NationalWatch

A federal judge temporarily blocked some Arkansas districts from displaying the Ten Commandments in their classrooms as required under a new state law. 

The injunction from U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks – an appointee of former President Barack Obama – impacts four districts in northwest Arkansas and comes in response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of multi-faith families who argued that the religious display requirement violates their religious freedom and parental rights. The law now cannot go into effect until further court action is taken, according to KUAR. 

“Why would Arkansas pass an obviously unconstitutional law?” Brooks wrote in his 35-page ruling. “Most likely because the state is part of a coordinated strategy among several states to inject Christian religious doctrine into public-school classrooms.” 

“Act 573 is not neutral with respect to religion,” he also was quoted by KUAR as saying, noting that the Ten Commandments law “requires that a specific version of that scripture be used, one that the uncontroverted evidence in this case shows is associated with Protestantism and is exclusionary of other faiths.” 

ARKANSAS FAMILIES SUE TO KEEP 10 COMMANDMENTS OUT OF CLASSROOM BEFORE NEW LAW TAKES EFFECT 

The Arkansas law, signed earlier this year by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, takes effect Tuesday and requires the Ten Commandments to be prominently displayed in public school classrooms and libraries. The lawsuit against it was filed on behalf of the families by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. 

Attorney General Tim Griffin, whose office defended the law, told the Associated Press he was reviewing the decision and assessing legal options. 

The lawsuit named four school districts in northwest Arkansas — Fayetteville, Bentonville, Siloam Springs and Springdale — as defendants. 

The plaintiffs were asking for a preliminary injunction to pause the implementation of the law while the lawsuit is pending, according to the ACLU. 

“Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and library — rendering them unavoidable — unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration, and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture,” the lawsuit stated. 

FEDERAL JUDGE SLAPS TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ON MISSISSIPPI DEI BAN 

“It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments — or, more precisely, to the specific version of the Ten Commandments that Act 573 requires schools to display — do not belong in their own school community and pressures them to refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that are not aligned with the state’s religious preferences.” 

Brooks’ ruling only narrowly applies to four of the state’s 237 districts. It is not immediately clear if the groups who filed the lawsuit would seek a broader block of the law beyond the four districts. 

ACLU of Arkansas Executive Director Holly Bailey told the AP through a spokesperson that “it is clear from this order and long-established law that all should refrain from posting” the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. 

Similar requirements enacted in Texas and Louisiana are also being challenged in court. A group of families and faith leaders filed a lawsuit seeking to block Texas’ requirements days after it was signed into law. 

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Last month in Louisiana — the first state that mandated the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms — a panel of three appellate judges ruled that the law was unconstitutional. 

Fox News’ Kristine Parks and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and State CFO Blaise Ingoglia have sent teams from the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (FLDOGE) into two major blue jurisdictions, citing ballooning budgets and rising taxes as cause for outside accountability.

“Florida is the model for fiscal responsibility at the state level, and we will utilize our authority to ensure local governments follow suit,” DeSantis said in a statement after sending teams from Tallahassee to Broward County and Alachua County.

“Florida’s DOGE efforts are owed to the taxpayer and yet another way their state is pursuing fiscal responsibility,” he said of the operations.

FLDOGE alleged Floridians living in Broward County — anchored by Fort Lauderdale — have seen $450 million in additional “ad valorem” (property/auto/sales) taxes coming in to the county government.

The agency said Broward’s operating budget expanded by $1.2 billion over a recent period in which the population only increased 5%.

On the other end of Florida’s Turnpike, Gainesville is primed to spend $90 million more annually than four years ago, according to DeSantis.

“This increase in spending is now levied in part on Gainesville property owners, who are expected to pay 85% more in property taxes than what they paid in 2020,” a statement from the governor’s office read.

The statement added that some of that rise was genuinely related to spiking property values in Florida — which has seen a deluge of northeasterners escaping high-tax states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.

Ingoglia called the operation part of a “new era of transparency and accountability.”

“For years, I’ve called out reckless local spending, often on things taxpayers would never support if they knew the full story,” said Ingoglia, who was previously a state senator for Hernando County and the Suncoast.

DESANTIS GOADS CONGRESS TO FOLLOW FL’S DOGE BLUEPRINT

Ingoglia said it is FLDOGE’s job to open the books and demand answers to “bring fiscal sanity back.”

Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward confirmed to Fox News Digital the city hosted FLDOGE officials and gave them “all the information they could possibly need to review the excellent work of our city for the past several years.”

“I’m hopeful they will be able to put our best practices to work across the state, as Gainesville has seen historic improvements in crime and pedestrian safety as well as growth in affordable housing production over the past two years,” Ward said.

Ward said Gainesville is an “open book” when it comes to transparency of taxpayer resources and that he stands by the efficiency of his government.

The mayor went on to discuss the city’s own belt-tightening, citing debt reduction and elimination of 160 staff positions and improving its municipal credit rating.

WINNERS, LOSERS AND GRAB-BAGS FROM HOUSE GOP’S NARROW PASSAGE OF BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL

“We are now seeing other historically blue-leaning cities and counties in Florida undergoing similar scrutiny, and I’m certain they will return good results as well,” Ward said.

Meanwhile, Broward officials were nonplussed at the visitors from Tallahassee.

Broward County Mayor Beam Furr told Miami’s PBS affiliate that as a “home rule” county, Broward reserves the right to refuse forced reallocation of resources from the state.

Furr added that it will also cost resources for the added manpower to upload and pore through “thousands” of pages of documentation in response to FLDOGE’s inquiries.

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“It’s a huge imposition,” he said, as the report added FLDOGE is also seeking information on surtax revenue that goes to the county’s public bus system.

The county also balked at FLDOGE’s inquiry’s subsection referring to the Green New Deal, as Furr said his office has never adopted the far-left framework created by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

But the mayor said climate change as an issue is rightly on the mind in Fort Lauderdale, which sits close to sea level.

FLDOGE indicated that several other jurisdictions are under audit and may soon see agency staff visit as well.

Orange, which includes Orlando and most of Walt Disney World; Hillsborough, which includes Tampa; and Pinellas, which includes St. Petersburg and Clearwater, are all counties that could hear Ingoglia’s staff knock at their door.

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to crack down on public officials who use their position to grow their wealth.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is set to introduce legislation that would create stiffer penalties for public officials who commit federal bank fraud, tax fraud, or loan or mortgage fraud. Cornyn’s bill comes on the heels of two such instances where top officials and lawmakers were hit with allegations of mortgage fraud.

FEDERAL HOUSING OFFICIAL SUBMITTED SCHIFF CRIMINAL REFERRAL TO DOJ OVER MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS

Indeed, Cornyn’s Law Enforcement Tools to Interdict Troubling Investments in Abodes (LETITIA) Act is named for New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The Justice Department earlier this year opened an investigation into James, who successfully won a civil case last year against President Donald Trump and his Trump Organization over allegations of faulty business practices, for alleged mortgage fraud.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OPENS CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO NY AG LETITIA JAMES

Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte alleged in a letter that James could have engaged in mortgage fraud by making false or misleading statements on property records, like a loan application that said her property in Virginia is her primary residence, a building record stating her multifamily Brooklyn property incorrectly has five residences instead of four, and a mortgage application that falsely stated James was her father’s spouse.

“This legislation would empower President Trump to hold crooked politicians like New York’s Letitia James accountable for defrauding their constituents, violating their oath of office, and breaking the law, and I’m proud to lead my Republican colleagues in introducing it,” Cornyn said in a statement.

Fox News Digital reached out to James for comment but did not immediately hear back.

TAXPAYERS COULD BE FORCED TO FUND TRUMP FOE LETITIA JAMES’ LEGAL DEFENSE IF DEM BUDGET ITEM PASSES

Cornyn’s bill also comes after his colleague Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was similarly hit with allegations of mortgage fraud.

In another letter to the Justice Department, Pulte charged that Schiff falsified bank documents and property records by listing homes in Maryland and California as his primary residence out of an effort to allegedly get more favorable loans.

Marisol Samayoa, a spokesperson for Schiff, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that both Trump and Pulte’s “false allegations are a transparent attempt to punish a perceived political foe who is committed to holding Trump to account.”

“The facts here are simple: Senator Schiff and his wife accurately represented to their lenders that they would occupy and use the Maryland house they purchased in 2003 as a ‘principal residence,’ rather than a vacation home or an investment property,” she said. “He also disclosed to his lenders – repeatedly – that he maintained another home in his district in California, where he lived when not in Washington, and which was also a principal residence, not a vacation home or an investment property.” 

“This was done in consultation with relevant House counsel. As was proper, he claimed only a single homestead tax exemption (from California) worth approximately $70 in annual savings,” she continued.

The bill, which is so far co-sponsored by six Senate Republicans, would increase federal statutory maximum sentences and fines for public officials who abuse their offices and violate the public trust to commit bank fraud, loan or mortgage fraud, or tax fraud.

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It would create new mandatory minimum sentences, including one year for bank fraud, one year for loan or mortgage fraud, and six months for tax fraud. And if a public official engages in a repeated pattern of offenses, minimum sentences increase to five years for bank or loan fraud and two years for tax fraud.

FIRST ON FOX: A new memo being sent to House Republicans on Monday is encouraging them to tout new work requirements for Medicaid and federal food benefits, as lawmakers return to their districts for Congress’ annual August recess period.

Democrats and Republicans are locked in a messaging war over President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” a fight that’s only expected to intensify as the 2026 midterm elections creep closer.

Advancing American Freedom (AAF), a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, is looking to provide backup to GOP lawmakers with new guidance on how to sell the bill to constituents.

The memo positions Democratic attacks as “Left Wing operatives…already working to distort and malign every part of the [one big, beautiful bill].”

GOP LAWMAKERS CLASH OVER STRATEGY TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CRISIS

Democrats have been accusing Republicans of ripping federal benefits like Medicaid away from millions of people in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy.

They’re hoping to gin up enough outrage against the bill to carry them to take back the House of Representatives next year.

But the memo’s first section encourages GOP lawmakers to point out that “every Democrat voted against” the bill, followed by three of what the right sees as its strongest points.

The AAF memo urges Republicans to say, for example, that the bill’s extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) avoided a cumulative $4 trillion tax increase for Americans, including “working families.”

The bill also includes “$165 billion to secure the border, including 3,000 new border patrol agents, $10,000 bonuses for ICE and Border Patrol agents, and $46.5 billion for the wall,” and “$150 billion to rebuild our military including shipbuilding, nuclear arsenal, and the Golden Dome,” which Democrats opposed as well in their votes against the bill.

In addition to more talking points celebrating the bill’s tax cuts, energy provisions, and spending cut measures, AAF appears to be calling on Republicans to take on Democrats’ criticism of federal benefit reforms head-on.

The memo touts “commonsense Medicaid reforms” like “a work requirement for able-bodied adults who are not caretakers or parents of children under 15 years old in the Medicaid and SNAP programs.”

It also encourages Republicans to point out the bill “reduces payments for Medicaid to states that provide coverage to illegal aliens by a commensurate amount” and “requires regular reviews to ensure that dead or ineligible people are not enrolled.”

AAF also believes the conservative policy wins in the bill will also be a strong talking point, urging GOP lawmakers to point out that the legislation effectively defunds Planned Parenthood for a year, establishes a new tax credit for school choice, and “disincentivizes gambling by letting gamblers only write off 90% of their losses.”

148 DEMOCRATS BACK NONCITIZEN VOTING IN DC AS GOP RAISES ALARM ABOUT FOREIGN AGENTS

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House Republicans working to sell the bill will have their work cut out for them over the next four weeks, however.

A recent Fox News poll conducted in mid-July found that 58% of registered voters disapproved of the “big, beautiful bill,” compared to just 39% who supported it.

The gap between Republicans and Democrats is significant – 73% of registered Republican voters approved of the bill, compared to just 10% of Democrats. Independents opposed the bill by a margin of 29% to 70%.

But Democrats aren’t in the clear, either. A new poll released Monday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that a significant number of Democratic Party voters see their party as “weak” and “ineffective.”

Donald Trump didn’t like the slight gain in jobs that the government reported for July. So he fired the commissioner for labor statistics, who nobody had heard of until 10 minutes ago. 

Problem solved?

Well, not exactly. 

Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, didn’t unilaterally make the decision that the economy added just 73,000 jobs in July. That figure was produced by hundreds of Labor Department analysts, following established rules, before it reached her level. 

TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER FIRES BACK AT NBC HOST OVER ‘SHOOTING THE MESSENGER’ CLAIM ABOUT BLS FIRING

For the president to claim, without proof, that this was “rigged”—to make him, and Republicans look bad–doesn’t change the underlying reality. The number was disappointing. That hasn’t changed. 

The same goes for the downward revision of 258,000 jobs in the previous two months. 

That is incredibly common. It happened during the Biden administration, in one case a downward revision of an earlier jobs estimate. It’s a standard adjustment made once more information has become available. 

But the economy is what it is. Dumping the Biden appointee doesn’t change that. 

Maybe there’s a problem with the constant revisions, but that’s been going on for years. McEntarfer should have put out a more detailed statement.

There has been an avalanche of media criticism for the president undermining confidence in the reliability of the numbers we all depend on. 

Kevin O’Leary, the “Shark Tank” investor, told CNN: “I did not agree on whacking the commissioner. I don’t like that. Whacking statisticians makes no sense whatsoever. You don’t shoot the messenger.”

Trump’s BLS chief in the first term, Bill Beach, said “the commissioner doesn’t do anything to collect the numbers. The commissioner doesn’t see the numbers until Wednesday before they’re published. By the time the commissioner sees the numbers, they’re all prepared…

“When I was commissioner, we had a 500,000 job revision during President Trump’s first term,” he told CNN. “And why do we do that? Because firms are created or firms go out of business, and we don’t really know that during the course of the year, until we reconcile against a real full count of all the businesses.”

TRUMP VOWS TO REPLACE LABOR STATISTICS CHIEF WITH SOMEONE ‘COMPETENT AND QUALIFIED’

Democrats, of course, are going haywire. Janet Yellen, Biden’s Treasury secretary and Fed chief, said it reeked of a “banana republic.”

So once the president names his own person, will the markets and the public have confidence that future jobs numbers are real? Or will that appointee cook the books in his favor?

Trump’s case: “Last weeks [sic] Job’s Report was RIGGED, just like the numbers prior to the Presidential Election were Rigged. That’s why, in both cases, there was massive, record setting revisions, in favor of the Radical Left Democrats. Those big adjustments were made to cover up, and level out, the FAKE political numbers that were CONCOCTED in order to make a great Republican Success look less stellar!!! I will pick an exceptional replacement.”  

Millions of business decisions are made based on the jobs number being a fair and reasonable estimate, based on Labor’s survey of participating companies.

But let’s pull back and look at some other recent Trump actions.

The Office of Special Counsel is now investigating Jack Smith, who brought two criminal cases against Trump, for violating the Hatch Act. That’s the law that bars government officials from making blatantly partisan comments. But it’s usually ignored: When Kellyanne Conway was accused of violating the act and recommended for dismissal, Trump just blew it off.

Ex-CIA director John Brennan and fired FBI chief James Comey are under criminal investigation for allegedly politicizing intelligence in 2016.

DOJ CRIMINALLY INVESTIGATING FORMER OBAMA OFFICIALS FOR HANDLING OF RUSSIA PROBE

Trump has also ordered a criminal probe of Barack Obama for his actions in 2016 and declared him guilty of “treason.”

I’d just offer a reminder that Trump’s special counsel in the first term, John Durham, investigated all this and brought no charges against these men.

I know that his files have recently been declassified, but Durham wrote: 

“The office’s best assessment is that the July 25 and July 27 emails that purport to be from Benardo,” a man funded by George Soros, “were ultimately a composite of several emails that were obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of the U.S.-based thinktanks.” Durham indicted only three minor officials.

Trump is extremely aggressive, of course, whether it’s suing the media (winning $16-million settlements from ABC and CBS); targeting Ivy League universities (Columbia agreeing to pay a $200-million penalty); ordering an investigation of first-term cybersecurity official Miles Taylor (better known as Anonymous); ordering federal agencies to cut ties with WilmerHale (and saying it was because Robert Mueller worked there), along with defunding NPR and PBS.

Oh, and did I mention that the current president has also ordered an investigation of pardons and other actions by Joe Biden, aimed at showing he was too mentally impaired to do the job? The former president, who is being treated for prostate cancer, dismissed the idea as “ridiculous.”

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All this projects an image of strength, enabling Trump to drive the news agenda. But it also reveals a president preoccupied by past grievances and determined to settle scores with opponents he believes unfairly targeted him.

And that’s why Erika McEntarfer is suddenly out of a job.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is cheering on the Texas state lawmakers who fled the state in a bid to delay a vote on new congressional maps that would give Republicans a significant edge in 2026.

Crockett railed against the Republican effort and its backers, including President Donald Trump, who she called a “ridiculous tyrant” in a five-minute message to supporters on her Instagram page on Sunday night.

“My colleagues, my former colleagues in the state house, they say, ‘Deuces! We out. We don’t like what you doing.’ So I’m really excited. And I am so thankful because this is the type of fight that the American people need to see,” Crockett said. 

“We understand that this ridiculous tyrant is trying to do everything that he can to break our democracy. But there are democracy defenders that believe in absolutely standing up for the people. They understand the assignment.”

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

Crockett herself was launched onto the national stage when she was part of a group of Texas statehouse Democrats who left the state in a bid to delay a vote on a GOP-backed elections bill in 2021.

Democratic state lawmakers are now accusing Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Republican lawmakers of following Trump’s marching orders before acting to help people affected by the deadly floods that the Lone Star state grappled with last month.

“Over 130 Texans died in the July 4th floods. Republicans responded with zero flood relief bills — and a mid-decade redistricting scheme to help Trump cling to power. That’s not governing. That’s exploitation. We broke quorum because Texans deserve better,” state Rep. John Bucy III wrote on X.

Abbott in turn accused Democrats of holding up flood relief themselves by paralyzing the statehouse with their absence – and suggested they should lose their elected roles.

148 DEMOCRATS BACK NONCITIZEN VOTING IN DC AS GOP RAISES ALARM ABOUT FOREIGN AGENTS

“Our fellow Texans are being let down and not getting the flood relief they need because these Democrats have absconded from the responsibility,” Abbott said on Fox News Monday afternoon. “And I believe they have forfeited their seats in the state legislature because they’re not doing the job they were elected to do.”

Crockett said on Instagram that she was “excited” by the Democrats fleeing to Chicago and New York City.

“They understand the assignment. They understand who they swore an oath to. They understand that they don’t serve him. We don’t serve him. He not ours. He’s not our constituent. He is not,” Crockett said of Trump. 

“Hopefully this will be the energy that more Democrats need to see so that hopefully we can start to push back in a major way, because, unfortunately, he is trampling on our rights in a major way.”

Crockett also called Trump an “orangutan” and “Temu Hitler” later in the video.

She mocked Trump and his Republican allies, “That’s what makes you real MAGA, is like, you got to be about this thug life. You gotta be, like, cheating on your wife. You got to at least be going to get impeached if you ain’t been impeached.”

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Republicans currently control 25 of Texas’ 38 seats in the House of Representatives. Trump himself won 27 in the 2024 election, though House Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez kept their seats there.

Under the new proposed lines, Trump would have won in 30 districts by at least 10% each, according to the Texas Tribune.

Crockett herself, who represents part of the Dallas area, would see her home drawn out of her current district lines.

Abbott gave the state Democrats until 3 p.m. local time on Monday to reconvene. 

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is rolling out the red carpet for Democratic state lawmakers who fled Texas as they push back against a move by President Donald Trump to add five Republican-controlled congressional seats in their state.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that they’re welcome here, that they have the ability to stay as long as they need to and want to,” Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Sunday evening as the lawmakers arrived in Illinois.

The lawmakers fled Texas in order to prevent the quorum needed in the Republican-dominated state legislature to vote on Monday on the new redistricting maps, which passed a committee vote this past weekend along party lines.

TEXAS’ CONSERVATIVE GOVERNOR VOWS TO REMOVE FLEEING DEMOCRAT STATE LAWMAKERS FROM OFFICE

The redistricting push in Texas is part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to keep control of the House and cushion losses elsewhere in the country, as the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats in midterm elections.

But veteran Republican strategist Matt Whitlock argued that the decision by most of the Democratic lawmakers to head to Illinois – with a few others decamping in two other blue states, New York and Massachusetts – was “cartoonishly dumb.”

Tom Bevan, the RealClearPolitics co-founder and president, wrote on X, “The idea that Texas Democrats would flee to Illinois, a state where Dems have abused gerrymandering to comical levels, is perfection.”

“To protest ‘partisan gerrymandering’ Texas Democrats are fleeing to…Illinois,” Republican Missouri Senator Eric Scmitt wrote on X. “You can’t make this up.”

TEXAS DEMOCRATS FLEE STATE TO BLOCK TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING VOTE IN DRAMATIC LEGISLATIVE MOVE

Pritzker, the two-term Illinois governor who is seen as a potential 2028 Democratic Party White House hopeful, has criticized Trump and Republicans for “cheating” as they push for rare mid-decade congressional redistricting.

“Texas Democrats were left with no choice but to leave their home state to block a vote from taking place and protect their constituents. This is a righteous act of courage,” the governor claimed.

But Republicans point to the move four years ago by Pritzker and Illinois Democrats to eliminate two Republican congressional seats in the state, to help bolster the party.

Illinois, which lost a seat in Congress due to population changes in the last census, went from 13 Democrats and 5 Republicans to 14 Democrats and 3 Republicans in their congressional delegation.

And Whitlock, a longtime GOP communicator and veteran of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, questioned the optics of the Texas Democrats fleeing to Illinois, which he called “the Mecca of partisan Gerrymandering.”

TRUMP, REPUBLICANS RACE TO REDRAW TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL MAP AS DEMOCRATS THREATEN LEGAL WAR

By breaking the quorum – the minimum number of lawmakers needed to conduct legislative business – the fleeing Democrats will be fined $500 per day and conservative Gov. Greg Abbott threatened them with arrest upon their return to Texas.

Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterms.

“Texas will be the biggest one,” the president told reporters recently, as he predicted the number of GOP-friendly seats that could be added through redistricting in the reliably red state. “Just a simple redrawing, we pick up five seats.”

Democrats control just 12 of the state’s 38 congressional districts, with a blue-leaning seat vacant after the death in March of Rep. Sylvester Turner.

The GOP plan relocates Democratic voters from competitive seats into nearby GOP-leaning districts, and moves Republican voters into neighboring districts the Democrats currently control.

Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both Trump allies, said they needed to redistrict because of constitutional concerns raised by the Justice Department over a handful of minority-dominated districts. 

Redistricting typically takes place at the start of each decade, based on the latest U.S. Census data. Mid-decade redistricting is uncommon—but not without precedent.

Democrats are slamming Trump and Texas Republicans for what they describe as a power grab, and vowing to take legal action to prevent any shift in the current congressional maps.

And Democrats in blue-dominated states are now trying to fight fire with fire.

“Two can play this game,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on social media recently.

The next day, after a meeting, Democrats in California’s congressional delegation said they were on board with an ambitious plan to try and gain at least five seats through redistricting. Democrats currently control 43 of the Golden State’s 52 congressional districts.

But it won’t be easy to enact the change, because in California, congressional maps are drawn by an independent commission that is not supposed to let partisanship influence their work.

Democrats in other heavily populated blue states—including Illinois, New York, and New Jersey, are also considering making changes to their maps, but have redistricting limits enshrined in their state constitutions.

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Meanwhile, Ohio is required by law to redistrict this year, and a redrawing of the maps in the red-leaning state could provide the GOP with up to three more congressional seats.

And Republicans are also mulling mid-decade redistricting that might give the GOP a couple of more House seats in red states such as Florida, Missouri, and Indiana.

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

-Major business group intervenes to blunt Newsom lawsuit attempting to reinstate EV mandates

–Mamdani studies ‘America’s Worst Mayor’ Brandon Johnson to avoid his political pitfalls: report

-Trump’s global reset of trade relationships will remain in the spotlight this week

Cornyn takes swing at James, Schiff with new LETITIA Act targeting ‘crooked politicians’

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to crack down on public officials who use their position to grow their wealth.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is set to introduce legislation that would create stiffer penalties for public officials who commit federal bank fraud, tax fraud, or loan or mortgage fraud. Cornyn’s bill comes on the heels of two such instances where top officials and lawmakers were hit with allegations of mortgage fraud.

Indeed, Cornyn’s Law Enforcement Tools to Interdict Troubling Investments in Abodes (LETITIA) Act is named for New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The Justice Department earlier this year opened an investigation into James, who successfully won a civil case last year against President Donald Trump and his Trump Organization over allegations of faulty business practices, for alleged mortgage fraud…READ MORE.

White House

JET LAG: Trump’s F-47 next-gen fighter jet threatened by delays as Boeing workers go on strike

SPEECH POLICE STATE: Trump’s full-court press against ‘Orwellian’ European censorship intensifies amid US efforts to unleash AI

‘NOW I LOVE HER AD’: Trump says he now ‘loves’ Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad after learning she’s a registered Republican

World Stage

HORROR CONTINUES: European leaders decry Hamas video of Israeli captives: ‘unlimited inhumanity’

CHINA IN CROSSHAIRS: FBI office in New Zealand will defend against Chinese influence, Patel says

‘RIDICULOUS WAR’: Trump confirms 2 nuclear submarines are ‘in the region’ to counter Russia

‘CHAOTIC SITUATION’: As Israel faces blame for the hunger crisis in Gaza, UN’s own data shows most of its aid is looted
 

Capitol Hill

BENEFIT BATTLE LINES: GOP memo preps House Republicans to tout Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ as Dems go on offense

‘WANTED US TO PAY’: Trump accuses Senate Democrats of using nominee confirmations as leverage for funding deals

Across America 

COWBOY CRACKDOWN: GOP governor greenlights state troopers to join ICE in immigration crackdown

‘FIRE WITH FIRE’: Hochul vows to ‘fight fire with fire’ on redistricting while hosting Texas Democrats who fled state

‘TOO FAR’: Cincinnati residents on edge after viral beatdown sparks crime concerns: ‘What’s gonna happen next?’

‘UNCERTAIN RECOVERY’: Danville, Virginia councilman faces possible ‘years’ of rehab after gasoline attack, boss says

HAT IN RING: First on Fox: Republican firebrand Nancy Mace launches bid for South Carolina governor

‘TEXANS DON’T RUN’: Abbott threatens to remove House Dems from office following dramatic departure to avoid vote

COACH VS. POLS: Republican Dooley jumps into Georgia’s Senate race while touting support for Trump and taking aim at Ossoff

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

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he is ready to fight “fire with fire” as state Republican lawmakers try to enact redistricting in Texas, opposing the move though promising to pursue similar measures if needed.

At a press conference on Monday, Newsom said he supports independent redistricting, as well as a national framework, and a proposal being advanced in the legislature reinforces what he supports.

“The proposal that we’re advancing with the legislature has a trigger only if they move forward, to dismantling the protocols that are well-established,” the governor said. “Would the state of California move forward in kind? Fighting? Yes, fire with fire.”

When asked about a meeting between California Democrats on Sunday night, during which time they drafted or were almost done with the draft of redistricting maps, and whether he had seen those maps, Newsom said he had not.

AWOL TEXAS DEMS THREATENED WITH EXPULSION, FELONY CHARGES FOR ABSENCE AMID REDISTRICTING BATTLE

But he said there has been an ongoing series of conversations into the evening last night, which continued on Monday morning and will continue until Democrats land on a process.

“That process has to have the concurrence, the support of two-thirds of the legislature,” he said. “The maps, we believe, should be transparent. They should be provided in a transparent way to the public, and as a consequence, those maps are being processed and will be brought to light.”

At the end of the day, though, Newsom said the people of California will have the ultimate say.

“We will offer them the opportunity to make judgments for themselves, again, only if Texas moves forward,” Newsom said. “I’ll reinforce that we believe it should be a national model, independent national redistricting, and it would revert back to its original form, but it’s done in response to the existential realities that we’re now facing. Things have changed, facts have changed, so we must change.”

HOCHUL VOWS TO ‘FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE’ ON REDISTRICTING WHILE HOSTING TEXAS DEMOCRATS WHO FLED STATE

“They’ve triggered this response and we’re not going to roll over and we’re going to fight fire with fire, but we’re going to do so not just punching with the weight of the fourth largest economy, the most populous state in our union, the size of 21 state populations combined,” he continued. “We also will punch above our weight in terms of the impact of what we’re doing, and I think that should be absorbed by those in the Texas delegation. Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California, and they will pay that price.”

California GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin told Fox News Digital that Newsom’s actions could threaten the constitutional rights of Californians while also setting a dangerous precedent.

“While Governor Newsom frames this redistricting as a defensive move, it undermines California’s nationally respected, voter-approved Citizens Redistricting Commission, and if successful, sets a dangerous precedent that voters’ choices can be overruled whenever politicians find it politically convenient,” Rankin said. “Our primary concern is safeguarding Californians’ constitutional rights against partisan manipulation disguised as defending democracy; true democracy means empowering voters, not politicians, to decide representation.”

Dozens of Texas Democrats fled their state and went to Chicago and New York on Sunday night in an effort to block a redistricting vote on Monday.

TRUMP, REPUBLICANS RACE TO REDRAW TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL MAP AS DEMOCRATS THREATEN LEGAL WAR

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has since threatened to arrest and expel the lawmakers if they do not return by Monday afternoon.

Shortly after Abbott released his statement, the Texas House Democratic Caucus issued a simple response, writing: “Come and take it.”

The statement also described Republicans’ proposed districts, which would potentially secure five new GOP U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections, as a “racist mid-decade redistricting scheme.”

Abbott criticized the Democrats’ dramatic departure, saying that “real Texans don’t run from a fight.”

On Monday evening, Illinois lawmakers hosted Texas Democrats for a press conference, during which time none of the lawmakers took a single question from the press.

BETO O’ROURKE DROPS F-BOMB AS HE URGES DEMS TO ‘MEET FIRE WITH FIRE’ AGAINST GOP REDISTRICTING PLANS IN TEXAS

Still, Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., welcomed her colleagues and said they could stay as long as they wanted because they believed in what they were doing.

“What you’re doing and what…they’re trying to do in Texas affects you guys, but it affects the whole country,” she said. “When you want to remove five Democrats…that hurts us in the House.”

She explained that when there are not enough Democrats, things like the Big Beautiful Bill, or as she referred to it as “the Big Ugly Bill,” and other Republican initiatives get through.

“They are trying to destroy our democracy, destroy fairness in our country,” Kelly said. “And unfortunately, they’re starting with Texas. But we want you to know, we stand by your side.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., accused Abbott of not stepping up for the people affected by devastating floods in the Hill Country region of Texas.

BETO O’ROURKE CALLS FOR DEMOCRATS TO BE ‘RUTHLESS’ IN PURSUIT OF POWER, BACKS NEWSOM’S GERRYMANDERING PROPOSAL

Specifically, he accused Abbott of not having a special session to help families rebuild, but instead of doing “the bidding” of President Donald Trump to “banish Democrats” from the federal delegation.

Krishnamoorthi then directed his comments to Abbott, saying, “don’t mess with Texas,” because the people standing with him represent Texas.

“You can silence them. You can smear them. You can saddle them with debts and fins. But you cannot intimidate them,” Krishnamoorthi said. “You can gerrymander the hell out of that map. Guess what? Two can play that game. That’s right. Other states will do exactly the same thing and neutralize what you’re trying to do in Texas.”

Other lawmakers standing side-by-side in Illinois chose to accuse Trump’s policies of being race-driven.

Texas State Rep. Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos said Trump’s policies hurt working families.

“That is nothing short of racism,” she said. “He is coming after all of us who don’t look like him and his Republican colleagues in the Texas House.”

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, followed Rodriguez Ramos with more accusations of racism, saying Republicans are doing what Trump has insisted be done.

“I want you to know that we didn’t introduce the race card when this message was sent by and through the Justice Department to the State of Texas, to our attorney general,” he said. “They mentioned the race card because they talked about racial gerrymandering. They brought it up, and when they brought it up, they did it, knowing that this was a buzz word. It was a trigger.”

“They know that that’s a buzz word that people would respond to in Texas, but we are going to respond to that buzz word by telling them that your racism is not going to change democracy in the state of Texas,” Green continued. “In the United States of America, racism is going to be met with our taking a stand for democracy. You take a stand for racism, we will stand for democracy, and we will win.”

Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, said she was pleased that states like California and New York were standing up for Texas Democrats because, once it happens in Texas, it will spread to other states.

She called the issue a “national war,” and “an all-out war” in which everything is on the table.

“We come from a state of great pride, and I never thought as a Texan, as an elected member of the Texas House of Representatives and now as an elected member from Texas to the United States House of Representatives, that I would see the governor of the proud state of Texas bend a knee to a felon from New York,” Johnson added. “I never thought I’d see the day, but here we are.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, was also standing with fellow Democrats in Illinois and accused Abbott of talking “a lot of noise.” She also accused Republicans of being “weak.”

“The difference is they expect Democrats to kind of be the nice guys that we are,” Crockett said. “They expect us to take the punch and say thank you. Well, I am here to tell you not only are we going to punch back, but we about to beat you down.”

Still, Abbott told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday that Texas is doing what it is allowed to do by law.

He also accused state Democrats of doing something “un-Texas” by turning their back on Texans and not dealing with the flooding issues still echoing across the state.

Abbott said four of the five seats that could change because of redistricting will be primarily Hispanic.

“These are seats where Democrats are having to come to grips with reality,” he said, explaining that Democrats are losing votes to Hispanics and Black voters in Texas.

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He also said Democrats are “freaking out” because they are realizing Texas has the authority to redistrict.

“Texas will continue to fight for what is right,” Abbott said.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.

Several House Democrats, including members of the “Squad,” criticized the United States over the weekend at a conference in Mexico City that questioned U.S. influence and policies, with one lawmaker saying she was prouder to be Guatemalan than American. 

The second annual Panamerican Congress brought leftist officials from all over North and South America. Those in attendance included Democratic lawmakers: Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Presley of Massachusetts, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Jesús Gilberto García and Delia Ramirez of Illinois. 

All are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

ESTABLISHMENT-BACKED DEMOCRAT WINS HIGH-PROFILE CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARY IN ARIZONA

During her remarks at the opening of the event, Ramirez spoke about the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown and her own ancestry. 

“I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American,” she declared in Spanish. The congresswoman also accused the U.S. of prioritizing “imperialism, militarization, conquest, control, competition in its attempt at domination.”

On her website, Ramirez, the child of immigrant parents, said her husband is in the country illegally and that she is the only congressional lawmaker “in a mixed-status marriage, and fights for the rights of DREAMers like her husband, Boris, and for comprehensive immigration reform.”

The White House condemned the remarks made by Ramirez, as well as her fellow Democrats. 

“These Democrats’ comments are despicable and underscore their commitment to putting Americans last,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Fox News Digital. “In stark contrast, President Trump is working tirelessly to secure peace deals, deport illegal alien criminals, and advance America’s interests at home and abroad.”

‘WAR CRIMINAL NETANYAHU’: ‘SQUAD’ MEMBERS ERUPT OVER ISRAEL’S ‘RECKLESS’ STRIKE ON IRAN

Fox News Digital has reached out to Ramirez’s office, as well as several lawmakers who attended the summit. 

In addition to immigration, speakers also voiced their views on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. 

Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, Colombia’s deputy minister of multilateral affairs, praised Tlaib during his speech, calling her a “symbol of resistance,” which prompted a standing ovation once he finished speaking. 

The summit was organized by the leader of Progressive International, a radical left-wing group that describes capitalism as a “virus” that must be “eradicated” — in partnership with Morena, Mexico’s ruling left-wing party, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported. 

WATCH: AOC OPENS UP ABOUT MEETING ZOHRAN MAMDANI, ICE ACTIVITY IN NYC

Gerardo Fernández Noroña, president of the Mexican Senate and member of Morena, called out the “persecution” of migrants in the U.S. under the Trump administration. 

He called it “unjust, infamous, incorrect persecution where just for being a migrant and just for your skin color or your nationality, you are persecuted.”

“They are not only imprisoned, but sent to a prison that has been banned since World War II, such as Alligator Alcatraz,” he said. “The United States government is grieving over drug use, but I haven’t seen a single raid like the one they carry out against migrants against people who sell drugs in the United States.”

In a TV interview before the event, David Adler, the general coordinator for Progressive International and one of the summit’s main coordinators, said the intention of the summit was to confront authoritarian and fascist threats and shift authority from Washington, D.C. to developing countries, the DCNF reported, in the Global South, a term used to describe a loose division of nations across different continents that are generally poorer, have high levels of inequity and harsher living conditions. 

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On its website, Progressive Internation described the U.S. as the “lynchpin of that imperial violence — a position it has carefully built over two centuries.”

The group cited U.S. military installations overseas and the massive Pentagon budget. 

“US militarism sustains profound political tensions around the world. Its interventions have destroyed nation after nation, leaving a trail of violence and sorrow in their wake,” the website states. “Ending US militarism means saving lives.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will reportedly announce plans this week to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, according to media reports. 

NASA has had discussions about the building of a reactor on the lunar surface, but Duffy’s directive gives a more definitive timeline and expedites the process. Duffy also serves as the interim administrator of the space agency. 

“Fission surface power (FSP) is both an essential and sustainable segment of the lunar and Mars power architectures for future human space exploration missions,” the directive states. “To properly advance this critical technology to be able to support a future lunar economy, high power energy generation on Mars, and to strengthen our national security in space, it is imperative the agency move quickly.”

TRUMP TAPS SEAN DUFFY TO SERVE AS INTERIM NASA CHIEF

China and Russia have announced on several occasions a joint effort to place a reactor on the moon by the mid-2030s, NASA said. If successful, that would potentially result in the declaration of a “keep-out zone,” which could inhibit the United States from establishing a presence there. 

The move means that NASA will continue to have input in nuclear development, despite the Pentagon’s recent cancellation of a joint program on nuclear-powered rocket engines.

Duffy also issued another directive to quickly replace the International Space Station, a priority for NASA. 

SNUB OF MUSK’S NASA NOMINEE ALLY PRECEDED SUDDEN ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ CRITICISM, TRUMP FEUD

Trump announced Duffy to serve as interim administrator of NASA in July as withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman in May.

Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut and longtime associate of Elon Musk, was nominated by Trump in December 2024 but faced mounting scrutiny over ties to Musk and SpaceX, which some officials viewed as a conflict of interest.

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NASA has increasingly factored into the Trump administration’s national defense, innovation, and economic agenda.

A federal court fight over President Donald Trump’s authority to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court for review, legal experts told Fox News Digital, in a case that has already proved to be a pivotal test of executive branch authority.

At issue in the case is Trump’s ability to use a 1977 emergency law to unilaterally slap steep import duties on a long list of countries doing business with the U.S.

In interviews with Fox News Digital, longtime trade lawyers and lawyers who argued on behalf of plaintiffs in court last week said they expect the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a matter of “weeks,” or sometime in August or September – in line with the court’s agreement to hear the case on an “expedited” basis.

The fast-track timeline reflects the important question before the court: whether Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) when he launched his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs.

FEDERAL JUDGES GRILL TRUMP LAWYERS OVER ‘LIBERATION DAY’ TARIFFS ON EVE OF ENFORCEMENT
 

Importantly, that timing would still allow the Supreme Court to add the case to their docket for the 2025-2026 term, which begins in early October. That could allow them to rule on the matter as early as the end of the year. 

Both Trump administration officials and lawyers for the plaintiffs said they plan to appeal the case to the Supreme Court if the lower court does not rule in their favor. And given the questions at the heart of the case, it is widely expected that the high court will take up the case for review.

In the meantime, the impact of Trump’s tariffs remains to be seen. 

Legal experts and trade analysts alike said last week’s hearing is unlikely to forestall the broader market uncertainty created by Trump’s tariffs, which remain in force after the appeals court agreed to stay a lower court decision from the U.S. Court of International Trade. 

Judges on the three-judge CIT panel in May blocked Trump’s use of IEEPA to stand up his tariffs, ruling unanimously that he did not have “unbounded authority” to impose tariffs under that law. 

Thursday’s argument gave little indication as to how the appeals court would rule, plaintiffs and longtime trade attorneys told Fox News Digital, citing the tough questions that the 11 judges on the panel posed for both parties.

TARIFF FIGHT ESCALATES AS TRUMP APPEALS SECOND COURT LOSS

Dan Pickard, an attorney specializing in international trade and national security issues at the firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, said the oral arguments Thursday did not seem indicative of how the 11-judge panel might rule.

“I don’t know if I walked out of that hearing thinking that either the government is going to prevail, or that this is dead on arrival,” Pickard told Fox News Digital. “I think it was more mixed.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs echoed that assessment – a reflection of the 11 judges on the appeals bench, who had fewer chances to speak up or question the government or plaintiffs during the 45 minutes each had to present their case. 

“I want to be very clear that I’m not in any way, shape or form, predicting what the Federal Circuit will do – I leave that for them,” one lawyer for the plaintiffs told reporters after court, adding that the judges, in his view, posed “really tough questions” for both parties.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who helped represent the 12 states suing over the plan, told Fox News Digital they are “optimistic” that, based on the oral arguments, they would see at least a partial win in the case, though he also stressed the ruling and the time frame is fraught with uncertainty.

In the interim, the White House forged ahead with enacting Trump’s tariffs as planned.

Pickard, who has argued many cases before the Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, noted that the oral arguments are not necessarily the best barometer for gauging the court’s next steps – something lawyers for the plaintiffs also stressed after the hearing.

JUDGES V. TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA

Even if the high court blocks the Trump administration from using IEEPA, they have a range of other trade tools at their disposal, trade lawyers told Fox News. 

The Trump administration “has had more of a focus on trade issues than pretty much any other administration in my professional life,” Pickard said. 

“And let’s assume, even for the sake of the argument, just hypothetically, that the Supreme Court says this use of IEEPA exceeded your statutory authority. The Trump administration is not going to say, like, ‘All right, well, we’re done. I guess we’re just going to abandon any trade policy.’

“There are going to be additional [trade] tools that had been in the toolbox for long that can be taken out and dusted off,” he said. “There are plenty of other legal authorities for the president. 

“I don’t think we’re seeing an end to these issues anytime soon – this is going to continue to be battled out in the courts for a while.”

Both Pickard and Rayfield told Fox News Digital in separate interviews that they expect the appeals court to rule within weeks, not days. 

The hearing came after Trump on April 2 announced a 10% baseline tariff on all countries, along with higher, reciprocal tariffs targeting select nations, including China. The measures, he said, were aimed at addressing trade imbalances, reducing deficits with key trading partners, and boosting domestic manufacturing and production.

Ahead of last week’s oral arguments, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said lawyers for the administration would continue to defend the president’s trade agenda in court.

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Justice Department attorneys “are going to court to defend [Trump’s] tariffs,” she said, describing them as “transforming the global economy, protecting our national security and addressing the consequences of our exploding trade deficit.”

“We will continue to defend the president,” she vowed. 

The U.S. State Department is proposing that applicants for tourist and business visas be required to post a bond of up to $15,000 to enter the country, which could make the process unaffordable for some.

In a notice posted on the Federal Register’s website and scheduled to be published on Tuesday, the State Department said it would kick off a 12-month pilot program for people from countries with high overstay rates and deficient internal document security controls to be required to post bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, when applying for a visa.

The proposal comes as President Donald Trump and his administration work to tighten requirements for visa applicants.

The department announced last week that several applicants looking to renew their visas would have to submit to an additional in-person interview, which was never required in the past.

TRUMP BANS TRAVEL TO US FROM SEVERAL COUNTRIES TO BLOCK ‘DANGEROUS FOREIGN ACTORS’

Additionally, the department proposed that applicants for the Visa Diversity Lottery have a valid passport from their country.

The bond notice was previewed on the Federal Register website on Monday and said the pilot program will not take effect within 15 days of its publication. The notice also said the program is necessary to ensure the U.S. government is not financially liable if a visitor does not comply with the visitor’s visa terms.

“Aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure and who are nationals of countries identified by the department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or offering citizenship by investment, if the alien obtained citizenship with no residency requirement, may be subject to the pilot program,” the notice read.

SENATE REPUBLICAN AIMS TO TREAT VISA OVERSTAYERS LIKE ILLEGAL ENTRANTS IN RESPONSE TO COLORADO TERROR ATTACK

Once the program takes effect, the countries affected will be listed.

The notice also notes that the bond could be waived based on individual circumstances.

Citizens of countries enrolled in the Visa Waiver Program, which provides for business travel or tourism for up to 90 days, will not be required to pay the bond.

TRUMP STATE DEPT ANNOUNCES NEW STUDENT-VISA VETTING WILL BE ONGOING PROCESS, NOT ONE-TIME CHECK

There are 42 countries enrolled in the Visa Waiver Program, which includes countries from Europe and the Middle East.

While visa bonds have been proposed in the past, they have never been implemented.

Reasons the bonds have never been implemented include potential misperceptions by the public, and the argument that the process of posting and discharging the bond could become burdensome.

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A spokesperson for the State Department told Fox News Digital the Visa Bond Pilot is consistent with Executive Order 141598, which Trump signed to protect the American people from an invasion.

The spokesperson noted that the pilot reinforces the administration’s commitment to enforcing immigration laws in the U.S. and safeguarding national security.

As for the list of countries, it may be updated from time-to-time, the spokesperson added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: Chinese-made nicotine and electronic cigarette products illegally flooded U.S. markets under former President Joe Biden, endangering both adults and children and posing an “urgent threat to U.S. sovereignty, public health, and law enforcement capacity,” according to nicotine awareness activist and former GOP senator Richard Burr.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Burr, who is chair of the Coalition for Smarter Regulation of Nicotine, said that even as the Biden administration cracked down on “reputable” companies like Juul, it took no action to control the flow of off-brand competitor products, most of which were manufactured and exported to the U.S. by Chinese companies through the open borders.

“There was not a policy in the Biden administration to enforce the law at the border. And that’s where the growth really came from,” he explained, adding, “They not only didn’t speak out against them, but they didn’t make any attempt, any attempt, at enforcement.”

According to Burr, Biden’s director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), Brian King, bears special blame for overseeing an agency so crippled by inaction that, Burr said, “most of the products that are on the marketplace today not only are illegal, they have never even attempted to go through an application process at the FDA.”

However, a spokesperson for King vehemently denied Burr’s assertions, telling Fox News Digital that “the claim that there was no attempt at enforcement is not consistent with the facts.”

KAMALA HARRIS BACK IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT AS JAMES COMER FLOATS SUBPOENA IN BIDEN ‘COVER-UP’ PROBE

Burr said that currently approximately 85% of vapor and e-cigarette products sold in the U.S. are either illicit or unauthorized due to the Biden FDA’s failure to enforce the law.

Now, Burr is urging the Trump administration to be proactive in fixing the Chinese nicotine problem unleashed on Americans under Biden.

Burr sent a letter to Trump’s FDA commissioner, Martin Makary, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging them to take urgent action to “restore order” to the marketplace by reforming the government’s review process of nicotine and e-cigarette products and then fully enforcing against the entities responsible for growing the illicit market.

In his letter, Burr describes the U.S. as being “in the midst of a crisis created by the free flow of illegal nicotine products into the U.S. marketplace, the majority of which are supplied by Chinese companies that are knowingly breaking U.S. laws.”

‘WAS THE PRESIDENT UP FOR THE JOB?’ STEVE RICCHETTI DEFENDS BIDEN’S FITNESS AS GOP SEEKS ANSWERS

“During the Biden Administration, illicit Chinese vaping products, without any regulatory oversight or consumer protections, began flooding our market,” Burr wrote. “Produced overseas without meeting FDA safety standards or common tobacco product manufacturing practices, these illicit vapor products are deliberately avoiding compliance with the law, and many are intentionally marketed to underage users with youth-appealing features, for example, Gummy Bear flavors and gaming device screens.”

Burr further said that manufacturers of illicit vaping products often use fraudulent shipping declarations and misclassified tariff codes to evade U.S. customs and trade laws.

“President Trump has rightfully warned that counterfeit pharmaceutical products, often linked to the People’s Republic of China, threaten the security and safety of Americans,” he wrote. “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the opportunity to address a similar crisis in the nicotine market by advancing a modern and common-sense approach to regulating nicotine products and effectively enforcing the Tobacco Control Act (TCA) to restore order to the marketplace.”

To this end, Burr urged the FDA to “advance a comprehensive, effective regulatory framework,” which he said consists of streamlining the FDA’s approval process for less harmful smoke-free nicotine products, providing clear regulations to the industry and enforcing the law against companies selling illicit products, providing adult smokers with accurate information on the benefits of switching from cigarettes to FDA-authorized, smoke-free products and using regulation and oversight to drive down underage use.

INSIDE THE BIDEN COVER-UP PROBE: 8 AIDES QUESTIONED, MORE ON THE WAY

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Burr said that both Kennedy and President Donald Trump “have embraced a healthier America that our kids should be eating healthier, should be actively involved, and we should make sure that anything that’s detrimental to their ability to grow and to grow up healthy should be constricted significantly.”

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“This is at the heart of that,” he said.

In response, a spokesperson speaking on behalf of King told Fox News Digital that “the claim that there was no attempt at enforcement is not consistent with the facts.”

They listed 30 different enforcement actions the agency took under King’s tenure in 2023 and 2024, ranging from sending warning letters to potential violators to denying marketing requests to manufacturers not in compliance. 

“Within the past few years, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products took many first-time compliance and enforcement actions, including setting up a joint interagency task force and conducting multiple targeted enforcement operations against illegally imported e-cigarettes in coordination with US Customs and Border Protection. This was in addition to other first of their kind actions across the supply chain focused on unauthorized products from non-US manufacturers, including monthly retailer blitzes against Elf Bar and other unauthorized disposable e-cigarette brands used by youth,” they said. 

“The FDA and other agencies should build on these efforts and take comprehensive enforcement action against illegal e-cigarettes, particularly those popular among youth,” said the spokesperson. 

Texas House Democrats departed the state Sunday in an attempt to halt a redistricting Monday vote, claiming that the legislation is “using an intentionally racist map” to undermine the voices of Black and Latino voters in the state of Texas. 

Democrats’ absence means that Republicans are unable to go ahead with a scheduled vote under House rules, blocking the potential passage of redistricting legislation that would establish a new congressional map that could lead to five new GOP U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. 

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” state Rep. Gene Wu, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement Sunday.

TEXAS DEMOCRATS FLEE STATE TO BLOCK TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING VOTE IN DRAMATIC LEGISLATIVE MOVE

Most of the House Democrats fled to Chicago, while others headed to New York and Boston.

The Texas House stipulates that at least 100 members of the 150-member chamber must be present to conduct business, and roughly 50 Democrats are absent — meaning the vote is stalled until they return. It’s unclear how Democrats plan to proceed, and Wu told reporters that precise plans were still up in the air.

The redistricting legislation would shift Democrat voters from toss-up districts into ones that are more solidly Republican, and also move other Republican voters into districts that lean more toward Democrats — ultimately paving the way for more GOP seats.

This isn’t the first time Democrats have fled the state in protest of legislation.  

In July 2021, more than 50 Democrats also left the state of Texas and headed to Washington, D.C., to tie up Texas legislation that would implement new voting restrictions in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s loss of the 2020 election, which some Republicans claimed was “stolen.” 

Specifically, the measure Democrats opposed included new voter ID restrictions for those voting by mail and prohibited drive-by voting and extended voting hours. Likewise, the measure included new limitations for those who work at the polls, and barred local election officials from distributing a mail-in ballot to anyone who hadn’t officially requested one. 

Democrats ultimately returned to Texas weeks later, after multiple members caught COVID-19 while in D.C., and House Republicans finally passed the measure in August 2021 before Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law in September 2021. 

TRUMP, REPUBLICANS RACE TO REDRAW TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL MAP AS DEMOCRATS THREATEN LEGAL WAR

Meanwhile, Abbott threatened to arrest the Democrats who departed the state Sunday, should they not be back by 3 p.m. Monday when the Texas House reconvenes. Even so, there is no indication of when the Democrats plan to return to Texas. 

“Rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business,” Abbot said in a statement late Sunday. 

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The Texas Democrats have attracted support from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who labeled the Democrats’ decision to flee Texas a “righteous act of courage,” and accused Republicans of attempting to silence “millions of voices, especially Black and Latino voters.”

“Texas Democrats were left with no choice but to leave their home state, block a vote from taking place and protect their constituents,” Pritzker said in a news conference Sunday. 

Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: Attorney General Pam Bondi directed her staff Monday to act on the criminal referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard related to the alleged conspiracy to tie President Donald Trump to Russia, and the Department of Justice is now opening a grand jury investigation into the matter, Fox News Digital has learned.

Bondi ordered an unnamed federal prosecutor to initiate legal proceedings, and the prosecutor is expected to present department evidence to a grand jury to secure a potential indictment, according to a letter from Bondi reviewed by Fox News Digital and a source familiar with the investigation.

A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on the report of an investigation but said Bondi is taking the referrals from Gabbard “very seriously.” The spokesperson said Bondi believed there is “clear cause for deep concern” and a need for the next steps.

DNI GABBARD CLAIMS ‘DEEP STATE ACTORS’ DIDN’T WANT TRUMP-RUSSIA INFORMATION TO ‘SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY’

The DOJ confirmed two weeks ago it received a criminal referral from Gabbard. The referral included a memorandum titled “Intelligence Community suppression of intelligence showing ‘Russian and criminal actors did not impact’ the 2016 presidential election via cyber-attacks on infrastructure” and asked that the DOJ open an investigation.

No charges have been brought at this stage against any defendants. A grand jury investigation is needed to secure an indictment against any potential suspects.

The revelation that the DOJ is moving forward with a grand jury probe comes after Gabbard declassified intelligence in July that shed new light on the Obama administration’s allege determination that Russia sought to help Trump in the 2016 election.

Former President Barack Obama and his intelligence officials allegedly promoted a “contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn’t,” Gabbard said during a press briefing of the intelligence.

Among the declassified material was a meeting record revealing how Obama allegedly requested his deputies prepare an intelligence assessment in December 2016, after Trump had won the election, that detailed the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.” 

That intelligence assessment stressed that Russia’s actions did not affect the outcome of the election but rather were intended to sow distrust in the democratic process.

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It is unclear who is under investigation and what charges could be in play given statutes of limitations for much of the activity from nearly a decade ago have lapsed.

Former Obama intelligence officials, including John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey have drawn scrutiny from Trump officials for their involvement in developing intelligence that undermined Trump’s 2016 victory.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Gov. Greg Abbott is threatening to expel Democratic lawmakers who have fled Texas to stop Republicans from moving ahead with efforts to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

Most Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives, who Abbott has accused of potentially committing felonies, left the state on Sunday so that the House would not have enough votes for a quorum. Without a quorum, legislative proceedings cannot move forward. The lawmakers fled as Republicans have been trying to pass legislation establishing new congressional districts in the state, which Republicans argue have been unfairly gerrymandered in favor of Democrats and need to be adjusted.

Abbott told lawmakers in a letter sent Sunday that if they do not return by the time the house reconvenes at 4 p.m. ET he will “invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House.”

GOV. ABOTT CALLS OUT DEMOCRATS FOR ‘OUTRAGEOUS’ PROTESTS TO GOP-LED REDISTRICTING

“In addition to abandoning their offices, these legislators may also have committed felonies,” Abbott added in his letter. “Many absentee Democrats are soliciting funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules.”

Earlier Monday, Abbott said it would be considered bribery “if any lawmaker took money to perform or to refuse to perform an act in the legislature.”

In response to Abbott’s threats, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., described the governor’s actions as “all hat, no cattle,” noting that there was “no basis to charge” the lawmakers. 

“Gov. Abbott is making idle threats,” Jeffries insisted during an interview Monday with CNN.  

TEXAS MAP FIGHT ESCALATES AS JEFFRIES VOWS ‘ALL OPTIONS’ TO STOP GOP PLAN

Democrats nationwide have responded to the GOP redistricting efforts in Texas with threats to do the same in Democratic-controlled states like New York and California.

Last week, Jeffries said during a press conference that “all options should be on the table” amid the Texas redistricting battle.

Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has said California should “fight fire with fire” when it comes to the GOP’s mid-decade redistricting efforts.

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared Monday that “the gloves are off,” adding that she intends to explore “every option” to redraw her state’s congressional maps “as soon as possible.”

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Congressional maps are typically redrawn once every 10 years, following the completion of the U.S. Census, but currently Texas is trying to re-draw their maps mid-decade without any new census data, or even a court order. Still, Abbott has insisted that “there’s nothing illegal” about what Republicans are trying to do in Texas.

The new maps in Texas, which President Donald Trump supports, could potentially help Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives pick up five seats, the president said last month. Trump’s Department of Justice previously sent Aboott a letter in early July, alleging that some congressional districts in Texas could be considered racially gerrymandered and in violation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s campaign is studying another far-left figure’s rapid rise in city politics – not to emulate it, but to avoid the missteps that earned him the “America’s Worst Mayor” moniker, according to a new report.

Mamdani has a lot of parallels with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. While Johnson is not an explicit member of the Democratic Socialists of America, as Mamdani is – according to the group’s New York chapter – the two exude similar progressive politics.

But, Johnson – despite holding office in a city without a single Republican alderman – has earned reported single-digit approval numbers, following his rise from teachers’ union organizer and Cook County legislator to the Windy City’s mayorship.

Those snafus are something Mamdani’s campaign wants to avoid, according to NBC News.

CHICAGO MAYOR CALLS ICE RAIDS ‘TERRORISM,’ SAYS TRUMP’S AMERICA APPEARS AS IF ‘THE CONFEDERACY WON’

NBC News cited a source close to both Democrats’ camps, who said Mamdani is “tracking Johnson’s challenges” and instead hopes to be more like another progressive with a less nationally-infamous track record: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

The source told NBC News that Johnson “lost the plot” and suggested Mamdani is more “pragmatic” than the firebrand Chicagoan.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune editorial board has warned New York City voters against selecting Mamdani, writing they’ve “seen this movie before and the ending isn’t pretty” – referring to Johnson.

Johnson has repeatedly clashed with reporters at press conferences, branded ICE officers as agents of “terrorism,” and characterized President Donald Trump as a neoconfederate dictator.

When Trump called Mamdani a communist, he responded that he is getting used to having Trump criticize him.

CHICAGO MAYOR CALLS DOGE ‘ACT OF WAR,’ COMPARES SECOND TRUMP TERM TO THIRD REICH

He told “Meet the Press” in a more measured response in June that he is a democratic socialist “in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. [Martin Luther] King from decades ago.”

In an interview with NY1, Mamdani also highlighted how he is only two years younger than Wu was when she began her own mayoral campaign, contrasting younger Democrats like himself and the Beantown mayor with old guard like Andrew Cuomo.

“I think what we see in our politics is a desire to turn the page on the failed leadership that delivered us these crises,” he said.

Like Johnson, Mamdani’s rise was similarly sudden.

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He emigrated from Uganda at age 7, later had brief stints with MoveOn and other activist groups, was elected assemblyman in 2020 and is now the frontrunner for America’s largest city’s mayorship.

Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa has repeatedly called for Mamdani’s critics to unify behind his Republican candidacy to save New York City, in his words, while Cuomo remains in the race, albeit as an Independent.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s campaign and Johnson’s office for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: A major pro-business group will intervene Monday on the side of the federal government as California leads several other states in trying to undo Congress’ rescission of several electric vehicle (EV) mandates.

The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree) – a pro-limited-government alternative to the older U.S. Chamber of Commerce – will file suit in Oakland federal court to intervene in California’s challenge to three bipartisan Congressional Review Act resolutions signed by President Donald Trump that blocked the Golden State from enforcing what AmFree calls “radical” and commercially damaging EV mandates.

AmFree and several agricultural and trade organizations backing its intervention said they intend to help make the case that California and the other blue states it is leading as plaintiffs against the government remain preempted from enforcing the mandates and that the mooted restrictions were stifling American commerce.

“[The] entire complaint should be dismissed with prejudice,” AmFree wrote in its filing, as the Congressional Review Act (CRA) itself – the tool that Congress used to block the mandates – shields any aspect of the situation from a judicial review.

CA DROPS ‘GREEN’ BIG-RIG MANDATES, ENDING LEGAL FIGHT WITH BILL BARR-LINKED GROUP

Therefore, AmFree argues, California lacks standing and courts have no constitutional authority to interfere with internal congressional processes like CRA.

Congress properly used its power to invalidate the Biden-era waivers granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to California, they argue.

“President Trump and members of Congress deserve tremendous credit for putting California’s EV mandates on the trash heap where they belong,” said AmFree CEO Gentry Collins. “If allowed to move forward, these onerous regulations would have been catastrophic for the U.S. economy.

“Just because Governor Newsom doesn’t like the outcome doesn’t mean he can weaponize the courts to subvert the will of elected representatives who answer to voters.”

Michael Buschbacher, the lead attorney in the case and a partner at Boyden Gray, told Fox News Digital in a Monday interview that the law is clear when it comes to challenging CRAs like those passed to blunt the EV mandates.

DOZENS OF STATES LOBBY EPA TO DENY CALIFORNIA WAIVER FORCING OUT-OF-STATE STRUCKS TO COMPLY WITH GREEN MANDATE

“Congress said that there’s no judicial review for CRA resolutions. So that alone should end things, and then, when you think about what they’re doing, they’re trying to undo a law – as best I can tell, their theory is they’re constitutionally entitled to the filibuster, but the filibuster’s not in the Constitution and I don’t see any viable legal arguments that they have,” Buschbacher said.

“That’s why, along with our motion to intervene, we’re including a motion to dismiss… with prejudice.”

He also noted that because lawsuits against the government often drag on through multiple presidential administrations, having AmFree and its trade association partners as intervenors helps prevent “collusive settlements” — which can happen when new officeholders bring shifting priorities or legal interpretations.

When asked about the case under the lens of ongoing debates on federal judicial activism and overreach, Buschbacher added that the blue-state plaintiffs are “definitely trying to get the judiciary to step way out of line into second-guessing the core parts of the institutional prerogatives of the House and Senate.”

“I’m not aware of any lawsuit that has tried to go this far [regarding] the separation of powers.

“It’s clear this is not one of those issues that is like ‘the Trump administration doing something completely novel’ and ‘courts having to wrestle with that’. This is like squarely, ‘Congress passed the law. You can’t undo that law unless it’s unconstitutional and there’s nothing unconstitutional here’.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Robert Bonta defended the merits of their suit, claiming EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and the Trump administration defied “decades of precedent” by approving Congress’ CRAs.

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“Trump’s all-out assault on California continues – and this time he’s destroying our clean air and America’s global competitiveness in the process. We are suing to stop this latest illegal action by a President who is a wholly-owned subsidiary of big polluters,” Newsom said in a statement.

Newsom and Bonta argued in a June statement when filing the suit that it was actually Republican icon then-Gov. Ronald Reagan who first accelerated California’s clean-air efforts when he sought waivers from then-President Richard Nixon.

“[Trump’s] reckless, politically motivated, and illegal attacks on California continue, this time with his attempt to trample on our longstanding authority to maintain more stringent clean vehicle standards,” Bonta said.

“The President is busy playing partisan games with lives on the line and yanking away good jobs that would bolster the economy – ignoring that these actions have life or death consequences for California communities breathing dirty, toxic air. I’ve said it before.

“I’ll say it again: California will not back down,” Bonta said.

Several blue states, including Pennsylvania, remain tied to some of California’s EV mandates, with the owner of a Lenhartsville trucking company warning journalist John Stossel in a recent interview that without breaking from the Golden State, the industry would have problems.

Virginia is one state that was able to break with California. As Buschbacher said, Richmond found a technicality in their own statute – where it assumed California was going to enshrine its EV mandate in one statutory subsection versus another in the state code. That helped Virginia back out of the pact previously approved by former Gov. Ralph Northam.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to “fight fire with fire” amid Republican efforts to enact redistricting in Texas on Monday, condemning the move even while promising to pursue it herself.

Hochul hosted Texas Democrats who fled their state in an effort to block a redistricting vote on Monday. The New York Democrat argued that President Donald Trump and Republicans are engaged in a “legal insurrection” to subvert the upcoming 2026 elections, leaving Democrats with “no choice” but to embrace the same tactics.

“What Texas and Republican states are doing at the direction of Donald Trump, I say, is nothing short of a legal insurrection against our Capitol,” Hochul said. “Legal meaning they’re using the legal process. It does not mean it’s legal, and it must be stopped.”

“If Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they’re leaving us no choice. We must do the same,” she continued. “All is fair in love and war. That’s why I’m exploring, with our leaders, every option to redraw our state congressional lines as soon as possible.”

TEXAS DEMOCRATS FLEE STATE TO BLOCK TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING VOTE IN DRAMATIC LEGISLATIVE MOVE

Hochul went on to say that New York’s state legislative leaders have told her they are on board with any redistricting plan.

New York and Illinois are both playing host to Texas Democrats who absconded from the state legislature in an attempt to prevent Republicans from having a quorum necessary to pass their redistricting plan.

TRUMP, REPUBLICANS RACE TO REDRAW TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL MAP AS DEMOCRATS THREATEN LEGAL WAR

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to arrest and expel the lawmakers if they do not return by Monday afternoon.

Dozens of Texas’ Democratic state representatives arrived in Chicago and New York Sunday night to stall the vote. Shortly after Abbott released his statement, the Texas House Democratic Caucus issued a simple response, writing: “Come and take it.”

The statement also described Republicans’ proposed districts, which would potentially secure five new GOP U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections, as a “racist mid-decade redistricting scheme.”

Abbott criticized the Democrats’ dramatic departure, saying that “real Texans don’t run from a fight.”

Removal from office is not the only threat facing the lawmakers on the run, as Abbott warned that “soliciting funds to evade the fines they will incur under House rules” is potentially a felony.

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“Any Democrat who ‘solicits, accepts or agrees to accept’ such funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws,” he wrote, citing the Texas Penal Code. He added that anyone who “offers, confers or agrees to confer” money to the fleeing lawmakers could also face charges.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report