NationalWatch

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s plan to move FBI headquarters into Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Building, preserving the previously selected Greenbelt, Maryland, site for the bureau’s long-planned new headquarters.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled Monday that the FBI and General Services Administration’s (GSA) decisions to select the Reagan Building were “not in accordance with law” and exceeded their statutory authority. The court also found the FBI’s decision to redirect previously appropriated funds toward the move was arbitrary and capricious.

The FBI blasted the decision in a statement to Fox News.

REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT MAKES DRASTIC CHANGE FOLLOWING DEADLY 2025 MIDAIR COLLISION

“This is not the first time courts have tried to undermine the administration in its goal to make government more cost-effective for American taxpayers. The court has chosen to impermissibly intervene for political reasons. This FBI is mission focused and will continue the best course of action to meet the needs of law enforcement. Sycophants seeking to undermine the work of this FBI, which has led the largest reduction in crime in American history under President Trump, will not deter us.”

The ruling marks the latest turn in a fight stretching back more than a decade over replacing the deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Building, which has housed FBI headquarters since 1974. The court noted that the building is obsolete, cannot house all headquarters staff and does not meet applicable security standards.

GSA selected Greenbelt in 2023 after Congress directed the agency to choose among three previously identified sites: Greenbelt and Landover, Maryland, or Springfield, Virginia. But in July 2025, the FBI and GSA announced that they instead planned to relocate headquarters to the Reagan Building in Washington.

GSA FINDS CHINA-MADE TECH LABELED ‘MADE IN USA,’ ORDERS SWEEPING FEDERAL PROCUREMENT REVIEW

Chuang found that those congressional site-selection requirements prevented the agencies from unilaterally choosing a different location. The court said the Reagan Building was not among the three sites Congress authorized and that the FBI exceeded its statutory authority by selecting it.

The ruling blocks the FBI from moving forward with its planned headquarters at the Reagan Building and reinstates Greenbelt, Maryland, as the selected site. The judge said Congress would have to change the law if the administration wants to pursue a different location.

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The White House referred Fox News Digital to the FBI for comment on the ruling.

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this reporting.

Wyoming Republicans chose Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wy., on Tuesday as their nominee for U.S. Senate in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis.

Lummis, elected to the Senate in 2020 after serving four terms in the U.S. House , announced she would not seek a second term, opening the seat in one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states.

Hageman emerged from a five-way Republican primary featuring former Kirby Mayor Sam Mead, Jill Edwards, John Holtz and former environmental services business owner Jimmy Skovgard.

2026 MIDTERMS: PRIMARIES, KEY RACES AND ELECTION RESULTS

Hageman, in the country’s most red state based on registered voter percentage, entered the race as the best-known and best-funded candidate in the field. She is seeking a promotion to the upper chamber.

President Donald Trump endorsed Hageman after also backing her successful 2022 campaign to unseat former Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming’s Republican House primary.

Now serving her second term as Wyoming’s lone U.S. House member, Hageman rose to national prominence with her victory over Cheney.

Cheney became Trump’s biggest target in 2022 after she served as one of the only two Republicans on the House Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots alongside fellow GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-IL, who did not seek reelection that year.

The ousted Wyoming congresswoman, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, become one of Trump’s most prominent Republican critics.

TRUMP-BACKED NOMINEES DOMINATE PRIMARY CONTESTS AS PRESIDENT TIGHTENS PARTY VICE GRIP

Hageman will now face the Democratic nominee in the Nov. 3 general election — though with Wyoming’s deep red roots, it’s highly unlikely the single U.S. House seat will flip blue this year.

The at-large seat is ranked by the bipartisan Cook Political Report as solidly Republican with a R+23, the best odds of any Senate race this election cycle.

Republicans enter the general election with a substantial advantage in Wyoming. All of the state’s statewide elected offices are currently held by Republicans.

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The Senate contest is part of an unusually large turnover in Wyoming’s political leadership.

For the first time in 32 years, the state has open races for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House in the same election cycle.

Tuesday night’s primary elections featured closely watched federal races from sunny South Florida to the frigid Alaskan tundra and two states in between, all of which will help decide whether Republicans maintain control of Congress, or whether Democrats overtake them.

Three states also featured critical gubernatorial primary elections.

Observers are already using the race results as bellwethers to gauge Trump’s grip over the GOP and the power of the emergent socialist movement.

Here’s what stood out:

Sunshine State socialist scores shocking Senate upset despite being heavily outspent

A socialist will have a chance to unseat a sitting Republican senator after upsetting a heavily favored opponent who outspent her nine-to-one.

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member and Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon scored a massive upset in the state’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Nixon ran against retired Air Force Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a prominent critic of Trump who played a central role in the left’s failed 2019 impeachment attempt, who was expected to emerge victorious.

She defeated Vindman by almost 12 points, despite his $16.3 million war chest, compared to hers of only about $1 million. As of July, Vindman had spent about $9 million on the race, while Nixon had spent just over $700,000.

TRUMP’S HANDPICKED DESANTIS SUCCESSOR WINS CROWDED GOP PRIMARY FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR

Nixon will square off in a statewide race against Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla.

Trump has a hit-or-miss endorsement night

Florida

Across the country, some of Trump’s endorsed candidates won their respective races, while others struggled.

Trump-endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., won the Sunshine State’s Republican gubernatorial primary against a field that included Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and outsider James Fishback. Donalds won 47%, compared with 25% for Collins and 10.5% for Fishback. 

Donalds will face former Florida Republican congressman-turned-Democrat David Jolly, who won the nod for the job on the Democratic side.

TRUMP FLEXES GOP MUSCLE IN ARIZONA PRIMARIES AS DEMS DODGE FAR-LEFT UPSET

Likewise, Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, herself a Trump endorsee, took home a victory in a special Senate primary election to finish the remainder of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate term, which ends in 2028. Moody was appointed to the seat last year after Rubio joined the Trump administration.

Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida’s 6th Congressional District, also endorsed by Trump, easily won his reelection bid.

However, it wasn’t all smiles for Team Trump.

Scandal-plagued incumbent Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who represents the state’s 7th Congressional District, lost his race to challenger and former TV anchor Ryan Elijah.

Trump endorsed Mills in February, but the congressman is facing a wide-ranging House Ethics Committee investigation into possible campaign finance violations, allegations of assault against a romantic partner and allegations of improperly received or solicited gifts. Mills has denied wrongdoing.

The 7th District leans red, meaning Elijah should have an edge come November.

Meanwhile, Catalina Lauf, who scored an 11th-hour endorsement from Trump last week, lost her bid to fill Donalds’ seat in Florida’s 19th Congressional District in a race that featured several unusual political twists. 

Media executive Jim Schwartzel won the five-way race with 29.1% of the vote, while Lauf earned 22%. Businessman Jim Oberweis placed third with 15.7% of the vote.

Lauf and Oberweis are familiar rivals, having squared off in a crowded midwestern Republican primary years ago. Both ran in Illinois’ 14th Congressional District back in 2020. Oberweis won that round, but lost to a Democrat in the general election.

Two years later, Lauf ran unsuccessfully in Illinois’ 11th Congressional District, though that race did not feature Oberweis.

The fourth-place finisher in Tuesday night’s 19th Congressional District race in Florida was former Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, who was defeated in 2022 amid scandal and after attempting to change districts.

Schwartzel is all but certain to win his November general election in the deep red district.

AMERICA’S REDDEST STATE CROWNS GOP GOVERNOR NOMINEE

Wyoming

A similar story played out in the western U.S.

In Wyoming’s U.S. Senate primary, Trump-endorsed Rep. Harriet Hageman, who serves as the state’s at-large congresswoman, won in a landslide. She defeated cattle rancher Sam Mead. With 80% of the votes counted, Hageman held a 62% to 28% lead over Mead, with three others lagging well behind.

However, in Wyoming’s gubernatorial primary, Republican voters spurned Trump’s choice, electing state Sen. Eric Barlow over Megan Degenfelder, the state’s superintendent of public instruction. Barlow, too, won decidedly, holding a lead of 50% to Degenfelder’s 29.7% with three quarters of the votes counted.

Both races were called shortly after polls closed.

TRUMP-ALIGNED CONSERVATIVE EMERGES FROM CROWDED PRIMARY TO DECIDE WHO FILLS WYOMING’S LONE HOUSE SEAT

Wyoming’s Secretary of State Chuck Gray won a competitive five-way primary, garnering 25% of the vote. Businessman Steve Freiss earned 20.7% of the vote. Army veteran Kevin Christensen won 17.8% of the vote.

The state hasn’t elected a Democrat in a statewide race since 2006, and that trend is likely to continue in November.

Alaska

Incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan finished second in the state’s non-partisan primaries, and will move on to the general election where he will face three other candidates, including former Democratic congresswoman Mary Peltola, the top vote-getter, in November.

Trump buried the losses in a post on TRUTH Social.

“A lot of great WINS tonight!!!” he said.

VETERAN DEM DEFEATS SCANDAL-PLAGUED FORMER LAWMAKER, PROGRESSIVE CHALLENGER IN TRUMP’S BACKYARD

Moderate Dems fend off far-left in Florida House races

On the House side, a familiar face won in the newly redrawn 20th Congressional District in Florida. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was drawn out of the 25th District, which she currently represents.

Wasserman Schultz defeated four other candidates, including self-proclaimed socialist activist Elijah Manley, a serious contender who raised nearly $1 million in his bid. Despite the fundraising haul, Manley placed third behind former mayor of Broward County Dale Holness.

Manley argued on Monday night in an appearance on NBC News that it was inappropriate for Wasserman Schultz to run in the 20th District when she lives in what is now the 22nd District, and said Democrats “need fresh leaders” in Washington. He also argued that it was inappropriate for a White person to occupy the seat.

Race became a major issue in the contest, with Wasserman Schultz’s detractors criticizing her decision to run in a district described as “historically Black.”

“One of the last remaining opportunity districts that we have in the South being held by a white Democrat, that’s unacceptable,” Manley said in his Monday interview.

Former Democratic Rep. Sheri Cherfilus-McCormick placed fourth in the race. She represented the district until April when she resigned after facing federal criminal charges involving alleged misuse of disaster-relief funds. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Wasserman Schultz should have a significant advantage in November in a district that heavily favors Democrats.

Elsewhere in the state, Rep. Jared Moskowitz crushed a surging socialist challenger in Florida’s 25th Congressional District, defeating Oliver Larkin by a 64%-36% margin.

Moskowitz ran as a centrist Democrat, while Larkin proudly touted his membership in the DSA on the campaign trail.

Larkin said on the campaign trail that he wanted to abolish and prosecute members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), taking his party’s stance on ending the agency one step further. The former Bernie Sanders campaign field director also championed packing the Supreme Court, a $25 minimum wage, ending the Cuba embargo and D.C. statehood, along with statehood for Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Moskowitz issued a fiery statement denouncing the DSA.

“Tonight, Democratic voters sent a clear message. I faced a challenge from the DSA. They threw everything at me and I didn’t change who I am or what I believe, and the voters overwhelmingly chose the independent-minded approach I’ve brought to Congress,” he said. “I led the effort to have Kristi Noem fired, I’ve taken on this Administration, and I’ve taken on extremes in the DSA and won. Now we’re running in a tough district hand-drawn by Republicans to defeat me, but I plan to win that too.”

Moskowitz’s district, once reliably blue, leans Republican after redistricting. He will face Republican former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer.

Incumbent GOP senator advances in Alaska

One of the most closely watched Senate races in the country is ongoing in Alaska, as Republicans cling to a narrow majority in the upper chamber.

Alaska has non-partisan “top-four” primary elections, meaning that candidates from all parties compete in an open race, and the top four vote-getters advance to the general election. In the general election, the state uses ranked-choice voting.

Trump-endorsed Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan faced 15 primary challengers, including former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and a retired teacher.

The incumbent Sullivan was second in voting at the time the race was called, and will move on to the general election. Peltola, who lost her seat to Republican Rep. Nick Begich III in 2024, was in first and held a razor-thin lead of less than 1%.

Alaska’s only member of the House, Begich, will be on the ballot in November as he battles to keep his seat. He will be joined by independent fisherman Bill Hill, while two additional spots in the four-candidate field remained uncalled early Wednesday.

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The top two contenders in the gubernatorial race were separated by only two percentage points at the time AP called the race.

Politics runs in the Begich family, as Nick’s uncle, Tom Begich, a Democrat and former state senator, secured a spot in the November general election alongside Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

As of early Wednesday morning, AP had not yet called the final two candidates advancing in each of Alaska’s Senate, House and gubernatorial races, all of which send four candidates to the November general election.

President Donald Trump is scaling back major joint military exercises with South Korea after Seoul declined to support U.S. operations against Iran, a sharp U-turn with an ally his administration publicly praised just days prior.

The move came just three days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio called South Korea an “indispensable partner” and said the allies had entered a “historic new era” of cooperation following Trump’s state visit to Seoul last fall.

Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital that Trump appears to see the drill reduction as a win-win for the U.S. — pressure Seoul to move faster on investment and burden-sharing while offer Kim incentives to reopen diplomacy.

“He sees this as a two for one,” Cha said. “A combination of things led to Trump’s frustration, that South Korea is not moving the trade and investment framework agreement on investments faster and his desire to meet the North Korean leader.”

TRUMP ORDERS MAJOR CUT TO US-SOUTH KOREA DRILLS AS NORTH KOREA RAMPS UP MISSILE TESTS

Behind the administration’s recent praise of Seoul, strains had been building, potentially leading to the mixed-messaging.

Trump has grown frustrated with the slow rollout of a $350 billion trade and investment framework, commercial disputes involving American companies and what he sees as South Korea’s unwillingness to do more for U.S. priorities, Cha detailed.

“That combination of things led Trump to make a decision where he said, ‘Hey, yeah, I’m gonna scale down these exercises maybe it’ll get a response from Kim Jong-un. At the same time, the South Koreans are rich, they should be doing their own exercises and like we should not be paying for them.'”

The deal would bring substantial South Korean investment to the United States while offering Seoul expanded cooperation on shipbuilding and nuclear-powered submarines.

But the first investments have moved slowly, despite Trump’s earlier threat to raise tariffs on South Korean goods by 25%, while parallel agreements with Japan are advancing faster.

The pressure on Seoul comes as Trump returns to another unfinished project from his first term: diplomacy with Kim.

Trump’s tumultuous relationship with the North Korean leader swung between threats of “fire and fury” and historic summits. The first was in Singapore in 2018 and the second in Hanoi in 2019, which was followed by a third meeting at the Korean demilitarized zone later that year.

NORTH KOREA EXPERT WARNS US CAN ‘NEVER TAKE THEIR EYE OFF’ KIM JONG UN FOLLOWING MISSILE TEST DURING IRAN WAR

The formal encounters made Trump the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader, but the diplomacy ended without a denuclearization deal after negotiations collapsed over the terms of sanctions relief and North Korea’s nuclear program.

In announcing the exercise cut, Trump wrote that the drills “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” during his second term.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for more details. A War Department official said the department is “actively working on executing the Commander-in-Chief’s directive,” while declining to offer details.

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, has said her brother retains good memories of Trump, but North Korea has expanded its nuclear and missile capabilities since the first summits while deepening its ties with Russia and China.

Pyongyang has not ruled out returning to diplomacy, but it has also signaled that Washington would first need to abandon its demand for North Korean denuclearization.

NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES ANOTHER BALLISTIC MISSILE AS US, SOUTH KOREA PREPARE FOR MILITARY DRILLS

“Where they haven’t ruled out negotiations with the U.S., but they have basically said, unless the U.S. accepts their nuclear status, there isn’t really a reason to talk,” Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center and director of 38 North, told Fox News Digital.

The drills are more than a show of force, they are where American and South Korean troops practice how to fight together if deterrence fails — from moving forces and equipment to sharing targeting information and operating under a single command structure.

Before Trump’s order, this year’s Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise was set to incorporate lessons from the war in Ukraine, including drone warfare, GPS disruption and the prospect of losing communications in a crisis.

Those are no longer theoretical concerns for the alliance: North Korean troops have fought alongside Russian forces and brought battlefield experience back to the peninsula.

SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT JUMPS TO INVEST IN MILITARY AFTER TRUMP CUTS JOINT EXERCISES

“The exercises are the biggest military maneuver exercise that the Alliance does every year,” Cha said. “There’s nothing that can substitute for live fire and military exercises.”

Town said the last-minute nature of the decision risks creating uncertainty inside the alliance.

“This last minute haphazard way of sending this message really sends a lot of mixed messages, but also creates a lot of angst in the U.S.-South Korea alliance,” she said.

Trump’s order drew bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said: “North and South Korea are still technically at war.”

“Our ability to help defend our ally against the North Koreans is because our forces are well trained and able to coordinate with the South Koreans. Hollowing out these joint exercises is shortsighted and a mistake,” the retired U.S. Navy Captain added.

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Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican, said reducing the drills “does nothing more than free up thousands of North Korea’s troops to support Putin’s systematic kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder of innocent Ukrainian citizens.”

“President Trump is playing right into Kim Jong-Un’s hands,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., claimed on X.

“Our alliance with South Korea is critical to U.S. security and announcing a decision to unilaterally scale back joint exercises, over social media, all while touting a “very good relationship” with Kim, is a gross miscalculation,” she added.

“Trump is rewarding a regime that sends weapons and troops to fight for Russia and has a long history of cooperation with Iran. Undermining our allies while making concessions to our adversaries is not a show of strength—it only emboldens those who threaten us.:”

Former state representative James Byrd advanced Tuesday against former golf club greenskeeper Billy Benavidez in Wyoming’s Democratic primary race for the newly opened Senate seat.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis announced in December that she would not seek re-election, saying she did not have the energy for another six-year term and creating an open Senate seat in deep-red Wyoming.

Byrd was an exploration geophysicist in the energy industry then later became an IT project manager and software consultant.

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He served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for a decade, beginning in 2009, and has touted his bipartisan approach to lawmaking in a majority Republican legislature.

The Senate seat has been held by Republicans since 1962. Joseph O’Mahoney was the last Democrat elected to the seat, winning in 1954, while Democrat John J. Hickey was appointed to the seat in 1961 and served until November 1962.

The moderate Democratic candidate ran a Wyoming-first campaign running on protecting public lands, supporting energy jobs and lowering rural healthcare costs.

SON OF REPUBLICAN MEGADONOR THROWS HAT IN THE RING FOR OPEN AT-LARGE HOUSE SEAT IN WYOMING

His opponent, Benavidez, ran as a more libertarian-leaning Democrat, campaigning on individual liberty, opposition to government surveillance, free-market policies, congressional term limits, and reducing the power of the federal government.

Byrd has criticized President Donald Trump over tariffs, arguing they have hurt Wyoming beef and agricultural products by reducing access to foreign markets.

TRUMP BET TARIFFS WOULD BRING BACK AMERICAN FACTORY JOBS. NEW REPORT SAYS IT DIDN’T WORK

On immigration, Byrd has taken a more moderate stance than many Democrats, supporting stronger border security and enforcement while opposing family separation and backing broader immigration reform and expanded legal pathways for workers.

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Byrd has also backed expanding data centers in Wyoming, arguing they could diversify the state’s economy, create jobs and take advantage of Wyoming’s abundant energy resources.

The special election to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., remained undecided in the early Wednesday morning hours.

The battle to succeed Swalwell comes after he resigned in April amid sexual assault allegations from at least five women. Prior to the allegations, Swalwell was also making a bid for California’s gubernatorial race, but he dropped that bid as well.

Vying for Swalwell’s seat are two women: progressive state Sen. Aisha Wahab and moderate Democrat and Bay Area Rapid Transit Board (BART) President Melissa Hernandez.

Tuesday’s primary race will determine who will immediately fill Swalwell’s seat for the remainder of the term. However, it is also serving as the primary race for the midterms, meaning that Wahab and Hernandez will face each other again in November.

STATE OF PLAY: HIGHLY WATCHED HONG RACE REMAINS TOO CLOSE TO CALL AS PROGRESSIVES NOTCH KEY PRIMARY WINS

Wahab and Hernandez both emerged as the “top-two” vote getters in the special election’s jungle primary race held on June 16 for California’s 14th Congressional District. Under California law, elections have open primaries, meaning whoever the top vote getters are, regardless of their party affiliation, will move on to the general election.

The race between Hernandez and Wahab mirrors a larger trend reflected across Democratic primary races, as far-left progressive candidates, often backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, are seeking to defeat establishment-backed Democratic candidates.

Wahab, who has served in the state Senate since 2022, is running on a campaign platform centered on cracking down on ICE, having co-authored legislation making it easier for citizens to sue agents, lowering prescription drug prices and pushing for investments in green and renewable energy. She has received the backing of Our Revolution, a group that was founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Attorney General Rob Bonta, and fellow progressives Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Congressman Greg Casar.

Hernandez, on the other hand, has taken a moderate approach on key issues such as immigration. Hernandez, who is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, acknowledged that the immigration system is “broken” but that she “supports smart border security and regional cooperation.”

She has received the endorsement of close to a dozen Congressional members.

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But despite Wahab’s critical stance of ICE, she found herself in the hot seat when her father took to Facebook calling for his daughter’s supporters to “call ICE” on Hernandez. The mishap led to Wahab’s campaign to issue an apology on its website.

Wyoming’s Republican Secretary of State Chuck Gray has won the GOP nomination for the state’s at-large U.S. House seat to replace Rep. Harriet Hageman, who is running for Senate.

Gray emerged from a crowded primary to become the heavy favorite to represent the deeply conservative state in Congress. Gray, a prominent Trump-aligned conservative who has served as secretary of state since 2023, defeated a field that included businessman Steve Friess and Reid Rasner.

WYOMING ELECTION CHIEF MOUNTS FULL-COURT PRESS AGAINST ‘RADICAL LEFT’S’ PUSH TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM BALLOT

The Republican primary was triggered by Rep. Harriet Hageman’s decision to give up Wyoming’s lone House seat and run for the U.S. Senate. Hageman, who was first elected to Congress in 2022 after defeating former Rep. Liz Cheney in a nationally watched Republican primary, is seeking the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis.

The reshuffling has produced an unusual number of open races in Wyoming, with the governorship, Senate seat and House seat all open in the same election cycle for the first time in more than three decades.

GOP LAWMAKER RIPS ‘LOST IN THE WILDERNESS’ DOGE PROTESTERS AMID CHAOS AT HER TOWN HALL: ‘HIGHLY ORCHESTRATED’

The contest to replace Hageman drew a sprawling Republican field and became the most expensive race on Wyoming’s primary ballot.

The race unfolded without an endorsement from either Trump or Hageman, leaving candidates to compete for many of the same conservative voters. That stood in contrast to other major Wyoming primaries: Trump endorsed Hageman in the Senate contest and state Superintendent Megan Degenfelder in the governor’s race.

Whoever captures the Republican nomination will be heavily favored in November. Wyoming is among the most Republican states in the country with Trump carrying the state by nearly 46 percentage points in 2024, his largest margin in any state.

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Wyoming has elected just one Democrat to statewide office in more than three decades. Republicans also hold every statewide elected office and overwhelming majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature.

A group of unions and advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to block the Trump administration from enforcing new visa restrictions that would limit how long foreign students and journalists can stay in the U.S. without applying for extensions.

The Department of Homeland Security’s rule creates fixed periods of admission for people in F status as international students, J status as exchange visitors and I status as foreign journalists.

People in those classifications generally have been admitted for the duration of their studies, exchange programs or qualifying media assignments rather than until a fixed date.

Under the new rule, set to take effect on September 15, F students and J exchange visitors generally would be admitted for the length of their program, for no more than four years at a time, and would have to seek an extension to remain longer.

TRUMP ADMIN PLANS TO IMPOSE 4-YEAR LIMITS FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS STUDYING IN US

The period of admission for most foreign journalists in I status, which currently can last years, would be limited to 240 days, while I-status journalists presenting PRC passports, excluding Hong Kong and Macau SAR passport holders, generally would be admitted for up to 90 days. Journalists may seek extensions of up to 240 days, or 90 days for the covered PRC passport holders, but no longer than the length of their assignment.

In the lawsuit, the coalition said the new changes would be “catastrophic” for universities, international students and scholars and the U.S.

“They will discourage foreign students and other nonimmigrants from coming to the United States, repelled by the intolerable prospect of losing lawful immigration status partway through their studies,” the groups said in the lawsuit.

The rule does not require international students to complete their studies within four years; students in longer programs may apply to extend their stay. It separately imposes new restrictions on transfers and changes in educational objectives, including limits affecting some graduate-level students.

Foreign students, notably, typically pay more tuition and receive fewer scholarship opportunities, meaning the proposed rule may have a financial impact on U.S. colleges if it leads to a dip in international enrollment.

“Students will lose opportunities, schools will lose talent, and the public will lose billions of dollars of economic contributions supported by one of the United States’ top exports: education,” the complaint reads.

The Department of Homeland Security dismissed the lawsuit as “performative,” arguing that the changes would root out fraud without offering evidence of the alleged fraud.

DHS has said the fixed periods of admission will allow immigration officials to periodically assess whether visa holders continue to comply with the terms of their status.

“If the media really cared about legitimate international students, they would be thanking President Trump for cracking down on the rampant fraud to ensure only those truly intending to study in the United States are given the privilege,” a department spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss, whose organization represents thousands of media members in the U.S., called the rule an attack on journalists.

TRUMP JOLTS IMMIGRATION HAWKS WITH SURPRISING DEFENSE OF CHINESE STUDENTS IN USA

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“In addition to attacking international students and scholars, the Trump administration is again attacking journalists by also shortening the duration of I Visas, which support the important work of international journalists working in the United States,” Schleuss said in a statement. “Our First Amendment makes it clear that the United States is supposed to be a champion of a free press, not an opponent. These rule changes are just another attempt by this administration to chill reporting done by talented journalists.”

“Our democracy depends on journalism and journalism dependents on journalists of all stripes. We are proud to stand with other partners and fight these  illegal rule changes intended to weaken our democracy,” he added.

DHS previously said that requiring regular assessments for foreigners to remain in the U.S. for a longer period would allow the agency to conduct “proper oversight” and reduce the number of people in the country on visas.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Wyoming Republicans chose former state House Speaker and current state Sen. Eric Barlow on Tuesday as their nominee for governor in the race to succeed outgoing Gov. Mark Gordon.

The selection tees up the likely next person to move into the governor’s mansion in January, considering the deep-red roots that run in Wyoming’s statewide officials.

Gordon considered seeking a third term and challenging Wyoming’s two-term-limit law, before ultimately deciding against another bid. This left Republicans with an open contest to replace him in November’s midterms. Trump-endorsed State Superintendent Megan Degenfelder came in second behind Barlow Tuesday, while Marine Corps colonel and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien finished third.

2026 MIDTERMS: PRIMARIES, KEY RACES AND ELECTION RESULTS

Barlow emerged from a four-way primary that featured Degenfelder, Bien and professional bull rider Curt Blake who had less than 1,000 votes with 26% of the total counted.

He will face Democrat Kenneth Casner in the Nov. 3 general election.

REPUBLICAN SURVIVES PRIMARY ON TIM WALZ’S OLD CONGRESSIONAL TURF AS DEMS EYE SEAT FLIP

Degenfelder and Barlow entered the final stretch of the campaign on roughly similar financial footing, reporting about $1.3 million and $1.2 million raised, respectively, according to campaign finance figures cited by The Associated Press. Bien reported raising about $192,000, while Blake reported no money raised.

Republicans enter the general election with a substantial political advantage in Wyoming. Every statewide elected office is currently held by a Republican.

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The governor’s race is one of several open-seat contests at the top of Wyoming’s ballot this year.

The state also has open races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, secretary of state and superintendent of public instruction, creating an unusually large turnover in Wyoming’s political leadership.

President Donald Trump’s latest trade fight with Canada could soon spill into your cocktail glass, with a looming 50% tariff on Canadian spirits putting bars, restaurants and liquor stores on edge.

Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council, said the stakes cut both ways, saying the tariff could hit U.S. hospitality businesses while also potentially pressuring Canada to put American spirits back on its shelves.

“First and foremost, great thanks to President Trump because he has recognized that our industry has lost 73% of our American distilled spirits exports to Canada as a result of the provincial ban of purchasing American distilled spirits,” Swonger told Fox News Digital.

“We are hopeful that an agreement will be made between the Trump administration and Canadian politicians to put American spirits back on the shelves,” he added.

FROM BOURBON TO BORDEAUX: TRUMP’S TARIFFS SPILL INTO GLOBAL BOOZE MARKETS

The new tariff threat marks the latest escalation in a trade fight that has already sent U.S. spirits exports to Canada plunging. In retaliation for earlier U.S. tariffs, some Canadian provinces pulled American spirits from store shelves.

Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held last-minute talks Tuesday as the two sides raced to avert the 50% tariffs before the midnight deadline.

The tariffs cover roughly $20 billion in Canadian imports, including liquor, dairy products, vehicles, hockey equipment and other goods. Canadian whisky, vodka, gin, rum, wine and beer are among the products facing the new levy.

Canada had been a roughly $250 million annual market for American distillers before the trade dispute, but fell from the second-largest destination for U.S. spirits to sixth in 2025, according to DISCUS data previously reported by Fox News Digital. From March through December, exports plunged from $203 million in 2024 to $60 million in 2025 — a roughly $143 million drop.

The fallout has been especially significant for Kentucky, which produces 95% of the world’s bourbon and supports more than 23,000 industry jobs, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.

Swonger said the prospect of steep tariffs on Canadian liquor could prove to be the leverage needed to persuade Canadian officials to reopen their market to U.S. producers.

“Considering applying a 50% tariff on Canadian distilled spirits would hopefully be the trigger, the forcing mechanism to get the Canadian province leaders to put American spirits back on the shelves,” he said.

US WHISKEY EXPORTS TO CANADA COLLAPSE NEARLY 70% AFTER TRUMP TARIFF FIGHT

The stakes extend beyond distillers on both sides of the border. Canadian whisky and other distinctive Canadian spirits are consumed by Americans at home and served by U.S. bars and restaurants, meaning a new trade barrier could reverberate through the hospitality industry.

Swonger said the U.S. historically exports roughly $220 million worth of distilled spirits to Canada annually, while Canadian producers have exported more than $500 million worth of spirits to the much larger U.S. market.

But Swonger cautioned that the American spirits industry ultimately does not want the tariffs to take effect.

He warned a 50% levy would be “absolutely devastating to the Canadian distilled spirits industry” and would have “a real impact on the American hospitality economy.”

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Unlike products that can simply be swapped for a domestic equivalent, Swonger argued that spirits are distinctive products. American consumers seek out Canadian whisky, while Canadian consumers have increasingly embraced American whiskey.

The industry’s preferred outcome, he said, remains a return to free trade rather than an escalating tariff battle.

“We’re an industry that thrives on zero-for-zero tariffs and zero trade barriers,” Swonger said.

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With negotiations continuing ahead of the deadline, Swonger said distillers are anxiously waiting to see whether Trump’s pressure campaign produces a deal.

“We hope we can get back to that tomorrow,” he said.

Retiring Rep. Frederica Wilson’s chosen successor has won the crowded Democratic primary to replace her in Congress.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert is now likely to follow Wilson, D-Fla., to Congress representing her safe blue seat in Florida’s 24th Congressional District.

The district is located in South Florida and includes part of Miami. It remains largely Democratic after Florida Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map this year, though areas along the shore, including Miami Beach, are now part of a neighboring constituency.

Wilson has been in Congress since 2011, first representing Florida’s 17th Congressional District for a single term before redistricting spurred her to run in the 24th.

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She is perhaps best known for her eccentric attire, which centers on brightly colored wide-brimmed hats that Wilson regularly wears both inside and outside the U.S. Capitol.

Her exit from Congress at the end of this year spurred a mad dash among Democrats to replace her, with seven people running in the party’s primary.

House Democratic leaders have stayed out of the race so far but are likely to coalesce behind the now-chosen winner.

Wilson emphatically endorsed Democrat Oliver Gilbert in the race, declaring at a rally for the candidate, “If I am endorsing you, everybody in District 24 should be endorsing you.”

And while competitive, the race was notable in that it was not one of the litany of high-profile clashes between establishment Democrats and the far-left that have come to define the 2026 midterm season.

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Far-left Democrats across the country, many linked to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), have been posing competitive challenges and, in some cases, even unseating incumbent lawmakers within the party.

Elsewhere in Florida, DSA member Oliver Larkin challenged moderate Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., in a district drawn to more heavily favor Republicans this year.

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Self-described socialist Elijah Manley is one of many challengers to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who has generated controversy for running in a majority-Black district after her own seat was changed by the Florida GOP-backed new congressional map. Wasserman Schultz won Tuesday night.

Florida media executive Jim Schwartzel won the GOP nomination to succeed Rep. Byron Donalds despite President Donald Trump endorsing his opponent.

President Donald Trump endorsed Catalina Lauf, who served in the Department of Commerce during his first term in office, on August 13, upending the race just days before voters headed to the polls in Florida’s 19th Congressional District. Tuesday night’s results bucked a trend of Trump-endorsed candidates fairing well in primary contests.

As of mid-July, 97% of candidates endorsed by the president had won their primaries. Trump’s endorsement success rate has remained at 93% or higher since 2018, according to Ballotpedia’s election tracker.

TRUMP MAY HAVE ENDORSED DARLINE GRAHAM, BUT GOP SENATE HOPEFULS AREN’T BACKING DOWN

Lauf and Schwartzel weren’t the only ones to throw their hats into the race to be Donalds’ successor.

The field in Florida’s 19th Congressional District also included former Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who lost his North Carolina seat after a series of scandals in 2022; former Rep. Chris Collins, a former New York congressman convicted of insider trading; and Jim Oberweis, a wealthy former Illinois state senator.

The unusual cast of characters running in the election attracted amusement and ridicule from the national media. Axios dubbed the race “the GOP’s carpetbagger primary” and wrote that “whoever claws their way through the circus-like primary is almost guaranteed a ticket to Washington.”

TLAIB UNDER FIRE FOR WORKING TO UNSEAT TWO JEWISH HOUSE DEMOCRATS IN FLORIDA

On the campaign trail, Schwartzel attacked Lauf for running for Congress twice in Illinois before recently moving to Florida, arguing that his ties to the state ran deeper than hers.

Lauf responded that she is a “blue state refugee,” not a “carpetbagger.”

“I came here, I didn’t have a choice to be born and raised in Illinois, but I have a choice to live here,” she said during a July debate.

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Lauf accused Schwartzel of being behind the firing of a popular local meteorologist. Schwartzel responded that although he owns several local media stations, he did not have an ownership stake in the network that fired the meteorologist.

Schwartzel said his supporters expressed anger after Trump endorsed Lauf.

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“The President endorsed my opponent tonight. You’re hearing it from me before you hear it anywhere else,” he said on the night of the endorsement. 

“​​But let’s be precise about where that anger belongs. Not with President Trump — I’ve supported him from the beginning and I’ll support him after Tuesday. It belongs with the operation that worked this for months: the out-of-state super PACs that have poured millions into this district, the Washington consultants who packaged a candidate who ran for Congress twice in Illinois and sold her as Southwest Florida’s choice, the people who decided our seat shouldn’t be settled in a room a thousand miles from here.”

Incumbent Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar advanced Tuesday against Michael Arias in Florida’s 27th Congressional Dmvvistrict.

Miami attorney Arias is a former state prosecutor and SEC enforcement attorney who ran as a political outsider focused on fiscal responsibility, affordability, and government accountability.

He campaigned on reducing the federal deficit and inflation, lowering South Florida’s cost of living—including housing and property-insurance costs—and increasing funding for public safety.

Trump-backed Salazar has held the seat for more than five years, after defeating Democratic incumbent Donna Shalala in 2020 and flipping the district red.

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The Cuban American, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Western Hemisphere Subcommitteee, emerging as a key congressional ally of the Trump administration’s Latin America agenda.

Salazar pushed to cut off Venezuelan oil revenue and later backed the administration’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

While she supports the majority of Trump’s major priority, she differs when it comes to immigration.

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Salazar has taken a more moderate approach to immigration than some of her hardline GOP colleagues, pairing strong border enforcement with a pathway to legal status for qualifying immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. 

While her immigration stance puts her at odds with the Trump administration’s push for widespread deportations, she still remains firmly in Trump’s corner.

Arias took a similar stance on border enforcement and deporting those here illegally, but has called for deportations to be carried out in a more “humane matter” and focused on violent criminals.

Florida’s 27th district covers major Florida counties such as Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

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The district has one of the largest foreign-born populations in the country, with roughly 428,000 foreign-born residents—about 54% of the district’s population—more than double Florida’s statewide rate, according to 2024 U.S. Census data.

The traditional American Dream of homeownership slipped further out of reach across the country over the last decade, even as Washington spent hundreds of billions of dollars on housing programs, according to a new government watchdog analysis.

Open The Books, a conservative watchdog that tracks government spending, analyzed a decade of home-price and household-income data across all 50 states and compared it with federal housing spending, finding virtually no relationship between greater investment from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and narrower affordability gaps. The watchdog found home prices grew faster than median household incomes in every state during the 10 years they looked at.

“The further you get from a prospective homesite, the less effective or efficient any spending or regulatory tweak is likely to be,” Christopher Neefus, vice president of communications for Open The Books, told Fox News Digital. “A single agency in Washington is likely the least equipped to offer some uniform solution.”

AMERICA’S BROKEN PERMITTING SYSTEM IS QUIETLY RAISING YOUR COST OF LIVING

To measure that disparity, Open The Books calculated the percentage growth in each state’s Federal Housing Finance Agency home-price index over the decade and subtracted the percentage growth in median household income over the same period, calling the difference the “Affordability Gap.”

Effectively, the metric measures how much faster home prices rose than median household incomes in each state.

The watchdog found home prices grew faster than median household incomes in every state between 2015 and 2024, creating what the group dubbed an “Affordability Gap.” The wider the gap, the further the traditional dream of homeownership slipped from what household incomes could keep pace with.

In 48 states, that gap reached double digits, while 17 states saw home-price growth outpace income growth by more than 50 percentage points, according to Open The Books’ analysis.

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“In this case, nearly half a trillion dollars was shoveled into the states over a decade, but it offered no meaningful effect for Americans whose incomes were outrun by prices in every state,” Neefus said. “The answer, then, has to be in addressing regulatory hurdles, zoning restrictions, and investments at the local level.”

To test whether greater federal spending corresponded with better affordability outcomes, Open The Books tallied roughly $460 billion in HUD spending across 18 programs related to housing affordability, availability, rent control and homelessness from 2015 through 2024, then compared each state’s spending with its “Affordability Gap.” 

The analysis found virtually no linear relationship between the amount of HUD funding a state received and the size of its affordability gap, according to the watchdog.

In response to the report, HUD pointed to the Trump administration’s efforts to cut regulations, combat fraud and shift more housing policy decisions to state and local governments.

FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER AFFORDABILITY IN SEATTLE AREA CALLED ‘RIDICULOUS’ AS HOUSING COSTS KEEP RISING

“Under President Trump’s leadership, HUD is focused on delivering results and making housing more affordable for every American willing to work for it,” a HUD spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “We’ve uncovered nearly $495 million in fraud, rolled back burdensome Biden-era policies, and helped more than one million Americans achieve homeownership.”

“Washington doesn’t have all the answers, which is why we’re empowering state and local leaders to advance proven solutions, cut barriers, and increase housing supply,” the spokesperson added.

The report comes amid broader concern that younger Americans are being priced out of milestones that previous generations associated with the American Dream.

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Fox News Digital previously reported that median household income nationally increased 99.7% between 2000 and 2024, while the median sale price of a single-family home increased 150.1% over the same period, according to a housing policy blueprint released earlier this year. The median age of a first-time homebuyer has also climbed to 40.

For Neefus, those trends help explain why younger generations may increasingly view homeownership as something less attainable than it was for their parents and grandparents.

“If you look at how long it would take a median income household to save up for a strong down payment, it’s really no wonder that younger generations might be redefining what the American dream means for them,” Neefus said. “If there’s hope of restoring that dream of homeownership, this analysis demonstrates that top-down spending won’t be the way.”

A federal judge on Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to end deportation protections for Ethiopian immigrants, putting into effect all of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) terminations the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has pursued for select countries.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston lifted a temporary hold on the decades-old TPS program, which allowed Ethiopian nationals to live and work legally in the U.S. as their home country was considered unsafe. Last year, DHS determined that Ethiopia no longer met the conditions for TPS, asserting that conditions in the country had improved.

The decision removes the final legal hurdle facing DHS after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the administration could terminate similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.

“ALL TPS terminations are now IN EFFECT,” the DHS said in a post on X. “Those with terminated TPS should leave NOW. If they don’t, we will DEPORT them.”

TRUMP SCORES MAJOR IMMIGRATION VICTORY AS JUDGE CLEARS WAY TO END TPS PROTECTIONS FOR THOUSANDS OF SOMALIS

The decision to terminate the deportation protections was part of a split ruling by Murphy, who had previously issued an administrative stay in African Communities Together v. Markwayne Mullin. In the civil case, plaintiffs argued that DHS terminated the protections due to racial and national-origin discrimination.

In the ruling, Murphy found that DHS has the authority to terminate TPS designations and that individuals were not entitled to individual hearings before the nationwide program was terminated.

SUPREME COURT’S LATEST IMMIGRATION RULING WILL CAUSE AMERICANS TO ‘DIE AND SUFFER’ ATTORNEY WARNS

Concurrently, Murphy allowed the plaintiffs’ primary claim to move forward, finding that they had presented a plausible case that the government ended the protections due to discrimination, allegedly violating the Fifth Amendment Equal Protection Clause.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a humanitarian program established by Congress in 1990 that grants temporary work authorization and protection from deportation to noncitizens whose home countries are deemed unsafe due to ongoing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions.

Ethiopia was first designated for the program on Dec. 12, 2022, following ongoing armed conflict and severe climatic shocks.

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Last December, the Secretary of Homeland Security terminated Ethiopia’s TPS designation, setting an effective end date of Feb. 13, 2026. The termination sparked immediate legal challenges, resulting in a series of temporary court-ordered pauses that have now been dissolved by the latest ruling.

EXCLUSIVE: AUBURN, Maine — House Speaker Mike Johnson decisively insisted Republicans will buck long-standing, cyclical election trends and hold their congressional majority in November’s midterms.

“I’m absolutely convinced we’re going to defy the historic trend and keep and grow the House majority for Republicans,” the five-term GOP lawmaker from Louisiana said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital this week as he stopped in a crucial House district the GOP aims to flip.

The party in power in Washington, D.C., traditionally faces political headwinds in the midterms and loses congressional seats. This year, that could be the downfall of the GOP, which has slim majorities in both the House and Senate. Meanwhile, Republicans are also facing a rough political climate thanks to persistent inflation, what polls indicate is an unpopular war in Iran and President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

But Johnson says the high-profile primary battle between the far-left and the Democratic establishment, for a party already suffering from all-time low favorable ratings, is political ammunition for Republicans.

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“The Democrats are in almost an open civil war right now,” Johnson emphasized to Fox News Digital. “You see communists actually running for Congress, Marxists are inside the gate.”

Johnson, who is crisscrossing the country on a barnstorming tour, argued that the midterms will be a choice election rather than a referendum on Trump’s second term and congressional Republicans.

“America is not down for that,” Johnson said in reference to left-wing Democrats. “I’m so grateful we have common sense on the ballot. This really is a contrast election between commonsense candidates… and crazy, and that’s what the other side represents.”

FIRST ON FOX: JOHNSON TURNS DEMOCRATS’ CIVIL WAR INTO MIDTERM WEAPON

Last week, as first reported by Fox News Digital, Johnson launched a new website highlighting the contrast between Democrats and Republicans.

The name for the initiative is “Contrast for America,” a play on the Newt Gingrich-led “Contract with America” GOP policy platform used during the 1994 midterm election, when Republicans recaptured the House thanks to a massive red wave.

Johnson was interviewed as he teamed up in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District with former two-term GOP Gov. Paul LePage, the party’s congressional nominee for the open seat Democrats currently hold.

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The mostly rural district, the largest in the eastern U.S., was carried by LePage in his statewide races, and by Trump in his three presidential campaigns. And with four-term moderate Democratic Rep. Jared Golden passing on a re-election run, Republicans see the seat as a top pickup opportunity.

“We’re going to flip a blue seat red here,” Johnson predicted. “This district matters very much to us, and that’s why I’m here.”

The speaker touted that LePage is “one of the greatest candidates that’s been recruited nationwide. Everyone in the state knows him and respects him. He’s a two-term governor with a great life story…He brings a great skill set, a great life story, a great set of experiences to Congress.”

LePage will face off in the general election against Democratic nominee Matt Dunlap, the current state auditor and former longtime Maine secretary of state.

The former governor called Dunlap, who enjoys support from progressive leaders and groups, “too, too far to the left.”

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Dunlap doesn’t think the strategy to paint him as a radical will work because such “associations” don’t matter to voters.

“My priorities actually resonate with everyone. It’s not necessarily progressive or conservative or moderate,” Dunlap recently told Fox News Digital.

Johnson’s stops in Maine, at Auburn Concrete and later at a nearby fundraiser, are part of a coast-to-coast swing taking him to crucial House races in 18 states.

Highlighting the “highest quality candidates I think that we’ve had in a long, long time,” Johnson said he was “very, very bullish about our prospects.”

Democrats don’t see it that way, and they spotlight the continued high prices facing Americans.

“Everything is too damn expensive because of House Republicans, and the American people are eager to vote them out of office over their broken promises,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Viet Shelton told Fox News Digital.

Shelton argued, “While Democrats are running on a platform to lower costs, Mike Johnson’s decision to double down behind a class of awful, scandal-plagued, weak candidates running lackluster campaigns who cheerlead his price-hiking agendas highlights how bleak their midterm chances are.”

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But Johnson stands by his prediction, reiterating, “We’re going to grow the majority.”

“I’m not going to give a specific number, but I am very bullish about the outcome on election night,” he said.

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., unleashed a profanity-laden demand on New York Attorney General Letitia James for what he characterized as a failure to prosecute rising antisemitic hate crimes in the state.

“The Attorney General of the State of New York, Letitia James, needs to actually do her f- – -ing job,” Lawler said in response to the recent attack on a Jewish synagogue. “Which means prosecute antisemitic hate crimes.”

Lawler was questioned on the rise of antisemitism in New York during a campaign endorsement event with local law enforcement leaders.

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“Rather than running around doing whatever the hell she does, where she plays politics every day, maybe she can actually focus on what her job is,” the Republican lawmaker continued. “Which is to ensure the safety and well-being of New Yorkers as the chief law enforcement officer in the state of New York.”

The comments come just days after a Bronx man burst into a Manhattan synagogue last week during Shabbat services, assaulting a congregant and a member of the synagogue’s security team.

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Lawler’s comment, a spokesperson for James’ campaign insisted: “Keeping New York families safe is the Attorney General’s top priority and has been since day one.” 

“Since taking office in 2019, New York Attorney General Letitia James has removed nearly 10,000 firearms from New York streets through community gun buyback programs, dismantled dozens of gun and drug trafficking rings, and seized hundreds of kilograms of narcotics before they could flood New York neighborhoods.”

“The congressman should focus on his own campaign instead of political theater,” they added, pushing back on Lawler.

James is Trump’s biggest legal foe, she targeted him in New York during the time between his first and second terms, which the president and his supporters repeatedly denounced as politically motivated prosecutions. 

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Earlier, James released a statement condemning the assault as “appalling and unacceptable.”

“I saw her statement she put out the other day, decrying what happened. Great,” Lawler brushed-off. 

“Prosecute to the fullest extent of the law,” Lawler continued. “Stop releasing these people on cashless bail. Start going after criminals who jeopardize the safety and well being of law-abiding New Yorkers. That’s what needs to happen here.”

The suspect Larry Montes, 46, was arraigned Saturday night with his bail set at $10,000 cash and $30,000 in bonds. He was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime.

Anti-Jewish attacks made up more than half of all hate crimes committed in New York City, an 8.5% increase on antisemitic hate crimes in the city since last year, according to New York Police Department (NYPD) officials.

“We have seen a rapid rise in attacks on places of worship,” Lawler said. “We have seen a rise in antisemitic hate crimes — people being attacked for practicing their faith.”

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Lawler also claimed during the event that over 90% of antisemitic hate crimes are not prosecuted in the state of New York.

Both Lawler and James are up for re-election, seeking another term in their respective roles serving New York.

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The groups endorsing Lawler at the campaign event include the Police Conference of New York, Port Authority PBA, Rockland County PBA, New York State Fraternal Order of Police and other law enforcement groups.

A biological male who identifies as a woman was sentenced to 63 months (6 years and 1 month) Tuesday for a plot to “kill” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Prosecutors sought at least 10 years in prison for Riley Jane English, who was identified by the Justice Department as Ryan Michael English.

U.S. District Judge Rudolf Contreras, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, sentenced English after a guilty plea to two counts related to the attempt to kill Bessent and carrying a dangerous weapon on the grounds of the Capitol on Jan. 27, 2025.

“The offense is very serious,” said Contreras, adding that “Miss English” was concerned with “trans rights” and came to the Capitol with a folding knife and two small Molotov cocktails, “which probably would not have ignited.” 

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Contreras said English is a 26-year-old trans woman who has many physical and mental health issues which were exacerbated by drug usage.

The calculation for the sentencing range was 97 to 121 months, and Department of Justice prosecutor Brendan Horan asked for a sentence at the top end of the suggested range, but Contreras said he believed the range was too high. 

“No one was harmed,” the judge said Tuesday. “The plan was basically impossible to succeed, and she turned herself in before it came anywhere near fruition.” 

Contreras also noted that the probation department recommended a sentence of 60 months. English has served roughly 20 months in prison already and will get credit for that time served, as well as three years of probation after the sentence. 

“You’ve had a very difficult life with a lot of challenges,” Contreras told English. “You’re young, you still have a significant portion of your life. Good luck to you.”

The defense team requested that English be placed in a female prison. Contreras said he would pass the request to the Bureau of Prisons.

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“My office will not tolerate attempts to intimidate or harm public officials that strike at the heart of our democratic process and are antithetical to the values we all depend on,” U.S. Attorney Pirro wrote in a statement. “The defendant is now a convicted felon and is headed where he belongs: prison.”

English wore an orange jumpsuit and glasses, with mid-length blonde hair. 

“I love my country, I love my family, and I live my life; I never wanted to hurt anyone,” English told Judge Contreras before the sentence was delivered. “At times I can’t explain the mental state that I’m in.

“I’m sorry for the fear I caused the country and my family,” English added. “I have a lot on my plate with an upcoming surgery. I want a chance to work and start a family of my own. I’m grateful for the opportunity to get sober and get right in my mind.”

English pleaded guilty March 26 to unlawful receipt, possession or transfer of a firearm and carrying a firearm, dangerous weapon, explosive or incendiary device on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.

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“I was going to kill Scott Bessent,” English told police, who repeated the question back, asking, “Kill Scott Bessent?”

“Yes, sir,” English confirmed.

English, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, “had been thinking about this for a while because of Luigi Mangione,” according to a statement to police, prosecutors said.

The Justice Department said English traveled from Massachusetts to the Washington area Jan. 27, 2025, intending to kill a government official or burn down a Washington think tank. English ultimately focused on Bessent, who was being confirmed by the Senate that day as President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary.

“Our system of justice depends on public officials being able to carry out their duties free from intimidation and fear,” Pirro wrote in a statement announcing English’s guilty plea in March. 

“This defendant’s threats crossed a clear legal line, and today’s guilty plea reflects our commitment to protecting those who serve. Anyone who threatens violence against government officials will be identified, charged, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” 

At about 3:12 p.m. ET on Jan. 27, 2025, English approached a U.S. Capitol Police officer near the South Door of the Capitol and said, “I’d like to turn myself in.”

English told the officer about a knife and two Molotov cocktails. Police found a folding knife, two 50-milliliter Absolut vodka bottles with gray cloth attached to the tops and a lighter, according to court records. Investigators later found additional vodka and material matching the cloth used in the incendiary devices inside English’s vehicle.

English told investigators that the original targets included House Speaker Mike Johnson and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and that English had also considered burning down the Heritage Foundation, according to court filings. The target shifted to Bessent after English saw him on television while stopping at a library in the Washington area.

English told police that a clip of Bessent discussing the federal minimum wage had sparked anger.

“He said it with a smile on his face and that got under my skin,” English told investigators, according to court records.

English allegedly admitted to going to the Capitol intending to wait for Bessent but abandoned the plan after seeing the security presence and realizing other people could be harmed.

Police also recovered a handwritten note in which they said English had written, in part, “This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters,” according to the Justice Department. “Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying.” 

English had second thoughts because of Mangione’s own experience facing the law.

“I pushed that away because I was thinking like that is so stupid, that accomplishes nothing, that poor kid just threw his life away for like a minute of vengeance,” English said, according to prosecutors.

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“If all else fails, I was going to slit my wrists on the White House steps,” English admitted to police, according to court filings, showing a serious mental health issue.

“Just because that’s all you can do if you can’t hurt anyone else and you’re out of options and you’re out of time and you need to have an outlet and you need to show people how serious it is and you need to make one big dramatic f–––king thing.”

Fox News’ Ashley DiMella and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. — the candidate going head-to-head against Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., in the South Carolina special Republican U.S. Senate primary runoff — suggested in a campaign ad that his rival is the establishment’s candidate.

“The establishment has already” selected “their candidate,” he declared in the video, without naming Graham, his lone rival in the contest. “Same old playbook, same old insiders. I’m not their choice.”

“South Carolina needs a proven conservative with a record of fighting for you. You shouldn’t have to guess where your next senator stands: With me, you already know,” Norman said in the ad.

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Graham and Norman, who finished first and second respectively in the Aug. 11 special GOP U.S. Senate primary, will now face off in the Aug. 25 runoff.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Graham last month to fill the Senate vacancy caused by the death of her brother, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

RUSSELL FRY ENDORSES EX-RIVAL DARLINE GRAHAM AFTER FAILING TO ADVANCE TO SPECIAL GOP US SENATE PRIMARY RUNOFF

The new senator is backed by President Donald Trump.

“To suggest Donald Trump is part of the establishment is a joke. Senator Darline Graham has built a broad coalition of conservatives across South Carolina. Ralph is a party of one: himself,” Graham campaign spokesperson Abby Zilch said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

“Ralph is a fiscal conservative when it is politically convenient. He voted no on a pay raise for our troops and benefits for veterans, but when COVID money benefited Ralph, all bets were off. Darline is a MAGA fighter who will help President Trump deliver. Ralph Norman will stand in the way,” she added.

MARK LYNCH ENDORSES RALPH NORMAN AS CONGRESSMAN HEADS INTO RUNOFF AGAINST DARLINE GRAHAM

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Norman spokesperson Brittany Yanick said in a statement to Fox News Digital, “Ralph Norman is a businessman and the only proven conservative in this race. He has received wide support from conservatives including Senators Rick Scott and Mike Lee in Washington, D.C. to leaders across South Carolina, such as [former] Senator Jim DeMint and Former State Rep. Adam Morgan, among many others.”

“South Carolinians shouldn’t have to guess where their Senator stands on important issues; with Ralph, they already know,” Yanick added. “His resume is his record unlike his opponent who is unknown and backed by Democrat donors. Next week, South Carolinians will vote for Ralph Norman to represent the Palmetto State for the next six years.”

FIRST ON FOX: A multibillion-dollar global corporation that House Republicans accused of peddling misleading claims about diversity in the workplace is sticking by its findings.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who leads a House Oversight Committee task force on “exposing institutional abuses,” targeted consulting firm McKinsey & Company over a series of reports it released that argued diversity in the workplace led to better business and financial outcomes.

“These McKinsey reports have been highly influential, being cited by publicly traded companies, asset managers, proxy advisory firms, and banking institutions, among others, as cause for embedding illegal racial and sex-based targets into hiring, promotion, executive compensation, and asset manager proxy voting policies,” Gill wrote in a letter sent Monday and first reported by Fox News Digital.

A spokesperson for the company told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that it agreed with Gill “that race and gender should not guarantee outcomes,” but added, “We stand by our research on the business and economic impact of a diverse workforce.”

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“We also recognize that diversity in the workplace encompasses a broad range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. We have and will continue to follow the law in the U.S. and in the other markets in which we operate,” the spokesperson said.

Gill wrote in his letter that McKinsey’s reports were “highly influential in American corporations” and provided fuel for left-wing groups pushing race and gender-based diversity goals.

“With the support of the previous administration, progressive activists cited McKinsey’s reports to push companies, governments, and stock exchanges to implement rules which forced or incentivized illegal corporate racial or gender-based hiring and disclosure policies,” he wrote.

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Gill also questioned whether the findings of the reports were legitimate.

“Although in 2024 McKinsey stated that it ‘stands by its findings,’ other researchers have found zero statistical correlation between a company’s gender and racial diversity and its financial performance,” the letter said. “Racial discrimination in the employment context, including under the guise of DEI, has been pervasive despite being plainly illegal for over half a century.”

Gill cited a 2026 White House Economic Report that said DEI initiatives cost the U.S. economy roughly $94 billion in 2023.

He also pointed out that four reports published by McKinsey between 2015 and 2023 argued that companies with increased racial and gender diversity financially outperformed companies without it.

“Researchers assessing the McKinsey DEI studies cannot recreate the results and also find that McKinsey likely swapped the cause and effect of its DEI conclusions,” Gill wrote. “The Executive Office of the President has identified $94 billion in annual economic costs to the U.S. economy due to promotion of otherwise illegal race and gender-based hiring practices, perhaps in part motivated by the findings of McKinsey’s DEI reports that are partially inaccurate or wholly incorrect.”

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McKinsey’s corporate website states, “The business case for gender equality, diversity, and inclusion is strong and growing stronger.” The website estimated that the national GDP would go up by $12 trillion if the workforce gender gap is narrowed by 2025, but no update appears to be provided. Another statistic cites $2 billion in additional revenue “if financial inclusion efforts broaden services for black Americans.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Gill for comment on McKinsey’s response to his probe.