shutdown could trigger federal layoffs.

“It could,” said the president. “At some point it will.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted that his department saw “a slight uptick” in aviation safety employees who were calling out sick during the shutdown – since they weren’t being paid.

“They’re thinking about how am I going to get a paycheck? How do I make a car payment,” said Duffy.

WHITE HOUSE ESCALATES SHUTDOWN CONSEQUENCES AS DEMOCRATS SHOW NO SIGNS OF BUDGING: ‘KAMIKAZE ATTACK’

But if you squint, you can see a few signs of bipartisanship.

Johnson is discussing Obamacare subsidies with one prominent Democrat.

“I had I think a fruitful discussion, with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., about two days ago, a day or so ago,” said Johnson on efforts to address looming Obamacare premium spikes. “Whatever the conference committee comes up with, I will put on the floor. I’m ready to go.”

But Schumer is skeptical about the Speaker’s promises.

“Delay has always been Speaker Johnson’s MO. Speaker Johnson has survived by kicking the can down the road,” said Schumer. “When Johnson says later, they know he means never.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., insists Democrats are “playing a losing game.” (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

Tension is building as the shutdown barrels into its second week as lawmakers spin in circles.

“I realize that my Democrat colleagues are facing pressure from members of their far left base. But they’re playing a losing game here,” said Thune.

But each side is now engaged in a game of parliamentary chicken. Republicans won’t budge from their demand that Senate Democrats approve their funding plan. And Democrats won’t relent from their insistence that the sides shore up Obamacare subsidies.

“I’m not going to vote to reopen the government until I see a way that we can do that,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

Even some Republicans worry about Obamacare price spikes.

“There are some folks in what is the new part of the Republican Party, which is blue-collar workers,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., on Fox Business. “We have to be careful how we do this. We just shouldn’t cut it. We should make sure we use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer.”

SHUTDOWN IGNITES STRATEGIST DEBATE: WILL TRUMP AND GOP PAY THE POLITICAL PRICE IN 2026?

But even if bipartisan senators were to forge a deal, the plan may slam into a brick wall in the House.

“Republicans have spent most of their careers being against Obamacare. Why would they expand it and add a subsidy on top of a subsidy?” asked House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.

A debate is now raging over which side will cave. Or which party faces political consequences.

Naturally, Republicans believe Democrats will pay a price.

“Their radical base just wants to see them up here fighting Donald Trump, not over any particular issues,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

But Democrats don’t see a political downside.

“Are you concerned in any way about the political ramifications that voters might blame your side down the road?” yours truly asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

“The American people are crystal clear on who shut down the government. Crystal clear,” replied Jeffries.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., suggested Americans are “crystal clear” on who shoulders the blame for the shutdown. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

However, some lawmakers doubt that voters care about who “shut down the government.”

“My constituents don’t care about the finger pointing. They just want us to govern,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.

As the impasse deepens, the Senate shifted from parliamentary posturing to ecumenical intercession.

“On this third day of the government shutdown, inspire them to work for your glory in all they think, say, and sow,” prayed Senate Chaplain Barry Black during his invocation of the Senate last week.

HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN

And then there are the sideshows. The White House sent out a meme portraying Budget Director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper. And the president trolled Jeffries with an AI-generated social media video, casting Jeffries in a sombrero and a mustache with mariachi music playing in the background.

At the same time, Republicans warned about grave shutdown consequences.

“Real pain is being endured by real people,” said Johnson.

But in the next breath, the Speaker defended the president making light of circumstances, describing the trolling as “entertainment.”

“That’s what President Trump does. And people are having fun with this,” said Johnson.

I didn’t let that go.

“On one hand, you say this is very serious. That people have jobs on the line. On the other hand, you say, ‘oh, this is just fun and games and they’re trolling.’ Which is it?” I inquired.

“What they’re trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, is to point out the absurdity of the Democrats’ position,” answered Johnson.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended President Trump’s making light of current circumstances as “entertainment.” (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

So we don’t know if or when Vought will drop the anvil on federal workers. But one senator who caucuses with the Democrats and voted for the GOP plan, signaled his support could wane if Republicans overplay their hand.

“If they start firing thousands of people or clawing back other kinds of programs, I think, it could hurt their chances of getting this resolved,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.’

The Senate has now blocked the House-approved spending package on six separate occasions. The sides are having casual conversations. But nothing has happened.

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It’s as though Congress is on a merry-go-round to nowhere, just going around and around. Everyone’s getting dizzy. And just wants to dismount.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — With under one month to go until Election Day in New Jersey’s competitive and combustible race for governor, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli battled over Sherrill’s military record, Ciattarelli’s business career, and support for President Donald Trump during their second and final debate.

The showdown in New Jersey in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, which turned increasingly bitter in recent weeks, played out at Wednesday’s acrimonious debate.

In one heated exchange, Sherrill accused Ciattarelli of profiting off the opioid crisis, claiming that he “killed tens of thousands of people” through his ties to pharmaceutical industry-backed training materials.

And Ciattarelli fired back that Sherrill “broke the law,” as he pointed to a fine she paid four years ago for failing to timely disclose stock trades, as members of Congress are required to do under federal conflict-of-interest law.

TRUMP LOOMS LARGE OVER 2025 ELECTIONS

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill, right, and Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli on the stage at the start of their second and final debate on Oct. 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, N.J. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser  )

New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial contests the year after a presidential election, which means the races traditionally grab outsized national attention.

And this year’s ballot box showdowns are viewed as crucial early tests of Trump’s popularity and second-term agenda, and are considered key barometers ahead of next year’s midterm elections for the U.S. House and Senate.

The two candidates took shots at each other over key issues, including New Jersey’s sky-high energy costs, property taxes, immigration, and the ongoing federal government shutdown.

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

And while he isn’t on the ballot, Trump loomed large over the debate.

Ciattarelli, who cruised to the GOP nomination earlier this year after landing Trump’s endorsement, was asked where he disagrees with the president.

“I disagree with the president on the Empire Wind Farm for Long Island,” the Republican nominee answered.

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

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill, on the stage moments at the start of their second and final debate, on Oct. 8, 2025, in New Brunswick, N.J. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser  )

Ciattarelli shot back that “in times of need, it’s best to have a relationship with whoever occupies the White House, and I will.”

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

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

Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics and winning election as a state lawmaker, is making his third straight run for New Jersey governor. And four years ago, he grabbed national attention as he came close to upsetting Murphy.

BLUE STATE REPUBLICAN RIPS DEMOCRATIC RIVAL FOR BLAMING ‘EVERYTHING ON TRUMP’

It was during the 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli’s connection to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.

“You’re trying to divert from the fact you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda,” Sherrill charged. “I think our kids deserve better. I think the people you got addicted and died deserve better than you.”

Ciattarelli responded, saying, “With regard to everything she just said about my professional career, which provided for my family, it’s a lie. I’m proud of my career.”

“Shame on you,” Ciattarelli added.

Sherrill shot back, “Shame on you, sir.”

Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli on the stage at the start of their second and final debate on Oct. 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, N.J. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser  )

Cittarrelli then blamed the fentanyl crisis on former President Joe Biden’s “open border” policies.

And at a post-debate news conference, he claimed the attack by Sherrill was “a desperate tactic by a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate.”

Sherrill, asked after the debate if she had proof directly linking Ciattarelli to the opioid deaths, told reporters, “I guess he’s not really expressed anything about this. I think there’s a lot we don’t know. I think he continues to not be very transparent about it.”

Ciattarelli, during the debate, fired back at Sherrill, saying, “I got to walk at my college graduation,” as he referred to the controversy surrounding Sherrill’s military records.

The race was rocked two weeks ago after a New Jersey Globe report revealed that Sherrill’s military records indicated that the United States Naval Academy blocked her from taking part in her 1994 graduation amid the cheating scandal.

Sherrill has claimed that Ciattarelli was going on a “witch hunt” over her improperly released military records, which raised questions about her possible involvement in a cheating scandal that rocked the U.S. Naval Academy three decades ago.

Ciattarelli and his campaign have repeatedly called on Sherrill, who went on to pilot helicopters during her military career after graduating from the Naval Academy, to release her military records to explain why she was prevented from attending her graduation ceremony.

Jack Ciattarelli, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in New Jersey, takes questions  from reporters following a debate on Oct. 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, N.J. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

But a separate report from CBS News revealed that the National Personnel Records Center, which is a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, mistakenly released Sherrill’s improperly redacted military personnel files, which included private information like her Social Security number, to a Ciattarelli ally. 

The National Archives, in a letter two weeks ago, apologized to Sherrill, saying the improper release was due to a government worker’s error over a legal records request.

Following the breach of the records, Sherrill’s campaign sent cease-and-desist letters to the National Archives and to Ciattarelli’s campaign, as well as to Russell and Nicholas De Gregorio, who is described by Sherrill’s team as “an agent of the campaign working at the direction of” Russell.

The Sherrill campaign also launched a digital ad taking aim at Ciattarelli.

“They broke the law to attack a veteran,” the narrator in the spot charged.

Sherrill, asked why she didn’t attend her graduation, said at the debate, “I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk at graduation because I come from an incredibly accountable place. But I went on to graduate. I was commissioned an officer in the United States Navy.”

And she reiterated that she does not want to give Ciattarelli and his campaign access to the records of her Naval Academy classmates.

And she asked, “Why my opponent still won’t take accountability for the release of those records. It’s under federal investigation that a member of his team, someone he vetted to be his lieutenant governor, actually got access to those records, said he was shocked and disgusted, and yet nevertheless shopped them out to reporters when he was asked about it, he acted as if he had no idea what his campaign was doing.”

“So either he’s really incompetent or he’s lying,” she argued.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in New Jersey, takes questions  from reporters following a debate on Oct. 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, N.J. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

Ciattarelli quickly responded, calling on Sherrill to release her records.

“We know for a fact that she wasn’t allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony. We know for a fact that her name was not listed in the commencement exercise program. She says it’s because she didn’t turn in classmates. That’s the honor code at West Point. That’s not the honor code at the Naval Academy. You don’t get punished for that. I think she was punished for something else,” he argued.

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

And in the 2025 race, political history favors both parties. 

The party that wins the White House tends to lose the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections the following year, which favors the Democrats. But Democrats in New Jersey are also trying to buck history — it’s been over six decades since a party won three straight Garden State gubernatorial elections.

A video obtained by Politico and released Wednesday shows California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter berating a staffer during a 2021 video call after stepping into her shot.

In the clip, then-U.S. Rep. Porter, D-Calif., is seen speaking with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about energy and climate issues. At one point, a staffer walks into the frame, prompting Porter to snap and yell, “Get out of my f—ing shot!”

She also scolded the staffer for having appeared in the background before.

“You were in my shot before that,” Porter said. “Stay out of my shot.”

CONTROVERSIAL DEM ABRUPTLY ENDS BONKERS INTERVIEW AFTER REPEATEDLY BERATING REPORTER: ‘I DON’T CARE’

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., speaks at the “Just Majority” Supreme Court press conference on June 22, 2023, in Washington, D.C.  (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Just Majority)

Politico noted that Porter’s outburst was edited out of the Department of Energy’s final version of the webinar.

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

The resurfaced footage follows another viral clip this week showing Porter lashing out at a reporter and attempting to end an interview.

During a segment on California’s redistricting effort, CBS California reporter Julie Watts asked Porter, “What do you say to the 40% of California voters who you’ll need in order to win, who voted for Trump?”

KAMALA HARRIS TO PUBLISH BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACCOUNT OF FAILED 2024 CAMPAIGN

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., speaks to supporters, volunteers, and staff at an Election Night watch party at the Hilton Orange County Hotel, Nov. 8, 2022, in Costa Mesa, Calif. (Getty Images)

Porter, considered by many to be the frontrunner in the race, responded, “How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?”

“Well, unless you think you’re going to get 60% of the vote,” Watts said, prompting Porter to laugh.

The exchange grew tense as Porter pushed back on the question, arguing over whether she needs to court Trump voters, particularly if she’s running head-to-head against another Democrat.

KAMALA HARRIS’ MAJOR CALIFORNIA ANNOUNCEMENT TRIGGERS CIRCULAR DEM FIRING SQUAD

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., speaks during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee business meeting in Washington, D.C., Jan. 31, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“So you don’t need them to win,” Watts asked Porter.

“I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative,” Porter said, prompting the reporter to point out that she had asked the same question to the other candidates in the race, and they answered it.

“I don’t want to keep doing this, I’m going to call it,” Porter said.

LIBERAL MEDIA DARLING IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW GOES VIRAL

“You’re not going to do the interview?” Watts said as Porter tried to remove her microphone.

“Nope, not like this I’m not, not with seven follow-ups to every single question you ask,” Porter responded.

When Watts reminded Porter that every candidate had answered the question, Porter said, “I don’t care.”

Porter told Watts after being pressed even more that she doesn’t “want to have an unhappy experience with you” and that she doesn’t “want this all on camera.”

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The clip drew widespread attention online, with conservatives criticizing Porter for struggling with follow-up questions.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump will undergo a routine medical exam on Friday during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the White House said.

Trump will be visiting and meeting with troops at the hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

“On Friday morning, President Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting and remarks with the troops,” Leavitt said in a statement. “While there, President Trump will stop by for his routine yearly checkup. He will then return to the White House.”

Trump, 79, is also considering “going to the Middle East shortly thereafter,” Leavitt added. The possible visit would come after Hamas agreed to the first phase of Trump’s peace deal to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages.

TRUMP’S STAMINA IMPRESSES THE EXPERTS

President Donald Trump (L), with First Lady Melania Trump (R), awards Sergeant First Class Alvaro Barrientos (2-L), with his wife Tammy Barrientos (2-R), the Purple Heart during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on April 22, 2017. (Shawn Thew – Pool/Getty Images)

The medical checkup will be Trump’s second this year. He had a similar exam in April, during which his physician stated that he “remains in excellent health.”

DOCTORS REACT TO ALLEGED TRUMP HEALTH CONCERNS AS PHOTOS SHOWING SWELLING AND BRUISING

The entrance of Walter Reed Medical Center. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

“President Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and general physical function,” Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, said at the time.

However, in July, the president was diagnosed with a vein condition known as chronic venous insufficiency. At the time, Leavitt said Trump had noticed “mild swelling” in his lower legs and was evaluated by the White House medical unit.

President Donald Trump during a meeting with Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday. Trump will undergo a routine medical exam on Friday, the White House said.   (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Chronic venous insufficiency occurs when veins in the legs struggle to allow blood to flow back up to the heart.

Leavitt attributed the bruising on the president’s hand to “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.”

President Donald Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio handed him a note indicating the United States is “very close to a deal in the Middle East,” a revelation he made Wednesday at the White House during a roundtable on Antifa.

“Yeah, I was just given a note by the Secretary of State saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East, and they’ll get to need me, pretty quickly,” Trump said.

Nearly two hours later, Trump posted on Truth Social that a deal had been struck.

“I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” he said. “This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace.”

TRUMP SAYS ‘REAL CHANCE FOR GREATNESS’ AS NETANYAHU WHITE HOUSE MEETING LOOMS FOR GAZA TALKS

Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers to President Donald Trump, who is holding the note Rubio handed to him, during a roundtable meeting on Antifa in the State Dining Room at the White House, Wednesday, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“All Parties will be treated fairly!” Trump added. “This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”

Israeli TV Channel 12 reported the agreement will be signed at noon local time on Thursday, and the release of hostages and prisoners will take place Saturday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also weighed in, saying, “With God’s help we will bring them all home.”

HAMAS ACCEPTS TRUMP PEACE PLAN ENDING 2 YEARS OF WAR IN GAZA, RETURNING HOSTAGES

President Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu outside the White House on Sept. 29, as the pair works to achieve peace in Gaza.  (Annabelle Gordon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump said earlier Wednesday he might travel to the Middle East as Gaza peace negotiations continued. He said he might make the trip on Sunday, adding there is a “great team” of negotiators already there.

“It’s something I think that will happen,” Trump said. “Got a good chance of happening.”

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are in Egypt negotiating details of a potential peace agreement between Israel and Hamas in the war that began Oct. 7, 2023.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES ISRAEL AGREES TO GAZA ‘INITIAL WITHDRAWAL LINE’ AS ‘3,000 YEAR CATASTROPHE’ NEARS END

U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is in Egypt negotiating details of a potential peace agreement between Israel and Hamas. (Getty Images)

Later Wednesday, Trump signaled that negotiations are going well.

“I was just dealing with people from the Middle East, our people and other people, on the potential peace deal for the Middle East,” he said. “Peace for the Middle East. That’s a beautiful phrase, and we hope it’s going to come true, but it’s very close and they’re doing very well.”

TRUMP’S PEACE DEAL COULD END THE WAR IN GAZA OR NETANYAHU’S CAREER

Trump unveiled a 20-point plan to end the Gaza war on Sept. 29, when Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House. The plan includes granting Hamas terrorists who give up their arms in favor of peace “amnesty,” establishing Gaza as a “deradicalized, terror-free zone,” and redeveloping the area so it no longer poses a threat to its neighbors and residents.

Trump warned Hamas that if it did not agree to the peace deal, the terrorists would face “massive bloodshed.”

Hamas announced Friday that it agreed to release all Israeli hostages, dead or alive, as part of Trump’s peace proposal.

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Israeli and Hamas officials met Monday in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Kushner — Trump’s son-in-law, credited with helping facilitate the Abraham Accords during his first administration — and Witkoff remain in Egypt to help negotiate an agreement.

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

Nearly half of the IRS workforce — nearly 34,000 employees — faces furloughs as the government shutdown enters its second week, with the agency rolling out a contingency plan to keep key tax enforcement, data security, and filing-season operations running despite the lapse in congressional funding.

In a letter to staff Wednesday, the agency said most operations would shut down. The contingency plan, which takes effect Wednesday and runs through April 30, 2026, details how the IRS will operate without new congressional funding.

As of July 24, 2025, the IRS employed 74,299 people. During the shutdown, only 39,870 — about 54% — will stay on duty, though it’s unclear which positions will be retained.

Key operations that will continue to include tax processing to safeguard government revenue, IT and data-protection systems, criminal investigations, case work involving bankruptcies and liens, and disaster-relief support. However, taxpayer services — including call centers and most administrative functions not tied to life or property protection — will be suspended.

ICE VOWS ‘NO CHANGE’ TO IMMIGRATION, BORDER POLICY AMID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

A sign for the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, DC. ( Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

The IRS’s Lapse Appropriations Contingency Plan outlined operations for the first five business days of the shutdown and said the agency would continue limited operations using Inflation Reduction Act funding.

The furloughs stem from a funding impasse between President Donald Trump and Congress that has forced a government shutdown with no clear resolution.

HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN

Nearly half of the IRS workforce — nearly 34,000 employees — faces furloughs as the government shutdown enters its second week. (Fox News Digital/Emma Woodhead)

National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald said the shutdown has cut off Americans from vital IRS services.

“Expect increased wait times, backlogs and delays implementing tax law changes as the shutdown continues,” she said. “Taxpayers around the country will now have a much harder time getting the assistance they need, just as they get ready to file their extension returns due next week. Every day these employees are locked out of work is another day of frustration for taxpayers and a growing backlog of work that sits and waits for the shutdown to end.

SEN RICK SCOTT, REP BYRON DONALDS: TRUMP AND BESSENT’S IRS REFORM: LET’S END JOB-KILLING POLICIES

A sign outside the National Gallery of Art informs visitors of its closure due to the government shutdown in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“For frontline employees, the complete lack of planning left them in the dark about their work status until their supervisor informed them today,” Greenwald added. “This is not the way our government should treat its dedicated, nonpartisan public servants. We urge the administration and Congress to reach an agreement that reopens government and restores the services that Americans need and deserve.”

According to The Associated Press, the IRS told employees they would receive back pay once the shutdown ends. The Trump administration warned Tuesday that back pay for furloughed federal employees is not guaranteed.

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Earlier this year, the IRS began a series of workforce reductions that brought total employment down from about 100,000 at the end of 2024 to roughly 75,000 before the shutdown.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A resurfaced social media post is adding fuel to the fire of a viral scandal that rocked the Virginia attorney general race last week after an explosive report exposed the violent 2022 text messages that were sent by the Democratic attorney general nominee to a colleague.

“@ForHahns you should drop out of the race,” Jay Jones posted on X in 2021, calling on Hahns Copeland, then-Republican candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates, to drop out of the race over a controversial social media post where Copeland criticized the appearance of Virginia’s Democrat house speaker that was deemed by some as antisemitic. 

“Hate has no place in this Commonwealth, my guy,” Jones added. 

It was recently revealed that Jones fantasized in 2022 text messages about shooting now-former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert in the head while also suggesting that harm should come to that Republican’s young “fascist” children. 

DEM SENATOR’S HEFTY DONATION TO DISGRACED AG CANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN COMES BACK TO HAUNT HIM

Jay Jones, who is running to become Virginia’s attorney general in 2025, has come under fire for a series of text messages calling for the death of political opponents and remarks about police officers.  (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Jones apologized for the comment, but is facing widespread calls to drop out of the race along with criticism on social media from those saying he should follow the advice he gave to Copeland. 

“How about that,” Daily Signal national correspondent Tony Kinnett posted on X. 

“Update?” Virginia Republican state Sen. Glen Sturtevant posted on X. 

“Care to revisit this one Mr. Jones?” Townhall writer Amy Curtis posted on X. 

DEMOCRATS STAND BY VIRGINIA AG HOPEFUL WHO FANTASIZED ABOUT KILLING GOP LAWMAKER

Virginia attorney general candidate Jerrauld “Jay” Jones speaks at an event in Norfolk, Virginia. (Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“@JonesJay you should drop out of the race,” the Republican Attorneys General Association posted on X.  “And delete your account. Hate has no place in this Commonwealth, my guy.”

Adam Piper, RAGA’s executive director, also posted on X saying, “Jay Jones should listen to himself.”

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

Democrats in Virginia who have endorsed Jones are standing by him despite the calls for him to exit the race for endorsing political violence in a climate where President Trump faced two attempts on his life and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered during a speaking engagement. 

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Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

“I’ve known Jay Jones for 25 years,” Kaine added. “I think those statements were not in character, and he has apologized — I wish other people in public life would sincerely apologize for stuff.”

In addition to the statements about harming his Republican colleague, Jones is also alleged to have suggested that more police officers should be killed in order to stop them from harming others. 

Jones has denied making those comments. 

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

The White House ramped up its feud with Democratic leaders in Illinois Wednesday, releasing a video blasting Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

In the video, which appears to show police and immigration authorities, President Donald Trump described Chicago as “a mess.”

“You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent,” Trump said. “We have a governor that refuses to admit he has problems. Everybody knows how bad it is. This open borders nightmare flooded our country with fentanyl and with people that shouldn’t be here, some of the worst people on earth and illicit drugs decimated American communities and left us with the largest law enforcement challenge in our country’s history.”

President Donald Trump, left, called for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, center, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to be jailed for “failing to protect” ICE officers on Wednesday. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

JB PRITZKER SAYS ICE ‘HARASSING PEOPLE FOR NOT BEING WHITE’

The White House then skipped to an audio clip of Pastor Corey Brooks speaking on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” in August, where he noted violent crime wasn’t improving in Chicago and urged the president to send in the National Guard.

“We need to invite President Trump in,” Brooks said in the clip. “We invite the National Guard in. … We’ve had 254 deaths in 233 days, and for anyone in our community to say people are safe, that is an outright lie.”

TRUMP ESCALATES FIGHT WITH PRITZKER AS BLOODY CHICAGO WEEKEND SPARKS TROOP WARNING

The focus shifted back to Trump, as he added Chicago “needs help.”

“They need help, badly,” the president said. “Chicago desperately needs help. We don’t want to lose Chicago. We’re going to lose Chicago. We want to save these folks. We’re going to lose them. We’re not going to allow this kind of savagery to destroy our society anymore. We’re stopping it. One by one.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is opposed to federal deployments in Chicago. (Kamil Krazaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

The video was posted hours after Trump called for Johnson and Pritzker’s arrests on Truth Social.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote in a post.

Pritzker fired back on X, saying “what else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism,” and noting he would not “back down.”

The two Illinois leaders have clashed with the president over immigration enforcement and Trump’s decision to send National Guard troops to the state to protect federal personnel and property amid escalating anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests in Broadview.

Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois this week and were mobilized for an initial 60-day period.

Law enforcement detains a protester near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 3.  (AP/Erin Hooley)

TRUMP SLAMS PRITZKER ON CHICAGO CRIME; GOVERNOR’S REPORTED WEIGHT LOSS FUELS 2028 SPECULATION

Pritzker on Tuesday accused Trump of being a “man who’s suffering dementia,” alleging the president “doesn’t read,” according to The Chicago Tribune.

“This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head,” Pritzker said. “He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date. It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.”

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“And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that’s what he’s doing,” he added.

Oren Cass, founder of the Washington-based think tank American Compass, has built a reputation as one of the right’s most outspoken advocates for economic nationalism and “strategic decoupling” from Beijing. 

Yet recent details about the group’s corporate partnerships and staff affiliations raise questions about consistency between its rhetoric and its operations.

In essays and media appearances, Cass has argued that the United States must take a tougher stance toward China and prioritize domestic manufacturing and independence from Chinese supply chains. 

In a 2023 Foreign Affairs essay, Cass and a colleague warned that the U.S. “must break from China or else become irrevocably corrupted by it,” arguing that economic interdependence had already “weakened America’s industrial base and constrained its political will.”

MAJOR COLLEGES FACE HEAT OVER CHINESE SCHOLARSHIP TIES AS ESPIONAGE CONCERNS MOUNT

Oren Cass has become  (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images)

In the same essay, Cass and his co-author argued that China’s influence extended deep into U.S. research and policy institutions.

“China has long targeted U.S. universities, think tanks and research institutes to extract economic gain and advance its own ideological agenda,” they wrote, adding that such organizations “must accept processes and controls designed to ensure the integrity and security of their work.”

They went further, calling for legal restrictions. “U.S. law should be changed to prohibit these institutions from entering into any partnerships with China-based and affiliated entities. Any funding flowing from one nation’s institutions to the other’s must be stopped.”

Lawmakers from both parties have long raised concerns that the Chinese government exploits educational exchanges, research partnerships and business investments in the U.S. as cover for espionage activities. These warnings have intensified in recent years amid growing scrutiny of Beijing’s influence operations on U.S. soil.

The national flags of the United States and China flutter at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)

On July 28, 2025, Cass joined a group of policymakers and national security experts in a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressing “deep concern” over the decision to resume exports of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China.

The group warned that the Trump administration’s move “represents a strategic misstep that endangers the United States’ economic and military edge in artificial intelligence.” He reiterated his stance during a conversation on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast where he argued against lifting export restrictions on advanced computer chips bound for China.

CHINA’S MALIGN INFLUENCE TOUCHES EVERY ASPECT OF US LIFE. WE ALL NEED TO HELP STOP THEM

And yet, Cass’s uncompromising rhetoric on China appears at odds with the realities of operating a Washington think tank in a globalized economy.

In June 2025, American Compass hosted a lavish fifth-anniversary gala at Washington’s National Building Museum, an event underwritten in part by Qualcomm, BlackRock, and Google — companies whose global operations remain deeply intertwined with China’s economy.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives to speak during the American Compass Fifth Anniversary Gala alongside American Compass founder and Chief Economist Oren Cass (L) at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

China is the world’s second-largest economy and a key trading partner for U.S. companies, making such financial entanglements common across Washington’s policy landscape.

Fox News Digital reached out to Qualcomm, BlackRock and Google for comment; none responded before publication.

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What’s more, American Compass’s staffing and advisory relationships have also prompted questions. The organization’s director of events and operations previously worked for Alibaba Group, one of China’s largest tech companies.

Additionally, an economist on the group’s advisory board is also a professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, a leading business institution with close ties to China’s Communist Party.

Cass and American Compass did not return multiple requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

While none of these associations are illegal or unusual in Washington, they complicate Cass’ image as a champion of economic separation from China and highlight the difficulty of pursuing that ideal while relying on corporate sponsors.

On the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, demonstrators gathered outside the gates of Columbia University, chanting “From the river to the sea” and handing out a newspaper from the “Columbia Intifada” that seemed to justify the massacre of Israeli citizens that took place at the Nova music festival. 

The Oct. 7, 2025 edition of the paper, under the front page article titled “Hamas: A Brief History,” says that the publication marks “two years since the people of Gaza tore down the fences of their modern concentration camp.” 

The “Columbia Intifada” emerged as a student-produced paper distributed by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), though the university quickly condemned it late last year, saying the paper’s message to promote or glorify violence violates Columbia University policy.

On the 2nd anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, protesters gathered outside Columbia University, a center for student protests of the war since 2023.  (Fox News)

ISRAEL CALLS PROMINENT DEMOCRAT ‘MOUTHPIECE FOR HAMAS’ IN BLISTERING OCT. 7 POST

Atop the paper reads: “Disclaimer: Columbia Intifada is not affiliated with the terrorist, imperialist, Nazi-Zionist, colonizing, gentrifying, pig-love, genocidal, war-profiteering ‘institution’ known as Columbia University.” In the upper right-hand corner reads: “Columbia University [Students for Justice in Palestine] SJP.”

Columbia’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine was suspended in November 2023. The New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal sued the university in March 2024 alleging the university violated the group’s rights, but the New York Supreme Court sided with Columbia in Nov., 2024, a ruling which has kept the group suspended to date. Fox News Digital learned that the organization does not receive funding from the school and cannot reserve space on campus. 

“Invoking Columbia’s name to glorify violence is a breach of our values,” a spokesperson for Columbia told Fox News Digital. “We are aware of the materials that were distributed off campus yesterday and are investigating the matter.”

“Discrimination and promoting violence or terror is unacceptable and antithetical to what our community stands for,” the spokesperson added.

Despite the suspension, the organization’s social media channels remain active, and it is unknown who is currently writing and publishing the newspaper. 

AS TRUMP’S GAZA DEAL NEARS, FAMILY WARNS ISRAEL NOT TO FREE ANOTHER SINWAR

Fox News Digital reached out to Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine, but did not receive a response. 

The Columbia Intifada newspaper was handed out at a protest at the Ivy League university during the second anniversary of Oct 7. Hamas attack on Israel. (Fox News)

The “Columbia Intifada” paper is roughly the same size as a newspaper that can be purchased from any print publication. The four-page-long paper features multiple color layers, anonymous authors, and branding similar to that of the university’s “Columbia Spectator.”

In addition to the newspapers being handed out at the gate of the university’s campus, stickers promoting the protest were thrown out the windows from inside the school grounds to protesters and onlookers nearby.

Most of the roughly hundred protesters were wrapped in garbs so that only their eyes were visible. Apparent demonstration organizers also offered free masks to individuals who entered through a metal police barrier designed to prevent an escalation in conflict. 

ANTISEMITIC ‘VENOM’ INFECTING CAMPUSES GETS WORSE AS UNIVERSITIES PLAY ‘ROPE-A-DOPE’ WITH TRUMP ADMIN: EXPERT

Chants of “free Palestine” on 116th and Broadway were met with a few dissenting, pro-Israel voices who emerged roughly half an hour into the protest. 

People attend a vigil and protest for Palestine outside of Columbia University on Oct. 7, 2025, in New York City. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)

The first speaker among the group of protesters instructed the crowd not to speak with the press, and even made the protesters audibly repeat after her that there would be no communication with the press. 

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The speaker then went on to say that any press inquiries could be directed to individuals wearing grey armbands, though when Fox News Digital asked to speak to such individuals on multiple occasions, the group never brought anyone forward. 

“The Columbia SJP are not only the scum of the earth, they are nauseatingly anti-semitic, wildly factually wrong, and a major reason why they and their ilk have been thrown into the trash bin of political irrelevance,” Republican Jewish Coalition spokesperson Sam Markstein told Fox News Digital. “If they are so proud of their words, why not put their names to the libelous slanders they put forward? 

“The answer is because they are dimwitted losers and cowards.”

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

The Trump administration is ramping up the consequences of a lingering government shutdown as a lapse in appropriations enters its eighth day, with no signs of ending soon. 

Now, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has floated plans reviewed by Fox News Digital that would not guarantee that federal workers currently furloughed from the shutdown would receive backpay — upending a 2019 law from Trump’s first administration in the aftermath of a 35-day shutdown.

The threat of furloughed workers failing to receive backpay increases the stakes every day that Congress fails to pass a funding measure — and puts greater pressure on Democrats as President Donald Trump continues to accuse them of creating the crisis. 

SHUTDOWN IGNITES STRATEGIST DEBATE: WILL TRUMP AND GOP PAY THE POLITICAL PRICE IN 2026?

President Donald Trump told reporters Oct. 7, 2025, during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that Democrats were the ones who started the shutdown.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump told reporters Tuesday during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that Democrats were the ones who started the shutdown, even as Democrats have pinned the blame on Republicans, who control both the House and Senate. 

“This is like a kamikaze attack. They have nothing to lose,” Trump said of the Democrats, referencing suicide missions by Japanese aviators during World War II.  

Additionally, Trump said it “depends on who we’re talking about” when asked about whether furloughed workers would be compensated after the shutdown ends.  

“The Democrats have put a lot of people in great risk and jeopardy, but it really depends on who you’re talking about,” Trump said. “But for the most part, we’re going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”

The possibility of furloughed workers not receiving backpay, first reported by Axios, already comes as the Trump administration is moving to trim the federal government. For example, OMB already instructed agencies in September to craft plans for a reduction-in-force should a government shutdown occur. 

The move is a departure from the status quo, since furloughed employees typically return to their jobs once the government shutdown ends. 

HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to the media after walking off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on October 05, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

But Trump signaled that permanent cuts would emerge in the coming days, and that “a lot of those jobs will never come back.” 

“We have a lot of things that we’re going to eliminate and permanently eliminate,” Trump said Tuesday. 

The government entered a partial shutdown Oct. 1, amid a stalemate between Senate Republicans and Democrats over a short-term funding bill to keep the government open through Nov. 21. The House previously had passed the temporary spending bill in September. 

Three Senate Democrats joined Republicans to vote for the temporary funding bill on Sept. 30, but the measure didn’t hit the required 60 votes needed for passage.

Trump and Republicans assert Democrats want to provide illegal immigrants healthcare, due to a provision that would repeal part of Trump’s tax and domestic policy bill known as the “big, beautiful bill” that scaled back Medicaid eligibility for those who aren’t U.S. citizens. 

Even so, Democrats have pushed back against these claims, and have said they want to permanently extend certain Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. 

GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN AFTER CONGRESS DEADLOCKS ON SPENDING DEAL

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., right, update reporters following their face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump and Republican leaders on the looming government funding crisis, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Republicans of not taking the shutdown seriously and are “refusing to address the health care crisis they created.”

“It’s past time to get it done,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday. 

The White House said in a Wednesday statement to Fox News Digital that every shutdown comes with consequences and that Democrats “simply” voted to reopen the government. 

“Whether it’s our brave military members working without pay, business owners missing out on previously promised contract work, or families dealing with flight delays, everyone is paying the price for the Democrats’ radical demands,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. 

The Senate is gearing up for another vote on a temporary spending bill Wednesday. 

Fox News’ Alex Miller contributed to this report. 

Conservatives on social media blasted California Democrat Katie Porter, who is considered by many Democrats to be a frontrunner in the state’s gubernatorial race, after she attempted to end a contentious interview due to the follow-up questions asked by a reporter.

The viral moment happened in a clip posted Tuesday night where Porter took issue with the line of questioning from CBS investigative journalist Julie Watts, who was pushing Porter on whether she can and needs to appeal to the millions of Trump voters in the state to become the next governor.

“I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative,” Porter said, adding, “I don’t want to keep doing this, I’m going to call it.”

The exchange quickly went viral on social media, with conservatives hammering Porter for becoming frustrated over simple follow-up questions that Watts argued were asked of the other candidates in the race as well.

CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT ADOPTS POLICY TO OPPOSE TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) speaks at the “Just Majority” Supreme Court press conference on June 22, 2023 in Washington, DC.  ((Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Just Majority))

“This Katie Porter crashout is INCREDIBLE,” Republican communicator Matt Whitlock posted on X.

“California Democratic consultants have been telling me for years that Katie Porter is the most unpleasant and unprofessional candidate they’ve ever encountered and well…I think they might have been on to something,” political consultant Liz Mair posted on X. 

“Katie Porter just had a meltdown when asked what she’d say to GOP voters,” GOP California Congressman Ken Calvert posted on X. 

“Her tirade is a window into the mentality of radical CA Democrat politicians. They can’t stand those who disagree with them,” he continued. “They’re trying to silence their opponents with Prop 50. They even condone violent rhetoric targeting Republicans. We have to speak up. We have to vote NO on Prop 50. We have to take our state back from these extremists.”

HIGH-PROFILE DEM JUMPS INTO CROWDED CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S RACE AMID PAST OFFICE CONTROVERSIES

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) speaks to supporters, volunteers, and staff at an election night watch party at the Hilton Orange County Hotel on Nov. 8, 2022, in Costa Mesa, California. (Getty)

“Katie Porter having a meltdown over a journalist being a journalist is exactly what I needed to see this morning,” conservative commentator Riley Gaines posted on X. 

“Thoughts and prayers to Katie Porter’s campaign staff who must deal with this every day and can’t film it,” Congressional Leadership Fund Communications Director Torunn Sinclair posted on X.

“Katie Porter is the epitome of a Karen,” Republican digital operative Alec Sears posted on X. “When I picture a Karen in my mind it’s just Katie Porter. Just pure, unearned ego and a vile attitude.”

“Follow-up questions are a fact of life,” political commentator Michelle Tafoya posted on X.  “A good reporter listens to your answer and follows up for clarification. @katieporteroc has no business leading a state.  Any state.”

“This is simply not how to run for office or how to deal with the media,” Democratic consultant Lis Smith posted on X. “And if this how someone acts on camera, imagine how they act off camera.”

President Biden looks on as Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., speaks before Biden delivered remarks on lowering costs for American families at Irvine Valley College in Orange County on Oct. 14, 2022, in Irvine, California.  (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Porter, 51, served three terms in Congress – winning her Orange County seat by upsetting GOP Rep. Mimi Walters in 2018. She ran unsuccessfully for the Senate seat now held by Sen. Adam Schiff, D–Calif., and her district is now represented by Dave Min, a Democrat. 

The Los Angeles Times describes Porter as a prolific fundraiser, while the former lawmaker’s gregarious nature was projected at the time of her jumping into the race to make inroads among Californians upset at President Donald Trump’s election.

In her announcement, Porter referenced Trump and alleged he would seek to enrich himself and his circle while in the White House.

Porter is running for governor in a crowded field of Democrats and Republicans competing in the state’s “jungle primary” system, where the two candidates who receive the most votes in the primary, regardless of party, will advance to the general election. 

Several of Porter’s opponents reacted to the viral clip on social media. 

“We need a leader who will solve hard problems and answer simple questions,” former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, posted on X. 

“I’m not interested in excluding any vote,” former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, posted on X. “Every Californian deserves affordable health care, safe streets, a roof over their head and a living wage.”

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill on November 20, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

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Republican candidate Steve Hilton posted on X, “15 years of one party rule. This is what you get. It’s time for change in California.”

Republican candidate Chad Bianco, currently sheriff of Riverside County, California, described the clip in a post on X as a “tantrum.”

“Katie Porter is just another unhinged Democrat who would complete Gavin Newsom’s destruction of our beautiful state,” Bianco continued. 

Fox News Digital’s Charlez Creitz contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump is set to host a roundtable at the White House Wednesday afternoon to hear from independent journalists who have experienced Antifa’s violence first-hand, Fox News Digital learned. 

Trump will be joined Wednesday afternoon by members of his Cabinet, independent journalists and other administration officials for a “listening session” to discuss the radical left-wing group, which was recently designated a domestic terrorist organization, Fox News Digital learned. 

“For too long, Antifa has ravaged great American cities while ineffectual Democrat leaders turn a blind eye — and most in the media have gone right along with them,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital Wednesday. “Some reporters have been brave enough to blaze their own trail and report the facts rather than go along with the Fake News Groupthink.” 

The roundtable comes after Trump ordered National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, as part of his administration’s ongoing effort to remove illegal immigrants and crime from U.S. streets. The order, however, is currently tied up in the courts after a federal judge Sunday temporarily blocked the administration from deploying troops to Oregon. 

EX-ANTIFA ACTIVIST PRAISES TRUMP’S DECISION TO LABEL GROUP DOMESTIC TERRORISTS

President Donald Trump designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization via an executive order in September 2025.  (Diego Diaz/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Antifa is a far-left militant movement that pitches itself as an “antifascist” activist group. It has been accused of spreading violence through riots, most notably during the 2020 defund the police and Black Lives Matter riots, as well as more recently in Antifa-linked attacks on federal immigration officials and facilities as the Trump administration works to deport millions of illegal immigrants from the nation. 

TRUMP CALLS ANTIFA ‘TERRORIST GROUP,’ FUELING FIGHT OVER FREE SPEECH AND LIMITS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

Riots spread across U.S. cities in 2020 following the death of George Floyd while he was in police custody.  (Samuel Corum / AFP/Getty Images)

The Wednesday roundtable will include Trump delivering remarks to the group before hearing from Cabinet members and independent journalists, Fox News Digital learned ahead of the event. 

Cabinet members and administration officials who are scheduled to deliver remarks during the roundtable include Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Director of the FBI Kash Patel, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

TRUMP COULD TARGET ANTIFA WITH ‘POWERFUL’ RICO ACT, COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT SAYS

President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting at the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 23, 2025 in New York City.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Independent journalists who are slated to join the discussion, Fox News Digital learned, include Cam Higby, Jonathon Choe, Andy Ngo, Katie Daviscourt, James Klug, Savannah Hernandez, Nick Shirley, Brandi Kruse and Julio Rojas. 

Ngo, for example, long has reported on Antifa’s riots and activism in Portland, Oregon, and other cities on the West Coast, gaining national prominence in 2019 when he was attacked by masked individuals during a Portland protest. He went on to author the 2021 book, “Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.”

“The White House applauds these independent journalists; we look forward to hearing from those who have seen the facts for themselves and are sharing the truth about the violence, crime, and local Democrat leaders’ failure to address the problem,” Jackson added in her comment to Fox News Digital. “The Fake News should tune in, they could learn a thing or two!” 

HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR, OTHER REPUBLICANS BACK TRUMP IN DESIGNATING ANTIFA A TERROR ORGANIZATION

Portland, Oregon, was rocked by consecutive nights of riots in 2020, following the death of George Floyd while he was in police custody that year.  (Thomas Patterson / AFP/Getty Images)

Leavitt previously and repeatedly has reprimanded the media when discussing the left-wing radical group, arguing mainstream outlets have not accurately reported on Antifa’s violence. 

“This is something the president campaigned on because we have seen a rise in violence perpetuated by Antifa, radical people across this country who subscribe to this group,” Leavitt said during remarks to the media in September. “And unfortunately, it’s gone widely uncovered by many in the legacy media. It also went completely ignored by the previous administration. Not anymore.” 

Democrats and critics of the Trump administration have argued that cities such as Portland, Oregon, where Antifa riots have previously played out, are safe and that the administration was allegedly conflating terrorism with protests. 

Trump designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization in September through an executive order that slammed the group for “advancing political violence.”

Law enforcement officials and protesters gathered outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 28, 2025.  (Getty Images)

“Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members,” the executive order stated. 

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“Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech,” it added. 

A crew member has died from injuries sustained during a Houthi attack on a Dutch cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, as the Iran-backed rebels escalate their campaign against international targets and detain United Nations workers in Yemen.

The Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers confirmed that the victim was a Filipino national aboard the Minervagracht, a vessel operated by Amsterdam-based Spliethoff. The ship was struck by an explosive device while sailing in international waters, igniting a fire that forced the evacuation of 19 crew members of Russian, Ukrainian, Filipino and Sri Lankan nationalities. They were rescued by helicopter and transported to safety, the company said.

Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, alleging the vessel had “violated the entry ban to the ports of occupied Palestine.” The group has repeatedly targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, claiming its attacks are acts of solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war in Gaza.

But the strike on the Minervagracht was the first major assault in the Gulf of Aden, which links the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, since July 2024.

HEGSETH ISSUES STARK WARNING TO DRUG TRAFFICKERS FOLLOWING US MILITARY STRIKE ON VENEZUELAN VESSEL

Houthi fighters walk over British and U.S. flags at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and the recent Houthi strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

And the strike on the Minervagracht marked the Houthis’ first assault on a commercial ship since the Sept. 1 attack on the Israeli-owned tanker Scarlet Ray near the Saudi port city of Yanbu.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said that 10 of its staff members — all Yemeni nationals — were detained this week in areas controlled by the Houthis. They were working to deliver humanitarian aid in one of the world’s poorest and most war-torn countries.

According to the U.N., a total of 54 staff members have been detained by the Houthis since 2021 as the rebels intensify their crackdown on international aid organizations. The Houthis have previously accused detained aid workers of being part of a “spy network,” a claim the U.N. and human rights groups have strongly denied.

ISRAEL CONFIRMS STRIKE ON HOUTHIS IN YEMEN, MARKS SECOND TIME THIS WEEK

A boy holds a toy weapon as protesters, predominantly Houthi supporters, attend a pro-Palestinian rally one day after Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen Sept. 26, 2025. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

The detentions come as Yemen’s civil war, now in its tenth year, continues to fragment the country and complicate aid delivery, with more than two-thirds of the population reliant on humanitarian assistance.

The attacks come after Washington agreed to a ceasefire with the Houthis in May — raising questions about whether it will hold.

The Houthis “say they will not be blowing up ships anymore,” President Donald Trump said on May 6 when he announced the ceasefire.

In July, the Houthis attacked Greek-owned commercial vessel Magic Seas and the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Eternity C.

Houthis have been attacking international vessels in the Red Sea, like this sinking British cargo ship, since 2023. (Al-Joumhouriah channel via Getty Images)

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Between December 2023 and February 2024, Houthi attacks caused a 90% drop in global container shipping through the Red Sea, according to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.

The Houthis have not violated the ceasefire provision banning attacks on U.S. ships but have breached the agreement’s clause requiring “the smooth flow of international commercial shipping.”

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter went viral Tuesday evening after a clip from a recent interview spread across social media showing her repeatedly lashing out at a reporter and abruptly ending the interview.

“What do you say to the 40% of CA voters who you’ll need in order to win, who voted for Trump?” Porter was asked by CBS California’s Julie Watts during a segment on the controversial redistricting effort launched by Democrats in the state. 

“How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?” Porter, considered by many to be the frontrunner in the race, responded.

“Well, unless you think you’re going to get 60% of the vote,” the reporter, asking about the voter breakdown of Democrats and Republicans in the state, said before Porter started laughing. 

KATIE PORTER BLAMES BILLIONAIRES, CAMPAIGN ‘LIES’ IN CONCESSION SPEECH EVEN THOUGH BIG DONORS BACKED HER

U.S. Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 8, 2022. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS)

Porter then went back and forth with the reporter, arguing about whether she needs to court and win over Trump voters, particularly if she’s running head-to-head against another Democrat. 

“So you don’t need them to win,” Watts asked Porter.

“I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative,” Porter said, prompting the reporter to point out that she had asked the same question to the other candidates in the race and they answered it.  

NEWSOM JUST MADE A CATASTROPHIC MISTAKE ON CALIFORNIA’S HOMELESSNESS DISASTER

Rep. Katie Porter was pressed by “The View” hosts about domestic abuse and staff mistreatment allegations against her.  (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

“I don’t want to keep doing this, I’m going to call it,” Porter said. 

“You’re not going to do the interview?” Watts said as Porter tried to remove her microphone. 

“Nope, not like this I’m not, not with seven follow-ups to every single question you ask,” Porter responded. 

When Watts reminded Porter that every candidate had answered the question, Porter said, “I don’t care.”

The clip quickly went viral on social media with conservatives blasting Porter for struggling with follow-up questions.

“I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative,” Porter said. “I don’t want to keep doing this. I’m gonna call it.”

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Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., shows her book to Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., during the 15th vote to elect a Speaker of the House early Saturday morning, January 7, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“This Katie Porter crashout is INCREDIBLE,” Republican communicator Matt Whitlock posted on X. 

“What a mean, spoiled brat Katie Porter is to a journalist asking a very normal/straight forward question,” conservative commentator Meghan McCain posted on X. “The rumors in DC were always she’s an absolute nightmare – and as usual, people always reveal themselves.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Porter’s campaign for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: One of only two House Republicans serving in districts won by former Vice President Kamala Harris last year is preparing to announce that he’s brought in more than $1 million in the latest fundraising quarter.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., one of Democrats’ top targets in the 2026 midterms, will announce later on Wednesday that he’s raised $1.1 million in the third quarter of 2025.

His campaign said it was the strongest fundraising quarter the moderate House Republican has had in a non-election year.

Lawler’s campaign spokesman Chris Russell told Fox News Digital that the numbers show “our message is winning, and our ground game is unmatched.”

TRUMP FRONT-AND-CENTER IN THESE 2025 ELECTION SHOWDOWNS

Rep. Mike Lawler leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference on March 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

Russell went on to suggest part of Lawler’s platform is campaigning on the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” passed by Republicans earlier this year, and which Democrats have been messaging hard against.

“While our opponents trip over themselves to appease a far-left base, Mike Lawler is building a coalition of working families, labor, law enforcement, Republicans, independents and mainstream Democrats who are fed up with chaos politics and radical extremists,” Lawler’s spokesman said.

“Congressman Lawler delivered on SALT, secured historic tax relief for middle and working-class families and will keep focusing on commonsense solutions that make life more affordable and Hudson Valley communities safer.”

His $1.1 million haul means Lawler’s campaign ended the quarter with $2.3 million cash on hand.

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Then–Vice President Kamala Harris listens during an event with President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Sept. 26, 2024. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

Lawler’s district includes suburbs just outside New York City, which were critical to the GOP’s winning and then retaining the House in the 2022 and 2024 elections.

New York’s 17th Congressional District, which he represents, is currently rated +1 in favor of Democrats by the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

The competitive seat has already attracted eight Democrats for a crowded primary to take on Lawler in next year’s general election, but it appears he has outraised at least several of them.

Army veteran Cait Conley raised over $500,000 in the third quarter, former Briarcliff Manor Mayor Peter Chatzky raised over $340,000, and Rockland County legislator Beth Davidson raised $370,000, according to Politico Playbook New York.

Then-congressional candidate Mike Lawler delivers a speech to supporters during an election night party on Nov. 9, 2022, in Pearl River, N.Y.  (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP Photo)

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Democrats nationwide are betting big on their base being energized in response to President Donald Trump and his policies, a gamble that paid off for the left in the 2018 midterms when they swept the House of Representatives.

But this cycle, New York Republicans have been able to seize on their own boogeyman in Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, the current frontrunner for mayor of New York City.

Lawler told Fox News Digital of Mamdani’s candidacy in June, “Frankly, for Democrats, this is a time for choosing. Do they align themselves with a radical socialist who engages in antisemitism, hates the police, believes that illegal immigrants should have free everything, and you know, is basically going to destroy the finances of New York City?”

“They can’t have it both ways,” he said at the time.

Turning Point USA (TPUSA) drew thousands in Bozeman, Montana, on Tuesday night as part of its “This is the Turning Point” tour honoring Charlie Kirk.

The event, hosted at Montana State University, featured Montana Gov. Greg Giantforte and Vivek Ramaswamy, who answered a series of questions from the crowd in typical Kirk fashion. Gianforte also led the arena in prayer before launching into his speech.

Ramaswamy passionately defended freedom of speech during his time on stage as well, declaring that debate without censorship should be available to everyone, “from Nick Fuentes to Alex Jones to Jimmy Kimmel.”

“It means that words are not violence, that violence is violence,” Ramaswamy said. “And violence is never an acceptable response to words. It’s not just about our constitutional principles. That’s America. That’s who we are.”

CHARLIE KIRK HONORED BY 90K IN ONE OF THE LARGEST MEMORIALS FOR A PRIVATE CITIZEN

Vivek Ramaswamy addressed thousands at Turning Point USA’s event at Montana State University on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Gianforte hailed Kirk for being self-educated, noting that the conservative activist was not a college graduate.

“He disciplined himself to learn economics, history, philosophy, theology. He read what the great minds had written. He studied the Bible, and then he challenged what he learned against the thoughts of others who disagreed with him in respectful debate,” Gianforte said.

CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH GALVANIZES BLUE STATE STUDENT TO STOP ‘HIDING’ HER FAITH, POLITICAL BELIEFS

TPUSA launched its “This is the Turning Point” tour in the days after Kirk’s assassination. So far, the tour has visited Utah, Montana and other states.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte speaks at a Turning Point USA event in Bozeman, Montana, on Oct. 7, 2025. (Greg Gianforte/X)

Despite his young age, Kirk had become a giant in the conservative movement and was a key facet of President Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory. He founded Turning Point USA in 2012 as an 18-year-old with encouragement from Tea Party activist Bill Montgomery.

TPUSA has seen a massive surge in popularity in the weeks following Kirk’s death. The organization said it received 120,000 inquiries from people wanting to start new campus chapters in just four days after the Sept. 10 assassination.

Currently, TPUSA operates 900 official college chapters and approximately 1,200 high school chapters.

A crowd at Montana State University is seen holding signs honoring Charlie Kirk on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (Greg Gianforte/X)

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Kirk’s memorial service at State Farm Stadium in Arizona was headlined by political heavyweights, religious leaders and conservative media figures. 

Trump credited Kirk for galvanizing young Republican voters, helping him secure the presidency in 2024.

Fox News’ Rachel Del Guidice contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump met with Edan Alexander, who was freed in May from captivity with Hamas, on Tuesday — exactly two years after Hamas attacked Israel. 

This marks the second time Alexander, a 21-year-old American–Israeli who spent nearly 600 days as a hostage after Hamas abducted him after its initial attack on Israel, will visit the White House since his release from captivity. Alexander previously visited the White House in July. 

Alexander was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, and headed to Israel when he was 18-years-old to volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces. He lived with his grandparents in Tel Aviv before he was taken hostage by Hamas. 

ISRAEL, HAMAS MEET IN EGYPT TO REVIVE TRUMP PEACE PLAN AHEAD OF OCT. 7 ANNIVERSARY

Edan Alexander speaks with loved ones following his release.  (IDF)

Alexander’s appearance at the White House also comes as the Trump administration has put forth a 20-point plan to end the conflict and return the 48 hostages still in captivity. The plan would require all hostages, both dead and alive, to be returned within 72 hours of Hamas signing off on the deal. It also calls for Israeli forces to withdraw its troops and for a complete disarmament of Hamas. 

Trump’s Justice Department has cracked down on Palestinian militant group Hamas, and established a new task force in March aimed at providing justice to the victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the group, known as Joint Task Force October 7, would focus on identifying, charging and prosecuting those who conducted the 2023 attacks, which took the lives of roughly 1,200 people — including 47 U.S. citizens. Hamas also took more than 250 people hostage that day, including eight U.S. citizens.

The IDF is the national military for Israel. Hamas has served as the governing body of Gaza.

ISRAEL’S ARMY WILL ‘ADVANCE READINESS’ FOR FIRST PHASE OF TRUMP PLAN TO RELEASE HOSTAGES

People waving Israeli and American flags gather in the streets to pay tribute to Edan Alexander, an American taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, who had returned to his hometown in Tenafly, New Jersey, June 19, after he was released on May 12 in a deal. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have warned that antisemitic attacks are becoming more common in the U.S., in the aftermath of the ongoing conflict. Antisemitic violence reached a new high in 2024, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which recorded 9,354 antisemitic instances of harassment, assault and vandalism in the U.S. in 2024. That is a 5% increase from the 8,873 incidents recorded in 2023 and a 344% increase in the past five years.

“The October 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack was not only a horrific assault on innocent civilians in Israel, including numerous American citizens, but it was also a wake-up call to the threats we face here at home,” Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a Tuesday statement to Fox News Digital.

TRUMP ON WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO BRING ISRAELI HOSTAGES HOME: HAMAS MUST BE ‘CONFRONTED AND DESTROYED’

President Donald Trump urged Hamas to move quickly on a U.S.-brokered peace proposal aimed at ending the Gaza conflict. (Alex Wong/Getty Images; Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)

“In the two years following this tragedy, acts of terrorism and targeted antisemitic violence are increasingly common on U.S. soil, as both foreign and domestic terrorists work to inspire lone-wolf actors,” Garbarino said. “Jewish Americans continue to face intimidation and attacks simply because of their faith. This is unacceptable, and anyone who defends these calls for violence is complicit.” 

Trump also met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Tuesday amid ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries.

Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report. 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared ready to strike down Colorado’s ban on mental health professionals providing so-called “conversion therapy” to minors with gender identity or sexual orientation issues, an important First Amendment case laced with sharp political and social undertones.

Licensed counselor Kaley Chiles says the legislation violates her free speech rights and infringes on her free exercise of religion and that of her clients by censoring and prohibiting certain private client-counselor conversations.

About two dozen states and Washington, DC have laws similar to Colorado’s.

The state says it acted to regulate professional conduct, “based on overwhelming evidence that efforts to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity are unsafe and ineffective.”

SUPREME COURT HEARS IF FAITH-BASED COUNSELING ON GENDER IDENTITY IS PROTECTED SPEECH

A general view of the the Supreme Court building on Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

During a brisk 90 minutes of oral arguments, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority appeared supportive of Chiles’ claims.

Several conservative members of the bench suggested the Colorado law created a double standard that Justice Samuel Alito said may amount to “viewpoint discrimination.”

“Let’s say that you have some medical experts that think gender-affirming care should be — is dangerous to children and some that say that this kind of conversion talk therapy is dangerous,” said Justice Amy Coney Barrett. “Can a state pick a side?”

But other justices appeared to agree with the state, which cited what it claims is the consensus of mental health professionals that verbal-based conversion therapy has shown to be ineffective.

“There are studies that say that this advice does harm the people emotionally and physically,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Justice Samuel Alito (left) suggested Colorado’s law may amount to “viewpoint discrimination. Justice Sonia Sotomayor (right) noted some studies have found that so-called “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ individuals may have harmful effects on people.  (Getty Images)

Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts could be the key to deciding the case, over whether regulation of “talk therapy” can be treated the same as medical practices.

Roberts cited previous high court precedent that did not distinguish professional speech.

“Just because they’re engaged in conduct doesn’t mean that their words aren’t protected,” said Roberts.

Among the issues the nine justices confronted were whether the state law properly distinguishes speech versus conduct, and the professional speech limits of licensed mental health therapists.

Chiles’ lawyers describe her as “a practicing Christian [who] believes that people flourish when they live consistently with God’s design, including their biological sex.”

FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER CALLS ON DEMOCRATS TO FOCUS ON SUPREME COURT EXPANSION, TERM LIMITS

She said she uses “faith-informed” counseling to engage in talk therapy with young people who are “seeking to reduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions, change sexual behaviors, or grow in the experience of harmony with one’s physical body.”

But Chiles’s lawyers say she does not “seek to ‘cure’ clients of same-sex attractions or to ‘change’ clients’ sexual orientation.”

A small group of demonstrators gathered outside the court to support the Colorado law. The group representing Chiles canceled its rally over safety concerns.

Both Chiles’ lawyer and the Colorado solicitor general offered sharply different views in the courtroom on whether previous studies on conversion therapy showed its ineffectiveness.

Colorado says there is a “mountain of evidence” that it is, and that major medical associations have found it leads to depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

But Chiles argues there are no studies indicating conversion therapy is harmful, and that other studies are fundamentally flawed.

“States should not manipulate private conversations between licensed professionals and clients,” James Campbell, Chiles’ attorney, told the bench.

Kaley Chiles, plaintiff in Chiles v. Salazar (Alliance Defending Freedom press release) (Alliance Defending Freedom, press release)

A majority on the court appeared to agree.

Justice Elena Kagan posed a hypothetical where two different doctors treat someone who believes they are gay — one who tells the patient to change, the other to accept it.

“And one of those is permissible, and the other is not?” Kagan asked. “That seems like viewpoint discrimination in the way we would normally understand viewpoint discrimination.”

When Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson said the core issue was about preserving the best medical practice over what therapists can tell patients, rather than freedom of speech, Alito stepped in.

“There have been times when the medical consensus has been politicized, has been taken over by ideology,” said Alito. “Once, was there a time when many medical professionals thought that certain people should not be permitted to procreate because they had low IQ?” he asked.

The Trump administration’s Justice Department told the court the law creates a “muzzling” double standard — forbidding her from helping people accept their assigned sex at birth, while allowing other therapists to support young people who may want to accept their homosexuality or transition to another gender.

Some on the bench questioned whether talk therapy amounted to — or should be treated differently than — medical care.

“I’m still just struggling with whether a therapist who is acting in their professional capacity to help someone achieve their goals is really expressing the kind of message or expressing a message for First Amendment purposes,” said Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY FACES CRUCIAL TESTS AS SUPREME COURT BEGINS PIVOTAL TERM

“It’s just a little puzzling to me that she would stand in a different position than a medical professional who has exactly the same goals, exactly the same interests, and would just be prescribing medication for that rather than her talking with the client. “

Stevenson argued there has been a long history of states regulating therapists.

“The harms from conversion therapy come from when you tell a young person you can change this innate thing about yourself,” said Stevenson. “And they try, and they try, and they fail, and then they have shame, and they’re miserable. And then it ruins their relationships with their family.”

The American Psychiatric Association 55 years ago ceased classifying homosexuality as a mental illness.

Chiles attended the oral arguments and afterward told Fox News, “I view my work as an outpouring of my faith. I want what is best for my clients, and often they seek me out because we have a shared faith.”        

“Struggling kids benefit from access to voluntary counseling, conversations that help them as they seek wholeness and gaining peace with their bodies,” added Chiles. “They deserve better than Colorado’s one-size-fits-all approach.”

The Court in recent years has confronted a range of LGBTQ+-related appeals.

In June, the conservative majority upheld a Tennessee law that bans certain medical treatment for transgender teens.

A separate ruling allowed parents to exempt their children from school story time with LGBTQ-themed books that were at odds with their religious convictions.

The court later this term will consider state laws that prohibit transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports teams.

Protesters for and against gender-affirming care for transgender minors demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington.  (Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press file)

The Colorado case has become a political and social touchstone. 187 House and Senate Democrats, along with major medical and mental health officials are supporting the challenged law.

Groups backing Chiles include the Trump Justice Department, Association of Certified Biblical Counselors and the Family Research Council.

The debate has sparked political divisions at the national level.

A 2015 report by the Obama Health and Human Services Department concluded conversion therapy for young people should be stopped.

“There is limited research on conversion therapy efforts among children and adolescents,” said the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) said in its report. “However, none of the existing research supports the premise that mental or behavioral health interventions can alter gender identity or sexual orientation.”

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The DHS website now has a disclaimer saying the ten-year-old report is publicly available by court order, but adds, “Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from truth… This page does not reflect reality and, therefore, the Administration and this Department reject it.”

The current court case is Chiles v. Salazar (24-539). A ruling is expected by early summer 2026.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday announced that he has launched undercover investigations to infiltrate and uproot leftist terror cells following high-profile incidents of political violence.

Paxton cited the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the “disturbing rise of leftist violence” across the country.

“Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people,” he said.

CHARLIE KIRK KILLING PUTS RISE IN LEFT-WING TERROR IN SPOTLIGHT AS STUDY SHOWS VIOLENCE HITTING 30-YEAR HIGH

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

“The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America,” Paxton added. “There can be no compromise with those who want us dead. To that end, I have directed my office to continue its efforts to identify, investigate, and infiltrate these leftist terror cells. To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming.”

Paxton said the radical left has “incubated” an environment where political violence is celebrated and praised.

He cited nearly two dozen people allegedly linked to Texas-based Antifa-like groups who are accused of ambushing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Alvarado, Texas.

DAVID MARCUS: WHY ANTIFA IS SO MUCH MORE DANGEROUS THAN OLD-SCHOOL LEFTIST TERRORISTS

Antifa protesters at a rally. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday announced the launching of investigations into leftist terror cells in Texas amid an increase in political violence.  (Mark Graves/The Oregonian/via AP)

Paxton also noted the Sept. 10 murder of Kirk at a Utah college campus and the shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas.

President Donald Trump has designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization while directing federal agencies to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle the groups involved.

“Building on President Trump’s bold actions, Attorney General Paxton has instructed his office to initiate sweeping investigations into radical leftist organizations engaged in or providing support to those perpetrating political violence,” Paxton’s office said.

Law enforcement agents look around the roof of a building near the scene of a shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (Julio Cortez)

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The Trump administration has taken a hard stand against political violence following Kirk’s assassination. However, a federal judge recently blocked him from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, where protesters have targeted ICE facilities.