NationalWatch

The Trump administration has been on a monthslong campaign railing against what it says are draconian censorship regulations in Europe that have not only stifled free speech, but have also served as another roadblock amid the artificial intelligence evolution. 

“In Europe, thousands are being convicted for the crime of criticizing their own governments,” the State Department recently posted to X, accompanied by a graphic slamming Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA). “This Orwellian message won’t fool the United States. Censorship is not freedom.” 

The EU adopted the DSA in 2022 to regulate online platforms such as social networks, content-sharing platforms and app stores, and is intended to “prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation.” The law has since faced opposition from the Trump administration amid its free speech promotion on the global stage. 

The State Department’s X post follows a monthslong campaign of Trump officials lambasting Europe for its strict rules that limit free speech – most notably online and in the world of AI and evolving tech.  

Fox News Digital spoke with Darren Beattie, acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, who explained that as the Trump administration takes a hatchet to restrictions and censorship – most notably online and left over from the Biden era – Europe has moved to intensify its censorship with laws such as DSA. 

DETAILS OF TRUMP’S HIGHLY ANTICIPATED AI PLAN REVEALED BY WHITE HOUSE AHEAD OF MAJOR SPEECH 

“As we are rolling back the censorship industry in the United States by actions like what the State Department did, what we did at the State Department killing the (Global Engagement Center), but it’s happening all across the administration,” he said. “What’s happening is Europe, the European Union and the UK are moving to pick up the slack. That is to say, as we’re pushing back the censorship regime domestically, it’s intensifying in Europe.” 

The Global Engagement Center was an office established within the State Department during the Obama era that was plagued by accusations of censorship while positioning itself as focused on countering foreign propaganda and disinformation. The Trump administration State Department shuttered the office earlier in 2025. 

Beattie added that the U.S. is not taking a “holier than thou” approach to the issue, noting that censorship loomed large throughout the U.S. under the Biden administration. He pointed to cases such as social media user Douglass Mackey, who was convicted in 2023 of conspiring to suppress voter turnout in 2016 after posting phony voting messages. 

“We were, under Biden, moving in that direction in a very dangerous way,” he said. “The weaponization of government that occurred under Biden was severe.” 

President Donald Trump delivered his highly anticipated AI speech at the end of July, unveiling his administration’s plan of action, which included protecting AI systems from bias. The White House Office of Science and Technology policy director Michael Kratsios previewed the plan to the media, which included warning that the U.S. will not go down the same technology path as Europe, citing its strict regulations on the tech. 

“The action plan calls for freeing American AI innovation from unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, ensuring all Americans reap the benefits of AI technologies and leveraging AI to drive new scientific breakthroughs,” he said. 

“On deregulation, we cannot afford to go down Europe’s innovation-killing regulatory path. Federal agencies will now review their rules on the books and repeal those that hinder AI development and deployment across industries, from financial services and agriculture to health and transportation.” 

The AI plan is focused on three pillars, one of which is centered on ensuring bias is not included in U.S. systems. 

“The second is that we believe that AI systems should be free of ideological bias and not be designed to pursue socially engineered agendas,” AI and crypto czar David Sacks said in a press call July 23. “And so we have a number of proposals there on how to make sure that AI remains truth-seeking and trustworthy.” 

Vice President JD Vance has been at the forefront of admin leaders lambasting Europe’s restrictions on AI and free speech, including the EU’s Digital Services Act. 

FEDERAL AI POWER GRAB COULD END STATE PROTECTIONS FOR KIDS AND WORKERS

“The U.S. innovators of all sizes already know what it’s like to deal with onerous international rules,” Vance said at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris in February. “Many of our most productive tech companies are forced to deal with the EU’s Digital Services Act and the massive regulations it created about taking down content and policing so-called misinformation.” 

“The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety. It will be won by building – from reliable power plants to the manufacturing facilities that can produce the chips of the future,” he added. 

Vance traveled to the Munich Security Conference days after his Paris address and delivered another fiery speech chastising Europe for employing “Soviet-style” tactics that chill free speech.

JONATHAN TURLEY: DEMOCRATS, CLINTONS AND GLOBALISTS WORK TOGETHER TO CENSOR AMERICANS … FOR ‘DEMOCRACY’

“To many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks more and more like old, entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation,’ simply because they don’t like the idea that someone with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election,” he said in the address. 

The speech set off criticisms in Europe and the U.S., including CBS host Margaret Brennan suggesting during an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on “Face the Nation” in February that free speech had been “weaponized” to bring about the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.

Rubio launched a fierce defense of Vance while noting his concern that Europe hold the same values as the U.S., such as protecting free speech and democracy. 

TRUMP PRAISED BY FAITH LEADERS FOR AI LEADERSHIP AS THEY WARN OF TECHNOLOGY’S ‘POTENTIAL PERIL’

“Why would our allies or anybody be irritated by free speech and by someone giving their opinion? We are, after all, democracies,” Rubio said. “The Munich Security Conference is largely a conference of democracies in which one of the things that we cherish and value is the ability to speak freely and provide your opinions. And so, I think if anyone’s angry about his words, they don’t have to agree with him, but to be angry about it, I think actually makes his point.”

“I think the valid points he’s making to Europe is: We are concerned that the true values that we share, the values that bind us together with Europe, are things like free speech and democracy and our shared history in winning two world wars,” Rubio added of Vance’s speech. 

Federal Communication Commission chief Brendan Carr in March said the DSA’s monitoring of online content is incompatible with U.S. free speech. 

“There’s a risk that (EU) regulatory regime imposes excessive rules with respect to free speech,” he told the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in March. “The censorship that is potentially coming down the pipe from the [Digital Services Act] is something that is incompatible with… our free speech tradition.”

The White House laid out at the end of July that among its top efforts while unleashing artificial intelligence – which it said will usher in the next “industrial revolution” – would be focusing on preserving free speech while also encouraging tech innovation through regulation cuts. 

The White House said it would update its “Federal procurement guidelines to ensure that the government only contracts with frontier large language model developers who ensure that their systems are objective and free from top-down ideological bias,” as well as remove “onerous Federal regulations that hinder AI development and deployment, and seek private sector input on rules to remove.”

Trump signed a trio of executive orders aimed at implementing his AI agenda, including one that bars the federal government from procuring artificial intelligence built with “woke” ideology.

“I will be signing an order banning the federal government from procuring AI technology that has been infused with partisan bias or ideological agendas, such as critical race theory, which is ridiculous. And from now on, the U.S. government will deal only with AI that pursues truth, fairness and strict impartiality,” he said. 

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“We’re not going to go through the craziness that we’ve gone through for the last four years.… Now it’s not hanging around at all now. It’s actually very uncool, as somebody told me the other day, It’s so uncool to be woke.” he added. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the EU’s press team for comment on the Trump administration’s ongoing crusade against European censorship, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that nuclear submarines he ordered to counter Russia are now “in the region” ahead of U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit. 

Before boarding Air Force One in Allentown, Pa., to return to Washington, D.C., Trump was asked if the nuclear submarines had already been deployed to “face Russia.” Trump said on TRUTH Social on Friday that he ordered two nuclear submarines “to be positioned in the appropriate regions” in response to what he considered “highly provocative statements” from former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about potential war with the U.S. 

“I’ve already put out a statement and the answer is they are in the region, yeah, where they have to be,” Trump told reporters at Lehigh Valley International Airport on Sunday. 

Trump said that Witkoff is expected to travel to Russia on “Wednesday or Thursday.” Russian state media reported Monday that Witkoff would arrive on Wednesday. The visit comes ahead of the Friday deadline Trump set for Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine or face additional sanctions and tariffs. Trump also has warned about potential secondary tariffs for the purchasers of Russian energy. 

TRUMP BRUSHES BACK RUSSIA’S MEDVEDEV AFTER ‘WAR’ WARNING: ‘WATCH HIS WORDS’

“Well, there’ll be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions. You know, they’re wily characters, and they’re pretty good at avoiding sanctions,” Trump told reporters in front of Marine One. “So we’ll see what happens.”

Asked about Witkoff’s message to Moscow and if there’s anything the Russians can do to avoid sanctions, Trump said Sunday, “Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.” 

“A tremendous number of Russian soldiers have been killed. And likewise Ukraine, a lower number, but still thousands and thousands of people. And now we’re adding towns where they’re being hit by missiles. So it’s a lot of people being killed in that ridiculous war,” Trump said. “We stopped a lot of countries from war, India and Pakistan, we stopped a lot of countries. And we’re going to get that one stopped too. Somehow. We’re going to get that one stopped. That’s a really horrible war.” 

“This should be the easiest to stop, and it’s not,” Trump added. 

Before ordering the deployment of nuclear submarines last week, Trump had warned Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, to “watch his words.” Medvedev had complained that Trump had shortened the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deadline from 50 days to just 10 to 12 days, saying that the “ultimatum” was threat toward war “not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.” 

Despite Trump cautioning that Medvedev was entering “dangerous territory,” the Russian official doubled down and referenced Russia’s “Dead Hand” – the Cold War-era automated nuclear retaliation system developed by the Soviet Union. 

The U.S. and Russia hold the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.

Top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reportedly downplayed the U.S. deployment of nuclear submarines Monday. He told reporters that “American submarines are already on combat duty – that’s a constant process” and the Russians “don’t believe this is a case of any sort of escalation,” according to the Russian-language news website Meduza.

Asked about Medvedev’s remarks, Peskov said members of the leadership in any country have different views but stressed Putin definitively decides Russian foreign policy.

“We approach any statements related to nuclear issues with great caution,” Peskov added at the press conference, according to The Moscow Times. “Russia is firmly committed to nuclear non-proliferation, and we believe that all parties should exercise the utmost restraint when it comes to nuclear rhetoric.”

TRUMP ANNOUNCES 25% TARIFF ON INDIA, SLAMMING ‘OBNOXIOUS’ TRADE BARRIERS, RUSSIA MILITARY AND ENERGY BUYS

Meanwhile, Beijing and Moscow have deepened their ties in recent years, with China providing an economic lifeline to Russia in the face of Western sanctions over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia and China have started mock combat drills and other war games in the Sea of Japan, The Telegraph reported. Citing a statement from the Chinese Defense Ministry, the newspaper said the three-day exercise involves four Chinese vessels, including the guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, and entails “submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defense and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat,” as well as naval patrols in “relevant waters of the Pacific.” 

At a press conference announcing details of the annual drills last week, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said the Joint Sea 2025 exercise would be held in the air and seas near the Russian port city of Vladivostok, positioned across the sea from Japan’s west coast. Last year, the drill was held off southern China in the South China Sea.

“This is an arrangement within the annual cooperation plan between the Chinese and Russian militaries. It is not targeted at any third party, nor is it related to the current international and regional situation,” Zhang said. 

China and Russia also signed a “no-limits” economic partnership shortly after the war in Ukraine began. 

Zhang criticized ongoing drills that the U.S. Air Force is conducting with Japan and other partners in the western Pacific. Resolute Force Pacific is the largest contingency-response exercise ever conducted by the Air Force in the region, according to the U.S. military. The U.S. Air Force has said their exercise will train its forces to maintain readiness and execute missions under stress to demonstrate their ability to defend the United States and partner nations in the Pacific.

“The U.S. has been blindly flexing muscles in the Asia-Pacific region and attempting to use military drills as a pretext to gang up, intimidate and pressure other countries, and undermine peace and stability in the region,” Zhang told reporters. 

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Japan’s Defense Ministry said in an annual report earlier this month that China’s growing military cooperation with Russia poses serious security concerns.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump’s global reset of trade relationships will remain in the spotlight this week as his administration moves forward with sweeping new taxes on imports.

The White House said last week that the new tariff rates, originally slated to take effect Aug. 1, will come into force on Thursday in order to give U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials additional time to prepare to collect the duties.

WHERE TRUMP’S TARIFFS STAND NOW AND THE WINDING ROAD THAT LED US HERE

In the days leading up to the Aug. 1 deadline, Trump announced trade deals with Japan, the European Union, and South Korea. So far, 11 of the U.S.’s top 15 trading partners have agreed to broad trade deals.

Last week, Trump raised import tariffs on goods from Canada to 35%, signaling a widening rift with America’s second-largest trading partner.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously singled out Ottawa during a July 17 press briefing, saying “our neighbors to the north have been pretty difficult to deal with” when asked about the ongoing trade talks.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS CANADA HAS BEEN ‘DIFFICULT’ AS TRADE DEADLINE LOOMS

Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s lead on U.S. trade relations, said Prime Minister Mark Carney is likely to hold talks with President Trump “over the next number of days.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. struck temporary truces with China and Mexico as trade representatives continue negotiations. 

TRUMP ANNOUNCES TRADE DEAL WITH EUROPEAN UNION

So far this year, the U.S. has collected over $150 billion in tariff revenues, according to Treasury data. In July alone, collections exceeded $29 billion, the highest monthly total to date in 2025.

Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have previously said the tariffs could generate more than $300 billion in revenue for the federal government. 

American consumers often end up bearing the cost of tariffs, as U.S. businesses pass along higher prices to offset the economic burden.

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EXCLUSIVE – Rep. Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican with a large national profile, on Monday declared her candidacy for Palmetto State governor.

“I’m running to put South Carolina first,” Mace, a three-term House member who represents a coastal congressional district in the state’s Lowcountry, said in a statement shared first with Fox News Digital.

Mace, as she launched her campaign, argued that “we can continue doing the things we’ve always done,” as she took aim at what she called “weak leadership” in the state.

“Or we can chart a new course – one filled with common sense and bold policies to hold the line for South Carolina,” she emphasized.

HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS MEMBER RALPH NORMAN JUMPS INTO SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR’S RACE

And Mace went up on a newly launched campaign website with a 10-point agenda that she called “a clear, conservative, common sense roadmap to rebuild South Carolina from the ground up:”

Mace is following her announcement with a campaign policy event Monday morning in Charleston at the Citadel, which is South Carolina’s public military college and her alma mater.

Mace enters a crowded GOP primary field in the 2026 race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who is the Palmetto State’s longest-serving governor.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell are all seeking the GOP nomination in the reliably red state. They were joined a week ago by Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, who declared his candidacy.

SOUTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL ALAN WILSON LAUNCHES BID FOR GOVERNOR

Mace, in a recent interview with Fox News Digital ahead of her launch, said that “we’re starting out front, in the lead, and it’s a two-man race” between her and Wilson.

And she pledged that “I will fight to the finish, and I will take out South Carolina’s Attorney General, because he’s turned a blind eye on women and on children and on the state for a lot of reasons. He might force me to do this.”

Mace, in a bombshell speech on the U.S. House floor in February, alleged that Wilson ignored evidence of sexual assault against her and other women. In her hour-long speech, Mace accused four men, including her ex-fiance, of sexual crimes and said she was among the victims.

Wilson vehemently denied Mace’s accusations, saying at the time “that allegation was never made to me — no one in my office.”

Wilson, in a statement to Fox News a week ago, argued that “Nancy Mace is a liar who will do anything to get attention to distract from her liberal voting record. I’ve served our country and dedicated my civilian career to protecting children.”

“Her attacks are, again, categorically false and are just a distraction from her liberal agenda,” he added. “South Carolina families need a Governor who will fight for our values, not someone who will compromise them for political gain and social media clicks.”

And Wilson’s campaign highlighted that every sheriff in Mace’s congressional district has endorsed his campaign for governor.

Mace, who dropped out of high school at age 17, and worked at a Waffle House before eventually becoming the first female graduate of the Citadel’s Corps of Cadets, won election to Congress in 2020. She defeated Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham, to become the state’s first Republican woman elected to the House.

Mace, who worked on President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, strongly criticized his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when Trump supporters attempted to upend congressional certification of now-former President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

NANCY MACE ARGUES RUSSIAGATE A ‘POLITICAL HIT JOB’

Trump backed a primary challenger against Mace when she was up for re-election in 2022, but she successfully won re-nomination and re-election.

Mace later came to Trump’s defense after the then-former president was indicted for mishandling classified documents. And she endorsed Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, as he topped a large field of rivals, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Trump’s grip over the GOP, thanks to his 2024 victory to win back the White House, is stronger than ever, and his endorsements in GOP nomination races are extremely influential.

Asked if she could land the president’s endorsement, Mace told Fox News Digital, “I’ll be working very hard if I get in to earn his support.”

And in her campaign launch video, Mace uses a clip of Trump calling her a “fighter” in a speech, and adding that “when she sets her sight on something, she’s tough.”

Mace has leaned hard into cultural issues in recent years, including leading the charge to prevent Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first openly transgender member of Congress, from using the women’s restrooms in the House.

And Mace, in her campaign launch, vowed to defend what she called “biological reality and stop the radical gender agenda.”

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“No child is born in the wrong body. No boy belongs in a girls’ locker room. And no teenage girl should lose her scholarship to a boy in a skirt,” she argued. “I’ve already started shutting down this woke ideology at South Carolina schools, and will do significantly more to gut this abusive ideology and ship it out of state.”

There’s a new Republican candidate jumping into one of the most crucial Senate races in the 2026 midterm elections.

Former longtime football coach Derek Dooley highlighted his outsider credentials, took aim at Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, and showcased his support for President Donald Trump as he declared his candidacy on Monday.

 “I’m running because our state needs new leadership in Washington D.C., and professional politicians like Jon Ossoff are the problem,” Dooley said in a statement and video as he launched his campaign.

Dooley argued that “our state doesn’t have a voice in the U.S. Senate who reflects Georgia values because Ossoff is more concerned with protecting his own political future, opposing everything the Trump administration is working to accomplish, and repeatedly voting with the extreme left.”

TRUMP HOUSE ALLY REP. MIKE COLLINS JUMPS INTO BATTLEGROUND GEORGIA’S SENATE RACE

And he pledged that if elected to the Senate, “I’ll work with President Trump to implement his agenda, support his Administration, and move our country forward.”

POPULAR GOP GOVERNOR PASSES ON SENATE BID IN 2026

The Senate race in Georgia is crucial for Republicans aiming to expand their current 53-47 Senate majority, as they view Ossoff, who is running for re-election in a battleground state that Trump narrowly carried in last year’s presidential contest, as the most vulnerable Democrat on the ballot in next year’s midterms.

Dooley, who is the son of the late, legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, was a college football player who later served as a head coach at Louisiana Tech University and the University of Tennessee as well as an assistant coach in the National Football League. 

While this is his first run for public office, Republican sources confirm to Fox News that he’s expected to have the endorsement of Gov. Brian Kemp, Georgia’s popular two-term conservative Republican governor.

Dooley becomes the third major Republican candidate currently in Georgia’s Senate race.

Two-term Rep. Mike Collins, a businessman who founded a trucking company who represents a large swath of urban, suburban, and rural areas between Atlanta and Augusta, announced his candidacy a week ago. Collins, a Trump ally and supporter in the House, showcased his support for the president in his campaign launch.

And Rep. Buddy Carter, who for a decade has represented a district in coastal Georgia, launched a Senate campaign in the spring. He is also courting the president’s support.

Dooley appeared to take a jab at his two rivals for the nomination, saying “I’m not part of the political establishment, and I haven’t spent my life climbing the D.C. political ladder.”

He pledged that he’s “running to put Georgia First and bring common sense to D.C. Georgians know biological men shouldn’t be playing in women’s sports, hardworking people should keep more of their money, and opening our borders makes us less safe.”

Dooley is a longtime friend of Kemp, and two of the governor’s top political advisers are helping Dooley with his Senate run.

The term-limited Kemp, who was heavily recruited by national Republicans to take on Ossoff but who earlier this year passed on launching his own Senate campaign in 2026, has made it clear in recent days that he would be backing Dooley, sources familiar confirmed to Fox News.

Meanwhile, sources in Trump’s political orbit and Republican sources in Georgia confirmed to Fox News that there was an agreement between the president’s political operation and Kemp’s political team that they would work together to find a candidate that they could all unify behind to take on Ossoff in the Senate race.

Those sources also confirmed that Kemp and Trump – the ultimate kingmaker in GOP politics – met last month to discuss the Senate race in Georgia.

TRUMP TEAM ‘PISSED OFF’ WITH REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE SENATE NOMINATION RACE

But when the governor floated the name of former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, a source close to the president’s political team said “they were told to stand down, because Trump’s team wasn’t ready to move forward on anybody.”

And when Kemp and his team did move forward with Dooley, it upset Trump’s advisers, who, according to sources, were “already pretty annoyed” that Kemp had passed earlier this year on taking on Ossoff in the Senate race.

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“We had a deal to work together,” a top political source in the Trump orbit told Fox News recently.  “Kemp went out on his own – which has frustrated and pissed off Trump orbit.”

But a source close to the governor told Fox News that it’s factually not true that they were told to stand down on Dooley. And the source added that Kemp meant what he said that he wants to work with the president and his team and remains that way.

President Donald Trump alleged that Senate Democrats are possibly delaying his nominees in exchange for money in a heated post on Truth Social Sunday night.

In the post, Trump accused Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of slowing down the confirmations of more than 150 executive nominees.

“Democrats, lead[sic] by Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, are slow walking my Nominees, more than 150 of them. They wanted us to pay, originally, two billion dollars for approvals. The Dems are CRAZED LUNATICS!!!” the post read.

He implied that Democrats were leveraging the process to extract funding agreements — a tactic his associates have described as “political extortion.”

DEMS DIG IN, TRUMP DEMANDS ALL: NOMINEE FIGHT BOILS OVER IN SENATE AS GOP LOOKS FOR A DEAL

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., met with Schumer recently to discuss an offer during ongoing negotiations, but they have not readdressed it directly since choosing to communicate through intermediaries, according to Thune.

While Trump has urged the Senate to make quick moves, Democrats continue to block more nominees than normal.

“I think they’re desperately in need of change,” Thune said of Senate rules Saturday after negotiations with Schumer and Trump broke down. “I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that.”

Historically, nominees have been confirmed unanimously or by voice vote quickly, but Senate Dems have been reportedly forcing roll-call votes on many of the current nominees.

SENATE GOP EYES RULES REVOLT AS DEMS STONEWALL TRUMP NOMINEES

Thune told Fox News Digital that not much headway was being made as “the Dems are dug in on a position that’s just not working.”

Senate Republicans want to strike a deal that would send nominees with bipartisan support through committee to lightning-fast votes on the floor, but Schumer has not relented.

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Trump’s claims come after the Senate left Saturday for a month-long August recess without coming to a deal on advancing dozens of nominees, which prompted him to post on Truth Social that Schumer could “GO TO HELL.”

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.

President Trump on Sunday reacted positively upon learning actress Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, adding that he now finds her viral American Eagle ad campaign to be “fantastic.”

“She’s a registered Republican?” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about his thoughts on her political affiliation. “Oh, now I love her ad.”

SYDNEY SWEENEY’S IMAGE IS ‘FORTIFIED BUNKER’ DESPITE AMERICAN EAGLE AD, MAGA-STYLE HAT UPROAR: EXPERT

The President added, “You’d be surprised at how many people are Republicans. That’s what I wouldn’t have known, but I’m glad you told me that. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic.”

The “Euphoria” actress’ voter registration has surfaced as she faces backlash for her controversial American Eagle jeans campaign. Since June 2024, she has been registered with the Republican Party of Florida in Monroe County, the New York Post reported, citing public voter records.

Earlier this week, American Eagle released their latest campaign with the actress, titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.” Following the launch, there was a mix of reactions on social media.

Some critics said the billboard’s play on “genes” versus “jeans” echoed eugenics-era slogans, though supporters argued it was a lighthearted marketing gimmick.

AMERICAN EAGLE FIRES BACK AT CRITICS AFTER SYDNEY SWEENEY CAMPAIGN SPARKS ONLINE BACKLASH

Some dubbed the campaign as “tone-deaf” due to the alleged racial undertones, while others have praised the actress for killing “woke” advertising. 

In a promo video posted to the brand’s Instagram, the 27-year-old walked toward an AE billboard featuring her and the tagline “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Genes.” Sweeney crossed out “Genes” and replaced it with “Jeans” before walking away. 

JD VANCE SOUNDS OFF ON SYDNEY SWEENEY AD UPROAR, MOCKS LEFT’S ‘NAZI’ STRATEGY

On Friday, Vice President JD Vance had some fun at the expense of the left over its wild response to the American Eagle ad campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney.

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“My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy,” Vance joked during Friday’s appearance on the “Ruthless” podcast.

Fox News Digital’s Janelle Ash and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

Dozens of Texas Democrats are fleeing the state to block a redistricting vote that could benefit Republicans, marking a dramatic effort to derail an upcoming legislative process.

The lawmakers flew to Chicago where they plan to hold a press conference with Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker later on Sunday, according to local Austin station KVUE.

At least 100 members of the 150-member Texas House must be present to conduct business. Josh Rush Nisenson, the spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus, told The Associated Press that at least 51 Democratic members are leaving the state.

Republicans currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 seats. They are being supported in their efforts to redistrict by President Donald Trump.

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

The redistricting proposal, which was introduced by Texas House Republicans last week, would likely net five new Republican U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. 

Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, defended the Democrats’ last-ditch effort in a statement on Sunday.

“This is not a decision we make lightly, but it is one we make with absolute moral clarity,” Wu said.

But leaving the state could expose the Democrats to penalties, including fines, and Attorney General Ken Paxton previously threatened to arrest them over the civil violation.

“[T]hey should be found and arrested no matter where they go,” the attorney general said.

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

Although the proposal could still change, its current design would tilt traditionally Democratic cities like Dallas and Houston in favor of Republicans.

A previous Fox News Digital report found that the new gerrymandered map would move Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett out of her own district.

DNC Chair Ken Martin showed support for Texas Democrats on Sunday, writing that “[f]or too long, Donald Trump and Republicans have tried to get away with rigging the system, breaking the rules, and scheming to hold onto power.”

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“The DNC is proud to support these legislators in standing up and showing real leadership,” he said. “We will fight alongside them to stop this anti-democratic assault. And, after this fight is done, we’re coming full force for the Republicans’ House majority.”

Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Dustin Burrows issued a warning to Democrats on Sunday.

“The Texas House will be convening at 3:00pm tomorrow,” he wrote on X. “If a quorum is not present then, to borrow the recent talking points from some of my Democrat colleagues, all options will be on the table. . .”

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias, Maggie Kerkman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

As lawmakers depart Washington for a month-long recess, more than 150 of President Donald Trump’s nominees remain in limbo, awaiting Senate confirmation or further action amid stalled proceedings and deepening partisan gridlock. 

Key positions across Trump’s administration remain unfilled, with the judiciary and diplomatic posts bearing the brunt of the backlog.

THUNE VOWS TO ‘GRIND DOWN’ DEMOCRATS AS TRUMP’S NOMINEES FACE ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ SENATE OBSTRUCTION

Former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is still awaiting Senate confirmation for his nomination as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Likewise, Andrew Puzder has yet to be confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, an especially significant post given that the EU is one of America’s largest trading partners.

At the Department of Justice, Stanley Woodward is nominated to serve as associate attorney general, while Patrick Davis awaits confirmation as assistant attorney general for legislative affairs. 

Nominations for several lawyers at U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Pennsylvania and South Dakota remain pending confirmation.

DEMS DIG IN, TRUMP DEMANDS ALL: NOMINEE FIGHT BOILS OVER IN SENATE

Congress left town on Saturday after confirming only a few nominees, with no bipartisan deal in place to advance the bulk of Trump’s pending appointments.

Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host and New York judge and prosecutor, was among the seven of Trump’s nominees swiftly confirmed on Saturday.

PIRRO CONFIRMED AS D.C. U.S. ATTORNEY AMID PARTISAN CLASH AS DEM NOMINEE BLOCKADE CONTINUES

Pirro’s confirmation as U.S. Attorney for D.C. comes as dozens of interim prosecutors aligned with Trump’s judicial agenda approach the end of their 120-day term limit. After that, appointment to these key roles shifts to the courts if no Senate-confirmed successor is in place.

Following the collapse of bipartisan talks on Saturday, Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune described the confirmation process as “broken,” emphasizing that Senate rules governing nominations are “desperately in need of change.”

Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said a rules change would be a “huge mistake” in speeding up the pace of confirmations. 

He also added that lawmakers have “never seen nominees as flawed, as compromised, as unqualified as we have right now.”

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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz says the Trump administration plans to invest more than $200 billion “more dollars” into Medicaid following the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” 

“I’m trying to save this beautiful program, this noble effort, to help folks, giving them a hand up,” Oz told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

“And as you probably gather, if Medicaid isn’t able to take care of the people for whom it was designed, the young children, the dawn of their life, those who are twilight of their lives, the seniors, and those who were disabled living in the shadows, as Hubert Humphrey said, then we’re not satisfying the fundamental obligation of a moral government,” he continued. 

Oz, the 17th administrator for CMS, said the government wants “an appropriate return” on the Medicaid investment. He addressed the difference in drug costs between the U.S. and Europe, adding that work is being done by the administration in an attempt to bring drug prices down.  

TRUMP TO UNVEIL NEW MAHA INITIATIVES AT ‘MAKE HEALTH TECH GREAT AGAIN’ WHITE HOUSE EVENT

Last week, the Trump administration announced it is launching a new program that will allow Americans to share personal health data and medical records across health systems and apps run by private tech companies, promising that this will make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness.

CMS will be in charge of maintaining the system, and officials have said patients will need to opt in for the sharing of their medical records and data, which will be kept secure.

TOP TRUMP HEALTH OFFICIAL SLAMS DEMOCRATS FOR ‘MISLEADING’ CLAIMS ABOUT MEDICAID REFORM

Those officials said patients will benefit from a system that lets them quickly call up their own records without the hallmark difficulties, such as requiring the use of fax machines to share documents, that have prevented them from doing so in the past.

“We’re going to have remarkable advances in how consumers can use their own records,” Oz said during the White House event.

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CMS already has troves of information on more than 140 million Americans who enroll in Medicare and Medicaid. Earlier this month, the federal agency agreed to hand over its massive database, including home addresses, to deportation officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

A gerrymandered map proposed by the Texas GOP would kick firebrand Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett out of her own district and likely add more House seats to the Lone Star’s Republican delegation.

Last week, Texas House Republicans introduced a redistricting proposal that could net five new GOP seats. The draft congressional map, which is likely to change before approval by both state legislative chambers, aims to redraw district lines to include more Republican-leaning areas in Democratic strongholds like Dallas and Houston.

TEXAS DEMOCRATS THREATEN TO FLEE STATE AND BREAK QUORUM OVER REDISTRICTING PLAN

Crockett, who serves Texas’ 30th Congressional District, which represents a large part of Dallas, has called the redistricting effort “a power grab to silence voters.”

She has claimed that before Republicans unveiled the map, she was asked to verify her address alongside other incumbent Democratic members of Congress.

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

The rare mid-decade redistricting effort may also force some Democratic lawmakers into primary battles against fellow incumbents as seats become more limited.

For example, if the map were adopted, Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who currently represents Texas’ 37th Congressional District in the Austin area, would be placed in the same district as Rep. Greg Casar, who serves the neighboring 35th District, also anchored in Austin.

Last week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called fighting the proposed map an “all-hands-on-deck moment.”

“We will fight them politically. We will fight them governmentally. We will fight them in court. We will fight them in terms of winning the hearts and minds of the people of Texas and beyond,” Jeffries said last week during a press conference in Austin.

Jeffries said that while corporations and universities fall in line with Trump, “Texas Democrats will not bend the knee.”

COURT SIDETRACKS REDISTRICTING FIGHT IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE

Standing alongside Jeffries, Texas Democratic Rep. Lizzie Fletcher warned that redistricting efforts like those in the Lone Star State could spread nationwide as part of a broader push to bolster Republican power. 

“People across the country are watching what we are doing in Texas,” Fletcher said.

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris is back in the national spotlight with her forthcoming book about her short-lived 2024 White House campaign, and she is generating a buzz about whether she’ll try again in 2028.

While politicos are keenly watching Harris for her next moves, she’s also being eyed by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., who is investigating whether top Biden administration officials covered up evidence of a mental decline in former President Joe Biden.

Comer all but guaranteed his committee would be contacting Harris during an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle” last week. He joined Fox News Channel just after Harris announced she would not be running for governor of California, as some have speculated, and will instead embark on a listening tour to hear from Americans and try to boost fellow Democrats across the country. 

“I think that that’s another great thing about Kamala Harris not running for governor – she’s gonna have more time to come before the House Oversight Committee and testify about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline,” Comer said. “So I think that the odds of Kamala Harris getting a subpoena are very high.”

COMER DISMISSES BIDEN DOCTOR’S BID FOR PAUSE IN COVER-UP PROBE: ‘THROWING OUT EVERY EXCUSE’

During a recent appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Harris distanced herself from any immediate electoral ambitions. She emphasized she wanted to hear from all voters, however, not necessarily ruling out a future presidential run.

“I believe, and I always believed, that as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles. And I think right now that, they’re not as strong as they need to be,” Harris said.

“And I just don’t want to for now, I don’t want to go back in the system. I want to, I want to travel the country. I want to listen to people. I want to talk with people. And I don’t want it to be transactional, where I’m asking for their vote.”

RON KLAIN DODGES REPORTERS AFTER MARATHON GRILLING IN BIDEN COVER-UP PROBE

Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor and professor at George Washington University Law School, told Fox News Digital the optics of a congressional subpoena would be less than ideal for a potential 2028 candidate.

“This is a tough question for Harris, who clearly has aspirations to run again,” Turley said when asked if he would advise Harris to appear. “The committee can compel her to appear. However, the optics of forcing a subpoena are not exactly optimal for someone who wants to run again for this office.”

He added, however, that Harris would be a “natural” target for Comer’s probe.

“Harris held a unique spot within the inner circle of the White House,” Turley said.

But both he and former House Oversight Committee ChairTrey Gowdy, R-S.C., now a Fox News Channel host, were doubtful that bringing Harris in would yield much new information.

“Is it worth investigating? Absolutely. Is it worth getting her take on it? Yeah. Is she going to cooperate? No,” Gowdy told Fox News Digital. 

The former South Carolina congressman, who also served as a federal prosecutor, predicted that Harris’ lawyers would seek to bury any potential appearance in a quagmire of legal proceedings stemming from executive and/or presidential privilege claims.

“That privilege has been invoked by both parties repeatedly during congressional investigations,” Gowdy said.

“Leaving the names out of it, just for the sake of an analogy, I can’t think of an advisor that would be closer to a president than his or her vice president. So, by the time you’re litigating the issue of whether or not you can compel a vice president to talk about conversations that he or she had with a chief of staff, with a spouse, with the president, with the president’s physician – you’ll be as old as I am by the time that’s litigated.”

Turley said House investigators would have to be armed with “specific” questions to avoid someone like Harris being able to answer with “a matter of opinion.”

Gowdy agreed Harris was a “legitimate” witness to bring in and that the issue of Biden’s autopen use, particularly for pardons, “warrants further scrutiny.”

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He warned, however, that a potent subpoena comes with consequences for noncompliance.

“Prosecutors can send cops and have [people] brought in. Congress can’t do that. Judges can send the marshals or the sheriff’s deputies out to bring a witness in if the witness is recalcitrant. Congress can’t do that,” Gowdy said. “So your power is only as good as what you can do to enforce it.”

A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment on Comer’s subpoena threat when reached by Fox News Digital.

Spokespeople for Harris and House Oversight Committee Democrats did not return requests for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: North Carolina’s state auditor said he is looking forward to making a positive impact on taxpayers by implementing a state version of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, North Carolina state auditor Dave Boliek said his office would look into how the state government can be more efficient and utilize the resources it has in the “best possible way” for taxpayers. He plans on doing that through House Bill 125, a state-level DOGE initiative named after him that recently passed the legislature.

“It helps to give our office and the state auditor’s office more resources to take a look at efficiencies and ways to really drill down on determining a good return on investment of taxpayer dollars across North Carolina,” Boliek said.

“I really support the effort,” he said, in part. “We’ve got the team in place, and we’ve got the ability to really get effective results.”

DOGE PREPARES TO LITERALLY DRAIN THE SWAMP BY BANISHING BIDEN’S ‘OVERREACHING’ WATER RULE

The bill includes a provision for the state auditor to establish a Division of Accountability, Value and Efficiency, otherwise known as the DAVE Act. The bill passed the legislature last week with bipartisan support – a 91-23 vote in the House and a 47-2 vote in the Senate.

The measure now sits at Gov. Josh Stein’s desk, and while it is unclear if he will sign the measure into law, the ability to override a potential veto is there with a Republican majority in both chambers and enough Democrat support.

“It will become law. I’m very confident that it will,” Boliek said.

Boliek explained that his office will be taking a “data-driven approach” to determining the best “return on investment in taxpayer dollars.” He also said his office will look across the entire state government to identify where it can be more efficient rather than focusing on specific key areas.

“I think it’d be unfair to sort of pick out one specific area where we see cuts are necessary because we haven’t taken that deep dive yet, but we are going to use modern computer programs, we’re going to use AI and we’re going to use a lot of data analysis to come up with solid common-sense recommendations,” he said.

TEXAS CREATES ITS OWN VERSION OF DOGE AS GOV. GREG ABBOTT SAYS REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT IS ‘TOO BURDENSOME’

Unlike DOGE, the goals of the DAVE Act include allocating funds to areas where there are not enough resources, in addition to eliminating wasteful spending.

Boliek said the legislature has asked for open positions in the state to be examined to determine why the roles are unfilled and, if necessary, what needs to happen in order to fill them.

“I don’t think we’re limited to just looking at cutting only. There may be areas where the state is responsible for serving citizens, and we’re not putting in enough resources. The legislature has been very clear about giving us that freedom to take a look at those areas as well, like where we are underfunding certain things,” Boliek added.

When asked about areas the Trump administration focused on with DOGE that Boliek could continue with at the state level, he said he wants to pursue initiatives in a data-driven way to ensure his office is backing up its recommendations for cuts or enhancements with “solid data” and “not just a feeling.”

“The approach should be to take a look at how taxpayer dollars are being spent and ask ‘what is the return on investment?’ If we’re spending tax dollars on a specific program, the real question is what kind of return are taxpayers getting for that amount of money? And that, I think, will drive decisions on recommendations,” he said.

DOGE REVEALS WHAT YOU GET FOR THE HALF MILLION YOU’LL PAY IN TAXES OVER YOUR LIFETIME

Boliek said “taking a look at how dollars are appropriated is really important” and he pointed out the need for “relief-type bills,” including for hurricane relief following the devastation left in the state last year by Hurricane Helene.

“It’s one thing to expend money and appropriate money, it’s another thing to appropriate money with some measurables,” he said. “That’s really going to be key to us being able to be the most efficient. The auditor’s office here in North Carolina is well situated to assist with the monitoring of measurables on the expense of appropriated dollars.”

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As he awaits official enactment of the DAVE Act, Boliek said it is an “exciting time” for his office to be able to have a “real effect” on everyday Americans in the Tar Heel State.

“We want to be able to be relevant to them, and we want to be there so that these citizens of North Carolina know that there’s somebody paying attention and keeping government accountable on their behalf,” Boliek said.

Hours of tense negotiations to strike a deal on President Donald Trump’s nominees blew up Saturday night, and now lawmakers are headed home.

Senate Republicans and Democrats were quick to point the finger at one another for the deal’s demise, but it was ultimately Trump who nuked the talks.

PIRRO CONFIRMED AS D.C. U.S. ATTORNEY AMID PARTISAN CLASH AS DEM NOMINEE BLOCKADE CONTINUES

In a lengthy post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of “demanding over One Billion Dollars in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees.”

“This demand is egregious and unprecedented, and would be embarrassing to the Republican Party if it were accepted. It is political extortion, by any other name,” Trump said. “Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL!”

“Do not accept the offer,” he continued. “Go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country. Have a great RECESS and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

DEMS DIG IN, TRUMP DEMANDS ALL: NOMINEE FIGHT BOILS OVER IN SENATE AS GOP LOOKS FOR A DEAL

Instead of finding a pathway to vote on as many as 60 of the president’s nominees, all of which moved through committee with bipartisan support, lawmakers rapid-fire voted on seven before leaving Washington until September.

But Schumer treated Trump’s move as a victory for Senate Democrats. He countered that it was the president who gave up on negotiations while he and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., worked to find a bipartisan solution, “provided the White House and Senate Republicans met our demands.”

“He took his ball, he went home, leaving Democrats and Republicans alike wondering what the hell happened,” Schumer said, standing next to a poster-sized version of the president’s post. 

“Trump’s all-caps Tweet said it all,” he continued. “In a fit of rage, Trump threw in the towel, sent Republicans home, and was unable to do the basic work of negotiating.”

But prior to the president’s edict, both sides of the aisle believed they were on the verge of a breakthrough to both meet Trump’s desire to see his nominees confirmed and leave Washington.

Thune said that there were “lots of offers” made between him and Schumer over the course of negotiations.

“There were several different times where I think either or both sides maybe thought there was a deal in the end,” he said.

Senate Democrats wanted the White House to unfreeze billions in National Institute of Health and foreign aid funding, in addition to a future agreement that no more clawback packages would come from the White House.

In exchange, they would greenlight several of Trump’s non-controversial nominees.

RECESS ON ICE AS REPUBLICANS HUNKER DOWN FOR HIGH-STAKES NOMINEE BLITZ

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., accused Schumer of going “too far” by upping the price tag on his demands.

“We’ve had three different deals since last night,” he said. “And every time it’s been, every time it’s ‘I want more,’” Mullin said of Schumer’s demands.

He said that Republicans weren’t caught off guard by Trump’s call to halt talks, and noted that the White House had been heavily involved in negotiations.

“You get to a realization that there was, it was never about making a deal,” he continued. “They want to go out and say the President’s being unrealistic, and because he can’t answer to his base to make a deal like we have in every other president in history.”

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Now, Republicans won’t pursue recess appointments, but Mullin noted that moving ahead with a rule change to the confirmation process when lawmakers return in September was going to happen in response.

“The asks evolved on both sides quite a bit over time,” Thune said. “But in the end, we never got to a place where we had both sides agree to lock it in.”

Senate Democrats, on the other hand, countered that their offer never changed, and that Republicans kept increasing the number of nominees they wanted across the line, and attempted to include more controversial, partisan picks.

Schumer wouldn’t reveal the details of his demands, but charged that any changes to Senate rules would be a “huge mistake,” and urged Trump to work with Senate Democrats moving forward, particularly as Congress hurtles toward yet another deadline to fund the government in September. 

“They should stop listening to him,” Schumer said. “If they want to do what’s good for the American people, they shouldn’t be in blind obeisance to Donald Trump.”
 

Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will not have her top-level security clearance renewed, the agency said.

This comes after Cheatle resigned last year amid mounting scrutiny over security lapses that led to the assassination attempt against then-candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Trump survived an assassination attempt during the July 13, 2024, rally, suffering an injury to his ear after a bullet grazed him, while audience member Corey Comperatore was killed and two others in the crowd were wounded. A Secret Service sniper fatally shot the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who had climbed to the top of a nearby building.

The Secret Service, as well as several top U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI, regularly update the security clearances for former directors. But the Secret Service now says not all former directors will have their clearances renewed under current Director Sean Curran.

SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR CHEATLE RESIGNS AFTER MOUNTING PRESSURE IN WAKE OF TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

“The U.S. Secret Service sponsors security clearances for all the former directors for their knowledge of operational and national security matters,” a Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. “The purpose for this was so the agency could maintain formal and protected communication including potentially sensitive and classified matters with former officials.”

“Since appointed, Director Curran has been building a dynamic team of knowledgeable advisors that will help implement his vision for the agency,” the spokesperson continued. “Additionally, Director Curran has been modernizing the intelligence apparatus within the agency. During that process, he has determined that not all former directors will have their clearances renewed.”

The move not to renew Cheatle’s security clearance comes as some Republican lawmakers were voicing opposition to a potential renewal, including Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., who argued that her leadership decisions contributed to the agency’s numerous failures surrounding the assassination attempt against Trump.

“Following the security debacle in Butler, the former director of USSS made the right decision to resign,” Johnson said in a statement to RealClearPolitics. “I see no reason for her security clearance to be reinstated.”

BUTLER ONE YEAR LATER: REVISITING THE HISTORIC ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST DONALD TRUMP

Johnson, who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, had probed the Secret Service’s failures leading up to the assassination attempt in Butler.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee that conducted a joint investigation with a Homeland Security panel into the lapses in Butler, said the agency’s failures should prevent her from holding a security clearance.

“Kim Cheatle disgraced the Secret Service by failing to prevent a horrifying attempt on President Trump’s life,” Blackburn said in a statement to RealClearPolitics. “Not only did she oversee one of the greatest security failures in our nation’s history, but she also stonewalled congressional oversight and ran away from my colleagues and me when we confronted her. Under no circumstances should she be allowed to regain her security clearance, and it is shameful she would even try.”

Cheatle resigned as director 10 days after the shooting in Butler, as she was facing intense pressure from Republicans over the security failures.

“To the Men and Women of the U.S. Secret Service, The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders and financial infrastructure,” Cheatle wrote in a letter to the agency at the time. “On July 13th, we fell short on that mission.”

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“As your Director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she added.

On the first anniversary of the assassination attempt, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, accused her of lying in her testimony to Congress in the aftermath of the shooting when she denied accusations she turned down requests for more resources for Trump’s security.

The former director pushed back on Paul’s allegations.

“Any assertion or implication that I provided misleading testimony is patently false and does a disservice to those men and women on the front lines who have been unfairly disciplined for a team, rather than individual, failure,” she responded in a statement provided by her attorney.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is investigating former special counsel Jack Smith, the OSC has confirmed to Fox News.

Smith was tapped in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as special counsel regarding two probes pertaining to then-former President Donald Trump.

The OSC is investigating Smith for allegedly violating the Hatch Act, which bars government employees from partaking in political activities. It is not a criminal investigation. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Saturday, but did not receive a response.

TRUMP’S NOMINEE TO LEAD US OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL REFUTES ANTISEMITIC CLAIMS AND TIES TO HOLOCAUST DENIER

The OSC is not the same as a special counsel appointed by an attorney general, as Smith was, but “is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency,” according to its website. 

“OSC’s statutory authority comes from four federal laws: the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA),” the website explains.

TRUMP CALLS JACK SMITH ‘DESPERATE’ AFTER SPECIAL COUNSEL REPORT IS RELEASED AFTER MIDNIGHT

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas recently asked the OSC to look into whether Smith illegally engaged in political activity to influence the 2024 election against Trump.

“I write requesting the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Jack Smith, Special Counsel for Attorney General Merrick Garland, unlawfully took political actions to influence the 2024 election to harm then-candidate President Donald Trump,” Cotton wrote in a July 30 letter to Acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer.

TOP GOP SENATOR DEMANDS PROBE INTO WHETHER JACK SMITH ‘UNLAWFULLY’ TRIED TO INFLUENCE 2024 ELECTION

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“President Trump of course vanquished Joe Biden, Jack Smith, every Democrat who weaponized the law against him, but President Trump’s astounding victory doesn’t excuse Smith of responsibility for his unlawful election interference. I therefore ask the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Jack Smith or any members of his team unlawfully acted for political purposes,” Cotton wrote.

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.

FBI Director Kash Patel called out the left-wing media Saturday for labeling him a liar over his discovery of a trove of sensitive documents related to the origins of the Trump-Russia probe buried in multiple “burn bags” in a secret room inside the bureau.

Sources previously told Fox News Digital the “burn bag” system is used to destroy documents designated as classified or higher.

Sources also said multiple burn bags were found and filled with thousands of documents. One document FBI officials found in a burn bag, sources said, was the classified annex to former special counsel John Durham’s final report, which includes the underlying intelligence he reviewed.

Patel addressed the burn bags on X, reminding people of what he proved in 2017 and 2018.

SOROS’ ALLEGED TIES TO RUSSIAGATE EXPOSED IN DECLASSIFIED ANNEX OF DURHAM REPORT

“In 2017/18, I proved the Steele Dossier was fictitious intelligence, weaponized by corrupt FBI officials to deceive a federal judge and unlawfully spy on then presidential candidate Trump’s campaign – all paid for by his opponent,” the FBI director said. “The media called me a liar.

“Now I’m the FBI Director: We just uncovered burn bags/room filled with Russia Gate files, including the Durham annex, and declassified them,” Patel continued. “Once again, I released the prior FBI’s own documents and exposed the truth. The same media is calling me a liar again. Maybe this FBI will release more docs directly, from FBI HQ…so we can see who is lying – wouldn’t want to deprive the fake news of more bogus Pulitzers.”

The declassification of the classified annex is being done in close coordination between CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi and acting National Security Agency Director William Hartman. 

PATEL FOUND THOUSANDS OF SENSITIVE TRUMP–RUSSIA PROBE DOCS INSIDE ‘BURN BAGS’ IN SECRET ROOM AT FBI

The declassified annex will be transmitted to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who ultimately will release the document to the public.

Patel, in a June interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, revealed that he found a room full of documents and computer hard drives “that no one had ever seen or heard of.”

“Just think about this,” Patel told Rogan. “Me, as director of the FBI, the former ‘Russiagate guy,’ when I first got to the bureau, found a room that Comey and others hid from the world in the Hoover Building, full of documents and computer hard drives that no one had ever seen or heard of. Locked the key and hid access and just said, ‘No one’s ever gonna find this place.'”

Patel and his staff have been working through the documents, some of which are related to sensitive investigations, including the FBI’s original Trump–Russia probe, known inside the bureau as Crossfire Hurricane. 

FBI’S CONTROVERSIAL TRUMP-RUSSIA ACTIONS PREDICTED WITH ‘ALARMING SPECIFICITY’ BY FOREIGN ACTORS: SOURCES

It is unclear what the latest documents cover specifically, but sources told Fox News Digital that the most recent discovery was pursuant to an investigative request from Grassley.

Patel has turned the documents over to Grassley. 

Grassley has been requesting information related to Durham’s probe. Durham was appointed after then-special counsel Robert Mueller completed his yearslong investigation into the origins of the Trump–Russia probe — including intelligence community malfeasance during and in the aftermath of the 2016 election.

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Sources told Fox News Digital that Grassley’s team is now reviewing the underlying information as part of its investigative work.

As for the other records, Patel’s staff is working to turn them over to Congress pursuant to investigative requests by committees of jurisdiction.

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

The Senate on Saturday confirmed Jeanine Pirro, President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as Washington D.C.’s top prosecutor, as lawmakers failed to reach a deal to ram through dozens of the president’s nominees.

The onetime New York judge and prosecutor and former Fox News host was one of the over 150 still outstanding nominees on the Senate’s calendar as Senate Republicans work to find a path forward to ram through Senate Democrats’ blockade of Trump’s nominees, and part of a slew of picks to get a vote over the weekend. But just ahead of her confirmation vote, the path to a deal was derailed, and lawmakers opted to ram through just seven of Trump’s nominees before heading home until September.

RECESS ON ICE AS REPUBLICANS HUNKER DOWN FOR HIGH-STAKES NOMINEE BLITZ

Pirro, who was confirmed by a 50-45 vote, will serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, a post she has held since May on an interim basis.

Pirro previously served as the District Attorney in Westchester County, New York, for over a decade. Prior to that, she was on the bench as a judge in Westchester County in the early 1990s.

“Jeanine is incredibly well-qualified for this position, and is considered one of the Top District Attorneys in the History of the State of New York,” Trump said when he nominated Pirro. “She is in a class by herself.”

HOMESICK GOP SENATORS MULL THROWING OUT THE RULES OVER STONEWALLING DEMS

She was not Trump’s first pick for the job, however. His first choice, Ed Martin, failed to gain enough support among Republicans earlier this year. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., effectively tanked Martin’s nomination over concerns about his views on the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on Capitol Hill.

And Pirro’s road to confirmation was not without its own hiccups and drama.

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

Senate Democrats have accused her of amplifying Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims and defending him after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot during her time as a Fox News host, and warned that she would do the president’s bidding in her role as Washington D.C.’s top prosecutor.

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During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Democrats staged a walkout in protest of both her and U.S. District Judge Emil Bove, who was confirmed earlier this week in a tight, 50 to 49 vote. She later advanced out of committee on a party-line vote.

“She’s an election denialist, recklessly peddling President Trump’s Big Lie despite even her own Fox News producers and executives warning her to reel it in,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said of Pirro. 

The path to a deal on confirming a slew of President Donald Trump’s nominees appeared shaky at best in the Senate Saturday, as Republicans and Democrats sparred over terms and conditions to find a way forward.

Senators were supposed to be long gone from Washington by now, but Trump’s demands to ram his nominees through Senate Democrats’ historic blockade have kept lawmakers in town. But by late afternoon, not much progress had been made.

RECESS ON ICE AS REPUBLICANS HUNKER DOWN FOR HIGH-STAKES NOMINEE BLITZ

When asked if any headway had been made, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital, “Unfortunately, not really, no.”

“The Dems are dug in on a position that’s just not working,” he said.

Negotiations have been ongoing among Republicans, Democrats and the White House. Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., met last night to discuss an offer from Democrats. The two have not spoken directly since then, instead communicating through intermediaries, Thune said. However, he expected they would talk again later Saturday.

Senate Republicans want to strike a deal that would see nominees that made it through committee with bipartisan support get lightning-fast votes on the floor, but Schumer has not relented.

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A source familiar with negotiations said Senate Democrats are looking for deals on the release of funding withheld by the White House and a guarantee that there will be no future rescissions packages — a particular sticking point for them heading into the looming deadline to fund the government. In exchange, they are offering a tranche of nominees to go ahead now, and another round later in the fall.

But Trump, who is at his Bedminster, N.J., golf course, has demanded that lawmakers stay in town and pass the entire slate of nominees on the Senate calendar, which has ballooned to over 150.

The president lauded Senate Republicans in a post to Truth Social on Saturday “for fighting, over the Weekend and far beyond, if necessary, in order to get my great Appointments approved, and on their way to helping us MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

“The Radical Left Democrat Senators are doing everything possible to DELAY these wonderful and talented people from being approved,” he said. “If George Washington or Abraham Lincoln were up for approval, the Dems would delay, as long as possible, then vote them out.”

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While Republicans have confirmed well over 100 of the president’s nominees, the only pick to make it to the floor without objection was Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Not a single one of Trump’s nominees has gotten a voice vote or gone through unanimous consent, two floor actions that have been routinely used to advance nominees in the upper chamber throughout the years. At this point four years ago, 49 of former President Joe Biden’s picks had been confirmed by voice vote.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., explained that Republicans have three options that they have enough support among the conference to move forward with: reach a deal with Democrats; adjourn the Senate and give the president runway for recess appointments and finally, a rules-change package, which some Republicans consider the “nuclear option.”

On recess appointments, a move floated since before Trump took office, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., contended it would be up to Democrats whether Republicans actually went through with it.

“The Democrats’ obstruction is leading to, in very short order, us taking the necessary actions to give the President power to make recess appointments,” he said.

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While it would be a touchy move that would set off a firestorm among Democrats, Republicans aren’t afraid to move ahead with a rules change. When asked if a rule change should be done before lawmakers leave town, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said “I think that’d be best.”

But the preference is to strike a deal, preferably on a potential package on over 60 nominees that were advanced out of committee in a bipartisan fashion.

“The reason why we’re that way is because Schumer led us down this road,” Mullin said. “He didn’t have to do it this way.”

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has endorsed fellow Republican Rep. Byron Donalds’ Florida gubernatorial bid.

Scott served as governor of the Sunshine State prior to current Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“I am proud to stand with President Trump and endorse Byron Donalds for Governor of Florida. Byron is a principled conservative who will lead with courage and conviction and fight on behalf of every Floridian,” Scott noted.

“I’ve been proud to work with him on critical legislation to make flood insurance more affordable and help Floridians rebuild and recover from catastrophic hurricanes. And during my time as Governor, he was a critical partner in securing billions of dollars in tax relief for Florida families.

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“As Governor, Byron will strengthen our economy, fight for seniors and veterans, protect our communities, and above all, make Florida more affordable for every family.”

Donalds thanked the senator.

“Thank you @ScottforFlorida for your support! You have been an incredible leader for our state and it’s been an honor to fight alongside you on Capitol Hill,” Donalds posted on X. “As Governor, I look forward to working with you and President Trump to strengthen Florida and Make America Great Again.”

Donalds announced his candidacy earlier this year after President Donald Trump endorsed him for the governorship.

TOP HOUSE REPUBLICAN BACKS BYRON DONALDS FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR

“Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida and, should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!” Trump declared in a February Truth Social post.

DeSantis, who is serving his second term in the post, is not eligible to run again in 2026 due to state term limits.

“No person who has, or but for resignation would have, served as governor or acting governor for more than six years in two consecutive terms shall be elected governor for the succeeding term,” the Florida constitution states.

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Scott and Trump have both also endorsed Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., in her upcoming bid to remain in the Senate.

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DeSantis tapped Moody to replace Marco Rubio, who departed the Senate well before the end of his term to serve as Trump’s secretary of state.

Moody is aiming to win a special election next year to serve out the remainder of what would have been Rubio’s Senate term.