NationalWatch

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Sunday released preliminary findings indicating Sen. Lindsey Graham suffered an aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease before his death.

The medical examiner emphasized that the findings are not final and that Graham’s death certificate will remain pending while toxicological and microscopic testing is completed.

“The preliminary examination findings were: Aortic Dissection due to Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease,” the medical examiner’s office said in a statement.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM DEAD AT 71 AFTER ‘BRIEF AND SUDDEN’ ILLNESS, OFFICE SAYS

The office emphasized that the findings are preliminary and that Graham’s death certificate remains pending. Officials said toxicological and microscopic testing must be completed before the death certificate is updated to reflect the cause and manner of death.

An aortic dissection is a tear in the inner layer of the aorta, the body’s largest artery, that allows blood to flow between the layers of the vessel wall, according to the Mayo Clinic. The condition is considered a life-threatening medical emergency that can lead to severe internal bleeding or organ damage.

Arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease refers to the buildup of plaque inside the arteries, which can restrict blood flow and increase the risk of serious heart and vascular complications.

LINDSEY GRAHAM, SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR WHO ROSE FROM SMALL-TOWN ROOTS TO GOP POWER BROKER, DIES AT 71

The release of the preliminary findings comes after Graham, 71, died Saturday night, shocking colleagues in Washington and across the nation.

Graham, a Republican who was first elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving four terms in the House of Representatives, became one of the chamber’s most influential voices on national security, foreign policy and the judiciary. He chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during President Donald Trump’s first term and was one of the president’s closest allies on judicial nominations and defense policy.

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Following news of Graham’s death, tributes poured in from lawmakers across the political spectrum, with colleagues remembering his decades of public service and his influence on some of the Senate’s most consequential debates.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said it will update Graham’s death certificate after toxicological and microscopic testing is complete.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., nearly a month after being hospitalized, revealed what actually happened to cause his absence from the Senate.

In a lengthy statement released Sunday evening, McConnell attributed his childhood fight with polio to a fall he suffered last month which landed him in the hospital. He was “briefly unconscious,” he said in an open letter to Kentuckians, and while recovering was hit with a “mild case of pneumonia.”

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion,” McConnell said. “I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages.”

MCCONNELL FACES FRESH CALLS TO COME CLEAN ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES

Yet, when he will return to the Senate remains a mystery, something that McConnell himself acknowledged.

“As much as it frustrates me, this process takes time. And on the advice of my doctors, I won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet,” McConnell said. “But rest assured that, in the meantime, I’m not taking a break from the Senate business that matters to you.”

His attending physician noted that McConnell has, “experienced several falls throughout the year that have been attributed to his post-polio condition.”

MCCONNELL WAS FOUND ‘UNCONSCIOUS’ IN HOME LAST MONTH AS CONDITION REMAINS UNKNOWN

“He was admitted to the hospital four weeks ago after falling at home and sustaining minor injuries,” McConnell’s doctor said.

“A comprehensive evaluation by a multidisciplinary team determined that he had no fractures, cardiac abnormalities, stroke, tumor, or hemorrhage,” his doctor continued. “Early in his hospitalization, he developed pneumonia, which responded rapidly to antibiotic treatment.”

The latest update on the longtime lawmaker’s health comes after the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who had just returned from a trip to Ukraine on Saturday night.

McConnell’s absence, coupled with the shocking death of Graham, leaves the Senate down two crucial votes amid a dead sprint to wrap up key parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda through July and into early August.

FROM ‘DISGRACE’ TO ‘FAMILY’: TRUMP’S REMARKABLE JOURNEY WITH LINDSEY GRAHAM

It also comes after over three weeks of speculation as to why the Senate GOP’s longest serving leader in history was sidelined.

His office for several weeks did not reveal the true nature of his condition, nor explain how he ended up in the hospital. That prompted a firestorm online that alleged that McConnell was in a vegetative state.

Adding to the morbid intrigue was leaked emergency dispatch audio from June 14, the day he was hospitalized, that revealed the longtime Senate Republican was “unconscious” and may have suffered a heart attack.

Further compounding the hazy nature of the situation was his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s, trip to China just days after his hospitalization. Chao’s office previously told Fox News Digital that, “The secretary was on a long-planned trip in China to support her family’s philanthropic endeavors.”

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“During the trip, she met with a number of people, including the U.S. ambassador,” her office said. “The Senator’s health did not warrant an immediate return to the U.S.”

McConnell’s statement did not directly address much of the speculation that surrounded his hospitalization. But, he did vow to return to the Senate once he was able.

“You’re right to expect your representatives to work hard for you. And part of my decision to retire at the end of my term this coming January was being honest about the demands of Senate work,” McConnell said. “But I still have unfinished business to complete on your behalf, and I have every intention of finishing the job you elected me to do.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., never wanted President Donald Trump to be nominated, let alone win the presidency in 2016.

“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it,” Graham said on X at the time.

Graham had run on the same ticket as Trump, and like many other Republicans on the debate stage, challenged Trump’s candidacy as preposterous — he once likened his candidacy to “being shot in the head.”

LINDSEY GRAHAM, SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR WHO ROSE FROM SMALL-TOWN ROOTS TO GOP POWER BROKER, DIES AT 71

But Trump ultimately clinched the nomination, took the White House and eventually won over Graham.

Now, in the fast-moving hours after Graham’s sudden death at 71 years old, and as private jockeying to fill his empty seat takes place behind the scenes, Trump has lost a once-fierce political enemy turned friend.

Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he had just spoken with Graham the night before and believed “It could have been his last call.”

“I don’t know exactly, but I got a message about 1 in the morning from one of the people in his office that he had passed away. I said, ‘I just can’t believe it,’” Trump said. “He was like a member of the family to me. It’s very tough, actually.”

It wasn’t always that way for Trump. He once told a crowd in South Carolina nine years ago that Graham was a “disgrace,” and “one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever seen.”

TRUMP REVEALS DETAILS OF FINAL PHONE CALL WITH GRAHAM AFTER SENATOR’S DEATH, CALLS LOSS ‘BIG BLOW’ TO SAVE ACT

“I don’t think he could run for dogcatcher in this state and win again,” Trump said at the time. “I really don’t. Other than that, I think he’s wonderful.”

Still, their relationship evolved from potshots online and on the debate stage into steadfast friends who weren’t shy about hitting the golf course.

Graham transformed into one of Trump’s most vocal allies in the Senate and a key bridge from the upper chamber to the White House during Trump’s second term — even after Graham believed Trump should never step foot in the White House.

After winning his primary for the GOP nomination in June, Trump was almost top of mind for Graham.

“I want to thank the big guy, God,” Graham said during a speech last month. “Trump comes later. Mr. President, you’re not far behind God, but we’re going to start with him.”

GRAHAM’S DEATH IGNITES GOP SCRAMBLE FOR SENATE SEAT AS TRUMP HINTS HE ALREADY HAS A FAVORITE

But that reverence, be it political or sincere, took time. Years ago, Trump at one point grew so angry at Graham that he leaked the lawmaker’s phone number online, which prompted Graham to make a show of destroying several of his phones.

And after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on Capitol Hill, Graham turned his back on Trump.

“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he’s been a consequential president,” Graham said on the Senate floor as the vote to certify the election neared. “All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”

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In the run-up to and during Trump’s second term, Graham became a fierce ally of Trump’s.

He led the vanguard for the “one, big beautiful bill,” as Senate Budget Committee chair and has championed Trump’s flagship election integrity legislation, the SAVE America Act.

And in the hallways of the Senate during the last year and a half, you’d often hear Graham say he’d just spoken with Trump or was headed to the White House to hammer out a legislative dispute — be it with Democrats standing in the way or Republicans.

Now, after a rocky, explosive and tight-knit journey together, the road has run out.

“I said, ‘We’ll see you soon,’” Trump recalled of his last call with Graham. “Come over anytime you want. He came into the White House, because I liked him. Can’t do that with everybody.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s, R-S.C., sudden death from an undisclosed illness has triggered a two-pronged approach to replace him, and President Donald Trump will likely be a focal point in the process.

Graham’s passing overnight comes at a time when Republicans in the upper chamber need every vote they can get. The Senate GOP now holds a 52-seat majority, and with the timetable for Sen. Mitch McConnell’s, R-Ky., absence still unclear, that majority is now effectively 51 votes.

That will up the pressure, and drama, to find a replacement for the longtime South Carolina lawmaker.

LINDSEY GRAHAM, SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR WHO ROSE FROM SMALL-TOWN ROOTS TO GOP POWER BROKER, DIES AT 71

Trump, during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, said, “I have somebody that I think would be great.”

“But I don’t want to say it now because it’s just, it’s too soon with Lindsey,” Trump said. “I don’t wanna even talk about anybody, but I do have somebody that I think is really good.”

It’s a process guided by the Constitution and state law. The first step will require South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, to appoint a replacement for Graham on a temporary basis.

McMaster, a close ally of Trump, can appoint a temporary replacement as soon as he wants. That pick will serve until the next special or general election.

MCCONNELL FACES FRESH CALLS TO COME CLEAN ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES

Fox News Digital did not immediately hear back from McMaster’s office on when he would make the announcement, or who he was considering for the seat.

Graham was already in-cycle running for a fifth term in the upper chamber, and he easily cruised to a primary victory early last month. That means that whoever McMaster taps would serve until the end of the year to finish off the remainder of Graham’s fourth term.

The second prong is finding his long-term successor.

The candidate filing period for that special election to win the GOP nomination opens July 21. The election is slated for Aug. 11, according to South Carolina law.

That race could see several familiar faces in South Carolina GOP politics jumping in, including McMaster himself, who is termed out as governor.

TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT POWER FACES ANOTHER GOP TEST IN SOUTH CAROLINA AFTER ALAN WILSON ADVANCES

Trump heaped praise on McMaster, noting that he endorsed his first bid for the White House in 2016.

“Henry’s been a great governor, you know now he’s termed out, but he’s going to do the right thing,” Trump said. “I think Henry will be fantastic.”

There are six members of South Carolina’s GOP congressional delegation who could toss their hats into the mix. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who recently lost a bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, is eyeing jumping into the special election.

A person familiar with Mace’s plans told Fox News Digital, “Congresswoman Mace is considering a bid to run.”

Then there’s Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., the longest-serving Republican member of the Palmetto State’s delegation. He quickly snuffed speculation about whether he’d leap into the fray.

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“I was grateful to speak with President Trump today reminiscing about our mutual friend, Senator Lindsey Graham,” Wilson said on X. “I assured him my goal is to remain in the House to keep his two-vote majority for the American people!!!”

Then there’s the remaining four: South Carolina Republican Reps. Ralph Norman, who also lost out on scoring the GOP nomination for governor, Russell Fry, William Timmons and Sheri Biggs, none of whom, so far, have signaled that they would jump into the battle for Graham’s seat.

Meanwhile, Pamela Evette, who Trump endorsed in the governor’s race but ultimately lost to GOP nominee and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, could also be in the mix.

Fox News Digital did not immediately receive responses to requests for comment from each possible contender.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died Saturday at 71 following what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness,” spent more than three decades as one of the Republican Party’s most influential voices.

The South Carolina Republican forged a congressional career spanning more than 30 years, emerging as one of Capitol Hill’s most recognizable Republicans and a trusted adviser to President Donald Trump on national security, judicial nominations and foreign policy.

Born on July 9, 1955, in Central, South Carolina, Graham grew up helping his parents run the family business before becoming the first in his household to attend college.

His life changed dramatically while he was a student at the University of South Carolina, when both of his parents died within 15 months of each other, leaving him to raise his younger sister.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM DEAD AT 71 AFTER ‘BRIEF AND SUDDEN’ ILLNESS, OFFICE SAYS

After earning a law degree, Graham joined the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps, serving as a military lawyer before entering politics. He remained in the Air Force Reserve throughout much of his congressional career, retiring as a colonel after more than three decades of service.

His political career began in 1992, when he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. Two years later, he won a seat in the U.S. House as part of the Republican wave that gave the GOP control of Congress.

He emerged as a national figure during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, serving as one of the House managers who presented the case against Clinton during the 1999 Senate trial.

The high-profile role elevated his standing within the Republican Party and helped establish him as a rising conservative voice on Capitol Hill.

‘AMERICA AND THE WORLD HAVE LOST A DETERMINED LEADER’: TRIBUTES POUR IN AFTER SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM’S DEATH

In 2002, he was elected to the Senate, succeeding longtime Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond.

Over the next two decades, Graham became one of the Senate’s most influential Republicans on national security, serving on the Armed Services and Judiciary committees while emerging as a leading voice on military affairs, judicial confirmations and U.S. foreign policy.

One of Graham’s closest political relationships was with Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Along with Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, the three became known as the bipartisan “Three Amigos,” frequently traveling to war zones and emerging as some of Congress’ strongest advocates for American military power and support for U.S. allies.

CHAD PERGRAM BREAKS DOWN WHAT’S NEXT FOR GOP AFTER GRAHAM’S DEATH

Graham championed higher defense spending and was among Congress’ most vocal supporters of Israel and, more recently, Ukraine.

He also played a central role in reshaping the federal courts. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Graham helped steer the confirmation of dozens of federal judges, including Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

His relationship with Trump underwent one of Washington’s most notable political transformations.

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After sharply criticizing Trump during the 2016 Republican primary, Graham became one of the president’s closest congressional allies, advising him on judicial nominations, national security and foreign policy while serving as a key defender of his agenda.

Graham remained a leading voice in the Republican conference until his death. At the time of his death, he was serving as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and campaigning for a fifth Senate term.

He never married and had no children.

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South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster called Graham “irreplaceable” and the “fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America.” Per South Carolina law, McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement for Graham, who was seeking a fifth term in November.

Funeral and memorial arrangements were not immediately announced. Trump said on Truth Social that “details and arrangements” would follow.

The world consumed more energy than ever before in 2025, with fossil fuels still supplying the vast majority of global energy despite record growth in renewable power, according to a new report.

The findings come as President Donald Trump pushes to expand U.S. oil and gas production, arguing domestic energy is key to lowering prices, strengthening national security and boosting economic growth.

The Energy Institute’s 2026 Statistical Review of World Energy found oil, natural gas and coal accounted for 86% of global energy use last year, underscoring that despite years of investment in wind and solar power, the world continues to rely overwhelmingly on fossil fuels to power homes, businesses, transportation and industry.

Overall, the world consumed more energy than at any point on record.

GAS SURGE TIED TO IRAN CONFLICT HITS SWING STATES, TESTING TRUMP’S LOW-PRICE PITCH

The findings align with the Trump administration’s argument that expanding domestic oil and gas production is critical to lowering energy costs, strengthening U.S. energy security and fueling economic growth ahead of next year’s midterm elections, where both parties are expected to make the economy and inflation central campaign issues — but for very different reasons.

America’s dominant position in global energy markets was on full display in the report — and Trump is taking a victory lap. 

“Even left-wing studies are finding that President Trump’s energy dominance agenda has been undeniably successful in unleashing reliable, affordable, and secure energy,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. 

“Thanks to the President, U.S. oil, natural gas, and coal production has increased – which benefits American families and businesses by lowering prices, creating jobs, and strengthening our energy security,” she added. “America has abundant resources—President Trump is unleashing them.” 

WHY THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ MATTERS AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH ULTIMATUM TO IRAN

U.S. oil production reached a record 21.1 million barrels a day in 2025, nearly matching the combined output of Saudi Arabia and Russia. The U.S. also remained the world’s largest natural gas producer and the world’s leading exporter of petroleum products.

The report also comes as the conflict with Iran has renewed concerns about energy security and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Although its data predate the conflict, the report underscores how geopolitical tensions can threaten global energy supplies.

Few places are more important to global energy markets than the Strait of Hormuz. 

About 20 million barrels of oil and one-fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas pass through the waterway each day, along with shipments of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Economist Steve Moore said the latest conflict illustrates why the U.S. should continue expanding domestic energy production.

“Every time we’ve had flare-ups in the Middle East, this has caused a lot of disruption to the energy markets,” he told Fox News Digital.

Moore said the conflict has once again exposed the world’s dependence on oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, putting upward pressure on energy prices.

BBQ LOVERS BEWARE: MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT MIGHT DISRUPT YOUR SUMMER PLANS THIS YEAR

Heritage Foundation chief economist EJ Antoni said the conflict underscores the need for the U.S. to move beyond energy independence and embrace what Trump has called “energy dominance.”

“The Iran war has shown us it’s not simply enough for America to be pumping at current levels. America needs to be not just energy independent, but energy dominant,” Antoni told Fox News Digital.

He said the U.S. should continue expanding domestic energy production and refining capacity to strengthen its energy security.

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The White House has argued that increasing domestic oil and natural gas production will help shield Americans from geopolitical shocks while lowering energy costs, a key pillar of Trump’s broader economic agenda.

Read the full report here:

Tributes poured in Sunday from President Donald Trump, congressional leaders and foreign allies after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died at 71 following what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness,” bringing to an end the career of one of the Senate’s most influential Republican voices.

The South Carolina Republican had served in the Senate since 2003 and became one of the GOP’s leading voices on national security and foreign policy. Once a sharp critic of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, Graham later emerged as one of the president’s closest allies while maintaining a prominent role on issues ranging from judicial confirmations to Ukraine, Israel and Iran.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that Graham “was always working,” and called the Palmetto State senator “a true American Patriot.” 

“Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!” Trump wrote. “So sad!”

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM DEAD AT 71 AFTER ‘BRIEF AND SUDDEN’ ILLNESS, OFFICE SAYS

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster called Graham “irreplaceable” and the “fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America.” Per South Carolina law, McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement for Graham, who was seeking a fifth term in November.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said his “heart is heavy” following Graham’s death, calling him a trusted adviser whose influence “on the federal judiciary, our national defense, and his beloved South Carolina will be felt for generations.”

Thune praised Graham as a tireless advocate for the United States and its allies, saying he believed in “the might of America to achieve good in the world” and spent his career advancing that cause.

United States UN Amb. Mike Waltz remembered Graham not only as a senator, but as a fellow military officer. Waltz said he first met Graham when he was serving as a colonel in the Air National Guard, recalling that Graham spent his annual training deployments in Afghanistan helping train Afghan Army Judge Advocate General officers.

Waltz also praised Graham’s commitment to the U.S. military and foreign policy, saying no member of Congress traveled more extensively “from Libya to Lebanon” to meet with American troops and bring “ground truth back to legislating.”

“Rest easy, Patriot,” he wrote on X.

Graham’s death also prompted tributes from across the aisle. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., remembered his Republican colleague as “kind, gracious, and thoughtful,” and an expert on foreign policy.

“Sudden and awful news about Senator Lindsey Graham,” Fetterman wrote. “The United States Senate lost a foreign policy giant.”

The outpouring of tributes quickly spread beyond Washington, with world leaders remembering Graham as one of America’s most influential voices on national security and foreign affairs.

CHAD PERGRAM BREAKS DOWN WHAT’S NEXT FOR GOP AFTER GRAHAM’S DEATH

In one of his final overseas trips, Graham met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week. The visit marked his 10th trip to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, where the two, according to readouts of the meeting, discussed tougher sanctions on Russia and the country’s air defense needs.

After Graham’s death, Zelenskyy posted on X, calling him “a true defender of freedom” who stood with Ukraine “when it was most needed.” He said Graham’s bipartisan work to increase pressure on Moscow helped bring “peace closer,” adding, “America and the world have lost a determined leader.”

Other European leaders echoed those sentiments.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte described Graham as “a powerful advocate for America who believed strongly in the NATO Alliance and was actively working to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.” Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg praised his “tireless commitment” to NATO and the trans-Atlantic bond, as well as his “staunch support” for Ukraine.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Graham was “a true friend and partner of Germany in the transatlantic alliance. We stood side by side for more than four decades.”

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The tributes extended to the Middle East as well, where Graham was remembered as one of Israel’s strongest allies in Washington.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him “a great friend of Israel” and “a cherished friend of mine,” saying Graham understood that the security of Israel and the United States “is inseparable” and devoted his life to strengthening the alliance between the two countries.

“Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu said.

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Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told The Associated Press that Graham’s death leaves Congress without one of its most steadfast pro-Israel voices at a particularly precarious moment.

“You have a few Democrats and Republicans willing to stand up in Israel’s defense, but those type of people are few, it’s not a body of people,” he said. “So when you lose someone like Lindsey Graham, it’s a diplomatic and strategic loss for the state of Israel.”

Washington D.C.’s entrenched politicos sprang into action this week before key confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate to try and sink President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

Roughly 1,200 Department of Justice (DOJ) alumni signed off on a letter on Tuesday sent to high-ranking Senate Judiciary Committee leaders demanding they reject elevating Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as he prepares for confirmation hearings next week on July 15 and 16.

Blanche, who previously served as former AG Pam Bondi’s No. 2, has been tapped by the 47th president to do the job permanently, sending the former bureaucrats into a frenzy.

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL NOMINATE ACTING AG TODD BLANCHE TO PERMANENTLY LEAD JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

The signatories of the letter trying to stop the process bill themselves as former DOJ employees from Republican and Democratic administrations, which is true. But even a cursory look at some of the names reveals the letter’s true hyper-partisan nature.

Here are a few:

• Lori Lightfoot, the former mayor of Chicago and a far-left Democrat with a long history of anti-Trump rhetoric.
• JP Cooney, an ex-prosecutor and Democratic congressional candidate who served as Jack Smith’s top deputy during Smith’s special counsel investigation into President Trump over later-dismissed criminal charges. He’s running his campaign on the grounds that he “spent [his] career standing up to powerful people and holding them accountable, including Donald Trump.”
• Aaron Zelinsky, who served as Assistant Special Counsel to former FBI director Robert Mueller during Russiagate, which evidence now suggests was a “manufactured” Obama-era intelligence fabrication to smear Trump.
• Robert Turkavage, who ran for Congress as a Democrat in New Jersey.
• Sara Zdeb, who worked as Chief Oversight Counsel for Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Durbin is currently the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking member.
• Candice Cook, the former DOJ chief diversity & inclusion officer.
• Sam Bagenstos, a political appointee in both the Biden and Obama administrations with a history of bashing Trump and who also brags about his progressive bona fides on his University of Michigan Law biography page.

UNEARTHED DOJ EMAILS EXPOSE TURMOIL OVER BIDEN-ERA MEMO URGING CRACKDOWN ON PARENTS

“This list is a who’s who of partisan activists, including liberal politicians such as former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who saw crime drastically rise under her tenure, Trump impeachment witness Pamela Karlan, and multiple former disgruntled Biden administration officials, some of whom were directly involved in the weaponization of the Department,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital of the letter.

A former White House official quipped that, “It looks like they passed a petition around the MS NOW green room.”

The Trump DOJ says Blanche has the support of law enforcement.

“Law enforcement throughout the nation supports the nomination of Acting Attorney General Blanche, including the Major Cities Chiefs Association, representing police leadership in dozens of major U.S. cities; the International Association of Chiefs of Police, representing tens of thousands of law enforcement leaders worldwide; and the Major County Sheriffs of America, representing hundreds of the nation’s largest sheriffs’ offices,” the spokesperson said.

The letter itself states that as former DOJ employees, the signatories take seriously their “oath to support and defend the Constitution, not the occupant of the White House.”

It complains that Blanche has fired hundreds of DOJ employees, some of whom, they say, were fired for “having worked on cases the President didn’t like.”

“The consequences of Blanche’s attacks on DOJ’s apolitical workforce radiate beyond the halls of Main Justice, affecting the entire country,” the letter says. “They’ve meant that much of the department’s vital work isn’t being done, or isn’t being done as well – leaving communities less safe, Americans’ rights less protected, and our national security more vulnerable.”

But the note is eerily reminiscent of another widely-covered stunt that turned out to be a political operation to protect then-presidential candidate Joe Biden during his 2020 election bid.

In that instance, 51 former intelligence officials, including known Trump adversaries Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan, penned a letter to the public claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal appeared to be a foreign intelligence operation.

The contents of Hunter Biden’s personal computer, published in October 2020 by the New York Post, contained shocking videos and photos of drug use, lewd sex acts, and sensitive business communications. It was eventually was dubbed the “laptop from hell” due to the public relations nightmare it caused for the Biden campaign.

The former intelligence officials immediately jumped to Biden’s defense, claiming the letter had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

“Such an operation would be consistent with some of the key methods Russia has used in its now multi-year operation to interfere in our democracy — the hacking (via cyber-operations) and the dumping of accurate information or the distribution of inaccurate or misinformation,” the letter said.

Mainstream news outlets ran with the letter, downplaying the scandal.

By early 2022, many of those same news outlets were forced to report that the emails and files from the laptop were, in fact, authentic after federal investigators looked into the matter.

Clapper was one of the few signatories who answered for the bogus Russian intelligence claim, but he stood by the letter, claiming the ex-intel crowd never said for sure that the laptop was a Russian operation.

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“Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph,” he told The New York Post. “I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate.”

So it appears the latest actions is just a repeat of the same playbook Democrats have been using to push their agenda against Trump.

WASHINGTON — Nearly two decades after hearing “You’re fired!” on NBC’s “The Apprentice,” Erin Scavino says President Donald Trump chose her to lead one of the federal government’s least-known offices as it helps tell America’s story to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Scavino, director of the State Department‘s Art in Embassies program, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview inside the Art Museum of the Americas that she never imagined she’d go from reality TV to overseeing one of the Trump administration’s signature America 250 cultural initiatives.

She said she views her appointment as part of Trump’s broader effort to elevate American culture alongside American history ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

WHITE HOUSE TOUTS TRUMP’S ‘BOLD VISION’ FOR TOWERING INDEPENDENCE ARCH FOR AMERICA 250

“I was a day one hire by President Trump because just like we’ve seen with the Kennedy Center, he wanted to make the performing arts great again, and he also put me at Art in Embassies to make visual arts great,” Scavino said.

Although little known to most Americans, the Art in Embassies office has existed since 1964, placing American artwork in nearly 190 diplomatic properties around the world as a form of cultural diplomacy.

Scavino said the nation’s 250th anniversary offered an opportunity to introduce the program to a broader audience.

Opening July 30 at the Art Museum of the Americas, “Passport to Patriotism: 250 Years of Diplomacy” will bring together more than 30 contemporary American artists whose work explores patriotism, diplomacy, military service, immigration and national identity in what organizers describe as a celebration of the ideals that have shaped the U.S. since its founding.

The exhibition, presented through a partnership between the State Department’s Office of Art in Embassies and the American Arts Conservancy, will be free to the public through Oct. 18.

PRO-TRUMP ARTIST UNLEASHES POWERFUL MESSAGE ABOUT AMERICAN FLAG, TOUTS MASSIVE OLD GLORY PAINTING

The exhibition spans dozens of contemporary works exploring patriotism through photography, painting, sculpture and fashion, with each gallery approaching the American story from a different perspective.

Among the featured works is “Gallantly Streaming” by acclaimed artist Barbara Ernst Prey, a sweeping interpretation of the American flag that anchors the exhibition’s exploration of national identity.

Internationally recognized pop artist Romero Britto also reimagines the Statue of Liberty in his signature bold palette for the exhibit, layering vibrant colors against the Stars and Stripes to celebrate what Scavino described as the enduring promise of the American dream.

The exhibit will feature a powerful series of photographs by Korina Marie Moore, whose images capture moments of military service through a deeply personal lens. Rather than focusing solely on combat, Moore’s photographs spotlight the men and women who serve — from sailors gathered around a U.S. Navy vessel to service members standing watch as the Statue of Liberty rises across New York Harbor and the solemnity of Arlington National Cemetery.

THE STORY BEHIND BETSY ROSS AND THE FIRST AMERICAN FLAG AS AMERICA CELEBRATES 250TH BIRTHDAY

Visitors will also encounter an America 250 haute couture gown created specifically for the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration, inspired by Betsy’s Ross’ flag.

For Scavino, the exhibit represents the latest chapter in a career that unexpectedly led from “The Apprentice” to the Trump administration. Looking back on that journey, she said there has been one constant.

“The common thread throughout all of this is President Trump,” Scavino said. “That’s why I always thank him so much for these great opportunities.”

Scavino says the opportunity has opened her eyes to the people behind the offices.

“Every time you learn about someone’s job, you’re actually understanding a whole new universe,” she said. “That’s what’s really special about the State Department.”

“People often think [the State Department is] really serious, and yes, of course, there’s so much diplomacy and so many very serious things that are going on,” Scavino said. “But there are so many interesting components, like Art in Embassies.”

“This isn’t something that was created for me,” she added. “Art in Embassies has been around since 1964 under President Kennedy… Every time you learn about someone’s job, you’re actually understanding a whole new universe.”

Scavino said one of her goals was to create an exhibition that feels welcoming to visitors who might never consider themselves “art people.”

“Art has become sort of a gatekeeping situation or something that’s only for the rich or the elite,” she said. “I wanted to say, ‘Hey, no. We want kids. We want grandparents. We want moms. We want families. We want dads. We want people all over the world to come to this museum because there is something for everyone.'”

Each artwork includes QR codes allowing visitors to hear directly from artists about their work and creative process, an effort Scavino said makes the exhibit more approachable.

“You don’t have to have your nose in the air saying, ‘Oh, that Monet’ or ‘That Degas,'” she said. “You’re going to see a flag. You’re going to see a sculpture. You’re going to hear Americans tell their stories.”

Scavino pointed to Romero Britto’s colorful Statue of Liberty piece, “Liberty for All,” as one example of the American dream reflected throughout the exhibit.

“When I think about his hearts or his Statue of Liberty, it just makes me think about the American dream,” she said. “He is so patriotic and he loves this country.”

“There are so many stories that are often overlooked,” Scavino said. “We show pictures of loss. We show people that have lost their lives for this nation. We show people who are celebrating serving our country… I think that we have to honor those who have served.”

One of the exhibition’s most unexpected pieces isn’t a painting or sculpture — it’s a couture gown inspired by Betsy Ross’ American flag.

Scavino said the idea came while she was searching for a wedding dress ahead of her February wedding to fellow Trump administration official Dan Scavino at Mar-a-Lago, when she discovered designer Kate Wasserbach Moore, whose appreciation for American history sparked an unusual collaboration.

“I cold-called her out of the blue and said, ‘Can you create a dress that looks like something one of the wives of our Founding Fathers would have worn and make it patriotic?'” Scavino recalled.

The finished design, featuring flowing red-and-white accents inspired by Betsy Ross’ flag, was created for the exhibition rather than the aisle, adding fashion to a collection that otherwise spans photography, painting and sculpture.

“To me, patriotic, red, white and blue, and also fashion—how much better does it get for a girl?” Scavino said.

Although Art in Embassies typically works overseas, Scavino said creating a major public exhibition in Washington had been one of her goals since taking over the office.

“I started with a dream because Art in Embassies is generally overseas,” she said. “I wanted to do something, to start a footprint here in the United States.”

That idea quickly gained momentum.

“The Art Museum of the Americas said yes,” Scavino recalled. “And the second surprise was that I unfortunately don’t have enough space for everyone. So many people generously wanted to participate.”

For Scavino, the exhibition is ultimately less about individual works than the conversations they may inspire.

“What I love about art is it’s totally different from politics,” she said. “You can get in the door by talking about art… and maybe instead of tear down, we can come together.”

She said that’s especially important because, for many people overseas, an American embassy may be their first — and sometimes only — connection to the United States.

“Sometimes in these small nations that are so foreign to us, the only touchpoint they have to America is our embassy and our ambassador,” Scavino said. “So it is so much more important than I ever thought it would be.”

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Scavino hopes visitors leave with a deeper appreciation not only for the artwork, but for the stories it tells about the nation it represents.

“You only get to celebrate 250 years once,” she said. “So let art be a way of celebration.”

Steve Forbes has been a bold advocate for the American capitalist system, free markets and sound money for decades. As the chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes, and a presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, he has been one of the nation’s leading voices on economics.

Recently, Forbes sat down with Fox News Digital at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas to discuss the state of the American economy, New York City’s socialist turn, and the policies of the Trump administration.

STEVE FORBES: CHUCK SCHUMER HAS A BEEF WITH BEEF, BUT DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO GRILL IT

“First of all, New York City has had a reputation in the past of electing radical candidates, including the allegedly only communist member of Congress back in the late 1940s. So there is that streak there. But more importantly, I think it shows that people, a lot of people, are dissatisfied.

The 78-year-old scion of a publishing empire said the left is better organized than it’s freedom-loving counterparts.

“We’ve got to get the message out,” he said. “And one thing that the left has learned is that you try to occupy the high moral ground. Even if you wreck people’s lives, kill millions of people under socialism, communism, your intentions were good.

“So they try to play the moral card. And so it’s not enough to say, ‘Well, free enterprise gives you more prosperity.’ You also have to put on the plane that free enterprise is moral. It’s based on liberty, based on allowing human beings to be creative, or as Lincoln put it, improve your lot in life.”

Following Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech and its depiction of the internal threat of communism, Forbes agrees, citing another U.S. president.

“Whatever you call it, communism, socialism, extreme leftism, anti-Semitism, it’s all the same disease,” Forbes said. “Abraham Lincoln put it very well in the 1800s. He said, ‘It won’t be foreign forces that destroy the United States. It’ll be things we do internally.'”

Forbes suggested that many incorrectly blame problems on free markets, when they should instead be blaming government policies:

“What happens is when governments start making mistakes and doing things that people don’t like and that hurt people’s prospects for getting ahead, upsetting society, they blame it on capitalism. They blame it on free markets,” he said. “So they help wreck free markets and then say, ‘The victim is the cause of it.'”

Prosperity and innovation can only flourish with freedom, Forbes said. While capitalism isn’t perfect, it has led to inventions that improve our lives, according to Forbes.

STEVE FORBES: MAMDANI’S SOCIALIST RENT CONTROL PUTS NEW YORK ON THE ROAD TO HOUSING RUIN

“Take your handheld,” he said. “If you’d said 30 years ago [that your] grandma could operate a supercomputer, you’d have gotten a rather strange look. Now we take it for granted. The first one was just 40 years ago, cost $3,995, weighed like a brick, the size of a shoebox. And today we have handhelds that are really supercomputers that can do anything anywhere. And in real terms, they get cheaper and cheaper. So that’s the miracle of human creativity. And then the amazing thing is we take it for granted.”

Forbes has long been an advocate for sound money, and a prominent critic of the Federal Reserve:

“Start with the Federal Reserve, the idea that prosperity causes inflation. Experience shows time and time again, it’s absolute nonsense. So if the economy starts to do well, you hear mutterings from the central bank asking, ‘Is the economy overheating?’ as if the economy is a machine,” Forbes said.

“So ask yourself, if your income is improving, do you start to feel overheating? Do you start to sweat at night? You know, ‘Take it away because I’m overheating?’ No, it’s preposterous,” he said.

The central bank’s role is to preserve the integrity of the dollar, not to manage economic activity by trying to manipulate interest rates, according to Forbes.

“And yet most free marketeers, for example, realize rent control distorts markets and ends up costing more and giving people less,” Forbes noted. “Well, what is controlling interest rates? It’s a form of rent control. They used to call interest rent. You’d rent the money.”

His prescription for the Trump administration is simple:

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“On the domestic front, go for a new round of tax cuts. Reduce tax rates for individuals and for businesses,” Forbes said. “Taxes are a price. So, propose it. Congress may not pass it, but you’ve got an issue you can take to the voters. 

Selling such a plan to the public could be done with some savvy marketing, Forbes added.

“Bring out examples of people who have benefited enormously from not taxing overtime, not taxing tips, and saying, remember those old late night TV commercials [where hawkers would say] ‘But wait, there’s more?’ They can say, ‘But wait, there’s more. We’re going to have big tax cuts. Everyone’s going to benefit.’

“And continue with the deregulation,” he concluded. “You go on that path, and good things will happen.”

Democrat Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear escalated his pressure campaign against Sen. Mitch McConnell on Saturday, demanding the longtime Republican senator from the Bluegrass State reveal his undisclosed medical condition as questions mount over the 84-year-old’s ability to serve.

In a post on X, Beshear connected his recent push for the lawmaker’s transparency to past national debates, writing: “I publicly and privately urged the last administration to address the public’s concerns with the former president’s health. I’m calling on Sen. McConnell to do the same and provide voters an update on his own health.”

Beshear ended the post by urging McConnell to “end the crazy speculation” and “just tell us what’s going on.”

MCCONNELL FACES FRESH CALLS TO COME CLEAN ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES

The governor’s public comments follow a formal letter he sent to McConnell on Wednesday requesting a full health update on behalf of constituents who are “increasingly concerned” about the senator’s wellbeing and “ability to hold office in the United States Senate.”

Beshear argued public officeholders have a commitment to represent constituents with “clear communication about one’s ability to serve.”

MCCONNELL WAS FOUND ‘UNCONSCIOUS’ IN HOME LAST MONTH AS CONDITION REMAINS UNKNOWN

McConnell has been absent from the Senate for three weeks and was first hospitalized in early June for an undisclosed condition.

His office has declined to release specific details or a timeline for his return, though leaked emergency dispatch audio from a June 14 call revealed he was seemingly found unconscious at his home and may have suffered a heart attack.

McConnell’s wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, traveled to China shortly after the hospitalization, with her office claiming his condition “did not warrant an immediate return to the U.S.“

Both Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said they have since spoken with McConnell at length about Senate business, recent Supreme Court decisions and the ongoing Graham Platner campaign scandal.

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However, when asked about McConnell’s condition aboard Air Force One on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said “I have no idea how he’s doing.”

The White House and McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

A sweeping veterans package supporters describe as the largest expansion of veterans’ health care and benefits in more than a decade is expected to return to the House floor when lawmakers come back from the July recess, but backers warn the legislation could once again become collateral damage in the Republican standoff over the SAVE America Act.

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act rolls roughly 60 veterans bills into a package that would dramatically expand veterans’ health care and benefits. At its core, the legislation would cement veterans’ access to community care outside the VA while increasing benefits for combat-wounded veterans, caregivers and Gold Star families, expanding mental health services and enacting dozens of additional reforms.

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., told Fox News Digital he intends to bring the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act back for a vote as soon as the House reconvenes next week.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES DERAIL GOP AGENDA IN SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWDOWN

The legislation was held up last month after a group of House Republicans joined Democrats to defeat a procedural vote, stopping the House from taking up the bill.

“I’m feeling good as long as my members stay with us on the rule,” Bost said. “Right now, there’s some politics being played, not about this bill, but just in general.”

The bill became entangled in a broader House Republican fight over the SAVE America Act, legislation championed by President Donald Trump that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

On June 30, the House voted on H. Res. 1398, the procedural rule governing floor consideration of several bills, including the National Defense Authorization Act and the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. The rule failed after 14 Republicans joined Democrats in opposition, preventing the House from taking up the veterans package and bringing floor business to a standstill. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., claimed to have voted against the rules vote in protest against House leadership’s handling of the SAVE America Act. As a result, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson sent the members home early.

Bost accused the holdouts of effectively putting veterans legislation on hold.

‘IT’S A MESS’: GOP TURNS ON HOUSE CONSERVATIVES AS VOTER ID BLOCKADE STALLS TRUMP’S AGENDA

“They’re holding all bills hostage,” Bost said. “They’re not voting for any rule. Any bill that has to pass a rule before it comes to the floor—which this bill does because of its size—can’t move.”

Although Bost said he supports the SAVE America Act and has voted for it three times, he argued the Senate’s failure to act should not stop the House from advancing unrelated legislation.

“I agree with that bill,” Bost said. “But the Senate still has to do their work. We don’t stop our work because the Senate isn’t doing it.”

With 23 legislative days left in the Congressional session, Concerned Veterans for America Strategic Director John Byrnes, a supporter of the bill, said time is of the essence.

“There are lots and lots of things that have to get done,” Byrnes told Fox News Digital. “There’s also the National Defense Authorization Act, which is a must pass every year, so these things eat up time. There’s requirements to have debate on these, which eat up session time.”

Byrnes argued that every procedural delay pushes other legislation further down the calendar.

“This bill will save lives in 2027,” Byrnes said. “If we lose veterans because they could have had faster, better access to health care, we’re never going to get those veterans back.”

TRUMP’S SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWS SIGNS OF LIFE IN THE SENATE DESPITE REPUBLICAN REVOLT

But Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who also voted no on the procedural vote, told Fox News Digital that he has concerns about how the bill is financed.

“I appreciate what the chairman’s trying to do in some respects, but there’s a few issues,” Roy said.

Among them, Roy pointed to provisions offsetting new spending through changes affecting other veterans.

“You’re taxing certain veterans to provide some sort of benefits and changes to other veterans,” Roy said. “There are concerns about some of the pay-fors.”

Veterans of Foreign Wars has also taken issue with Section 108 of the bill, warning that it would codify changes to future disability ratings for tinnitus and sleep apnea to help finance other veterans priorities.

But Bost said this is inaccurate.

“No veteran is going to have their benefits reduced,” Bost said. “If you’re receiving a benefit right now, that’s not going to be reduced at all.”

Roy, who previously served two years on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said he supported a lot of what the bill was seeking to accomplish; but said other pieces of legislation are priorities, too.

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“There is a block of us for whom border security, the SAVE Act and demonstrating our leadership on major issues is critical,” Roy said. “Some of these other bills may or may not get hung up based on a desire of many in the conference to see movement on other things.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Luna’s office and the White House for comment.

Avi Loeb, the Harvard astronomer who was chosen last month by the White House to lead a UFO advisory council, believes he was brought on because federal officials are “baffled” by the many unidentified objects the U.S. military has captured over the past several decades.

Loeb, known for arguing that alien spacecraft may have already reached Earth, said his newly-formed team of more than a dozen scientists is combing through four batches of public UFO sighting disclosures released by the Trump administration in recent months.

His mission began in early June when an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) visited his home and asked him to form a group of experts to make sense of UFOs — now referred to by the U.S. government as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). This is an umbrella term that accounts for objects seen zipping underwater and in space.

“The U.S. government had me at hello,” Loeb told Fox News Digital in an interview on Saturday. “The fact that they are reaching out to scientists like myself indicates, in my mind, that they are baffled by what they are seeing, and they think that maybe it’s not human-made.”

NASA CHIEF CONFIRMS AGENCY HAS UNEXPLAINED UFO IMAGERY: ‘WE DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS’

Loeb’s council will report its findings to the UAP Governing Board, a recently-established body under the direction of ODNI.

According to the council’s website, Loeb and his colleagues will only be reviewing already-declassified materials on UAPs.

However, Loeb told Fox News Digital that he has asked the Pentagon and other agencies for 50 videos, images and other documents related to known UAP incidents. Those materials haven’t been given to him yet, with the custodian agencies citing national security concerns.

“It’s not so much the targets that are the issue. It’s that the sensors that were used were for national security purposes. The U.S. government doesn’t want to reveal to adversarial nations the kind of sensors being used. So that’s the main obstacle right now,” Loeb said.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON DARES GOVERNMENT TO ‘JUST SHOW THE ALIEN,’ AS DISCLOSURE FERVOR CONTINUES TO GROW

Loeb’s goal is to figure out whether UAPs that have been captured by the U.S. military originate from other nations or if they don’t come from humans at all.

“In the second case, if it’s not human-made, then that’s the biggest discovery ever made by science, and the U.S. government has the privilege of ushering in this new realization that we have a neighbor visiting us,” Loeb said.

Loeb sought to temper expectations, saying that many of the phenomena they are studying could turn out to be mundane. Often, he said, the strange-looking objects people see in the sky are merely space junk or broken satellites.

“Unless they maneuver in ways that cannot be explained by gravity, you should assume that they are space junk,” Loeb said.

DECLASSIFIED APOLLO MISSION UFO FILES CHALLENGE LONG-RUNNING MOON LANDING CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Nonetheless, he praised the White House for its push for transparency on this issue. In February, President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon and other agencies to declassify files related to aliens and UAPs because of “tremendous interest.”

One of the most important aims of Loeb’s council is to recommend better sensors so that the government can capture UAPs with more confidence in the future.

“If we are dealing with drones of some unusual qualities that the Chinese are using, it’s good for the U.S. to have better sensors that can help it identify those. Right now, they are reported as orbs. They may not be drones, but I’m saying that at the very least, we will help national security,” Loeb said.

Loeb’s remarks come after the Department of War on Friday released the fourth and latest batch of UAP materials to the public. Loeb commented on one of the most sensational releases from the first batch, which were photos from the Apollo 12 mission on the Moon in 1969.

One of the photos have five “unidentified phenomena,” but Loeb said federal authorities have now officially concluded that those blue flashes are most likely cosmic rays.

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Until 2020, Loeb headed up Harvard University’s astronomy department, where he studied black holes, the formation of the universe’s first stars and extraterrestrial life.

In 2017, when scientists discovered a remnant of a Pluto-like world in the Solar System, Loeb disputed those findings, arguing that the object was possibly a light sail from an alien civilization.

After this claim earned him widespread respect in the UFO community, Loeb founded the Galileo Project at Harvard to search for artifacts from extraterrestrial civilizations.

A Trump-appointed federal judge on Friday reluctantly dismissed the Jan. 6 prosecution of four Proud Boys members, saying the law left him no authority to block the Justice Department’s request.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice against Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola after a federal appeals court had already vacated their convictions.

In a seven-page opinion, Kelly said longstanding separation-of-powers principles leave charging decisions to the executive branch, meaning he could not require the Justice Department to maintain a prosecution it had decided to drop.

DOJ SEEKS TO VACATE JAN 6 CONVICTIONS IN SWEEPING MOVE TIED TO TRUMP ORDER

“Because the decisions to issue the Executive Order and to abandon this prosecution—even after the Government secured convictions for serious crimes relating to the attack on the Capitol on January 6—are solely the Executive’s, no one should mistake the Court’s granting of the Government’s motion for its agreement with those decisions,” Kelly wrote.

Pezzola, who was convicted of assaulting police, robbery and destroying government property, was found guilty of stealing a Capitol Police riot shield before using it to smash a Capitol window, creating what prosecutors said was the first breach point through which hundreds of rioters entered the building. He was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted on multiple other felony counts.

Meanwhile, Nordean, Biggs and Rehl were convicted of seditious conspiracy and several other felonies related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, including conspiracy to obstruct Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and destruction of government property.

FORMER INDIANA REP STEPHEN BUYER RECEIVES FULL PARDON FROM TRUMP FOR 2023 INSIDER TRADING CONVICTION

The Justice Department first moved in April to vacate the convictions and dismiss the case against the four men, arguing that doing so was “in the interests of justice” in light of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order commuting their sentences and issuing full pardons to former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio and hundreds of other Jan. 6 defendants. The D.C. Circuit had already erased the men’s convictions before returning the case to Kelly’s courtroom to consider the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the indictment.

“There is little mystery about why the Government is moving to dismiss this case, or whether dismissal is in fact what the Executive seeks,” Kelly wrote. “President Trump’s views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6—whether those views are based on fact or fiction—are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them.”

Kelly cited longstanding precedent holding that charging decisions belong to the executive branch and that judges cannot reject a dismissal simply because they disagree with the government’s reasoning.

LEGAL WAR ON TRUMP’S AGENDA GAINS FIREPOWER AS FEDERAL LAWYERS DEFECT TO DEMOCRATS

And because the convictions had already been vacated and prosecutors have broad authority to decide whether to pursue criminal charges, Kelly said he lacked the power to force the Justice Department to continue the prosecution.

“Indeed, it is hard to see how any course other than granting the motion in full could make practical sense. Denying the motion would not somehow revive the convictions that the Court of Appeals vacated,” Kelly wrote. “Nor would denying it mean a retrial would follow, because the Court lacks the authority to compel the Executive to pursue a prosecution, full stop—but especially when an executive order explicitly requires that the Government seek dismissal with prejudice.”

But Kelly sharply rebuked the actions of the Jan. 6 rioters, calling it an attack on the people, Congress, and the “Constitution’s mechanism to facilitate the peaceful transfer of power.”

“Moving forward, if this Nation’s experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people—no matter their partisan preferences—will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,” Kelly wrote.

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Tarrio, who was also pardoned for criminal charges stemming from his role in the Jan. 6 riots, celebrated Kelly’s dismissal on X.

“We took the worst they threw at us the raids, the solitary, the lies and we stood tall,” Tarrio wrote. “Trump dropped the pardons and now the rest is crumbling. Justice is SERVED! Proud Boys don’t lose. We WIN. This is OUR victory. THANK YOU PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP and all of you that fought for us!”

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argues that climate projections represent a range of possible outcomes — not certainties — and warned against labeling those who disagree with them as “science deniers.”

“When someone looks at 2050 or 2100 and they say ‘This is exactly what the sea level is going to be. This is what the temperature is going to be,’ it doesn’t acknowledge correctly that there really is a range from the optimistic to the pessimistic,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head told Fox News Digital.

Zeldin’s comments at the Great American State Fair on Thursday come as he was asked what climate predictions made during under President Joe Biden’s administration he believes have been disproven by new evidence.

BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK

Rather than take a the layup on the former president by citing a specific prediction, he argued that climate projections, especially those decades in the future, should be interpreted as evolving estimates that need to be regularly updated as new data emerges.

“Relying on present day facts rather than bad assumptions from the past is incredibly important,” Zeldin insisted.

“Every day that goes by we learn what the reality is at that point in the future, and we’re able to compare it to what the predictions are,” he added.

Zeldin emphasized the importance of hearing out newer perspectives on climate change, alluding to the idea that using both long-term forecasts and current real-world data can more accurately estimate the present implications and impacts of climate change.

BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK

He argued that people who disagree with these climate projections, which could possibly reflect outdated research or data, should not automatically be labeled “science deniers.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea that if someone disagrees with someone else’s prediction of exactly what the temperature’s gonna be in the year 2100, that all of a sudden that person is just automatically some science denier,” Zeldin said.

“Hear them out,” he advised. “Maybe they have an opinion on some other study that they looked on, or other studies they looked on, because there really is a range of predictions, especially when you look further in the future.”

BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK

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The Trump administration has moved to revisit several climate-related regulations, including efforts to reconsider the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, which serves as the legal basis for many federal greenhouse gas regulations, as well as other greenhouse gas emissions rules.

Since taking over the EPA, Zeldin has spearheaded re-evaluating the agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding and is revisiting a number of climate-related regulations adopted under previous Democratic administrations.

Graham Platner’s Senate campaign repeatedly ignored warnings from its own vetting team that he needed a more robust background check, a source familiar with the early stages of the campaign told Fox News Digital.

An in-depth vetting process could have saved Democrats a massive headache in one of the most important Senate races of the 2026 cycle, something that has led many on the left to blame Dan Moraff and Morris Katz — the political staffers behind Platner’s meteoric rise — for not doing their due diligence before putting him forward.

The source confirmed to Fox News Digital that the vetting process was largely handled by Moraff and Katz, who limited investigators to a three-day review of Platner.

PLATNER’S THREE-DAY VETTING JOB COMES BACK TO HAUNT DEMS AS RAPE ALLEGATION ROCKS SENATE BID

The firm that vetted Platner repeatedly reached out to the campaign, warning them that additional vetting was required as the initial review had turned up several concerning pieces of information that could lead to more serious issues — warnings that were ignored by Platner’s staff, according to the source familiar with the early stages of the campaign.

During the vetting process, campaign staff didn’t allow the individuals investigating Platner to interview him, the source told Fox News Digital. In addition to the vetting process identifying Platner’s Reddit posts, which the Wall Street Journal previously reported, it also turned up information that cast doubt on Platner’s blue-collar image, the source added.

ACTIVISTS BEHIND GRAHAM PLATNER’S RISE ADMIT VETTING PROCESS DIDN’T BRING UP NAZI-LINKED TATTOO

“The firm sent us a thing and it had some of the posts, but it didn’t have all of them,” Moraff told the Wall Street Journal in June of the vetting process, referencing Platner’s now-deleted Reddit posts.

Many of the scandals that went on to rock the Platner campaign — such as his DUI, his relatively affluent upbringing and Nazi-linked tattoo — were discoverable via public information and later reported by the press.

Platner suspended his senatorial campaign on Wednesday after an ex-girlfriend accused him of raping her. His withdrawal followed a string of scandals stemming from controversial posts he made on his deleted Reddit account, a Nazi-linked tattoo he acquired during his time in the armed forces and his alleged mistreatment of women.

He filed the paperwork necessary to officially withdraw from the election on Friday.

MILLIONS IN DEM AD MONEY VANISHED FROM PLATNER RACE DAYS BEFORE RAPE ALLEGATION DOOMED SENATE BID

“That’s odd … no one asks for, like, three days’ worth of research,” an individual familiar with candidate vetting told Fox News Digital. “It’s not unusual to have to rush an initial triage research product,” the source said, explaining that truncated background checks like that are almost always followed by “​​a comprehensive doc or a more thorough doc.”

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Platner’s campaign defended its decision to commission an abridged vetting process on the grounds that they didn’t have the financial resources to afford a more complete investigation at the outset. The campaign paid just over $6,000 for its vetting, compared to the tens of thousands of dollars usually required for a full background check of a political candidate.

Platner, however, very quickly became one of the strongest Democratic fundraisers in the nation, bringing in over $16 million in contributions between July 2025 and June 2026, raising questions as to why his campaign didn’t seek out a complete vetting once it had the resources to do so.

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Democrats in Maine are holding a nominating convention to replace Platner ahead of the July 13 statutory deadline to remove him from the ballot. Party delegates will vote to choose the Democratic nominee for the November general election.

The Platner campaign, Moraff and Katz did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Friday.

A bipartisan housing bill became law Saturday at midnight after President Donald Trump declined to sign it, capping a weeks-long saga over whether the president would veto the measure amid frustrations with Congress over his stalled agenda.

Trump refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — legislation aimed at expanding the nation’s housing stock and lowering costs — in an attempt to pressure Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, despite the housing bill clearing both chambers with overwhelming majorities.

“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, which is polling at 97% with the Republican Party, and very high with the non-politician Dumocrats,” he declared on Truth Social Friday morning. 

The Trump-backed election measure, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and impose voter ID requirements, has struggled to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. 

Meanwhile, the House has not passed a version of the bill that includes the president’s proposed crackdown on mail-in voting and banning men from women’s sports.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES DERAIL GOP AGENDA IN SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWDOWN

Under the U.S. Constitution, Trump had 10 days, not including Sundays, to sign or veto the housing measure after the House formally transmitted the legislation to the White House in late June. The president ultimately chose neither option, allowing the measure to become law without his signature.

Though Trump declined to veto the legislation, he sharply criticized elements of the bill and argued it should not have been a legislative priority in recent weeks.

“It’s so unimportant … compared to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in late June. “I think the SAVE America Act is exactly what it says. It’s saving America from crooked elections.”

Trump went on to call the housing bill “a yawn,” adding, “compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”

It would have taken a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a veto — a margin the House and Senate exceeded when they passed the legislation. However, it remains unclear whether so many Republicans would have defied the president had he vetoed the bill.

Trump also appeared to criticize the bill over a provision restricting Wall Street investors from purchasing single-family homes — a policy he first proposed during his January State of the Union address and later urged Congress to pass. Trump previously argued the investor ban would give individual homebuyers a leg up against private equity firms in the housing market.

“I don’t want to hurt people that own houses, too,” Trump later told reporters, appearing to reference the provision. “These people, for the first time in their lives, they have valuable houses. They’ve become rich. I don’t want to hurt them either. What you want to do is what’s good for everyone, get the interest rates down.”

The law also aims to boost housing supply by streamlining federal environmental reviews, loosening rules around the construction of factory-built homes, and incentivizing local governments to modify their zoning laws to allow more housing, among roughly 60 provisions.

Trump’s souring on the legislation created headaches for Republicans, who touted the bill as an affordability win as voters grapple with high housing costs.

“It’s irresponsible to postpone signing the Housing bill due to the SAVE Act,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a retiring lawmaker who lost re-election to a Trump-backed challenger, wrote on social media. “We need to start delivering relief to people for the high cost of housing ASAP!!”

WARREN TELLS TRUMP TO ‘SIGN THE DAMN BILL’ AS BIPARTISAN HOUSING PACKAGE REMAINS STALLED IN WASHINGTON

Trump abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation at the U.S. Capitol in June with GOP leaders. The stage had already been set, with at least one senior Republican arriving unaware the president had called off the event shortly before it was scheduled to begin.

The president then declared he would not sign the legislation until Congress passed the SAVE America Act, despite Senate GOP leaders insisting the votes do not exist to advance the measure.

Trump has also expressed frustration with the Republican-controlled Senate for declining to weaken the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the upper chamber.

“GET SMART REPUBLICANS, IF YOU DON’T, YOU WON’T BE IN OFFICE FOR LONG!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

Before Trump came out against the bill, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “one of the most significant pieces of housing affordability legislation in American history” and said it included an array of policies “long championed” by Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump political operative James Blair touted the legislation for including the president’s Wall Street investor ban, which he referred to as a “signature commitment.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has argued that Republicans will still promote the landmark housing bill ahead of November.

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“We’ll still celebrate it, but he’s trying to make a point, and I think he’s making it very effectively,” the speaker recently told reporters, referring to Trump. “And the fact that you all ask me every three steps down the hallway illustrates that he has achieved the desired objective, and that is to make SAVE America the number one thing, because if we don’t get that right, everybody’s concerned about what happens next.”

Crews began draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Friday as the Trump administration launched another round of repairs following the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.

The latest repairs come after problems emerged shortly after the initial restoration project was completed last month, which President Donald Trump largely blamed on vandals.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department oversees the National Park Service (NPS), told conservative podcaster Katie Miller this week that the latest round of work had been planned and that crews also needed to remove debris left behind after the July Fourth fireworks celebration on the National Mall.

BURGUM CLASHES WITH CNN HOST, BLASTS MEDIA FOR QUESTIONING VANDALISM OF LINCOLN MEMORIAL REFLECTING POOL

“Drain the water, clean up the fireworks stuff,” Burgum said. “Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again.”

Trump ordered the restoration project earlier this year as part of his effort to refurbish the landmark ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The project was later beset by an algae bloom, and sections of the new blue coating began peeling from the bottom of the pool.

FORMER US OLYMPIAN DAVID HEARN PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN REFLECTING POOL VANDALISM CASE

Trump declared victory over the algae last Sunday, sharing photos on Truth Social showing the Reflecting Pool and its reflection appearing clear and blue.

Court records previously indicated the National Park Service planned to drain the pool again after the July Fourth celebrations to repair damage authorities attributed to vandalism.

According to court documents, U.S. Park Police responded to a report of damage at the Reflecting Pool on June 9. Investigators said caulk had been spread over foam sealant that had been cut with a “sharp knife or razor,” the newly applied surface coating had been damaged, and approximately 70 fence post caps had been thrown into the pool.

JIM ACOSTA CLAIMS DONALD TRUMP VANITY PROJECTS LOOK LIKE ‘END DAYS OF SADDAM HUSSEIN’

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty Thursday to damaging the recently renovated Reflecting Pool.

Hearn was indicted last week on a felony destruction of property charge following his arrest on charges related to a June 19 incident at the pool. He has denied damaging the Reflecting Pool, saying he stopped during a bike ride and touched a loose piece of the peeling blue coating “to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen.”

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At least three other people have also been charged with misdemeanors on allegations they removed pieces of the Reflecting Pool’s coating, according to online court records. All three pleaded not guilty during their initial court appearances Wednesday.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo, Ryan Canfield, Eric Mack and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The CEO of a popular U.S. gaming brand on Thursday was appointed to a high-level Federal Reserve task force despite ongoing fury over her company’s recent firing of 1,600 workers while being approved to hire thousands of foreign visa workers.

Asha Sharma, who heads Microsoft’s Xbox division, announced the layoffs earlier this week. Microsoft said that it will lay off 4,800 people in total, while it had been approved earlier this year to hire 2,273 foreign H-1B visa employees, according to data from U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS).

At the height of the wrath over the layoffs this week, the Federal Reserve moved forward with appointing Sharma to a newly-created advisory role within the central bank.

FURY ERUPTS AS US BRAND FIRES 1,600 EMPLOYEES AFTER SECURING THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN WORKER VISAS

Sharma will serve on a task force on “Productivity and Jobs” alongside Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen and Stanford University economics professor Charles I. Jones.

“The Federal Reserve’s commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor,” said new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh in a statement on the appointments.

“Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers’ means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon,” he continued. “I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution.”

Many of the same critics who raged at Sharma, Xbox and Microsoft over the perceived replacement of American employees with foreign visa workers continued their tirades after the announcement.

Microsoft said that 740 of this year’s visas were to hire employees already in the U.S. from other companies, while the other 1,533 were renewals of existing visas. 

TRUMP TAPS ACTING LABOR SECRETARY KEITH SONDERLING FOR PERMANENT ROLE PENDING SENATE CONFIRMATION

“It’s like asking El Chapo to lead the DEA,” one person said online.

Another critic said the Federal Reserve is trying to “incentivize” mass layoff of American workers in favor of foreign ones with their hiring of the XBOX executive.

“The Federal Reserve needs help firing Americans,” another person quipped.

A fourth person called the move “totally unexplainable”

FTC CHIEF ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF ‘TRYING TO PROTECT THE FRAUDSTERS’ BY WITHHOLDING DATA FROM TRUMP ADMIN

Some have claimed a racial component to the importation of H-1B visa workers, the vast majority of whom come from India. Sharma has Indian heritage but was born in Wisconsin.

“Reminder that she had zero gaming experience when she was promoted to run Xbox, and she has zero finance or economic experience now that she’s promoted to advise the Federal Reserve, said one X user. “Her one function is to purge white Americans and replace them with Indian cheap foreign labor.”

The Federal Reserve did not return Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. 

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday a large-scale investigation into H-1B visa fraud.

“Today, I’m proud to announce that the federal Department of Labor has started dozens of subpoenas and investigations into foreign fraudsters who are trying to take advantage of the H-1B visa program,” he said during a press conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it.”

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In response to a request for comment, Microsoft directed Fox News Digital to a post on X by a company spokesperson.

“The H-1B figures being referenced are Microsoft-wide visa renewals and new hire applications. They are not specific to XBOX and represent a small percentage of Microsoft’s overall workforce. And the majority of roles impacted were not American roles,” Frank Shaw said on X, adding that XBOX is the largest employer of American workers in the gaming industry. 

President Donald Trump on Friday warned Iran that the United States would “decimate and destroy” the country if Tehran carried out an assassination attempt against him.

“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president said he had already directed the U.S. military to be prepared to retaliate if Iran carried out an assassination attempt against him.

ISRAEL SHARES INTELLIGENCE WARNING IRAN PLOTTED NEW ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST TRUMP: REPORT

“Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran – PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!” Trump said.

Trump’s comments came one day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli intelligence recently shared information with U.S. officials indicating Iran was considering a new plot to assassinate the president.

Earlier this week, Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, that he remains Iran’s top target.

TRUMP SAYS HE’S IRAN’S ‘NO. 1’ TARGET AS RENEWED CONFLICT RAISES ASSASSINATION FEARS

“I’m No. 1 on the kill list for Iran,” the president said.

Earlier Friday, Trump also told the New York Post he had left standing instructions to strike Iran if an assassination attempt against him succeeded.

“I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with,” Trump said. “… The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”

TRUMP SAYS HE LEFT INSTRUCTIONS TO ‘BOMB’ IRAN ‘AT LEVELS’ NEVER SEEN IF HE IS ASSASSINATED

Trump also dismissed reports that Israeli intelligence had uncovered a new Iranian assassination plot against him.

“No, no, Israel came up with nothing,” Trump told the newspaper. “I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.”

The New York Times reported that following Trump’s trip to Turkey, the U.S. Secret Service recommended he travel aboard the older Air Force One rather than the newly retrofitted Boeing 747 donated by Qatar as a security precaution amid renewed hostilities with Iran.

The White House has not said whether the aircraft change was related to specific security concerns, but said the new Air Force One is equipped with advanced security features.

“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung previously told Fox News Digital. “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”

Iran has sought Trump’s assassination since he ordered the 2020 military strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

This week, mourners repeatedly called for Trump’s death during the funeral for Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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The comments also come as a U.S.-Iran ceasefire has unraveled in recent days.

Iran attacked commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz this week, prompting renewed U.S. military action, including a new round of strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure tied to maritime operations and other military sites.

Trump has since declared the ceasefire “over” and warned of further action if Iran continues its attacks.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the U.S. Secret Service for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.