NationalWatch

Business tycoon Elon Musk agreed with Vice President JD Vance’s assertion that the bulk of violent crime is perpetrated by a small pool of people who should be locked up.

“The big lie the Democrats told about violent crime is that it’s ‘systemic’ and therefore no one’s really responsible. If the ‘system’ is to blame then you fund a bunch of nonprofits that don’t do anything besides give jobs to underqualified radicals,” Vance noted in a post on X. “The reality is that the gross majority of violent crime is committed by a very small group of people and we should be throwing them in prison.”

Musk agreed, saying that people who have greater sympathy for those likely to perpetrate murder than for those at risk of becoming murder victims are “disgusting.”

RAND PAUL RIPS JD VANCE’S ASSERTION THAT EXECUTING CARTEL MEMBERS IS THE ‘BEST USE OF OUR MILITARY

“Yes,” he commented when sharing Vance’s post. “What it comes down to is this: Do you have more sympathy for those highly likely to commit murder or more for those at risk of being murdered? If the former, you are a disgusting human being and yet so many on the radical left choose this!”

Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Texas also shared Vance’s post.

VANCE ISSUES MIDTERM WARNING, SAYS DEMOCRATS’ ANGER COULD DRIVE 2026 TURNOUT

“The crime and homeless industrial complexes Democrats have set up with NGOs and nonprofits’ aren’t designed to solve problems,” the congresswoman asserted. “Rather, they are fraudulent entities which exist to launder taxpayer dollars to enrich themselves, their friends, and further radical, pro-criminal policies that only endanger hard working Americans.”

Musk has also advocated for locking up repeat violent criminals for life.

ELON MUSK OPINES ON ‘MAJOR DRIVER OF WHITE MALES BECOMING TRANS’

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“A second conviction for aggravated violent crime should get life imprisonment,” he wrote on X.

A handful of California Democrats, who are also longtime political foes of President Donald Trump, slammed a Supreme Court ruling that lifts restrictions on the Trump administration’s immigration raids in Los Angeles as “un-American” and opening the door to a “parade of racial terror.”

“@realDonaldTrump’s hand-picked SCOTUS majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in LA. His administration is targeting Latinos — and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like @StephenM’s idea of an American — to deliberately harm our families and economy,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted to X on Monday evening. 

Newsom, who has sparred with Trump stretching back to the president’s first administration, was reacting to a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling on Monday that the Trump administration can continue deploying immigration raids in California, which blocked a lower court’s ruling that halted such raids in the state. 

The case was punted to the Supreme Court after a federal judge in July blocked ICE from conducting raids in Los Angeles County, citing that they were likely unconstitutional as federal agents were detaining individuals for “apparent race or ethnicity,” or speaking Spanish. Immigration activists had accused the federal government of targeting Latinos based on criteria such as speaking Spanish. The Ninth Circuit upheld the July order before the Supreme Court weighed in. 

TRUMP ADMIN SEEKS TO OVERTURN FEDERAL RESTRAINING ORDER LIMITING ICE OPERATIONS IN LOS ANGELES

Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff each issued a rebuke of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday, calling the Trump administration’s immigration raids “blatantly illegal.” 

“This Administration rounded up and arrested California residents, including U.S. citizens and legal residents, based on the color of their skin or the language they speak. This is blatantly illegal, yet the Supreme Court is allowing it to happen while the case proceeds. When the history of this country’s rapid descent into dictatorship is written, Republicans in Congress and the Roberts Court will have been its primary enabler,” Schiff posted to X on Monday. 

Schiff has a long documented contentious relationship with Trump, including over the Jan. 6, 2021 investigation, Trump’s first impeachment trial and the Russia investigation. The California Democrat is currently under a Department of Justice investigation for alleged mortgage fraud uncovered under the second Trump administration. 

“I want the entire nation to hear me when I say this isn’t just an attack on the people of LA, this is an attack on every person in every city in this country. Today’s ruling is not only dangerous – it’s un-American and threatens the fabric of personal freedom in the U.S.” Bass added in her own message on X. 

Bass and Trump have also sparred in the past, most recently over the summer when federal immigration officials first converged on the city, and back in January when wildfires ripped across Southern California and devastated the Los Angeles area. 

“Let me be clear: we will not allow the White House, nor the Supreme Court, to divide us. And to all Angelenos, I will never stop fighting for your rights, your dignity, and your safety, despite this administration’s efforts to threaten them. We will stand united,” Bass continued in a press release. 

LOS ANGELES JUDGE WEIGHS SEVERE LIMITS ON TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT IN CALIFORNIA

The Supreme Court’s majority did not include an explanation for the ruling. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, however, authored a concurring opinion arguing that a combination of factors — such as race — could provide authorities with reasonable suspicion to stop a person and inquire about their immigration status. 

“To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors,” Kavanaugh wrote.

SUPREME COURT RULES ON TRUMP’S THIRD-COUNTRY DEPORTATIONS, IN MAJOR TEST FOR PRESIDENT

Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued the dissent and argued the emergency order approving such raids was “troubling” and pointed to the majority’s lack of explanation for the move.  

“We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job,” Sotomayor wrote.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SUES LOS ANGELES OVER SANCTUARY POLICIES THAT ‘IMPEDE’ ICE OPERATIONS

The Trump administration celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday. 

“This is a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, according to Politico. “DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members, and other criminal illegal aliens… .”

The Supreme Court order follows the Trump administration ordering immigration officials to carry out raids back in June to remove individuals illegally residing in Los Angeles, which dubbed itself a “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants in November before Trump was sworn back into the Oval Office. 

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Riots and protests subsequently broke out in the city as local leaders, such as Newsom and Bass, slammed the Trump administration’s illegal immigrant crackdown and offered words of support to illegal immigrants. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s, Bass’ and Schiff’s respective offices on Monday afternoon. 

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report. 

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening…

-Inside Epstein’s infamous “birthday book”: Clinton’s note, poolside candids, children’s drawings and bizarre animal pics

-Conservative groups reject Trump’s reported patent tax plan as ‘counterproductive in the extreme’

–White House slams 911K jobs revision, the largest on record, demands Fed rate cut

Scandal at the IRS

EXCLUSIVE: A top aide and confidante to former Obama official Lois Lerner who targeted conservatives and conservative groups was fired by the Internal Revenue Service, Fox News Digital has learned.

Sources told Fox News Digital that Holly Paz, who served as the IRS Commissioner of Large Business and International Division, was terminated Monday…Read more

White House

CRIMINALLY SOFT: Dem crime policies crippling cities even in Red states as crackdown intensifies, White House warns

‘RED’ ALERT: Trump’s Caribbean strike, focus on Latin America brings new focus to potential regime ‘agents’ living in US

Capitol Hill

PORTFOLI-NO: Schumer-linked PAC accuses senator of stock ‘greed,’ but financial disclosure contradicts claim

‘EXPOSE THE LIES’: Jasmine Crockett appointed to Republican-led committee investigating January 6

Across America 

BORDER BACKUP: National Guard deploys to aid ICE operations in Arkansas, as Sanders backs key Trump initiative

CURBED DREAMS: The price of building a home keeps climbing — and uncertainty isn’t helping

MARGINS MATTER: VA special election in deep-blue DC suburbs can still give insight into key governor’s race

‘BETTER CANDIDATE’: Cuomo rallies business leaders against socialist candidate as NYC mayoral race reaches boiling point

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

It really shouldn’t be that big a deal.

Donald Trump was one of many friends solicited to send messages to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. There’s a far more cautious one from Bill Clinton, too.

If the president had merely said “yeah, I sent it, we were joking back and forth, nothing to see here” – this was in 2003, before the child predator was charged with sexual abuse – nobody would have blinked. The birthday book was assembled by his then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

INSIDE EPSTEIN’S INFAMOUS ‘BIRTHDAY BOOK’: CLINTON’S NOTE, POOLSIDE CANDIDS AND BIZARRE ANIMAL PICS

Instead, he filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for supposedly publishing inaccuracies in its report on the Trump birthday message.

The Journal has now been vindicated.

Trump flatly denied having sent a birthday message at all. He can’t draw, he would never do such a thing, it was inconceivable.

Now it looks a lot more conceivable.

As the Journal was the first to report, there is a friendly back-and-forth against the backdrop of a sketch of a naked woman’s silhouette. Trump’s signature is in the pubic area, and the paper says it matches other acknowledged “Donald” signatures – along with his use of such phrases as “a wonderful thing.”

There is this exchange:

Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey: Yes we do, come to think of it.

Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?

Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.

Donald: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.

That’s it, given more punch by Trump’s denial that he never sent such a thing.

BILL CLINTON LETTER IN EPSTEIN ‘BIRTHDAY BOOK’ AMONG NEW FILES RELEASED BY HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

In fact, after the publication of the texts and the naked silhouette – which I’m sure you’ve seen as it’s been all over television – Trump continues to deny that the letter and sketch are his. 

They’re sure doing a good job of moving on from the Epstein mess, huh?

Reached on his cell yesterday by NBC reporter Garrett Haake, Trump said: “I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff. It’s a dead issue.”

That sounds like wishful thinking. The only “dead” part is Jeffrey Epstein.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt backed up the boss in a posting:

“The latest piece published by the Wall Street Journal PROVES this entire ‘Birthday Card’ story is false. As I have said all along, it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it. President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation.

“Furthermore, the ‘reporter’ @joe_palazzolo who wrote this hatchet job reached out for comment at the EXACT same minute he published his story giving us no time to respond. This is FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!” But it’s hardly a hoax to Epstein’s victims, who spoke out the other day – one voted for Trump – about how being lured into having sex while young as 14 ruined their lives.

JEFFREY EPSTEIN SAGA CONTINUES AS CONGRESS RETURNS FROM RECESS

The New York Times has a sobering report on other birthday messages to Epstein.

Venture capitalist William Elkus recalled Epstein conjuring a beautiful woman out of thin air during a visit to a farm town in Iowa, where it was hard to “tell the difference between the girls and the hogs.” Elkus marveled at Epstein’s being able to find a “spectacular tall blonde” whom he later invited back with him to New York, concluding he had relied on “some long distance escort service.”

Elkus told the Times that it was a joke and that he was referring to Epstein’s “charisma, which was palpable.”

A person named Leslie wrote, “I wanted to get you what you want,” so “here it is” – a drawing of breasts. Another writer sent photos of zebras, and lions, getting it on.

A person named Nick described a night in London that left Epstein “howling with laughter.” Nick said an “old man smiling sweetly” pulled down a woman’s panties and put his hand on her privates, only to find another man’s hand already there. 

Some women, including assistants and girlfriends – the names are redacted – may have been Epstein’s victims. 

One woman wrote: “With you, dear Jeffrey, I laugh like a little girl and feel like a woman.” There’s a hand-drawn heart, a brief message and a photo of a woman’s butt in a thong bikini.

EPSTEIN ESTATE HANDS OVER ‘BIRTHDAY BOOK,’ CONTACT LIST TO HOUSE INVESTIGATORS

There’s a cartoon of Epstein in a beach chair getting “what appears to be a nude massage from four topless women.” Appears? That’s exactly what it is.

There were messages from Nathan Myhrvold, former chief technology officer for Microsoft; retail billionaire Leslie Wexner; billionaire investor Leon Black; Epstein’s onetime attorney Alan Dershowitz; and Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling scout who died in 2022 by suicide in a French jail cell after being charged with raping teenage girls.

The Washington Post has more, saying “attention to Trump’s relationship with Epstein is not going away anytime soon, and the political headaches for the president are likely to linger.”

In a partially redacted photo, Epstein is holding an oversized check made out to him for $22,500 with DJTRUMP on the signature line. The handwritten caption: “Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500.” 

Trump allies have decided to make their stand on the signature question, adding to the murkiness.

“Is this really the best they could do?” wrote MAGA influencer Benny Johnson. “Trump has the most famous signature in the world. Time to sue them into the oblivion.”

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

In a drawing, labeled “1983,” a male figure is pictured handing balloons to young girls in pigtails. That was next to “2003,” where he’s drawn getting massages from topless blonde women with the caption “what a great country!”

Look, there’s no other way to say it: This has the whiff of a cover-up.

I mean, are people buying the president’s insistence that he never sent the birthday message that they’ve seen with their own eyes?

Trump boxed himself by insisting, even now, that he’d never sent such a message. That’s the heart of the political problem.

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The president may pronounce the story dead, but for the rest of the world – including MAGA supporters who have been obsessed with this case – it’s very much alive.

The Trump administration is targeting “misleading drug advertisements” by initiating rule making to close a 1997 loophole that enables drug advertisers to conceal safety risks in broadcast and digital ads.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) sent thousands of warning letters across the pharmaceutical industry on Tuesday. Sources familiar with the letter told Fox that companies who practice widespread advertising like Hims/Hers are among those receiving the notice. 

Fox News Digital also obtained a copy of a letter sent to a pharmaceutical company, which outlines concerns that “patients are not seeing a fair balance of the information regarding a drug product” and directing the company to “remove any noncompliant advertising and bring all promotional communications into compliance.”

TRUMP SENDS LETTERS TO 17 PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES ON REDUCING DRUG PRICES

“For far too long, the FDA has permitted misleading drug advertisements, distorting the doctor-patient relationship and creating increased demand for medications regardless of clinical appropriateness,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H told Fox News Digital in a statement.  “Drug companies spend up to 25% of their budget on advertising.”

“Those billions of dollars would be better spent on lowering drug prices for everyday Americans,” Makary added.

The letters to various companies are being sent out over the course of Tuesday afternoon, and it is unclear whether any companies have had the opportunity to respond.

Fox News Digital reached out to Hims/Hers but did not receive a response. 

I WISH RFK JR.’S HEARING WAS ‘MORE PRODUCTIVE,’ FDA CHIEF SAYS

The notice sent by the two health-related agencies also cites a 2024 review in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research which showed that while every pharmaceutical social media post highlights drug benefits, only 33% of these companies mention potential harms.

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), a law dating back to 1938 and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, empowers the FDA to enact appropriate regulations for pharmaceutical advertising. 

Social media advertisements also apply to the FDCA and regulations set forth by the FDCA.

PSYCHEDELIC DRUG POPULAR IN 1960S COULD EASE ANXIETY AS DOCTORS SHARE WARNINGS

“Patients deserve the truth about the medicines they’re prescribed,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “For nearly three decades, drug companies have gamed the system to mislead families while pocketing billions. 

“Those days are over,” Kennedy continued. “We are restoring honesty and accountability in drug advertising to protect patients and rebuild public trust.”

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Per FDA regulations, a written warning letter, like the ones sent by the agency on Tuesday, is the first step in reprimanding drug companies and is one of the FDA’s most commonly used methods of enforcement.  

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

Democrats will hold onto a vacant congressional seat in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., in a special election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump and his sweeping and controversial agenda.

Democratic Party nominee James Walkinshaw defeated Republican nominee Stewart Whitson in Virginia’s left-leaning 11th Congressional District, according to The Associated Press.

Walkinshaw will succeed late longtime Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, who died in May after a battle with cancer.

Heading into Tuesday’s special election, Republicans controlled the House 219-212, with three seats controlled by Democrats vacant, as well as one held by the GOP. Walkinshaw’s victory in the left-leaning district that Republicans haven’t won in nearly two decades further narrows the GOP’s fragile House majority.

TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT BUT FRONT-AND-CENTER IN 2025 ELECTIONS

With the vast majority of votes counted on Tuesday evening, Walkinshaw appeared headed for a roughly 50-point victory margin over Whitson. Connolly won re-election by nearly 34 points last December, and by 33 points in the 2022 midterms.

“Rep-elect Walkinshaw’s victory continues the dominant trend we’re seeing so far this year – Democrats are massively overperforming in nearly every race,” Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin said in a statement.

The district is home to tens of thousands of government workers and contractors, and the federal jobs cuts by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and crime and immigration, transgender policies and even the push to release the Justice Department’s files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were all in the spotlight on the campaign trail.

FOUR KEY SENATE SEATS THE GOP AIMS TO FLIP IN NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM ELECTIONS

“Folks in Northern Virginia and Fairfax are feeling the impact of the Trump policies. And I like to say we’re kind of on the leading edge of the Trump economy here. Everybody in Fairfax knows someone, probably someone on their street, maybe the parent of their kid’s soccer team, who has lost their job because of DOGE or the Trump policies,” Walkinshaw told Fox News Digital on Election Day eve.

Walkinshaw, a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors member who previously served as Connolly’s chief of staff, argued that “if the Trump policies continue, tariffs, the so-called big, beautiful bill, that’s going to be the case all around the country. So, I think we’re on the leading edge of that. And I think voters tomorrow are going to send a statement about that.”

Whitson also said Trump was in the campaign spotlight because of a “lot of the great policies that he’s been championing.”

Whitson, an Army veteran and former FBI special agent who oversees federal affairs for a conservative think tank, told Fox News Digital “the people in our district who have lost their job or who are worried about losing their job, they don’t need empathy. They need solutions.”

He said Walkinshaw claimed “he’s going to fight President Trump and fight the administration. And my pitch to voters in our district is: is that going to help? Is that going to help improve the situation? The answer is no.

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“We need someone to represent the people in our district who can work with any administration, whether it’s Republican or Democrat,” Whitson emphasized.

While Trump isn’t very popular in the district — the president won just 31% of the vote in his White House re-election last year — Whitson said Trump’s polices “center on … common sense.”

Fox News’ Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.

The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission indicated that, after more than a decade of restrictions on whole milk in schools, the federal government is planning to drop them. 

The decision to drop the restrictions on whole milk sales in schools was announced as part of the MAHA commission’s Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, a sweeping plan with over 120 initiatives released Tuesday. The initiatives cover a wide range of topics, from toxic food dyes, to nutrient requirements, to misleading health advertisements. Updated recommendations regarding fluoride and PFAS chemicals in water and a new definition for “ultra-processed food” were among the planned initiatives as well.

“The Trump administration is mobilizing every part of government to confront the childhood chronic disease epidemic,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday. “This strategy represents the most sweeping reform agenda in modern history — realigning our food and health systems, driving education, and unleashing science to protect America’s children and families. We are ending the corporate capture of public health, restoring transparency, and putting gold-standard science — not special interests — at the center of every decision.”

JILLIAN MICHAELS HAMMERS NY TIMES FOR ‘BLATANT HIT PIECE’ PORTRAYING HER AS DANGEROUS CONSPIRACY THEORIST

The move to bring back whole milk to schools is something Kennedy has been considering since day one, according to Nina Teicholz, a nutrition expert who was privy to discussions among Kennedy’s staff before he was confirmed by the Senate to lead the nation’s public health response. While removing the restrictions is a significant move, there are still additional steps that will need to be taken before whole milk becomes widely accepted again, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

One of those additional steps is rewriting the national dietary guidelines, which directly influence school meal nutrition standards. The new MAHA children’s health strategy indicates that the Trump administration will update the 2025–2030 guidelines, while also reforming the manner in which future dietary guidelines can be updated. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would also initiate changes to school nutrition standards through its rulemaking process to permit whole milk in schools. 

Meanwhile, legislation is another avenue that could be used to streamline the process for bringing back whole milk in schools, the CRS notes, which would then compel the USDA to revise its regulations governing the National School Lunch Program. In the current Congress, a bill to bring back both whole milk and 2% milk has been approved in the House and is awaiting full approval in the Senate before it can be sent to the president’s desk.

‘CHERNOBYL-LEVEL FAILURE’: MAHA ADVISOR GIVES CDC FAILING GRADE ON COVID, CHRONIC DISEASES

Another notable part of the new MAHA children’s health strategy entails an initiative to ramp up enforcement of prescription drug advertising laws. The strategy said this includes the dissemination of “risk information and quality of life through misleading and deceptive advertising on social media and digital platforms.” The report notes that the new enforcement will target direct-to-consumer telehealth companies and social media influencers, among others.

In April, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to phase out all petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply. The MAHA strategy indicated this effort will remain ongoing as the FDA continues to pass policies that will either limit, or altogether prohibit, the use of petroleum-based food dyes in all food products approved in the United States.

Other initiatives include providing a government-wide definition for “ultra-processed foods” to support future policy activity, efforts to require better transparency in food labeling, new recommendations regarding fluoride and PFAS chemicals in water, updates to the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) standards, changes to nutrition requirements for infant formula, and efforts to increase breastfeeding rates to ensure a safe supply of donor milk.

“For too long, health care has used a reactive approach to chronic diseases,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said. “I am pleased to support the findings of the MAHA commission and to promote a more proactive approach, tackling root causes undermining the health and happiness of American children.”

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Tuesday’s children’s health strategy from the MAHA Commission follows an earlier assessment on children’s health released in May. After that report was released, farmers expressed concern over what the reforms could mean for their livelihoods. However, following Tuesday’s latest strategy report, at least one of those groups is applauding the Trump administration for taking steps to protect farmers. 

“It’s clear that farmers’ voices were finally heard, but our work to defend their access to safe and proven crop protection tools is far from over,” said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, Executive Director of the Modern Ag Alliance. “The Commission avoided some of the most damaging potential outcomes for American agriculture, but it still advanced some misconceptions about these essential farming inputs and the gold-standard science and regulatory processes that stand behind them.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, on Tuesday argued that President Donald Trump and his administration have a “relentless, unhinged California obsession.”

In a letter to the state legislature, Newsom touted the state’s achievements during the State of the State address on its 175th anniversary of statehood. The governor also posted a clip of himself delivering a shortened version of the address on social media.

Newsom has not delivered a formal State of the State address the last three years, despite decades of tradition of doing just that. He has instead opted for letters and prerecorded videos.

“We are now nine months into a battle to protect the values we hold most dear and to preserve the economic and social foundation we built for California,” Newsom wrote. “We are facing a federal administration built on incompetence and malicious ignorance, one that seeks the death of independent thinking.”

NEWSOM WARNS AMERICANS ‘YOU WILL LOSE YOUR COUNTRY’ UNDER TRUMP AT CALIFORNIA SUMMIT

California has been a target for the Trump administration over issues such as immigration, in which federal raids targeting migrant workers over the summer sparked protests against arrests and deportations. Newsom butted heads with the administration over its move to deploy the National Guard and the Marines to the Los Angeles area to respond to the demonstrations and support immigration enforcement.

The federal government has also cut funding for the state’s long-delayed high-speed rail project, rolled back the state’s rule prohibiting the sale of new gas-powered vehicles and sued the state over a law that allows transgender girls to compete on sports teams matching their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

California, meanwhile, has filed 41 lawsuits against the administration.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers approved giving $50 million to the state’s Department of Justice and other legal groups to help preserve its progressive policies.

NEWSOM ESCALATES TRUMP IMMIGRATION FEUD WITH FOUL-MOUTHED INSULT

Newsom said California is also challenging the president’s move to suspend funding to the University of California, Los Angeles, over allegations of antisemitism on campus and affirmative action.

“It would be a mistake to think California is cowering in the face of this onslaught,” Newsom said.

The governor’s letter also detailed what he described as the state’s achievements, including the state’s resiliency and quick recovery effort after the wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year, as well as advancements in tech, green energy and education.

Newsom also lauded the state’s tens of thousands of young volunteers and a tax credit program to bring back Hollywood productions.

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State Republicans contended that Newsom, seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, is focusing more on boosting his national profile rather than on working on issues in the Golden State, with James Gallagher, the GOP leader of the state Assembly, citing the state’s ongoing budget deficits, its homelessness crisis and high costs of living.

“Stop refusing to show up and actually do the work of being a governor,” Gallagher said in a video posted to social media.

Gallagher also criticized Newsom’s push for a U.S. House redistricting plan to boost Democrats and potentially win control of the chamber ahead of the 2026 midterms. The move by California lawmakers was done in response to a similar Trump-endorsed effort by Republican lawmakers in Texas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Mayor Vi Lyles of Charlotte, North Carolina, won Tuesday’s Democratic Party mayoral primary in an election overshadowed the past few days by the deadly stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee aboard a city train.

The stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska last month on a light-rail train by a man with a history of mental illness and over a dozen arrests quickly grabbed national attention and reignited a conversation about crime after security video of the gruesome attack was released and went viral.

Lyles’ response to the slaying has been criticized, and Republicans claim the mayor and other Democrats are too soft on people with criminal records.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HITS CHARLOTTE TRAIN STABBING SUSPECT WITH FEDERAL CHARGES

While not specifically criticizing the mayor, President Donald Trump on Monday argued that the victim’s “blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail.”

Trump also placed blame for Zarutska’s killing on former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is now running for the Senate in battleground North Carolina in a crucial 2026 showdown that may determine if Republicans keep control of the chamber.

UKRAINIAN WOMAN WHO FLED WAR STABBED TO DEATH AT CHARLOTTE LIGHT RAIL STATION

The Charlotte killing came amid Trump’s focus this summer on spotlighting horrific crimes in Democrat-controlled cities as he moves federal forces into urban areas.

Decarlos Brown Jr., who is Black, was arrested soon after the stabbing and charged with first-degree murder. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice charged Brown with one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.

According to police records, he was arrested 14 times over the past 12 years.

Lyles, who is Charlotte’s first Black female mayor, faced four lesser-known challengers in the Democratic primary, with the killing increasingly in the spotlight.

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One of the mayor’s rivals, Tigress Sydney Acute McDaniel, accused Lyles’ response of being a “day late and a dollar short.”

Lyles now advances to the general election in the Democrat-dominated city against Republican nominee Terrie Donovan, a real estate agent who had already made crime her top issue even before the killing. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston on Tuesday easily came out on top in a preliminary municipal contest to advance to November’s mayoral election, amid a new crackdown in Massachusetts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

Voters in New England’s most populous city cast ballots to narrow the mayoral field to two in Democrat-dominated Boston.

Wu, the first woman and person of color elected Boston mayor, faced off against three challengers. Philanthropist Josh Kraft, a fellow Democrat and the son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, was expected to also advance to November’s mayoral election.

TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT BUT FRONT-AND-CENTER IN 2025 ELECTIONS

The voting came as Wu, who’s seeking re-election to a second four-year term, is pushing back against federal immigration enforcement in the city.

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Sunday that “ICE launched ‘Patriot 2.0’ to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens living in the state of Massachusetts, following the success of Operation Patriot in May.”

And taking aim at Wu, the statement argued, “Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens. ICE is arresting sex offenders, pedophiles, murderers, drug dealers, and gang members released by local authorities.”

Wu, on Monday, pushed back

“They are wrong on the law, and they are wrong on safety,” Wu charged. “This is why Boston has been the target. Boston is going to continue to uphold the Boston Trust Act, our state law, and the clear separation where our local officials and our city government does not cooperate in the mass deportation efforts that this federal administration is trying to push.”

And the mayor claimed, “For months, ICE has refused to provide any information about their activities in Boston and refuses to issue warrants, while we hear reports of ICE agents taking parents as they are dropping their kids off at school. That does not make our community safer.”

Boston’s Trust Act prevents police in the city from handing people over to ICE without a criminal warrant.

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The latest confrontation comes as the Justice Department sues Boston city officials, including the mayor, for allegedly interfering with the immigration crackdown.

It was a full-on nuclear explosion.

Just like the Pacific Testing Grounds near the Marshall Islands and French Polynesia.

But this political blast tore through the Senate chamber.

In November 2013, late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., detonated the first Senate “nuclear option.” He curbed the filibuster to confirm executive branch nominees – except the Supreme Court. Rather than 60 votes to break a filibuster, such nominees would only need a simple majority.

SENATE GOP LEADER MOVES TO LOWER FILIBUSTER THRESHOLD FOR TRUMP NOMINEES THROUGH NUCLEAR OPTION

Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., ignited the second “nuclear option” in 2017. The Kentucky Republican anticipated a Democratic filibuster as the Senate tried to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. So McConnell chipped away at the filibuster bar for nominations to the High Court.

McConnell also lowered that bar from 60 yeas to 51.

Both of these instances were so dramatic, they featured parliamentary mushroom clouds erupting over the Capitol. The Senate eventually fell into nuclear winter after both instances, paralyzed from the fallout.

Now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is poised to discharge the parliamentary equivalent of a “suitcase nuke” on Thursday.

Thune’s gambit isn’t something to ignore. It won’t carry the same immediate parliamentary weight of the maneuvers executed by Reid and McConnell. However, it’s another crack in the Senate custom of the filibuster. The legislative filibuster still exists. Senators can still block bills if they can prevent the body from cobbling together 60 yeas to break a filibuster.

Thune will follow the playbook established by Reid and McConnell to alter the Senate precedent (note, this is not a rules change. The Senate requires 67 votes to break a filibuster on a rules change) to expedite the confirmation of lower-level nominees in groups. This plan will not include judges nor cabinet secretaries.

Thune set his gambit into motion Monday by introducing a resolution to accelerate a slate of about 40 nominees. By rule, the Senate will take a procedural vote to break a filibuster on his resolution to confirm the batch of nominees on Thursday. The resolution itself – which is specific to this type of batch of nominees – needs 60 yeas. The Senate won’t get 60 yeas.

THUNE LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR NUCLEAR OPTION IN SENATE FIGHT OVER TRUMP NOMINEES

But this is exactly the scenario that Thune needs in order to go nuclear.

The coin of the realm in the Senate is unlimited debate. But one of the rare occasions senators can’t debate something is when an issue fails and a senator requests a re-vote. So a failed vote to break the filibuster backs the Senate into the exact parliamentary cul-de-sac which Thune wants.

At the end of the roll call vote, Thune will likely switch his vote from yes to no on breaking the filibuster. The Senate allows members to demand a mulligan if they are on the prevailing side of the issue. In this case, Thune is suddenly with the “noes,” even though he initially voted yes to break the filibuster. But remember, Thune is only temporarily switching his vote in order to advance his cause. He may lose the battle. But may ultimately win the war.

By changing his position, Thune can then order a re-vote on the roll call which failed. And since the Senate is in this unique posture of not allowing any debate, Democrats are paralyzed. They can’t do anything to stop Thune from what he plans next.

This is very similar to what Reid did in 2013, followed up by McConnell in 2017, on the first two nuclear options.

Thune will then make a point of order on the floor.

Thune will assert that on the resolutions like the one he drafted, a bloc of lower-level nominees (e.g. – the ones now before the Senate) does not need 60 votes to break a filibuster. The chair – potentially Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, or even Vice President Vance, who is the President of the Senate – will presumably rule that Thune is wrong. Senate rules and precedent do require 60 votes to break a filibuster on this type of resolution.

CONGRESS RETURNS WITH DEMOCRATS REFUSING TO NEGOTIATE AS OCT 1 SHUTDOWN DEADLINE LOOMS

But Thune doesn’t stop there.

The Majority Leader will then request a vote to overturn how the chair ruled. He will assert that a simple majority is necessary to break a filibuster for this type of resolution – even though that’s never been the case before.

The Senate will vote. And if 51 senators vote in favor of ruling against the chair, the Senate will have established a new precedent. It will lower the threshold from 60 to 51 on this type of resolution to speedily advance a batch of nominees all at once.

Once the Senate does that, Thune will need to set up another procedural vote under the new precedents to break a filibuster. If Thune “files cloture” again on Thursday, the Senate can vote on Monday to break a filibuster – needing only 51 yeas – on Monday, Sept. 15. If the Senate votes to break the filibuster on the resolution under the revamped precedents, the Senate could vote to confirm the 48 nominees in question on Wednesday, Sept. 17.

Here’s an example of some of the nominees in the queue for confirmation:

Former Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., is up for Under Secretary for Nuclear Security. President Trump tapped Leslie Beyer to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Richard Anderson to become an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. Jovan Jovanovic to lead the Export-Import Bank. Callista Gingrich, wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., is the President’s pick as Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Thune says that Democrats are obstinate, not allowing the Senate to confirm a batch of nominees in one fell swoop. He accuses Democrats of obstruction, saying the minority is trying to undermine the President.

“This is simply the world’s longest, most drawn out temper tantrum over losing an election,” said Thune.

TRUMP NOMINEES PILE UP AS GOP WEIGHS RULE SHIFT ONCE FLOATED BY DEMOCRATS

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had a message for Republicans: caveat emptor. Especially when Democrats eventually return to the majority and have a Democratic president.

“I say to my Republican colleagues, think carefully before taking this step,” warned Schumer. “If you go nuclear, it’s going to be a decision you will come to regret.”

One could argue that Democrats helped crack open this door when Reid initiated Nuclear Option #1 in 2013. Democrats were frustrated over Republicans hamstringing President Obama’s nominees.

The same when McConnell returned the favor over the Supreme Court with Nuclear Option #2 in 2017.

And if you’re a real student of history, consider that late Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D-W.V., really set the table for Thune’s maneuvers via three precedent gambits in 1980.

So the tit-for-tat continues.

During the Cold War standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, geopolitical observers said the world teetered on mutually assured destruction. Launching a nuclear attack on one nation would result in annihilation of both countries. One country may strike first. But the prime aggressor would not survive because of guaranteed retaliation, in kind.

There is no such mutually assured destruction doctrine in this parliamentary wargame. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have fired a full nuclear volley at the other side. Each strike has been “strategic,” directed at a limited political target. Thus, there’s no mutually assured destruction.

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But that also means there’s no incentive for Senate détente.

And that’s why these parliamentary strikes and counterstrikes probably don’t end any time soon.

The Missouri House of Representatives passed a new congressional map on Tuesday that is expected to hand Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. 

The Missouri Senate is now tasked with passing the new map before it can land on Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk. 

A special session of Missouri’s legislature to redraw the solidly red state’s congressional districts began last week. The Midwest state is the latest battleground in the high-stakes partisan fight over congressional redistricting ahead of the midterms. 

“Missouri’s conservative, commonsense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that,” Kehoe said as he announced the special session and unveiled the proposed map. 

TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING PUSH TURNS MIDWESTERN STATE INTO NEXT POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND

Missouri Democrats staged a sit-in over the weekend, refusing to leave the chamber in protest of the Republican-backed map. Missouri state House Minority Leader Ashley Aune has accused Republicans of pushing to “rig our maps and eliminate our representation in Congress.”

ABBOTT CLEARS FINAL REDISTRICTING HURDLE AS TEXAS SENATE PASSES NEW TRUMP-APPROVED MAP

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin celebrated the Missouri Democrats’ protest in a statement released Monday. 

“The DNC applauds their efforts leading and using every tool at their disposal to raise awareness for the craven scheme by Missouri Republicans. In every corner of this country, Democrats are fighting back. Missouri Democrats can count on the DNC’s support as we protect Missouri voters and save our country from Trump’s billionaire-first agenda,” Martin said. 

President Donald Trump argued in a social media post that Missouri voters would have “the tremendous opportunity to elect an additional MAGA Republican in the 2026 Midterm Elections.”

Kehoe’s move came hours after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a redistricting bill passed by the Republican supermajority in the state legislature that aims to create up to five right-leaning congressional districts at the expense of currently Democrat-controlled seats in the reliably red state.

The efforts in Missouri and Texas are part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Democrats are fighting back against the rare, but not unheard-of mid-decade redistricting.

State lawmakers in heavily blue California have approved a special ballot proposition this November to obtain voter approval to temporarily sidetrack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature.

The effort in California, which aims to create five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts and counter the shift in Texas, is being spearheaded by two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender.

In Missouri, the new map proposed by Kehoe targets longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City area district by shifting it eastward to include rural right-leaning voters. 

If passed by the GOP-controlled legislature, the new map would likely flip Cleaver’s seat and give Republicans a seven-to-one advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation.

Cleaver, whose seat is threatened, has vowed to take legal action if the new map is signed into law by the governor.

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With Democrats currently needing just a three-seat pickup in next year’s midterms to win back the House majority, Indiana, South Carolina and Florida are mulling their own GOP-friendly redistricting plans ahead of the 2026 elections. And right-leaning Ohio is under a court order to draw new maps ahead of the midterms.

Democrats, as they push back, are looking to New York, Illinois and Maryland in the hopes of creating more left-leaning congressional seats.

In Illinois and Maryland, where Govs. J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore are discussing redistricting, Democrats hope to pick up to three more left-leaning seats.

And Democrats could pick up a seat in right-leaning Utah, where a judge recently ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to draw new maps after ruling that lawmakers four years ago ignored an independent commission approved by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering. 

A massive immigration enforcement operation in southeast Texas netted over 800 illegal immigrants, including gang members, convicted murderers, child predators and foreign fugitives, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The agency said the arrests were a result of a week-long operation that ran from Aug. 17 to Aug. 23, focused on enhancing public safety in southeast Texas after the region was heavily impacted by former President Joe Biden’s open-border policies.

In total, 822 illegal aliens were arrested, including five transnational gang members, seven child predators and three criminal aliens convicted of homicide-related offenses, according to an ICE statement. The agency said that 330 of those arrested have previously been ordered removed from the U.S. and approximately 112 were previously deported and illegally reentered the U.S. at least once.

“During the past four years, transnational gang members, foreign fugitives and other violent criminal aliens took advantage of the crisis at our southern border to illegally enter the country,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez.

ICE HAS DEPORTED NEARLY 200,000 SO FAR DURING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM, SETTING PACE FOR HIGHEST LEVEL IN DECADE

Martinez said that many of these criminal illegal aliens “remained in the Houston area and have gone on to wreak havoc in our local communities.”

One illegal arrested in the operation, 54-year-old Mexican national Alejandro Perez Miramontes, has previously been deported 12 times. Perez Miramontes has been convicted eight times for illegal reentry, four times for illegal entry and twice each for robbery, larceny and burglary, and once each for trespassing and evading arrest, according to ICE.

The agency said that among those arrested was also Salvadoran national William Alexander Telles Amaya, a 35-year-old criminal alien and habitual child predator. ICE said Telles Amaya has been convicted three times for child sex offenses, including aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2006, failure to register as a sex offender in 2015 and sexual indecency with a minor in July.

Several others also had recent child sex offenses on their records, including Francisco Eduardo Bonilla, a 37-year-old Salvadoran national, who was convicted of sexual indecency with a minor in Harris County, Texas, in February.

57 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DETAINED IN MAJOR NEW YORK WORKSITE RAID; 5 ACCUSED OF REENTRY AFTER DEPORTATION

Guatemalan national Jorge Eliseo Torres-Soto, 30, was also arrested in the operation after being convicted of sexual assault of a child in October 2024.

Manuel Ivan Castillo Estrada, a 36-year-old Mexican national, was also arrested after previously being deported three times and being convicted of alien smuggling and sexually assaulting a minor in February 2024.

Another, Zimbabwe national Lloyd Tinashe Hwehwe, 36, had habitual DWI charges, including a conviction of driving while intoxicated and intoxication manslaughter in 2015. After being removed from the U.S., he illegally reentered the country and was convicted of a second DWI in 2024.

Another child sex offender, Carlos Vega-Ramirez, 38, had been deported and convicted of sexual indecency with a minor, enticement of a minor for indecent purposes, DWI, fleeing police, forgery and illegal reentry.

UNAUTHORIZED IMMIGRANT POPULATION SOARED TO AN ALL-TIME HIGH UNDER BIDEN, NEW REPORT SHOWS

Salvadoran national Hemerlindo Antonio Ascencio-Merino, 53, was also arrested in the roundup. He is wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide and illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 in an attempt to evade prosecution, according to the agency.

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ICE also arrested Cruz Leandro Martinez Leiva, a 25-year-old MS-13 gang member from El Salvador, who was convicted of robbery and armed carjacking in October 2018.

The agency said the operation was a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to restore public safety by targeting the “worst of the worst” criminal aliens and immigration law violators. Several other federal agencies participated in the operation as well as the Texas Department of Public Safety. 

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Biden but did not immediately receive a response. 

ICE agents arrested 57 illegal immigrants at a New York candy factory — including some accused of child endangerment, DUI and repeated illegal re-entries — in a raid that New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul blasted as “cruel.”

A Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital that an ICE workplace enforcement operation at Nutrition Bar Confectioners in Cato, New York, resulted in the arrests of 57 illegal aliens, including some with prior criminal convictions or pending charges, including child endangerment, DUI and multiple illegal re-entries.

The spokesperson said, “These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets, and threaten American communities.” 

Hochul, however, has said she is “outraged” by the workplace operations, which she said “fly in the face of New York’s values.”

VOTERS IN SANCTUARY CITY MAKE DECISION ON MAYOR AMID ICE CRACKDOWN RESISTANCE

Hochul criticized the operation, saying that “parents of at least a dozen children are at risk of returning from school to an empty house.”

“I’ve made it clear: New York will work with the federal government to secure our borders and deport violent criminals, but we will never stand for masked ICE agents separating families and abandoning children,” Hochul said in a statement.

 “Today’s raids will not make New York safer. What they did was shatter hard-working families who are simply trying to build a life here, just like millions of immigrants before them,” she said. “These actions fly in the face of New York’s values. As governor, I will always stand against this cruelty.”

Despite the criticism from Hochul and other Democrats, the DHS spokesperson called worksite enforcement “a cornerstone of our efforts to protect public safety, national security, and economic stability while rescuing individuals who may be victims of labor trafficking or exploitation.”

TRUMP SAVES AMERICAN LIVES WITH ‘OVERWHELMING FORCE’ AGAINST DRUG SMUGGLERS ENCROACHING ON US BEACHES: EXPERT

“The employment of illegal aliens also incentivizes dangerous and illegal practices, including social security fraud,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson pointed to a recent worksite operation at a meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska, which they said is evidence that “many illegal aliens use stolen social security numbers and identities to unlawfully obtain wages, health benefits and employment authorization.”

Fox News Digital previously covered the Omaha operation, which resulted in the arrest of 70 illegal aliens who were working at the plant using stolen Social Security numbers and identities to unlawfully obtain employment authorization, wages and benefits at the expense of over 100 American victims.

ICE officials told Fox News Digital that among those victimized by the mass identity theft scheme was a full-time nursing student who lost their college tuition assistance because it was fraudulently reported that they earned too much money due to an illegal alien using their Social Security number.

While the arrests sparked protests from some in both the local community and nationally, ICE said the illegal aliens’ identity theft proves they were not innocent, hardworking members of society, as some have suggested.

MASSIVE DHS RAID HITS GEORGIA HYUNDAI FACTORY THAT BIDEN TOUTED AS MAJOR VICTORY FOR ‘NEW AMERICAN JOBS’

“Behind every stolen Social Security number uncovered these operations is a real American — mothers, fathers, students, and disabled workers — now facing devastating financial, emotional, and legal fallout,” said the DHS spokesperson.

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The spokesperson pointed to another recent worksite operation at a marijuana facility in Ventura County, California, in which over 300 illegal aliens were arrested and 14 children were rescued from “potential forced labor, exploitation, and trafficking.”

The children rescued at the farm were from Mexico and Honduras.

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

Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca and Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

The pool of potential jurors is narrowing for the high-profile federal trial of Ryan Routh, who faces charges for attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club in September 2024.

During the second day of jury selection in Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon eliminated a woman who asserted, “I am MAGA” as a potential juror for the trial. Cannon, a Trump appointee, claimed the statement exhibited “self-declared bias.” 

JURY SELECTION CONTINUES IN TRIAL OF MAN ACCUSED OF PLOTTING TO KILL TRUMP

Another woman was removed as a potential juror for claiming she “only follows God’s law” on a questionnaire. 

However, Cannon refused to cut a potential juror who claimed that he “knows Trump personally.” The potential juror claimed that he had breakfast with Trump and first lady Melania Trump 25 years ago when he was considered for a job at a golf course. However, Cannon said the potential juror would still be able to participate fairly in the trial – despite the interaction decades ago. 

Three groups of 60 potential jurors are undergoing the jury selection process, where prosecutors and Routh ask potential jurors questions to assess if they can fairly participate in the trial. The jury selection process got underway on Monday and is expected to conclude Wednesday. Routh is representing himself. 

Ultimately, the jury selection process will identify 12 jurors and four alternates for the trial.

During Monday’s session, Routh’s questions for potential jurors included their views on the war in Gaza, their position on the U.S. potentially acquiring Greenland as the president has floated, and how they would act if they were driving and spotted a turtle in the middle of the road.

RYAN ROUTH TRIAL OPENS WITH BIZARRE JURY QUESTIONS AND WITNESS DRAMA

In response, Cannon labeled them “politically charged,” and said that they were unnecessary for jury selection. 

“None of the questions on your list have any bearing whatsoever. They were off base, sir, and have no relevance to jury selection,” Cannon said.

According to prosecutors, Routh planned to kill Trump for weeks, and hid out in shrubbery on Sept. 15, 2024, when a Secret Service agent detected him pointing a rifle at Trump while the then-presidential candidate played golf. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, but abandoned his weapon and the scene after the Secret Service agents opened fire.

Routh was later apprehended by the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office on the I-95 interstate in a black Nissan Xterra. 

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT SUSPECT RYAN ROUTH CHALLENGES PRESIDENT TO ROUND OF GOLF

According to the Justice Department, he is charged with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate; possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence; assaulting a federal officer; felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition; and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Routh also faces state charges related to terrorism and attempted murder. 

Routh, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, was previously convicted of felonies in North Carolina in 2002 and 2010. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph, Jake Gibson, Heather Lacey and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that left-wing policies such as cashless bail have sparked violent crime trends in cities nationwide, including Democrat-run cities located in Republican-run states. 

“There is crime in all states, but the crime in these cities is all in cities that are run by Democrats. If you look at the list of the top 20 high-crime cities in the United States, every single one — with the exception of one in Louisiana — is run by a Democrat. And these Democrats have supported the same policies that I spoke about at the beginning of this briefing, like cashless bail,” Leavitt said. 

The press secretary was responding to a question on whether the administration would also work with Republican governors to address cities rocked by crime, instead of focusing on Democrat-run jurisdictions in blue states. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened crime crackdowns in Chicago and Baltimore, which are located in Democratic states, while crime-riddled cities such as Memphis, which is located in Republican Tennessee, have not received the same level of attention for its crime trends.

Leavitt argued that current violent crime trends are due to left-wing justice policies that affect cities no matter if they are in a Republican or Democrat state, pointing to Jackson, Mississippi, and Birmingham, Alabama, as examples.  

DEM GOVERNORS SUDDENLY CRACK DOWN ON CRIME AS TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD THREATS LOOM

“If you look at a red state, Mississippi, but a Democrat-run city in that state: Jackson. In 2019, Jackson, Mississippi, eliminated cash bail for virtually all misdemeanor cases. And while Jackson is not formally a sanctuary city, the state of Mississippi formally banned sanctuary cities, and this city has acted as a de facto sanctuary city for criminals and illegal aliens since 2017,” she said. 

WHITE HOUSE SLAMS PRITZKER, BLUE CITIES AS CRIME FIGHT ESCALATES: ‘DECLINE IS A CHOICE’

“Same thing: Birmingham, Alabama. A Democrat-run city in a red state in 2017, the Birmingham City Council unanimously passed a resolution, quote, committing to establish sanctuary policies. So if you actually look at the facts from these Democrat-run cities, these are cities that are run by Democrats and by blue, by members of the Democrat Party, these are blue cities. And they have all supported these disastrous policies which allow repeated career criminals back onto the streets to further commit acts of violence.”

CHICAGO RESTAURANT OWNER SLAMS CITY LEADERSHIP OVER CRIME: ‘WE WANT LAW AND ORDER’

Trump’s presidential campaign included repeated vows to bring crime down across the U.S. following the nation’s bloody trends that began in 2020 amid the defund the police protests and riots that summer. On Aug. 11, he federalized Washington, D.C., under Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, part of his campaign vow, which allows the president to assume emergency control of the capital’s police force for 30 days. 

Following homicides dipping and more than 2,000 arrests made, Trump has celebrated the D.C. crime crackdown as an example for other cities and has since repeatedly floated sending the National Guard into cities such as Chicago. Local leaders, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, have shunned such talk as unnecessary and a form of “authoritarianism.”

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“The president wants to work with anyone across this country who wants to end these horrible policies and to bring law and order to our streets. And I think that is proven by his tremendous cooperation with the mayor of Washington, D.C. and our nation’s capital. And just look at the results of that,” Leavitt continued. 

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley launched a Wisconsin gubernatorial bid, taking a jab at President Donald Trump in a campaign video.

He asserted in the video that “Donald Trump’s chaos and cruelty means that the Wisconsin that we cherish will perish, unless we unite and fight back.”

Crowley’s campaign site describes him as a “proud Democrat” and claims that “Republicans aren’t just attacking the programs we all rely on — they’re trying to make us give up on the values that unite Wisconsin: community, fairness, and looking out for one another.” 

2 MARQUETTE MEN’S LACROSSE PLAYERS KILLED IN CAR CRASH, OFFICIALS SAY

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Republican National Committee national press secretary Kiersten Pels said, “Under David Crowley, Milwaukee has faced one of the highest homicide rates in the country, severe police staffing shortages, and a failing school district plagued by a financial crisis. It’s no wonder that Milwaukee County residents are fleeing. Now Crowley wants to take that same record statewide.

“Wisconsinites deserve better than the failed policies Crowley has inflicted on Milwaukee,” she added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Crowley’s campaign to request a comment from the candidate but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

SWING STATE DEM GOV BOWS OUT OF 2026 RACE, INSISTS HE’D WIN IF HE RAN: ‘NO QUESTION’

Current Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, announced earlier this year that he will not seek a third term.

The state’s lieutenant governor, Sara Rodriguez, is also running to succeed Evers.

FORMER NAVY SEAL AND ‘POLITICAL OUTSIDER’ ANNOUNCES GOP CAMPAIGN FOR WISCONSIN GOVERNOR

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On the other side of the political aisle, Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and former Navy SEAL Bill Berrien are also vying for the job.

A handful of Democratic governors are cracking down on crime as President Donald Trump threatens to send the National Guard into blue cities struggling with persistent crime waves that have left residents killed or injured and businesses shuttered. 

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) — who has traded barbs with Trump over objecting to the president’s calls to activate the National Guard in the long crime-riddled city — announced on Friday that the Maryland State Police will bolster the Baltimore Police Department’s efforts to crack down on crime. 

“We are proud of the progress that we’ve been able to make, and we’re all very, very concerned about how much work still needs to happen,” Moore said on Friday after ordering state police to assist its Baltimore law enforcement counterparts. “If one person does not feel safe in their neighborhood, that is one too many.”

Trump is in the midst of a national crime crackdown that began in Washington, D.C., in August, when he federalized the city under section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows the president to assume emergency control of the capital’s police force for 30 days. Trump has since floated deploying the National Guard to crime-riddled cities such as Baltimore and Chicago to install law and order. 

NEWSOM DEPLOYS CRIME TEAMS STATEWIDE AS WHITE HOUSE MOCKS ‘COPYING TRUMP AGENDA’

Democratic state and local leaders, however, have frequently balked at Trump’s crackdown as a form of “authoritarianism.” 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, for example, declared in August that “we cannot incarcerate our way out of violence,” while claiming the U.S. has an “addiction” to jailing criminals. Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has characterized a potential National Guard presence on the streets as unnecessary, citing Chicago’s slowing crime trends since the wildly violent 2020 era and promoting state investments in community violence intervention programs. 

Amid left-wing outrage over Trump’s crime crackdown plans, some Democratic governors have taken additional steps at the state level to snuff out crime in violent jurisdictions, Fox News Digital found. 

“First, Democrats claimed there was no crime problem and mocked the American people for being concerned about their safety. But now that they’ve seen the tremendous results delivered by President Trump, they’re eager to mimic his success — the reality is, the American people benefit when the President’s agenda is implemented. Let this be a lesson to all Democrats, President Trump was right about everything!” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning when asked about a trio of Democratic governors who have announced crime crackdown initiatives in recent days. 

Just days after Trump federalized Washington, D.C.’s police department, Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency in Rio Arriba County, the city of Española and local Pueblo communities in response to a “significant surge in violent crime, drug trafficking, and public safety threats that have overwhelmed local resources.”

TRUMP CLAIMS ‘WE’RE AGAINST CRIME. DEMOCRATS LIKE CRIME’

 “We are making every resource available to support our local partners on the ground and restore public safety and stability to these areas that have been hardest hit by this crisis,” Lujan Grisham said in an Aug. 13 press release. 

The state of emergency authorized up to $750,000 in “emergency funding for the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management” to coordinate response efforts in the affected areas, and will stay in effect until the funds are spent, or the additional resources are no longer needed. 

Lujan Grisham’s decision followed the Democratic governor slamming Trump for federalizing D.C., calling it: “executive overreach in Washington [that] sets a dangerous precedent and undermines safety in our nation’s capital.” 

Lujan Grisham’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter. 

In California longtime Trump political foe Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state’s highway patrol would deploy new “crime suppression” teams to the state’s massive cities seeing crime trends, including San Diego, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Central Valley, Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. The announcement followed a similar crime crackdown initiative in Oakland, Bakersfield and San Bernardino, the governor said at the time. 

“These operations will be targeted,” Newsom said at a news conference back in August when making the announcement. “They’ll be data-driven.”

LIZ PEEK: TRUMP PRANKS DEMOCRATS INTO OPPOSING SOMETHING THEY’VE ALWAYS CLAIMED TO SUPPORT

Newsom’s office pointed to data showing crime overall dropped in California in 2024 and that CHP’s increased presence in the new jurisdictions was part of the governor’s “next phase of his crime-fighting efforts.”

“While the Trump administration undermines cities, California is partnering with them and delivering real results. With these new deployments, we’re doubling down on these partnerships to build on progress and keep driving crime down,” Newsom said in a statement of the initiative. 

Newsom is among vocal Democrats who have slammed Trump over his crime crackdown, including excoriating the administration in June, when federal law enforcement officials and the National Guard converged on Los Angeles to specifically detain and deport illegal immigrants. A federal judge ruled earlier in September that the Trump administration violated federal laws by sending the National Guard to LA in June — a ruling that affects only the state and not other states. 

“Today, the court sided with democracy and the Constitution. No president is a king — not even Trump — and no president can trample a state’s power to protect its people,” Newsom said following the judge’s ruling. 

The Supreme Court ultimately lifted restrictions on ICE raids in LA on Monday. 

When asked about bolstering CHP presence amid Trump’s national crime crackdown, Newsom’s office said “there is no correlation between California’s public safety investments and Trump unnecessarily sending in the National Guard to Washington, D.C.”

The state has invested $1.7 billion since 2019 to boost public safety, including record funding in 2023 to combat organized retail crime with a 310% increase in enforcement operations, a spokesperson for Newsom’s office told Fox Digital. 

“I know the issue of reduction in crime is an important issue, but I want to make this crystal clear,” Newsom told the media in August of public safety plans. “It’s never good enough. Good enough, never is. Success is not a place or definition. Success is a direction. There is no having made it as it relates to the issue of crime suppression. That’s why in California, we continue to build on not just these partnerships, but over $1.7 billion of resources that we have provided under our public safety plan in this state since 2019.”

Back in Maryland, Moore slammed Trump over federalizing D.C., calling it “deeply dangerous” before the pair got into spats over Baltimore’s safety, which included Trump pouring cold water on Moore’s potential future presidential run and threatening to pull federal funding to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge after it collapsed in 2024. 

The Democratic governor sent a letter to Trump in August inviting him to tour Baltimore, which the president rebuffed while telling Moore to “clean up this crime disaster.”

Moore has defended that crime trends show Baltimore’s safety has been increasing in recent years, including when announcing that state police will assist Baltimore police in public safety. 

TRUMP SAYS HE COULD SEND THE NATIONAL GUARD TO MARYLAND TO ADDRESS CRIME

“Because even though Baltimore City is seeing some of the most impressive crime drops in the entire country, the work is far from over. We can, and will, do more on public safety, because our people deserve nothing less,” Moore said on Friday in a press release announcing the state police and Maryland Transportation Authority Police will aid Baltimore police with public safety efforts. 

The additional police presence will target high risk areas, and will “focus on providing a highly visible law enforcement presence to deter and prevent crime,” according to the governor’s press release. 

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Trump has celebrated the federalization of Washington, D.C.’s police force as a success, including notching zero homicides across a 13-day period in August, and the arrests of more than 2,000 suspects. The president has also lauded Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for her assistance with the effort. 

“We don’t have a crime problem in Washington anymore,” Trump told reporters earlier in September of the crackdown. “And the mayor has been very helpful.” 

EXCLUSIVE: A top aide and confidante to former Obama official Lois Lerner who targeted conservatives and conservative groups was fired by the Internal Revenue Service, Fox News Digital has learned.

Sources told Fox News Digital that Holly Paz, who served as the IRS Commissioner of Large Business and International Division, was terminated Monday.

KEY AIDE IN IRS’ TEA PARTY TARGETING CONTROVERSY PUT ON LEAVE AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF NEW ANTI-GOP EFFORT

Paz was placed on administrative leave last month and was subsequently fired following an internal review, sources say.

Paz had served as Lerner’s deputy during the Obama administration.

In 2013, it was revealed that the IRS, under Lerner, had wrongfully scrutinized tax-exempt applications related to the phrases “Tea Party,” “9/12” and “Constitution.” The Treasury’s inspector general later confirmed “inappropriate criteria” were used to target conservative groups and criticized ineffective oversight of systemic bias.

The IRS reportedly spent more than two years targeting conservative tax-exempt groups. 

Paz reviewed and helped oversee the handling of tax-exempt applications, and has been described as a key link between the Cincinnati, Ohio IRS office where the screenings of applications took place and the IRS headquarters.

FLASHBACK: HOLLY PAZ AND LOIS LERNER WANT IRS TESTIMONY SEALED FOREVER, FEARING DEATH THREATS

Her dismissal followed scrutiny from lawmakers over a subordinate work unit aimed at auditing pass-through businesses that Biden-era Commissioner Danny Werfel had created and assigned her to lead.

Werfel called the new work unit a big step in “ensur[ing] the IRS holds the nation’s wealthiest filers accountable,” and Paz called it an “important change” in the IRS structure.

The Trump administration, after years of litigation, in 2017, settled lawsuits with Tea Party and other conservative groups who say they were unfairly targeted by the IRS under the Obama administration. 

TRUMP SCORES MAJOR WIN AS SENATE INSTALLS IRS CRITIC TO LEAD THE AGENCY

Lerner and Paz, at the time, asked the federal courts to keep their testimonies in the Tea Party targeting case private forever, over fear of death threats.

The targeting scandal drew heavy attention in 2013 after the IRS admitted it applied extra scrutiny to conservative groups applying for nonprofit status. Lerner became the public face of the scandal, though many other IRS officials, like Paz, were also involved.

In a 2017 settlement, the IRS offered an apology, saying the agency “admits that its treatment of Plaintiffs during the tax-exempt determination process, including screening their applications based on their names or policy positions, subjecting those applications to heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays, and demanding some Plaintiffs’ information that TIGTA determined was unnecessary to the agency’s determination of their tax-exempt status, was wrong.”

FLASHBACK: MCCONNELL, BRAUN TO ROLL OUT BILL TO PREVENT DEMOCRATS FROM ‘WEAPONIZING’ IRS TO TARGET CONSERVATIVES

“For such treatment, the IRS expresses its sincere apology,” the IRS said at the time. 

While the Treasury Department did not comment on the move to fire Paz, it represents the latest step in Secretary Scott Bessent’s efforts to “de-weaponize” the IRS in his role as acting commissioner.

Fox News Digital has learned that Bessent has been working closely with Hunter Biden whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, and has met several times with IRS leadership.

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Sources told Fox News Digital that Bessent and IRS officials are working to improve customer service and outcomes for American taxpayers. They are also working to streamline technical improvements, and cut back on bloated hiring from the Biden administration.

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

EXCLUSIVE: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, one of the most visible figures in President Donald Trump’s first term, told Fox News Digital exclusively that she will announce a plan Tuesday to deploy dozens of National Guard to help in the deportation process for captured illegal immigrants.

The Republican, who served as White House press secretary during the last Trump administration, will work with the Department of Homeland Security under federal Title 32 powers that allow guardsmen to remain under her control but be funded by Washington.

“Violent, criminal illegal immigrants have no place in Arkansas,” Sanders said. 

“I signed the Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act to hold these criminals accountable and slap enhanced penalties on illegal immigrants who commit additional crimes while in our state, and I look forward to our guardsmen working with the Trump Administration to enforce federal immigration law.”

ICE COULD GET BOOST FROM NATIONAL GUARD IF CALLED, IOWA GOVERNOR SAYS

Sanders said her former boss has skillfully secured the border and praised his efforts to “clean up the streets” in major cities, to the chagrin of Democratic municipal leaders.

“Arkansas stands with him every step of the way,” Sanders added.

Arkansas National Guard Brig. Gen. Chad Bridges confirmed his service members are ready to assist DHS, saying in a statement that they are committed to “focus on their core operations.”

A total of 40 guardsmen in Fort Smith, Little Rock and Fayetteville will be activated for this mission.

GOP GOVERNOR GREENLIGHTS STATE TROOPERS TO JOIN ICE IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

Sanders indicated they will assist in logistical support and transportation of illegal immigrant detainees – and remain unarmed.

Arkansas National Guard will also help DHS with the clerical side of the detainment and deportation process, allowing federal agents to focus on the hands-on efforts of capturing illegal immigrant criminals.

Prior to the news, Sanders signed the state’s Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act, which stipulates enhanced penalties for illegal immigrants who commit crimes in Arkansas beyond simply being illicitly present in the Natural State.

Sanders has also expanded the state’s ban on sanctuary cities to include areas of the state not directly governed by municipalities, including many rural communities.

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Sanders’ office also shared information on some of the more violent illegal immigrants arrested in Arkansas.

In January, ASP arrested Luis Danielle Valdez-Reyes who was accused of striking a state trooper, as well as Elias Avila-Bustillo, who was wanted by El Salvador for illegal gang activity.

A nurse from Little Rock, Jennifer Ann Morton, was killed in a DUI crash allegedly caused by another illegal immigrant: Maynor Yair Sorto-Herrera.

During the Biden administration, Sanders was one of a handful of governors to travel to the Mexican border to highlight the Democratic administration’s reticence to do so.