NationalWatch

A lawsuit brought by Attorney General Pam Bondi against Kentucky’s public education apparatus over in-state tuition for illegal immigrants resulted in an agreement to end the practice, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman told Fox News Digital in a Thursday interview.

Coleman said the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (KCPE) agreed to change state policy two months after the Justice Department first took the commonwealth to court over a provision in state law 13 KAR 2:045. 

The suit alleged Kentucky’s policy violated 18 USC 1623, which states that “notwithstanding any other provision of law, an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.”

The DOJ originally had named Kentucky Gov. Andrew Beshear as the defendant, but Beshear’s office previously told Fox New Digital that the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education is independent of the governor’s office.

KENTUCKY WANTED THIS FIGHT: FORMER AG BACKS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TUITION LAWSUIT AS VOTER-APPROVED

Coleman noted that governors do however have a role in appointing members to the council.

“Under current federal law, any illegal immigrant is barred from eligibility for postsecondary education benefits, like in-state tuition, unless the same benefits are offered to every U.S. citizen,” Coleman said.

Bondi noted in a statement obtained by Coleman’s office that “no state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens.”

In his interview, Coleman said that the decision is not quite official until the federal district judge signs the agreement between the parties — which he stressed is just a formality.

“Nonsensical is not a term that I didn’t expect to use as often as I have the last year,” he said of the case.

“It’s a term from a Harry Potter book or a Roald Dahl book, but nonsensical is spot on and what we’re dealing with here,” Coleman said of what he called putting illegal immigrants and noncitizens before Americans.

DISCOUNTED COLLEGE TUITION FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS POLICY LEADS DOJ TO SUE KENTUCKY

Coleman said the original policy incentivized noncitizens to come to Kentucky over other states that may not offer them the same leg up.

“There is a joint motion for what is known as a consent judgment,” he said, adding that he has not formally put out any statement on the case as of yet in due respect to the judge who has to sign the consent agreement.

In Fox News Digital’s prior reporting, a spokesperson for Beshear noted the governor has no authority over KCPE, but Coleman appeared not entirely convinced of the dynamic.

Beshear “won’t hesitate to take credit for any positive policy that comes out of KCPE,” he said. “He appointed most members of the KCPE and in real world you’re responsible for those that you appoint to these roles, that you have influence on those you appoint to these role, but yet of course who wants to walk away from that because of the nonsensical nature of this.”

Coleman, who was a former U.S. attorney before becoming the commonwealth’s top lawman, said it should not have taken Bondi and the Trump administration to put an end to in-state tuition for illegal immigrants in the Bluegrass State.

“I do applaud the fact that (KCPE) did the right thing and followed the law, but it took the Justice Department and all of its legal leverage and the chief law enforcement officer of the state opining on the legality before they did right thing,” he said. “That’s disappointing.” 

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“They should be stewards of these institutions,” he said. “What they do is important and we have great universities in this commonwealth. They need to be focusing on incentivizing. The best and the brightest to come to this commonwealth, not incentivizing those that are out of status, that are violating our laws.”

He also said he hopes Bondi will continue pursuing others of the more than a dozen states with similar policies.

“I’m fully on board with common sense returning and whether it is protecting girls from men playing in their sports to enforcing federal law in the immigration context,” he said. “I’m for our universities supporting our best and brightest and not perpetuating this incentive for those that are out of status to fill seats in the classrooms.”

“That is not only unlawful, it comes back to the notion of just head-scratching and nonsensical.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Beshear’s office, the Justice Department and a representative for Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education for comment.

President Donald Trump says he plans to sign an executive order aimed at requiring voter I.D. in elections across the country.

Trump made the statement on social media late Saturday night, saying he is also seeking other reforms to how U.S. elections take place.  

“Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!! Also, No Mail-In Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military. USE PAPER BALLOTS ONLY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump previously attempted to impose voter I.D. via an executive order earlier this year in a wider election integrity action.

TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON VOTING BLOCKED BY FEDERAL JUDGE AMID FLURRY OF LEGAL SETBACKS

In April, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down the portions of that order that related to voter identification requirements.

CITIZENSHIP VOTER REGISTRATION BILL IS ‘COMMON SENSE,’ GOP LAWMAKER ARGUES

Kollar-Kotelly maintained that Trump did not have the authority to issue such an order, as the Constitution delegates control of election regulations to Congress and states.

“Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would affect many of the changes the President purports to order,” Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee, wrote in her order. “No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.”

Nevertheless, requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship remains widely popular among Americans, according to a poll from Gallup taken just before the 2024 elections.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RESURRECTS ‘NEIGHBORHOOD CHECKS’ FOR CITIZENSHIP APPLICANTS LAST USED IN FIRST BUSH-ERA

The poll found that 84% of U.S. adults were in favor of requiring voters to show identification and 83% supported requiring proof of citizenship when registering for the first time. 

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When broken down by party, 67% of Democrats, 84% of Independents and 98% of Republicans were in favor of mandating voter ID. The party breakdown over proof of citizenship was similar, with 66% of Democrats, 84% of Independents and 96% of Republicans supporting the idea.

Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this report

President Donald Trump has attacked the Senate for blocking his preferred nominees from being confirmed to key positions, but lawmakers and people familiar with the process say the Senate is not necessarily to blame.

Trump has faulted the Senate’s “blue slip” tradition, an unwritten rule requiring nominees for judge, U.S. attorney and U.S. marshal to obtain home state senators’ approval prior to being confirmed.

He said blue state senators will only greenlight “Democrats or maybe weak Republicans.” The president called on Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to abolish the practice, and he threatened to sue over it.

But Grassley and other Republicans are unbudging in their position that blue slips are an indispensable part of the confirmation process. Blue slips have been used for more than a century. Past presidents have gotten many nominees confirmed under the system, suggesting other factors are contributing to Trump’s struggle to secure blue slips from Democrats.

TRUMP TELLS GRASSLEY TO TELL DEMOCRATS ‘GO TO HELL’ OVER BLOCKED JUDICIAL NOMINEES IN SENATE

Trump threatens to sue over ‘gentlemen’s agreement’

Trump and his allies escalated attacks on the blue slip process this week, accusing Grassley of blocking nominees by maintaining it.

“This is because of an old and outdated ‘custom’ known as a BLUE SLIP, that Senator Chuck Grassley, of the Great State of Iowa, refuses to overturn,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president threatened to sue over what he said was a “gentlemen’s agreement,” though it is unclear whom the government would sue and on what grounds.

“It’s not based on law, and I think it’s unconstitutional, and I’ll probably be filing a suit on that pretty soon,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Asked about the possible lawsuit and why Trump’s nominees in blue states are struggling with confirmation, the White House told Fox News Digital in a statement the holdup must be addressed.

“Senate Democrats have led a campaign of historic obstruction against President Trump and his nominees,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “The left’s partisan, obstructionist agenda is only hurting the American people and it must end.”

‘Troubling’ pattern of circumventing Senate

Trump appointed his former personal defense lawyer Alina Habba as “interim” U.S. attorney, which carries a 120-day term limit that federal judges have the ability to extend under federal vacancy laws if no one has been confirmed by the Senate to the position by then.

Judges have opted to extend Trump’s nominees, like in Jay Clayton’s case in the Southern District of New York. But in an unusual move, the federal judges of New Jersey rejected Habba.

The judges selected someone else, whom Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi promptly fired. Trump and Bondi then used a series of legal maneuvers to reinstall Habba to another temporary term, but a federal judge ruled the moves unconstitutional. The Trump administration is appealing that decision in a case that could now make its way to the Supreme Court and force the justices to weigh in on what has become a pattern of Trump end-running around the Senate.

ALINA HABBA SAYS SHE ‘WON’T BE INTIMIDATED’ AFTER SENATE CUSTOM HINDERS US ATTORNEY NOMINATION

John Sarcone in the Northern District of New York faced a situation similar to Habba’s, and he is now serving as “acting” U.S. attorney. Bill Essayli in the Central District of California, who has taken on a vocal pro-Trump stance amid high-profile deportation cases in his district, has also transitioned from “interim” to “acting” U.S. attorney. Acting U.S. attorneys also carry a temporary term of 210 days. It is unclear how Trump will proceed once those terms expire.

Carl Tobias, University of Richmond law professor, said the workarounds defy the spirit of the Constitution, which says nominees must be confirmed “with the advice and consent” of the Senate.

“It’s good to have that scrutiny from the Judiciary Committee and then on the floor, and so hopefully they could return to something like that, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen, and so I think it is troubling,” Tobias told Fox News Digital.

How to get a blue slip from the other party

The administration must engage with the Senate during the nomination process, including by consulting early on with home state senators about possible nominees.

Former President Joe Biden secured blue slips from opposing parties for 49 nominees, including 27 U.S. attorneys, while Trump’s first administration was able to secure confirmations for nearly all the U.S. attorneys the president nominated.

The blue slip, to senators, is a crucial negotiating tool, one that Article III Project founder Mike Davis said is not going away, despite Trump’s intensifying objections to it. Davis, a staunch Trump supporter, served as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee and oversaw nominations under Grassley in the prior Trump administration.

“It’s not going away. Why would it? Why would senators give up their power? They’re not going to do it,” Davis told Fox News Digital, adding that blue slips to the Senate are “the sacred china that’s never going to get broken.”

The vetting process

Nominees must also provide the Senate Judiciary Committee with a questionnaire, an FBI background check and financial disclosures. A source familiar with the process told Fox News Digital the committee did not receive Habba’s paperwork to begin vetting her. 

Habba has said she could not begin the process because Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim of New Jersey, would not give blue slip approval. It is unclear if and when the Trump administration approached the pair of senators about Habba. 

Habba, like Trump, blamed Grassley.

“The blue slip TRADITION prevents a nominee from getting to the point of making that case to the committee and Senate floor. You know who can get rid of it? YOU @ChuckGrassley,” Habba wrote on X.

She told Grassley “this is a time for leadership, not deflection” and that the chairman should not be “doing the dirty work of Thom Tillis, Corey Booker and Andy Kim.”

Booker’s and Kim’s offices did not respond to a request for comment.

Grassley defends bipartisanship

Grassley went on a tear on social media this week, defending his decision to maintain blue slips, which the committee chair has discretion over.

“U.S. Atty/district judge nominee without a blue slip does not hv the votes to get confirmed on the Senate floor & they don’t hv the votes to get out of cmte,” the 91-year-old senator wrote. “As chairman I set Pres Trump noms up for SUCCESS NOT FAILURE.”

GRASSLEY REBUKES TRUMP’S PRESSURE TO ‘HAVE THE COURAGE’ TO SPEED UP NOMINATIONS

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is among several Republicans who will not vote for a nominee who has not been approved by home state senators, pointed to a statement on social media when asked for comment by Fox News Digital.

“Chairman Grassley is a principled conservative who wants to keep radical liberals off the bench. Getting rid of the blue slip is a terrible, short-sighted ploy that paves the path for Democrats to ram through extremist liberal judges in red states over the long-term,” Tillis wrote on X.

Are Democrats to blame?

Trump has thus far secured opposing party blue slips for four nominees. Davis said Trump is facing a unique level of obstruction from Democrats.

“Every White House does what it can to engage the opposition party, but Democrats have made it clear they’re not interested in working with President Trump, so it’s understandable that his focus has been elsewhere for now,” Davis said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for instance, has refused to give a blue slip to Clayton, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman. But Clayton’s ability to win the vote of the federal judges in the Southern District of New York has allowed him to serve as U.S. attorney without confirmation.

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Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member, has further complicated the confirmation process by putting a hold on U.S. attorney nominees, which drastically slows, but does not fully block, the process.

Vice President JD Vance, then a senator, did the same for Biden’s nominees toward the end of the last administration.

Trump’s fight with the upper chamber is likely to evolve, especially as higher courts weigh in on Habba’s nomination, which is currently invalid, according to the district court judge’s decision this month. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has set a briefing schedule in the case that stretches through October, but eventually the Supreme Court could also chime in on whether Trump’s manner of sidestepping the Senate is constitutional. 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, signed an executive order on Saturday prohibiting city police officers from collaborating with National Guard troops or federal agents if President Donald Trump follows through on his threats to deploy them to the Windy City.

“This executive order makes it emphatically clear that this president is not going to come in and deputize our police department,” Johnson said at a news conference with other city leaders.

The mayor’s order affirms that Chicago police officers will continue to enforce state and local laws, but will not work with the National Guard or federal agents on patrols, arrests, immigration enforcement or other law enforcement actions.

“We will protect our Constitution, we will protect our city, and we will protect our people,” he said. “We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart. We do not want grandmothers thrown into the back of unmarked vans. We don’t want to see homeless Chicagoans harassed or disappeared by federal agents.”

PRITZKER SAYS ‘ACTION WILL BE MET WITH A RESPONSE’ AFTER TRUMP THREATENS TO SEND NATIONAL GUARD TO CHICAGO

The order also instructs city police to wear their official police uniforms, continue to identify themselves, follow body camera procedures and to not wear masks so they can be clearly distinguished from any federal operations.

“The Chicago Police Department will not collaborate with military personnel on police patrols or civil immigration enforcement,” Johnson said. “We will not have our police officers who are working hard every single day to drive down crime deputized to do traffic stops and checkpoints for the president.”

The order states that the deployment of federal military forces in Chicago without the consent of local authorities “undermines democratic norms, violates the City’s sovereignty, threatens civil liberties, and risks escalating violence rather than securing the peace.”

This order comes as Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have been feuding with Trump over the potential of National Guard troops being deployed to Chicago to address crime in the city.

Johnson has cited data showing that violent crime has declined in the last year, including homicides and robberies dipping by more than 30%, and shootings dropping by nearly 40%.

Pritzker has also warned Trump that “action will be met with a response” and that a federal deployment without the state’s request would be “unconstitutional” and “un-American.”

CHICAGO MAYOR CALLS TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD PLAN ‘MOST FLAGRANT VIOLATION OF OUR CONSTITUTION’

Trump responded to the Democratic leaders last week by saying that Pritzker is “incompetent” and Johnson “no better.”

The White House dismissed Johnson’s order on Saturday, claiming that Democrats were attempting to make efforts to reduce crime a partisan issue.

“If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the President, their communities would be much safer,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Reuters.

Johnson said on Saturday that he was considering any legal and legislative measures to stop the federal government, including possible lawsuits.

“We will use the courts if that’s necessary,” Johnson said.

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Previous deployments of the National Guard to Chicago were coordinated with local officials, according to Reuters. The president’s authority to deploy troops is limited under U.S. law, although there are no restrictions on sending ICE agents or other federal law enforcement officers.

Trump’s threat to deploy troops to the Windy City comes after he boosted the presence of federal law enforcement in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to cut down on crime.

Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops have been deployed to the streets of D.C. as part of the federal takeover of the district.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Dr. Sohan Dasgupta, appointed earlier this year as the political head of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), told Fox News Digital he is stepping down after a four-month sprint, declaring his mission to preserve and reposition the U.S. agency as a strategic foreign policy tool as “accomplished.”

Created by Congress in 2004, MCC delivers five-year infrastructure and energy compacts to developing nations that meet strict governance standards. Unlike traditional aid, its investments are structured to drive long-term economic growth and open markets for U.S. companies.

Since its creation under President George W. Bush, MCC has often been grouped with other U.S. aid programs. 

Career staff have long emphasized development goals like poverty reduction, education, and infrastructure, but unlike USAID, MCC was established as a corporate body with a fiduciary duty to ensure effectiveness.

CDC OFFICIAL WHO BLASTED TRUMP’S ‘WEAK SCIENCE’ LED POLITICIZED BIDEN-ERA MONKEYPOX RESPONSE

A White House official, speaking on background to Fox News Digital, argued the agency too often presented itself as aid rather than investment before President Donald Trump took office.

Dasgupta pushed staff to adopt a different lens, pressing them to evaluate projects based on the return on investment for the United States, the degree of strategic alignment with partner countries, and whether MCC compacts could be used to strengthen U.S. leverage in negotiations.

A Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report this spring argued that MCC is not a traditional aid agency but an “investment” tool uniquely suited for an “America First” agenda. 

The authors warned shuttering it would hand China “diplomatic and economic wins” while leaving half-built projects abroad, and noted Trump-era partner selections, from Nepal to Côte d’Ivoire to the Pacific Islands, were strategically chosen to counter Chinese influence. 

“The United States and the world are safer, stronger, and more prosperous with the MCC model than without it,” the report concluded.

OBAMA OFFICIAL SAYS DEMOCRATIC PARTY ‘AFRAID OF ITS OWN FUTURE,’ WANTS IT TO EMBRACE MAMDANI STRATEGY

MCC’s current portfolio under Trump includes some of its largest-ever compacts: a $500 million deal in Nepal funding nearly 200 miles of transmission lines, a $480 million compact in Sierra Leone expanding electricity access and a $202 million program in Kosovo focused on grid-scale battery storage. Other investments include $536 million in Côte d’Ivoire, $537 million in Mozambique and a water compact in Mongolia.

Dasgupta told Fox News Digital that his role was to press MCC staff to think in terms of U.S. national security and economic benefits. “Reforming MCC into a vital national security and foreign policy asset” was how he described his “mission accomplished” moment.

A May 9 email from the White House Liaison to MCC staff, obtained by Fox News Digital, shows Dasgupta was appointed as a Schedule C Senior Advisor “assuming political leadership for the agency.”

MCC’s Fiscal Year 2026 Candidate Country Report, released this month, lists Kosovo, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Mongolia, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Tonga among its eligible partner nations.

“Service has many forms. My goal was to carry out particular projects and missions, then make way for others,” Dasgupta said.

On China, he added: “Critical minerals and rare earth elements are a vital part of American strength … MCC has really understood that.”

Kosovo’s ambassador to the U.S., Ilir Dugolli, praised Dasgupta’s responsiveness. “We worked closely soon after he arrived at MCC … I respect him enormously for the way he handled his portfolio and how professional he was,” Dugolli told Fox News Digital.

On energy security, Dugolli said: “Kosovo fully aligns with U.S. foreign policy … Batteries are extremely important, especially after last year’s terrorist attack on the Iber-Lepenc canal. The compact is the single most critical investment for our country’s energy security and economic resilience.”

Dasgupta’s departure also comes as the Trump administration pursues cuts to traditional U.S. foreign aid programs and seeks to reframe America’s global engagement under its “America First” policy. 

While agencies such as USAID have faced reductions and restructuring, Dasgupta argues the MCC has been preserved as a leaner, investment-driven tool aligned with the administration’s emphasis on strategic deals and competition with China.

Analysts estimate China controls about 70% of global rare earth mining and nearly 90% of processing capacity, according to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. 

Between 2023 and 2025, China imposed export restrictions on strategic minerals, according to CSIS. Dasgupta argues MCC’s work in allied nations can help diversify supply chains and strengthen resilience, though MCC has not publicly described critical minerals as a formal focus of its work.

“We want independence in every sense of the word … these are the premises and predicates of American strength,” Dasgupta said.

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“Quick wins” like Kosovo’s battery project and Nepal’s power lines, Dasgupta said, show how American aid can advance prosperity abroad while reinforcing security at home.

With his departure, MCC continues compacts in dozens of countries worldwide. 

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

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is demanding that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resign after multiple senior officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention departed the agency.

The Trump administration announced the removal of CDC Director Susan Monarez earlier this week, less than a month after she was confirmed, after she refused Kennedy’s directives to adopt new limitations on the availability of some vaccines, including for approvals for COVID-19 vaccines.

Four other senior CDC officials resigned in protest after Monarez’s ouster, pointing, in part, to anti-vaccine policies pushed by Kennedy. Hundreds of workers at the agency also walked out of the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta in support of their former colleagues.

In response to the departures, Sanders wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times that Kennedy is “endangering the health of the American people now and into the future” and accused the secretary of firing Monarez because she refused “to act as a rubber stamp for his dangerous policies.”

BIPARTISAN FURY AT CDC: SENATORS DEMAND PROBE, REJECT VACCINE GUIDANCE AS ILLEGITIMATE

“Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, Secretary Kennedy has continued his longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts,” Sanders wrote in the piece published Saturday.

“It is absurd to have to say this in 2025, but vaccines are safe and effective,” he added. “That, of course, is not just my view. Far more important, it is the overwhelming consensus of the medical and scientific communities.”

Sanders also noted that vaccines for diseases like polio and COVID-19 have saved hundreds of millions of lives around the world.

Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate’s health committee, opposed Kennedy’s confirmation earlier this year. The secretary was sworn in back in February. Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill was selected to be the acting director of the CDC after Monarez’s termination.

CDC DIRECTOR SUSAN MONAREZ REFUSES TO BE FIRED AS OTHER OFFICIALS CALL IT QUITS

The Trump administration has defended Monarez’s ouster, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Thursday the president has the “authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission.”

“The president and Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring trust and transparency and credibility to the CDC by ensuring their leadership and their decisions are more public-facing, more accountable, strengthening our public health system and restoring it to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases, investing in innovation to prevent, detect and respond to future threats,” Leavitt told reporters.

Sanders earlier this week called for an investigation into Monarez’s ouster, criticizing the move as “reckless” and “dangerous.”

In the op-ed, he wrote that Kennedy “has profited from and built a career on sowing mistrust in vaccines,” adding that the secretary is now “using his authority to launch a full-blown war on science, on public health and on truth itself.” 

He also said it will become harder for Americans to obtain “lifesaving vaccines” with Kennedy leading HHS.

“The danger here is that diseases that have been virtually wiped out because of safe and effective vaccines will resurface and cause enormous harm,” Sanders wrote, stressing that the U.S. needs to be better prepared in the case of another pandemic.

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“Secretary Kennedy is putting Americans’ lives in danger, and he must resign,” Sanders wrote. “In his place, President Trump must listen to doctors and scientists and nominate a health secretary and a C.D.C. director who will protect the health and well-being of the American people, not carry out dangerous policies based on conspiracy theories.”

Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is intensifying his feud with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker after another bloody weekend in Chicago, blasting the Democrat for rejecting federal help as six people were killed and more than two dozen shot. 

In a fiery Truth Social post Saturday, Trump called Pritzker “incompetent” and warned the governor to “straighten it out, fast, or we’re coming.” 

The broadside comes just weeks after Trump signed sweeping executive actions to restore law and order in Washington, D.C., federalizing the Metropolitan Police and mobilizing the National Guard in the nation’s capital.

JB PRITZKER CLAIMS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PLANNING AN ‘INVASION’ WITH US TROOPS

Now, Trump is warning Chicago could be next and pointing out that even Pritzker’s recent weight loss looks like a telltale sign of a possible 2028 presidential run. 

Trump also mocked Pritzker personally earlier in the week, saying he “ought to spend more time in the gym, actually.”

“Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!”

Pritzker is pushing back hard, calling Trump’s approach “unconstitutional” and “a dangerous power grab.” He also mocked Trump’s personal attacks on his physique, quipping that “it takes one to know one on the weight question.”

Republican strategist Mark McKinnon told Politico Pritzker’s slimmer look “looks like he’s getting ready for a fight,” while consultant David Kochel noted weight loss is increasingly part of a political makeover: “If you want to look younger and healthier, it makes total sense.”

PRITZKER SAYS ‘ACTION WILL BE MET WITH A RESPONSE’ AFTER TRUMP THREATENS TO SEND NATIONAL GUARD TO CHICAGO

Figures like Chris Christie and Mike Pompeo have also shed pounds before mounting national campaigns.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed a sweeping executive order Friday rejecting Trump’s threat to deploy federal troops or the National Guard. 

“We do not need nor want an unconstitutional and illegal military occupation of our city,” Johnson said, vowing that Chicago would “do everything in our power to defend our democracy and protect our communities.”

The feud benefits both men politically. 

Trump seizes on Chicago as a symbol of Democratic failure and bolsters his law-and-order brand with executive muscle, while Pritzker gets to portray himself as standing up to a president he calls a bully. 

Behind the two men’s political theater, Chicago has led the nation in total homicides for 13 straight years, according to the White House.

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Pritzker’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Hanna Panreck and Landon Mion contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump used Labor Day weekend to tout “nearly $10 trillion” in new investments for American workers, a sweeping White House claim delivered as unfounded online rumors about his well-being and whereabouts spread over the holiday weekend. 

His appearance on his Trump National Virginia golf course with family on Saturday quickly put the speculation to rest.

“President Trump believes that American workers are the heart and soul of our economy, which is why he’s championed an agenda that always puts them first — from signing the largest middle-class tax cuts in history to securing nearly $10 trillion in new investments to create high-paying jobs across our country,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News.

Fact-checkers note the White House’s $10T claim includes previously announced projects. The White House describes its list as “non-comprehensive.”

TRUMP CAPS OFF 29TH WEEK IN OFFICE WITH PEACE DEAL, CELEBRATING 200TH DAY OF SECOND PRESIDENCY

The administration pitched what it calls a “Golden Age of Prosperity,” citing job growth, rising wages, new apprenticeship programs and regulatory rollbacks. White House officials pointed to more than 183,000 apprentices starting this year, $84 million in new training grants, and an AI Action Plan aimed at preparing workers for a tech-driven economy.

The White House cites corporate pledges as evidence of momentum. At an “Investing in America” event in April, NVIDIA promised $500 billion for U.S. chipmaking, Apple pledged $500 billion to expand factories, and IBM committed $150 billion for AI research. SoftBank announced a $700 billion infrastructure project. In all, Trump said more than $8 trillion has been pledged since the election.

They also touted half a million new jobs in 2025, $61 million for homeless and at-risk veterans and Labor Department efforts to lower health care costs through price transparency.

TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CELEBRATES LATEST CHAPTER OF WINS AT 200-DAY MARK

The rollout, however, was overshadowed by social media speculation about Trump’s well-being and whereabouts. On Friday night and Saturday morning, hashtags like #WhereIsTrump and #TrumpIsDead trended on X, fueled by a blank public schedule and recycled photos showing bruising.

Account Buzzing Pop on X posted, “Donald Trump reportedly has not been seen in days, with no public appearances scheduled this weekend.”

 The rumors spread until Trump surfaced in public on Saturday.

On Saturday, he was photographed with some of his grandchildren outside the White House and at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. He was spotted wearing a white polo shirt and red MAGA hat.

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While the White House hoped Labor Day would spotlight Trump’s economic record, the weekend may be remembered just as much for his golf outing and putting online speculation to rest.

Standing outside Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed former football coach Derek Dooley, a fellow Republican, to oust Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., in the state’s 2026 U.S. Senate race.

Kemp made the announcement an hour before the Georgia Bulldogs kicked off their first game of the season, noting Dooley was the “one and only opportunity” to flip Ossoff’s seat.

Dooley, who walked onto the University of Virginia football team and played four years as a receiver, later earned his law degree from the University of Georgia, where he started his 28-year coaching career as a graduate assistant.

SENATE DEMOCRATS ARE FEVERISHLY RECRUITING TOP CANDIDATES TO WIN BACK MAJORITY IN 2026 MIDTERMS

The former University of Tennessee coach and son of former UGA coach Vince Dooley coached in the NFL for almost a decade and in college football for nearly 20 years. He continues to work with Group of Five schools across the country.

Following Dooley’s campaign launch, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Maeve Coyle released a statement on Aug. 4 knocking his coaching career.

“The latest addition to Georgia’s messy and chaotic GOP primary is a failed football coach who has only ever spoken out to cheerlead Medicaid cuts that hurt Georgians,” Coyle wrote. “As this primary gets even more crowded and devolves into a proxy war between President Trump and Governor Kemp, Senator Ossoff is fighting for working families in Georgia and will hold his seat in 2026.” 

REPUBLICAN DOOLEY JUMPS INTO GEORGIA’S SENATE RACE WHILE TOUTING SUPPORT FOR TRUMP AND TAKING AIM AT OSSOFF

Dooley tackled the claims on Saturday, claiming “leadership matters,” FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

“I could tell you in the locker room right now, right down the road, it doesn’t matter what your race is, what your income level is, what your politics [are], what your religion is,” Dooley said. “It was about bringing people together. Leadership matters. 

“I mean, look at our state. That’s what great leadership looks like. And you look at our country right now. You took a guy who was an outsider, President [Donald] Trump, who came in and didn’t accept business as usual.”

TRUMP ALLY MIKE COLLINS LAUNCH KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE BID TO FLIP DEMOCRAT-HELD SENATE SEAT

Kemp, a two-term governor, described Dooley as a “true political outsider,” adding Ossoff’s voting record does not reflect the state’s values, leaving room for an upset.

“You cannot run from that kind of record, and that is why I think we have an opportunity to win this race,” Kemp said.

Dooley said in a statement to Fox News Digital he is deeply honored to have the governor’s support.

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“Governor Kemp has led this state with strong leadership, integrity, and achieved historic accomplishments during truly unprecedented times in our state and nation,” he wrote. “Georgians know him and trust him. I hope to bring that same leadership style focused on conservative results to the U.S. Senate by defeating Jon Ossoff next November. The Governor’s support gives our campaign incredible momentum as we continue to earn support from hardworking Georgians all across our state.” 

Kemp’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The White House is pushing to rebrand the Pentagon, confirming Saturday plans to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

The Department of War was established by Congress in August 1789 to oversee the operation and maintenance of the military branches. After a brief name change to the National Military Establishment following World War II, it was changed to the Department of Defense.

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News the change comes amid a restoration of U.S. military values.

“As President [Donald] Trump said, our military should be focused on offense — not just defense — which is why he has prioritized warfighters at the Pentagon instead of DEI and woke ideology,” Kelly wrote in a statement. “Stay tuned!” 

RENAMED DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE COMING ‘SOON,’ TRUMP SAYS

The announcement comes days after Trump said the name change would happen “over the next week or so.”

“You know we call it the Department of Defense, but between us, I think we’re going to change the name,” the president said at the White House earlier in the week. “You want to know the truth, I think we’re going to have some information on that, maybe soon.”

SEN ROGER WICKER: THE PENTAGON NEEDS MAJOR REFORM. NOW IS OUR CHANCE

Trump noted the historical importance of the department’s name during both world wars.

“We won World War I [and] World War II. It was called the Department of War. To me, that’s really what it is,” he said. “I’m talking to the people. Everybody likes that. We had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”

SENATE MOVES TO REIN IN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S FLUCTUATING UKRAINE POLICY

Congress creates federal executive departments by law, so an amendment would be required to change the name legally.

“I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that. I don’t think we even need that. But, if we need that, I’m sure Congress will go along,” Trump said. “… Defense is too defensive. And we want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive too, if we have to be. So it just sounded to me like a better name.” 

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The president can recommend legislation to make the change official, or rebrand it informally without approval.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump shared security footage on social media Saturday, slamming a subcontractor accused of cracking the “most beautiful marble and stone available anywhere” in the recently renovated White House Rose Garden.

In a post to Truth Social, Trump said he discovered a “huge gash” in the limestone three days ago, extending more than 25 yards.

“Surfaces are very important to me as a Builder,” the president wrote in the post. “As everyone knows, I built many GREAT Buildings, and other things, over the years. … [The limestone crack] was deep and nasty! I started yelling, ‘Who did this, and I want to find out now!’—and I didn’t say this in a nice manner.”

TRUMP WARNS HE WILL TAKE ‘FEDERAL CONTROL’ OF WASHINGTON, DC AS YOUTH VIOLENCE CONTINUES

Trump said he questioned whether the damage was caused by vandalism or “stupidity” and credited White House security equipment with cracking the case.

“They brought back the stupid people, with their boss watching (in sunglasses!),” Trump wrote in the post. “It was a subcontractor that was installing heavy landscaping on a steel cart that was broken and tilting badly, with it rubbing hard against the soft, beautiful stone.”

DC LAUNCHES ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ CAMPAIGN WHILE NATIONAL GUARD PATROLS STREETS, PICKS UP TRASH

Security footage shared along with the post showed two workers pushing a yellow cart, carrying an apparent shrub over the newly installed stone.

At least two other men appeared to be watching the operation unfold.

TRUMP CAPS OFF 29TH WEEK IN OFFICE WITH PEACE DEAL, CELEBRATING 200TH DAY OF SECOND PRESIDENCY

Noting his “love and respect” for workers and contractors, the president reiterated the damage was unacceptable and said the stone would be replaced.

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“Now, I’ll replace the stone, charge the contractor, and never let that contractor work at the White House again—But, how great is the video equipment? We caught them, cold,” Trump wrote. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Lawmakers could soon have Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous “birthday book,” which could potentially give insight into the disgraced late financier’s social ties. 

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who serves as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, told MSNBC on Friday that Epstein’s estate “is actually going to actually now get us that book and a bunch of other documents that they have that’s not actually been reported yet.” He added that the lawmakers expect to receive the book and the documents on Sept. 8.

Garcia also told MSNBC that “many of the victims” of Epstein would speak to lawmakers on Capitol Hill next week to “highlight their stories.” He did not name the lawmakers or accusers expected to meet.

EPSTEIN ESTATE HIT WITH NEW HOUSE SUBPOENA FOR ‘CLIENT LIST,’ CALL LOGS

The release date is confirmed in the subpoena signed by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. The specific deadline listed in the subpoena is Sept. 8 at 12 p.m.

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is reviewing the possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein’s death, the operation of sex-trafficking rings and ways for the federal government to effectively combat them, and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials,” Comer stated in a cover letter that accompanied the subpoena.

TRUMP DOJ HANDING EPSTEIN DOCUMENTS TO HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON FRIDAY AS SUBPOENA DEADLINE LOOMS

“Recent reporting indicates the estate of Mr. Epstein has access to documents relevant to the Committee’s investigation, including the alleged ‘birthday book’ prepared for Mr. Epstein by Ms. Maxwell… It is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell,” Comer added.

BILL BARR, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY GENERAL, TO FACE HOUSE INVESTIGATORS IN EPSTEIN PROBE

House Oversight Democrats released a statement Monday supporting the subpoena for the book and calling on former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta to testify before Congress. He is expected to appear for a closed-door transcribed interview next month.

With a federal probe of the case under way, lawmakers have sought the testimony of several former high-ranking officials, such as former Attorney General Bill Barr. While Barr testified before lawmakers, Democrats, such as Reps. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, were not pleased with Republicans’ questions.

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Comer, who argued those accusations were baseless, implored Democrats not to politicize a bipartisan investigation. Divisions deepened after Comer said Barr had no knowledge of, nor did he believe there were any implications of wrongdoing on President Donald Trump’s part related to Epstein.

Garcia disagreed. Though he did not attend the deposition, he said in a statement that Barr did not clear Trump.

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

The Department of Justice is asking people to report illegal visa practices that could come at the expense of American workers.

Citizens are being urged to flag “discriminatory” advertisements for jobs, especially ones that state that the employer prefers people on a seasonal or H-1B visa.

“Are you an American citizen who has been harmed by inappropriate preferences for foreign workers, eg H1-B or other? Follow the link. It’s also a place to report human trafficking of immigrant workers, and Title VII employment discrimination,” Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ, posted to X on Friday.

OVER 55 MILLION VISA HOLDERS SUBJECTED TO CONTINUOUS VETTING AMID TRUMP ADMIN CRACKDOWN

The DOJ is also allowing people to send in tips for possible human trafficking violations related to temporary visa programs.

H-1B visas were the subject of debate earlier this year, as many opponents argued they hinder American talent in key sectors like technology, whereas others believe it bolsters the economy.

“The main function of the H-1B visa program and other guest worker initiatives is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, posted to X in January. “The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.”

RUBIO’S STATE DEPARTMENT YANKS MORE THAN 6K STUDENT VISAS DUE TO ASSAULT, BURGLARY, SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM

H-1B visas for fiscal year 2026 have already hit the legal petition limit with 65,000 that are standard, and an additional 20,000 for those with advanced degrees, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The visas are primarily meant for skilled workers, including “architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, business specialties, accounting, law, theology, and the arts,” according to the agency’s website.

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Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said the program has “become a total scam” in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham on Tuesday.

“These companies game the system. You have some of these companies that are laying off large numbers of Americans while they’re also getting new H-1 Bs and renewing existing H-1 Bs,” DeSantis said.

KEY IMMIGRATION PROPOSAL VOWS TO END ‘BACKDOOR HIRING PRACTICES’ IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES

“A lot of times people used to say, ‘Well, you know, we’re getting the cream of the crop from all around the world.’ The reality is that’s not actually what H1Bs are. Most of them are from one country, India. There’s a cottage industry about how all those people make money off this system,” he continued.

Major visa reform is already underway in the U.S., as the Trump administration is reviewing all 55 million visas to make sure people who are in the country are following the law.

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“The department’s continuous vetting includes all of the more than 55 million foreigners who currently hold valid U.S. visas,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital last week.

A visa could potentially be nixed by the department if there have been “overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity or providing support to a terrorist organization.”

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Democrats came ready to fight as they huddled this week at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) annual summer meeting.

But despite repeated talk that the party is unified as it aims to exit the political wilderness following last year’s election setbacks, Democrats fought among themselves multiple times during the three-day confab, which was held in Minnesota’s largest city.

As Democrats hunger for a more forceful response to counter President Donald Trump’s sweeping and controversial agenda, DNC Chair Ken Martin targeted the president, arguing Trump’s acting as “a dictator-in-chief” and that his second administration is “fascism dressed in a red tie.”

Martin, pointing to pushback by Democrats against moves this summer by Trump and Republicans to create more right-leaning U.S. House seats in states across the country through rare mid-decade congressional redistricting ahead of next year’s midterm elections, said that he’s “sick and tired of this Democratic Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight.”

TRUMP, DEMOCRATS, MULL HOLDING PRESIDENTIAL-STYLE CONVENTIONS AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS

“We cannot be the only party that plays by the rules anymore,” he urged.

And DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, in a Fox News Digital interview on the sidelines of the meeting, urged that Democrats “have to engage in a level of fight, not power for power’s sake, but we have to fight hard because we understand what’s at stake for working people and working families.”

DNC CHAIR DEMANDS DEMOCRATS ‘STOP BRINGING A PENCIL TO A KNIFE FIGHT’

And echoing Martin, he said, “We’ve been playing checkers. They’re playing Grand Theft Auto,” as he referred to the long-running and popular action-adventure video game series that revolves around shooting, driving, and stealing cars.

Amid talk that the party remains divided over a slew of policy and political issues, leaders preached unity.

“We do not have the luxury to fight amongst ourselves while that thing sits in the White House,” 2024 Democratic Party vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz emphasized, as he referred to Trump.

And Martin highlighted that “in this big tent party of ours, we are unified towards one single goal: to stop Donald Trump and put this country back on track.”

At several smaller panel discussions during the confab, a leader from the donor portal for Democrats known as ActBlue shared what was described as a fight song to energize party members.

The song and the lyrics, which were reported by Semafor, were mocked by conservatives on social media.

While unity was a top theme in Minneapolis, divisions did flare during the summer meeting.

There was plenty of disagreement as the DNC’s Resolutions Committee considered two dueling resolutions on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The panel voted down a symbolic resolution calling for an arms embargo and suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel, which has long been the top American ally in the Middle East.

A separate resolution introduced and supported by Martin that called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as well as unrestricted access to humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, was unanimously passed by the panel.

But the defeat of the second, more forceful resolution, which was introduced by 26-year-old Allison Minnerly, a new DNC member from Florida, sparked opposition among some members on the panel. 

DEMOCRATS DIVIDED: TENSIONS FLARE OVER WAR IN GAZA 

“It’s not enough,” Sophia Danenberg, a DNC committee member from Washington D.C., said as she pointed to Martin’s resolution. “People want to hear a louder, stronger, statement.”

Danenberg emphasized, “I do fear that we’re losing our future as the Democratic Party by not being courageous on this issue.”

Minutes later, following a private conversation between Martin and Minnerly, the DNC chair asked the committee to “withdraw my resolution so we can move united today and have the conversation.”

“We need to keep working through this. We have to find a path forward as a party, and we have to stay unified,” the chair added.

Martin’s move, which was embraced by the committee, may buy a little bit of time, but the party remains divided on the issue.

Joe Salas, a DNC committee member from California and a Muslim American, told Fox News after the defeat of Minnerly’s resolution, that “I think there is a disconnect between the people on the committee and the average lock-stock-and-barrel voters who identify with the Democratic Party.”

The showdown over the resolutions came as the Democratic Party’s once nearly unshakable support for Israel has fractured amid the bloodshed. And concerns over the growing death toll among Palestinians by many in the party’s progressive base have soared this spring and summer, amid what many describe as a famine in Gaza. Recent polling indicates support for Israel’s continued military actions in Gaza is plummeting among Democrats.

Democrats are aiming to rebound after last year’s elections when the party lost control of the White House and the Senate. Democrats also fell short in their bid to win back the House majority and Republicans made gains with voters who make up key parts of the Democratic Party’s base.

But the situation has only deteriorated for the Democrats in the 10 months since last year’s election setbacks, according to key metrics.

The Democrats’ brand is deeply unpopular, especially with younger voters, as the party’s poll numbers continue to drop to all-time lows in national surveys. 

The DNC continues to face a massive fundraising deficit at the hands of the rival Republican National Committee (RNC), as well as concerns over lagging party registration.

But Martin was optimistic.

While he acknowledged “that our cash on hand seems to be low by comparison to the Republicans,” he touted at Wednesday morning’s Executive Committee meeting that “we have raised $70 million so far this year, which is a record.”

And Martin pointed to a special election victory Tuesday night in red state Iowa, where the Democrats flipped a GOP-held state Senate seat.

“This is now 40 key elections this year that we’ve won or overperformed in,” Martin touted. “I want you to think about that for a second. Democrats, there’s wind at our back. We have overperformed in every single election that’s been on the ballot since Donald Trump was inaugurated.”

After a rough stretch after winning election as DNC chair in February, Martin appears to have steadied himself this summer, and there was plenty of praise for the new chair during the meeting, which on Wednesday was adjourned early after the deadly church shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis just a few miles from the DNC meeting.

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But Republicans say they’re also thrilled with Martin’s tenure so far. 

“Under Ken Martin’s leadership, Democrats have sunk to their lowest approval rating in 35 years, the DNC is still paying off millions in debt from Kamala Harris’ failed campaign,” RNC communications director Zach Parkinson told Fox News. “As Republicans, we think he is doing a fantastic job, and we fully endorse him to stay on as DNC Chair.”

While some Democrats have railed against President Donald Trump’s $200 million plan to remodel the White House ballroom, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., defended the investment in an interview with Fox News Digital. 

“The plans are going to be done in a tasteful and historical kind of way,” Fetterman said. “They’re not putting in a Dave & Buster’s kind of situation here, so I think upgrading some of these facilities seems pretty normal.”

But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., described Trump’s latest endeavor as anything but “normal.”

“The project at the White House is a gigantic boondoggle,” Blumenthal said. “The important question is not only the damage that it could do to the architecture of the White House, but also what contributors would have over Trump if they are giving to this project.”

TRUMP GAVE THE OVAL OFFICE A GILDED MAKEOVER – AND COVERED THE COST HIMSELF

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last month that Trump and private donors will fund the estimated $200 million cost of the new ballroom. 

TRUMP APPEARS ON WHITE HOUSE ROOF AMID TALKS OF HISTORIC RENOVATIONS

“Now, he is gonna be soliciting money from private contributors for this boondoggle, and the question is – what kind of influence and impact will those contributors have?” the Connecticut senator questioned. 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Democrats’ criticism is “not surprising to anyone.”

“That is the essence of their party,” Cruz said. “They wake up animated by hatred for Trump and hatred for the American people that voted for him.”

The Texas senator said he is grateful for the “phenomenal project,” and accused Democrats of hating anything Trump does. 

“A ballroom in the White House will be used by presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, and it’s being funded without a penny of taxpayer money,” Cruz said. 

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., however, acknowledged that the White House needs event space. 

Leavitt said the president is unable to host major functions with world leaders without installing a “large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building’s entrance.”

But Coons said that he doesn’t “know whether he actually has the authority to fundamentally alter the shape and scale of the White House without some White House Historical Association or some architect approving it.”

“The last time I checked there’s nothing in the law that says that,” Cruz fired back. 

Coons also raised an issue with the project’s timeline. Leavitt said the renovations will begin in September and will be “completed long before the end of President Trump’s term.” 

“My concern, given what I’ve heard so far, is that it wouldn’t be completed on his timeline, so that he will be the former president and whoever succeeds him will be stuck with what could be a white elephant,” Coons said. 

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., added that the ballroom is very “Trumponian,” but affirmed that “he’s gonna do it right.”

“I’m glad they’re doing it with private dollars,” Marshall added. “I think it’ll be a great thing to add and put that Trump stamp on the White House.”

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And Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., agreed, telling Fox News Digital that the new ballroom would be a great addition to the White House and celebrated that there would be “no cost to the taxpayer.”

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report. 

The Trump administration has ordered a nationwide review of public housing in an effort to root out residents who are in the country illegally, according to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced Friday.

Turner wrote that each Public Housing Authority has 30 days to conduct an audit to ensure that the existing orders are enforced. The department is asking for information about the public housing units, as well as verifiable citizenship or “eligible immigration status.”

“No longer will illegal aliens be able to leave citizenship boxes blank or take advantage of HUD-funded housing, riding the coattails of hardworking American citizens,” Turner wrote.

“Currently, HUD only serves one out of four eligible families due, in part, to the lack of enforcement of prohibition against federally funded assistance to illegal aliens,” he continued.

If a program does not comply with the request, it could risk “examination” of its own federal funding.

Turner told Fox News Channel’s Charles Hurt on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Friday that the DC Housing Authority was the first one to be placed on notice, but over 3,000 other PHAs are being told the same requirements nationwide, stressing that “American citizens will be prioritized.”

The move received praise from Republicans, but skepticism from others who said it could strain resources.

“Anyone in this country illegally should be deported, not given publicly funded housing!” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, posted to X.

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“This is already the law – proof of citizenship is a requirement for any public housing or section 8 unit. Requiring a second, immediate accounting will not provide a massive correction or eviction. It will simply divert staff from serving American seniors, vets etc.,” former Housing and Urban Development employee Cat Vielma posted.

In March, Turner and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem signed a Memorandum of Understanding to scrutinize public housing due to the surge of illegal immigration during the Biden administration.

“The entire government will work together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally,” Noem said. “If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over.”

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Washington, D.C. has become a major focus of the Trump administration in recent weeks amid the surge in National Guard troops and federal law enforcement in the city to crack down on crime. Other blue cities, like Chicago, could soon see troops deployed and possible immigration enforcement operations.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DC Housing Authority. 

It has been four years since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year foreign entanglement and leaving the fates of hundreds of thousands of people in the hands of the Taliban.

For House Republican lawmakers who served in the Armed Forces, in the Middle East in particular, the frustration and angst is still raw.

“I thought the withdrawal was the worst thing I’ve ever seen from any president in my lifetime. It was the most bungled operation I’ve seen,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital.

Bacon, a retired brigadier general with nearly 30 years’ experience in the Air Force, said the withdrawal left him and fellow veterans he spoke with feeling depressed.

FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND SAYS SHE ‘NEVER HAD A CONCERN’ ABOUT BIDEN’S MENTAL STATE AS HOUSE PROBE HEATS UP

“Why did our friends have to die there? Because all that [President Joe Biden] did, he pulled us out and it collapsed. We had 3,500 troops there when Biden came in. None of them were in combat. They were in support roles,” he said. “We could have sustained it at a low cost for a long time… And moms and dads wonder, why do we lose our son? I happen to know this to be true. I’ve talked to moms and dads. Why did I lose my son for something that Joe Biden just pulled the plug on and let it collapse?”

The Nebraska Republican said he himself knew five people who died serving in Afghanistan.

Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., a former Army Special Forces officer who served two tours in Afghanistan, said he cried when the chaos of the withdrawal dawned on him.

LONGTIME BIDEN AIDE SAYS HE STOOD TO EARN UP TO $8M HAD PRESIDENT WON RE-ELECTION

“I wept,” Harrigan told Fox News Digital. “I knew it was not about losing Afghanistan, right? It wasn’t about the 20 years’ worth of work that we put into that country. It wasn’t about the promises that we made that we didn’t keep. It wasn’t about even the 13 Americans that got killed. The reason I wept is because I believed that that display of strategic weakness on the world stage condemned the next generation of Americans to conflict.”

This past Tuesday also marked four years since the deadly suicide attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, which took the lives of dozens of Afghans and 13 U.S. service members.

“I would say it was a very, very, you know, cutting morale situation for everyone,” said Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., who served in the military for over 20 years.

“I can’t speak for everyone, but personally, I felt like it was complete and total failure of our leadership…We could watch this happen in slow motion. I mean, such terrible decisions that set up the vulnerability that ultimately resulted in that loss of life. And to know that we had troops there who were infants at the time of the attack of 9/11. They couldn’t even, they weren’t even old enough to remember when 9/11 happened.”

Bacon pointed out that the ISIS-K terrorist who committed the attack was released from prison at Bagram Air Base following the Taliban’s lightening-fast takeover of Afghanistan.

“I cannot think of a more botched operation than that,” he said.

Harrigan said, “We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that conflict, and to see it just effectively given away with no plan and absolutely no thought behind the withdrawal process, ultimately culminating in the deaths of 13 young Americans; none of that needed to happen. And I think that’s the most frustrating part of it.”

All three veterans said the chaotic withdrawal operation left damaging consequences in its wake.

“I think both the previous president and the current president could do better at helping the Afghan interpreters get out of Afghanistan and get into America,” Bacon said. 

“We have an obligation, in my view, to support these guys. I mean, they literally put their lives on the line to save Americans, and they’ve been hunted down in Afghanistan. They’ve been persecuted. And in some cases you hear stories of the current administration trying to return some of these folks. It’s just not right.”

Harrigan said the federal government handled Afghanistan “terribly” after the U.S. exit.

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“I mean, President Joe Biden was sending $40 million a week to the Taliban, for God knows what reason. And now we have no relationship with them at all, which I also think is a problem,” he said. “I think that Afghanistan has, historically, and will always be a safe haven for terrorism…if we are not constantly keeping a pulse on what’s going on there.”

Barrett pointed out that Afghanistan has since fallen under extremist control with Taliban rule and opened a “vacuum” for China and other adversaries to gain influence.

“I think we have to have a far more discerning, very realistic and clear-eyed mindset of the challenges that we’re going to face, and what is the second and third order effects of the decisions we make?” he posed. “You go into a country to liberate them. Well, what’s gonna happen the next day and the day after that, the day following?”

As Democratic leaders in Massachusetts triple down on resistance against federal intervention to clamp down on crime, a migrant shelter whistleblower is sounding the alarm about an increase in crime in neighborhoods across the state and especially in Boston.

Jon Fetherston, who ran one of the state-funded migrant shelters in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and blew the whistle about rampant crime and sex abuse taking place in the hotel shelter system. He now says that since Democratic Gov. Maura Healey closed down the shelter system, there has been an uptick in domestic violence, sex trafficking, shoplifting and even auto accidents.

“The Healey hotels were well known for having sex trafficking, domestic violence. We’ve reported cases of rape, unfortunately, in there,” Fetherston said. “Now, you’ve opened it up to all of the cities and towns in Massachusetts.”

$30K IN MIGRANT HOUSING AID HAS DEM GOV ON HOT SEAT FOR ‘REVOLVING DOOR’ POLICY

This comes as Healey has pushed back against the Trump administration’s federal crime crackdown in Washington, D.C., and preemptively criticized any intervention in Boston as “political theater.”

“More political power grabs from Donald Trump,” Healey wrote in a statement posted to X, adding, “We don’t need or want his interference here.”

In response, Fetherston said, “How the governor just wants the public to believe that all of these things will not happen is extremely naive and extremely dangerous.”

“Governor Healey wants you to think she just snaps her fingers and closes all of the hotels and then disperses people into the communities that the thousand incidents that were reported back in 2024, and the state has refused to release the data for 2025, she just thinks that those serious instances aren’t going to happen in the communities that now she’s forced people into.”

Referencing the high-profile case of illegal immigrant Harjinder Singh allegedly causing an auto accident in Florida that killed three, Fetherston said, “you’ve seen the national stories of unlicensed or illegals with driver’s licenses and CDLs. I haven’t seen that, but I’ve seen a tremendous uptick in car accidents.”

BIKE-RIDING YOUTHS TERRORIZE DEM-RUN CITY AS MOBS SWARM ROADS, WHILE MAYOR STAYS SILENT ON CHAOS

Fetherston said that Boston has been particularly impacted by the rise in crime.  

“Your eyes tell you all you need to know. Crime is on an uptick in Boston. Things are not good in Boston,” he said. “Boston was once a great city. It is no longer a great city. It is a city that with open drug use, the crime rates have spiked.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, also a Democrat, has rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigrant crime or to send the National Guard to the city.

Wu has said, “In Boston, we comply and follow all of the laws, city, state and federal. And we will not back down from communities that have made us the safest major city in the country.”

Wu has also commented, “This is a beautiful, diverse, incredible city, and I have said it now very directly, this administration needs to stop attacking cities to hide their own failures.” 

In response, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has vowed to “flood” Boston with federal agents.

MARYLAND GOVERNOR SAYS HE WOULD ‘ABSOLUTELY WELCOME’ FEDERAL SUPPORT IN CRIME CRACKDOWN

To Fetherston, an increased ICE presence would be welcome, while Wu’s resistance is indefensible.

“How any elected official could not put public safety as the biggest priority of any job that they do, it’s disgusting to me and it’s very concerning,” he said, adding, “Mayor Wu wants to tell you that Boston is one of the safest cities. No, your eyes tell you that Boston has in great decline.”

Regarding threats by the Trump administration and Homeland Security to intervene in Boston and Massachusetts, Fetherston said he believes that “anybody who lives in a crime-ridden area, which there are a lot in Massachusetts, will appreciate the effect of it.”

“I’ve talked to business owners, I’ve talk to local law enforcement, anybody who wants to have a sensible conversation about fixing crime in their community, they support what the president’s doing and wants to do,” he explained. “Yeah, some people probably don’t like the optics because maybe they don’t understand it. And the media is doing, in my opinion, doing a bad job of describing it. Tanks are not rolling down people’s streets. The National Guard‘s not walking with guns into your backyard and stuff like that. We’re just there to protect and serve, and that’s what your local police does.”

“If you don’t want that as an elected official, I don’t want you as my elected official,” he said.

PRITZKER SAYS ‘ACTION WILL BE MET WITH A RESPONSE’ AFTER TRUMP THREATENS TO SEND NATIONAL GUARD TO CHICAGO

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Healey and Wu but did not immediately receive a response. 

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White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson commented on Healey and Wu’s resistance by saying, “If these Democrats focused on fixing crime in their own cities instead of doing publicity stunts to criticize the President, their communities would be much safer.”

“Cracking down on crime should not be a partisan issue, but Democrats suffering from TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome] are trying to make it one,” she went on, adding, “They should listen to fellow Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser who recently celebrated the Trump Administration’s success in driving down violent crime in Washington DC.” 

Bowser’s office declined to comment further, referring Fox News Digital to the mayor’s prior statements.

Demetre Daskalakis, an official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), resigned this week, claiming the Trump administration’s policies ignore science. However, his own leadership during the Biden-era monkeypox response was criticized for putting optics over public health.

Amid the Trump administration’s efforts to push out CDC Director Susan Monarez, a handful of other top CDC officials, including Daskalakis, resigned in protest of the Trump administration’s policies. Daskalakis wrote in his resignation letter that was posted to social media that the health policies put forward by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy do not “reflect scientific reality.” He also accused the Trump administration of attempting to “erase transgender populations,” while also using the term “pregnant people” to describe women who are about to give birth.

But flashback to 2022 and 2023, after the monkeypox virus had spread across several countries and made its way into the U.S., during which Daskalakis was among the Biden administration’s top advisers who spearheaded the national response to the disease outbreak. 

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Government communications from that time period, uncovered by watchdog group the Oversight Project, show that officials were aware that the disease was spreading among the gay community. However, those communications, and other records, show the administration appeared to be more concerned with protecting the stigma targeting the gay community, than they were with implementing measures that would provide the best mitigation response.

“A common theme was public health officials identifying locations where outbreaks occurred, to include bathhouses and saunas,” according to the Oversight Project. “Officials never broached consideration of shutting down these locations. This draws a stark contrast to the public health guidance and shutdowns of gathering places during COVID, to include gyms and skate parks.”

In 2023, after the monkeypox outbreak had taken hold in the U.S., Daskalakis went on national television to let the country know that his team was “making sure [they] got the word out in a way that supports people’s joy, as opposed to calling them risky.”

“You know, one person’s idea of risk, is another person’s idea of a great festival or Friday night, for that matter. So, we have to sort of embrace that with joy and make sure that folks know how to keep themselves safe,” the Biden monkeypox coordinator added.

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Meanwhile, during the outbreak, Daskalkis posted a tweet from gay sex app Grindr that stated “Dr. Daskalakis could jab me any day,” with a sticker of a flattered cat.

In other social media posts from around the same time, Daskalkis can be seen using male models wearing leather bondage straps to make an entrance at an HIV prevention summit. 

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While in his role at the White House leading the monkeypox response, Daskalkis also reportedly ran an STD screening operation from an after-hours sex club in New York City. When asked about the operation in an interview, Daskalakis described it as “exciting” and added there was “not much sleep time.” Later in the interview, he added: “I’d already kind of been the bathhouse HIV testing doctor.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Daskalakis about the juxtaposition between his criticism of Kennedy’s policies not reflecting “scientific reality,” and his role in the Biden administration’s approach to monkeypox, but did not receive an immediate response.

A pair of parents from Virginia say their sons, who were suspended and found responsible for sexual harassment after questioning why a biological female was using the boys locker room, were provided no formal way to express discomfort with their school’s transgender locker room policy.

Parents Renae Smith and Seth Wolfe say unclear policies and poor communication on the part of the Loudoun County Public Schools District led to the Title IX ruling and 10-day suspension for the boys. They say their kids were never instructed on how to communicate any potential concerns about the district’s transgender locker room or pronoun policy, nor did parents ever get notified about how to help their kids understand them.

Earlier this year, the Loudoun County school district launched a sexual harassment investigation into the two boys after they were videotaped by a biological female who identified as transgender inside the boys locker room. The video caught them outwardly complaining to each other about the fact that there was a girl using their facilities. 

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Smith, Wolfe and their attorney, Josh Hetzler, said the boys tried to speak to alert administrators about their discomfort with a biological female using their locker room. However, the concerns fell on deaf ears, they recounted.

“There was an incident earlier in the year where one of the students involved with this went to another administration and was uncomfortable with it. They were pretty much just told, ‘This is how it is and to accept it,’ and they’re not supposed to say anything about it,” Wolfe relayed to Fox News Digital. 

“The more we look into it, no adult ever actually told these boys how to communicate with this individual. How to use the pronouns that are appropriate. They never gave us as parents opportunities to even talk to our children about this.”

“I specifically asked my son what they did to prepare them for this type of situation and the answer was absolutely nothing,” Smith added. “If you’re going to implement this policy on paper, you better have a strategy for it in the classroom.”

In response to accusations that the boys’ complaints fell on deaf ears, the district contested that it has never suspended a student “simply because they expressed some kind of discomfort.”

“At no time would LCPS suspend a student simply because they expressed some kind of discomfort,” district spokesperson Dan Adams told Fox News Digital. “A reading of our Title IX resources should make it clear that there is a high bar to launch a Title IX investigation and an even higher bar to determine a student is in violation of Title IX.”

Fox News Digital responded with questions about what the district was accusing the boys of beyond expressing discomfort but did not hear back.

VIRGINIA SCHOOL DISTRICT ACCUSED OF RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM CASE

In addition to the confusing nature of the ongoing school controversy, Smith told Fox News Digital she thought the allegations themselves were also confusing.

“I think the allegations themselves lend a lot of confusion,” Smith said. “Like, how do we get to sexual harassment based off of somebody asking why there’s a girl in their locker room?”

Smith also questioned why the other student, who filmed the boys, was not similarly disciplined. 

Smith and Wolfe, along with their attorney, are appealing the Loudoun County Public Schools Title IX ruling, which found their kids responsible for sexual harassment and suspended them for 10 days. While Smith has taken her child out-of-state, Wolfe’s son has been able to attend the first several days of school because the appeal put a hold on the boys’ suspensions. 

The boys’ attorney with the Founding Freedoms Law Center said they are now partnering with another law group, America First Legal,, to take legal action.

The families and their attorneys intend to exhaust all avenues in an attempt to overturn the district’s Title IX ruling finding their sons responsible for sexual harassment, which they fear will have long-term impacts on their kids, particularly when it comes to getting into college.

However, Hetzler said he is not hopeful their appeal will overturn anything.

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“I don’t know who the exact person is who’s making the appeal decision. I get the sense that it’s a pretty tight-knit group overall in Loudoun County Public Schools, so I don’t expect a different result,” Hetzler said. “Ultimately, I think we’re going to have to sue them. I think we’re going to have to go into federal court. And if we go into a federal court, then the Department of Justice will have an opportunity to intervene in the case.”

Hetzler noted that they would like to avoid going to court but said “the reality is that at every point along the way, when Loudoun County has had the opportunity to do the right thing, they always seem to do the wrong thing.”

“We’d love for Loudoun to do the right thing and avoid [court], but we’ve got to stop these boys from being suspended, because once they’re suspended and they miss school, you can’t unring that bell,” Hetzler continued. “So, we’re gonna prevent that, and then we’re trying to make sure that this is scrubbed from their record because they should never have a Title IX sexual harassment on their record for simply complaining about a girl being in their locker room.”