NationalWatch

Republican activist Scott Presler is pushing voter registration and turnout efforts in New Jersey in hopes of flipping the governorship red in November.

Presler focused his 2024 efforts for the election on the neighboring battleground state of Pennsylvania, which went red, but said his group Early Vote Action is focusing on the Garden State based on promising numbers for Republicans in recent years.

“So, I think the best place to start is a lot of people think that New Jersey is blue. However, look at 2021, and I think that context is Jack Ciattarelli, who is our Trump-endorsed Republican candidate this November, just narrowly lost the governorship in 2021, four years prior by 84,000 votes, and that was a much less favorable environment for the Republican Party, for Donald Trump, etc.,” Presler said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “And so the fact that we were still close back then shows the appetite that it’s not just a Democrat state.”

DEMOCRAT MIKIE SHERRILL WINS NJ GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY, SETTING UP SHOWDOWN WITH TRUMP-BACKED GOP WINNER

In 2024, President Donald Trump lost the state by a narrower margin than expected, as he garnered 46% of the vote, compared with just over 41% in 2020. In 2021, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who is the nominee again, lost to Gov. Phil Murphy by just over 84,000 votes, which was a much tighter race than the 2017 gubernatorial election. This year, Rep. Mikie Sherrill is the Democratic nominee as Murphy is wrapping up two consecutive terms in office.

Presler said that team is “very diverse,” and they’re doing a variety of outreach efforts to not only boost turnout in deep-red areas of the state, but also to connect with key communities in the state, including Jewish, Muslim, Hispanic and Black Americans.

“I definitely think that the America First emblem or the America First motto, that has been key to saying, ‘Listen, why are we the personal piggy bank of the rest of the world? Why aren’t we investing in the infrastructure and education here in our country?’ Whereas Democrats wanna put the rest of the globe first and not American citizens,” Presler said.

TRUMP-BACKED JACK CIATTARELLI CAPTURES GOP NOMINATION FOR NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR

He noted that in many areas of the state that border Pennsylvania, there are “shared values” that help better understand the electorate.

“Our strategy is we want sky-high voter turnout in the rural areas. Therefore, Hunterdon, Salem, Warren, Sussex, those are going to be key to our victory. And sure, the margins of the vote population aren’t huge there,” he said. “But in a state that was decided by 84,000 votes four years ago, you betcha that a thousand here or a thousand there is gonna make a difference.”

The race, along with other off-year contests, could be an earlier indicator of the political environment headed into the midterm election and the 2028 presidential race. The activist noted that in New Jersey, touting key Trump policies, like the creation of a major tax deduction on tips, could be crucial to getting out the vote.

TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT, BUT PRESIDENT FRONT AND CENTER IN NEW JERSEY’S PRIMARY FOR GOVERNOR

“You have our beautiful casinos over there,” Presler said of Atlantic City. “What did President Trump and the Republican Party just put forth with the BBB? No tax on tips, no tax on overtime. A lot of New Jersey is tourist-centered, and a lot of it is working class in the hospitality industry. I think there’s going to be a direct correlation between the economy getting better and the people of New Jersey, especially independent voters coming over for President Trump,” he said.

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The general election in the Garden State is Nov. 4. Virginia is the only other state with a gubernatorial election this year. 

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…

-Trump endorses ‘MAGA warrior’ for RNC chairman after Whatley launches Senate campaign

–Senate GOP threatens to ‘grind it out’ through August as Trump nominees face Democratic delays

-Linda McMahon pulls back the curtain on Trump’s plan to dismantle the Department of Education

New Record Low at Border Marks a Big Shift From Biden

The southern border has largely gone quiet.

United States Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks posted to X on Friday that southwest border apprehensions hit a monthly record low in July, with only 4,399 apprehensions. For the third month in a row, there have been zero releases.

This is the new all-time record low, beating the prior record low of 6,070 in June…READ MORE

White House

‘CAN’T GO WRONG’: Trump takes jab at GOP senator, urging Republicans to ‘vote the exact opposite of’ how she does

FIGHTING LUNATICS: Trump blasts reporter over tariffs questions: ‘Lunatics like you’

World Stage

NUCLEAR NAILBITER: China’s growing nuclear arsenal aims to break US alliances and dominate Asia, report warns

BEYOND REPAIR: US report urges UN agency’s shutdown over Hamas ties, Oct. 7 terror links

FREE TO RUN: Trump ally Bukele’s party amends El Salvador constitution to allow indefinite presidential re-election

Capitol Hill

CAPITAL RULE DISPUTE: Senate Republicans launch crackdown on DC permitting illegal immigrants, noncitizens to vote in elections

DEFEND FROM DEFUND: Democrats escalate anti-Trump lawfare by targeting Congress in Planned Parenthood funding fight

‘LAWLESS’: Lawmaker unveils ‘ERIC ADAMS Act’ threatening criminal penalties for sanctuary city mayors

SWAMP STOCK SHOWDOWN: Trump ‘wants to get’ stock-trading ban done, Hawley insists after president’s brutal attack on bill

Across America 

RAISING THE BAR: Top DHS official calls citizenship test ‘too soft,’ urges major overhaul of naturalization process

‘HALF A BRAIN’: Mamdani defund police walk back ripped as ‘political theatre’: ‘No one with half a brain is buying it’

TOXIC DANGER: Banned chemicals found in American shampoo, sunscreen and tampons across major brands

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

Former President Joe Biden touted appointing Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, during a slur-filled speech at the National Bar Association’s 100th annual gala at the Hyatt in Chicago Thursday evening — just hours after one of his top aides testified before the Republican House Oversight Committee for their investigation into the former president’s fitness for office. 

Biden slurred on multiple occasions during the night, including while discussing serving as the vice president to the first Black president, former President Barack Obama, and selecting Kamala Harris as his vice president. Harris was the first woman of Black and South Asian heritage to serve in the role. 

Likewise, Biden said he also selected demographically diverse judges during his administration. 

KAMALA HARRIS TO PUBLISH BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACCOUNT OF FAILED 2024 CAMPAIGN

“I promised to have an administration that looked like America and appoint a bench that looked like America,” Biden said. “And I kept my promise. I appointed the most demographically diverse … slate of judges ever in the history of the United States of America. The top of that list, one of the greatest lawyers I’ve ever met, Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the United States Supreme Court.”

“Justice Jackson, as you witnessed earlier this week, has proven herself to have the wisdom and the character that I saw in her when I nominated her. Appointed 13 Black women to the Courts of Appeals of the United States Federal Court, more than every other president in American history combined,” he said. “For other historic firsts as well, for historic, for Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Muslim Americans, by the way, I didn’t just appoint Ivy League judges.” 

DNC VICE CHAIR COMPARES TRUMP TO NOTORIOUS SEGREGATIONISTS DURING HEATED TOWN HALL EVENT WITH BETO O’ROURKE

The National Bar Association originally formed in Iowa before Black attorneys were permitted to join the American Bar Association, and is now made up of 66,000 members working in law who advocate for civil rights and diversity. 

Those who attended the event included Jackson, as well as Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, MSNBC pundit Joy-Ann Reid and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Biden and his allies have faced allegations of concealing the truth about Biden’s mental fitness while in office, following his debate performance against President Donald Trump on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, where Biden struggled to answer seemingly basic questions.

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

Multiple books have been written in 2025 detailing Biden’s final days in office, his deteriorating mental faculties and challenges within the Democratic Party as a result of his decision to withdraw from the election. 

Additionally, several investigations are ongoing on Capitol Hill concerning Biden’s mental decline. For example, the House Oversight Committee is examining the cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline and potentially unauthorized executive actions taken during his presidency.

Earlier Thursday, longtime Biden aide Michael Donilon appeared before the House Oversight Committee and told lawmakers that he could have raked in a total of $8 million if Biden had won re-election in 2024, Axios first reported. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s spokesperson for comment and has not yet received a reply. 

Fox News’ Charlie Creitz and Alex Schemmel contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has “ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions” following “highly provocative statements” made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. 

Medvedev said earlier this week that Trump’s new deadline for Russia to end the conflict with Ukraine is an additional “step towards war.”

“Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. 

“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances,” he added. 

MEDVEDEV WARNS TRUMP’S NEW DEADLINE TO END RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT IS A ‘STEP TOWARDS WAR’

Medvedev, now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, cautioned that Trump’s announcement Monday that Russia must end the conflict with Ukraine in 10 to 12 days would not end well for the U.S.  

“Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10… He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country,” Medvedev said in a post on X on Monday. “Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!” 

While Trump announced on July 14 that he would sign off on “severe tariffs” against Russia if Moscow failed to agree to a peace deal within 50 days, Trump said Monday that waiting that period of time was futile amid stalled negotiations.  

“I’m going to make a new deadline, of about 10 — 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump told reporters from Scotland. “There’s no reason for waiting. It was 50 days. I wanted to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made.” 

Trump’s remarks come as his frustration with Putin has grown in recent weeks amid no progress toward peace between Russia and Ukraine, and just a day after Russia launched more than 300 drones, four cruise missiles and three ballistic missiles into Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force. 

Trump also wrote on Truth Social Friday that “I have just been informed that almost 20,000 Russian soldiers died this month in the ridiculous War with Ukraine. 

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“Russia has lost 112,500 soldiers since the beginning of the year. That is a lot of unnecessary DEATH! Ukraine, however, has also suffered greatly. They have lost approximately 8,000 soldiers since January 1, 2025, and that number does not include their missing,” the president added. “Ukraine has also lost civilians, but in smaller numbers, as Russian rockets crash into Kyiv, and other Ukrainian locales. This is a War that should have never happened — This is Biden’s War, not ‘TRUMP’s.’ I’m just here to see if I can stop it!” 

Fox News’ Diana Stancy contributed to this report. 

As President Donald Trump has faced an onslaught of legal bids to block his agenda during his second term in office, Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh spoke at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit judicial conference on Thursday, according to reports.

“Executive branches of both parties over the last 20 years have been increasingly trying to issue executive orders and regulations that achieve the policy objectives of the president in power,” Kavanaugh said, according to the New York Times.

“And I think presidents, whether it’s President Obama – I think the phrase was ‘pen and phone’ – or President Biden or President Trump, have really done more of that, and those get challenged pretty quickly in court,” he said, according to CNN.

FOX NEWS POLL: APPROVAL OF SCOTUS AT 5-YEAR HIGH, REBOUNDING FROM RECORD LOW IN 2024

Unlike regular Supreme Court rulings that fully explain the rationale behind the decision, decisions on the high court’s emergency docket may go unexplained.

“We’ve been doing certainly more written opinions on the interim orders docket than we’ve done in the past,” Kavanaugh said, according to CNN.

SCOTUS TO DISCUSS GHISLAINE MAXWELL’S CASE PRIVATELY IN SEPTEMBER AT POST-SUMMER CONFERENCE

Though he noted that issuing written opinions may pose the “risk” of “lock-in effect” in which that opinion does not “reflect the final view,” reports indicate.

Kavanaugh described the court’s “collegiality” as “very strong,” noting that the nine members on the bench “look out for each other” and consider one another “patriots” and “good people,” according to reports.

Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court during his first term in office. 

US JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP EFFORT TO CUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD FUNDING

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He also nominated Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, meaning he chose one third of the current justices.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff visited Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites amid controversy over the distribution of aid in the Strip.

“Went into Gaza today [and] observed humanitarian food program by U.S.-launched GHF. Hamas hates GHF [because] it gets food to [people without] it being looted by Hamas. Over 100 MILLION meals served in 2 months,” Huckabee wrote on X. In a separate post, Huckabee hailed GHF’s work as “an incredible feat.”

HUCKABEE, WITKOFF SLATED FOR HIGH-STAKES GAZA VISIT TO ADDRESS ‘DIRE’ STARVATION CRISIS

“At [President Trump’s] direction, [U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee] and I met yesterday with Israeli officials to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Today, we spent over five hours inside Gaza — level setting the facts on the ground, assessing conditions, and meeting with [GHF] and other agencies. The purpose of the visit was to give [President Trump] a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,” Witkoff wrote on X after the visit.

GHF also posted about the visit, saying it was the organization’s “privilege and honor” to have the Trump officials at one of its sites as it delivered its 100 millionth meal.

GAZA HUMANITARIAN FOUNDATION: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE US-BACKED AID GROUP

“The GHF food program is working. It’s working very well,” Huckabee told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Friday. He also said that the situation in Gaza is “a mess” because of Hamas. 

Huckabee dismissed two prevailing charges against Israel: that the IDF is randomly shooting Palestinians and that there is no proof that Hamas has been stealing aid. Both the U.S. and Israel have backed the GHF largely as a way to distribute aid to people and block Hamas from looting trucks. 

The ambassador told Kilmeade that incidents of people being shot by the IDF at aid sites are “never random” and expressed his exhaustion with the narrative. Additionally, he dismissed claims that Israel lacked evidence of Hamas stealing aid as “ludicrous.” 

Huckabee said he had seen evidence of Hamas looting aid trucks and selling food on the black market for outrageous prices. According to Huckabee, a 4-kilogram (8.8-pound) bag of sugar is being sold on the black market for as much as $200.

HAMAS LOSING IRON GRIP ON GAZA AS US-BACKED GROUP GETS AID TO PALESTINIANS IN NEED

“People need to understand that until now, most of the humanitarian aid that entered Gaza was looted by Hamas and various clans. They sold the goods to Gazans for money,” GHF executive chairman Rev. Johnnie Moore wrote in a recent Jerusalem Post op-ed. “As a result, prices of basic products in the Strip skyrocketed — Hamas created conditions that led to hunger in Gaza by denying food to the population that had no means, and with the money and supplies it looted, it managed to recruit new fighters and keep operating.”

In the interview with Kilmeade, Huckabee went on to call out the United Nations, demanding it stop “pretending” that GHF’s system isn’t effective and instead work with the U.S.- and Israeli-backed organization. Huckabee also accused the international body of having more interest in acting like a humanitarian organization than doing the work.

ISRAEL ANNOUNCES IMMEDIATE RESUMPTION OF GAZA AID AIRDROPS AMID GROWING HUNGER CRISIS

The U.N. and the GHF have been at odds since before the American-backed organization began distributing aid in May. While the U.N. has expressed concern that GHF sites are dangerous and ill-prepared to hand out food, the organization has pointed to the number of meals distributed as a success.

“When parents no longer have to plead with Hamas for flour, something good has happened. When women can safely collect food for their children, a small piece of dignity is restored. When children are fed without conditions or coercion, a bit of light breaks through the darkness. These are victories, even if others refuse to see them,” Moore wrote in his op-ed.

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Huckabee and Witkoff’s visit comes as the Trump administration appears to shift its messaging on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. While in Scotland this week, President Donald Trump pledged to set up new food centers in Gaza in an apparent break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Trump said he saw “real starvation in Gaza,” Netanyahu sent exactly the opposite message.

“There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza, and I assure you that we have a commitment to achieve our war goals,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on X.

On Friday, Trump told Axios that he is working on a plan to “get people fed” in Gaza. The outlet noted that the president was concerned about starvation in Gaza, but placed the blame on Hamas. Additionally, Trump told Axios that Witkoff was “doing great work,” but that he had not gotten a briefing from his special envoy yet.

FIRST ON FOX: A House lawmaker is making a push to hold mayors of sanctuary cities responsible for illegal immigrants committing murder within their jurisdictions.

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., is introducing the Establishing Responsibility for Illegals’ Crimes and Adding Deterrence and Accountability for Mayors’ Sanctuary Cities Act, or the ERIC ADAMS Act, on Friday.

If passed, the bill would open sanctuary city mayors to criminal liability if illegal immigrants living there were found guilty of murder.

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

It’s named after New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is up for re-election this November.

Carter, meanwhile, is running to unseat Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., in the November 2026 midterms.

The bill’s introduction comes days after the Trump administration moved to sue the Big Apple for its sanctuary policies, one of multiple such lawsuits President Donald Trump’s officials are pursuing against Democrat-run cities and states.

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

Under the terms of Carter’s legislation, a sanctuary city mayor could be found guilty of “criminal negligence resulting in manslaughter” if an undocumented person committed murder there and if “the mayor knowingly adopted, maintained, or failed to repeal a sanctuary policy that materially restricted cooperation with Federal immigration enforcement, and such policy directly and foreseeably contributed to the failure to detain or remove” the person before the crime was committed, according to bill text obtained by Fox News Digital.

It would carry a penalty of up to seven years in prison, as well as certain fines.

Enforcement would be left to the attorney general, the bill text said.

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“Laken Riley and countless other loved ones could still be alive today if our immigration laws were respected by mayors of sanctuary cities,” Carter told Fox News Digital, referencing a nursing student killed by an illegal immigrant in early 2024 in Georgia.

“As far as I’m concerned, they have blood on their hands and should be held personally accountable for creating a lawless environment that allows criminal illegal aliens to commit murder.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Adams’ campaign and the New York City Mayor’s Office for comment but did not hear back.

EXCLUSIVE: New Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow is wasting no time shaking up the path to American citizenship.

Just weeks into the job, he’s calling for a major overhaul of the U.S. naturalization test — blasting the current version as too soft and out of step with what Congress envisioned.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Edlow said the civics and English exam, which forms the backbone of the naturalization process, fails to reflect the knowledge and assimilation he believes should be required to become an American.

“The test needs to reflect the letter and the spirit of what Congress intended,” Edlow said. “It’s important for people to understand English, our history, our government… and the way the test is written and executed right now doesn’t meet that bar.”

DOJ DIRECTS US ATTORNEYS TO SEEK TO REVOKE CITIZENSHIP OF NATURALIZED AMERICANS OVER CRIME

Under the current format, naturalization applicants must correctly answer six out of 10 civics questions randomly selected from a list of 100, covering topics like the Constitution, U.S. history, geography and civic responsibilities. They must also read one sentence aloud and write one simple sentence correctly in English.

Edlow says that’s not enough. He wants the test to probe deeper — presenting a broader cross-section of U.S. principles — and for English skills to be evaluated throughout the entire naturalization interview, not just in isolated reading and writing exercises.

“I want adjudicators to really be listening and talking throughout the interview,” he said. “Switch up some of the wording… and see if the individuals are still able to comprehend the questions. That’s a better gauge of readiness.”

Edlow said the test must preserve the integrity of the process and reflect assimilation expectations. He also pointed to a recent executive order declaring English the national language, calling language fluency “an imperative part” of the American dream.

The director also took aim at long-standing flaws in the H-1B visa system, which permits U.S. companies to hire high-skilled foreign workers in specialty fields.

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

“Companies are going for the highest-skilled workers but paying them at the lowest wage level,” he said. “That’s undercutting U.S. graduates, especially in STEM fields.”

He cited cases when third-party contracting firms helped employers lay off American workers — sometimes even requiring them to train their own foreign replacements — as evidence of a program being exploited to suppress wages.

Vice President JD Vance has echoed a similar sentiment. In July, he called out Microsoft for laying off around 9,000 American workers while applying for 4,700 H1-B visas. “I don’t want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, ‘We can’t find workers here in America.’ That’s a bulls— story.”

The visa program has emerged as a political flashpoint within the GOP, creating a rift between MAGA populists and pro-business conservatives. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he’d “go to war” in support of the H1-B visa program and branded its Republican opponents “hateful, unrepentant racists.” 

To tighten oversight of the program, Edlow said USCIS will work with the Department of Labor to expand worksite enforcement and ensure that wages and job functions match what’s on paper.

“We want to make sure those brought over are truly commensurate with the roles they’re filling — and not part of a cost-cutting scheme,” he added.

On the issue of welfare-related immigration policy, Edlow said USCIS is preparing to revisit the public charge rule — a legal standard that bars green cards for applicants likely to become reliant on public assistance.

The rule has existed in some form for over a century but was more strictly interpreted during the Trump administration to include certain non-cash benefits like Medicaid or housing aid. The Biden administration returned to guidance that did not take non-cash benefits into account. 

Edlow said changes would take time. 

“It’s something we’ve got to study and get right,” he said. “We need to look at the means-tested benefits being offered and ensure our adjudicators know what to look for to determine if someone would be a burden on U.S. taxpayers.”

Beyond policy changes, Edlow flagged the growing USCIS case backlog as a top operational threat — one he says now carries national security implications.

“Backlogs that continue to grow are nothing short of a national security threat to this country,” he said, blaming the Biden administration for shifting agency resources away from legal immigration priorities in response to record-breaking illegal border crossings.

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While he pledged to reduce adjudication times, Edlow warned that shortcuts won’t be part of the strategy.

“There may be short-term pain,” he said. “But we will decrease the backlog at a steady clip while protecting the integrity and security of the system.”

Colorado Springs, Colo. – Despite Democrats protesting President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the Department of Education, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said returning education to the states is a “nonpartisan issue.”

“I’m not getting push back, because if it were just Democrat states or Republican states that were doing well or doing poorly, that would be one thing, but it’s many of the states on both sides of the aisle. That’s why this is really a nonpartisan issue,” McMahon explained in an exclusive interview at the National Governors Association (NGA) summer meeting.

The Education Secretary participated in discussions with governors from both parties at the Colorado Springs, Colo., meeting, and her department announced the release of roughly $6.8 billion in previously frozen federal funds for K-12 programs ahead of her panel discussion with the outgoing NGA chair, Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo.

“It’s just incredibly important that if we are going to return education to the states, we have to talk to the governors,” McMahon emphasized. “What’s meaningful to them? How can we work together? This is both sides of the aisle because, clearly, education is a nonpartisan issue.”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RELEASES OVER $6B IN FROZEN EDUCATION FUNDS TO THE STATES

Trump signed an executive order earlier this year to dismantle the Department of Education, fulfilling one of his key campaign promises during the 2024 presidential election. 

McMahon explained that returning education to the states “just means giving them back the part that is now provided by the federal government, and they’re anxious for it.”

EDUCATION SECRETARY LINDA MCMAHON TOUTS COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S $200M SETTLEMENT ‘TEMPLATE’

In a joint statement on behalf of the NGA, Polis and incoming NGA chair Gov. Kevin Stitt, R-Ok., said they were “thankful these bipartisan discussions with Secretary McMahon and other key officials during the NGA Summer Meeting led to the distribution of these education funds,” adding that they are “proud our advocacy helped secure this vital support for states and districts.”

The Education Secretary, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), explained to Fox News Digital that participating in events like NGA, having discussions with governors from both parties and visiting as many states as possible is critical to understanding America’s diverse educational landscape. 

McMahon said she has already visited different types of schools, from charter schools to public schools, to learn the best practices across the country. 

“Every state does have different needs,” McMahon said. “There’s no one size fits all, but what I hear with every governor and almost every educator coming in, is what we are stressing, which is literacy.”

A Department of Education report released earlier this year revealed that American students’ reading skills have continued to decline since the COVID-19 pandemic, and their math skills have barely improved. 

Despite the dismal report, McMahon said “the future for education is very bright” because the Trump administration has called attention to the “Nation’s Report Card,” which reveals “how the United States doesn’t compare all that favorably with the rest of the world.”

“The president is very keen on making sure that those levels rise, so that the United States takes its rightful place as one of the leaders in education in the world,” McMahon explained. 

And when asked how the Education Secretary would address teachers who are anxious about the dismantling the Department of Education, McMahon said she is focused on ensuring best practices are carried out nationwide, while empowering states to deliver for teachers’ individual needs. 

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“[Teachers] are working with their school boards, they’re working with their principals and superintendents and their governors to have the best policies in their states,” McMahon said. “This is a win for teachers because governors are already talking about that teachers should be paid fairly, that they should be allowed to innovate in the classroom, that they shouldn’t spend their time doing paperwork and regulatory compliance. They should be able to spend that time with the students.”

“Let’s let teachers teach. This is all good,” McMahon explained. 

Despite President Donald Trump‘s harsh criticism over his bill to ban stock trading among top government officials, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., insists he has a good rapport with the president, who shares his goal of enacting such a ban.

“The president and I had a really good conversation,” Hawley told Fox News Digital on Thursday, adding “he wants to get it done.”

“What the White House wanted was that the president, the vice president not be covered. They’re not, the offices are, but it’ll be the next office holders,” he explained.

The Missouri Republican added that “in fairness, we did the same thing for Joe Biden. We passed this last year, and we set the date out so that it would be the next president who had to comply.”

“So, Trump and Vance are not covered, but all the members of Congress are. And it’s not a perfect bill, but it’s pretty tough,” said Hawley.

CONGRESSIONAL STOCK TRADING BAN PASSES THROUGH COMMITTEE AS HAWLEY DENIES REPORTS OF WHITE HOUSE PUSHBACK

Hawley’s measure, originally named the PELOSI Act but switched to the HONEST Act after Senate Democrats agreed to support it, irked Trump and many Senate Republicans. The bill was advanced out of committee by an 8-7 vote, with Hawley joining Democrats to approve the bill.

Shortly after the vote, Trump drilled into Hawley in a Truth Social post in which he called him a “pawn” and “second-tier” senator.

“The Democrats, because of our tremendous ACHIEVEMENTS and SUCCESS, have been trying to ‘Target’ me for a long period of time, and they’re using Josh Hawley, who I got elected TWICE, as a pawn to help them,” he wrote. “I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with — He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats. It’s a great Bill for her, and her ‘husband,’ but so bad for our Country! I don’t think real Republicans want to see their President, who has had unprecedented success, TARGETED, because of the ‘whims’ of a second-tier Senator named Josh Hawley!”

Despite the pushback, Hawley told Fox News Digital, “I want to get this done.”

“I want to get this banned. So, I will work with anybody, I said to my colleagues, like if you’ve got good faith changes you want to make, you think will make this stronger, I’m all for it. I will do it,” he went on. “What I will not do, though, is consensus stuff that’s going to kill the bill.”

TRUMP BACKS STOCK TRADING BAN SO LAWMAKERS LIKE PELOSI CAN’T CONTINUE ‘RIPPING OFF’ CONSTITUENTS, WH CLAIMS

He blasted an amendment proposed by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and promoted by Trump, which he said, “would have gutted the bill.”

“Scott made really clear he’s opposed to this bill, and he was attempting to kill the bill,” said Hawley.

“I’ve seen this for six years now. Members campaign on banning stocks, and then they get here, and they’re like, well, this isn’t the right time, or maybe let’s do it later, or let’s never do it, or you heard today, let’s have another hearing. We’ve had hearings for years,”

For his part, Scott told Fox News Digital that “Trump’s on the right side.”

“This was a bill that Senator Hawley teamed up with Democrats to attack Trump,” he said. “Here’s a guy that went through Russiagate, went through an indictment, went through conviction, went through all this stuff, and then this is just a new bill to go target the president.”

PELOSI PUSHES BACK ON INSIDER TRADING ALLEGATIONS ON CNN

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., meanwhile, told Fox News Digital that he thinks it is “hypocritical” of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to be supporting the bill after years of her husband engaging in lucrative trading.

“I thought it was interesting that all the Democrats, together with Senator Hawley, voted against Rick Scott’s excellent amendment, which would have asked GAO to do an investigation of how did she get so wealthy,” he said. “If they really wanted to get to the bottom of that, they would have supported that amendment. The fact that they voted against it speaks volumes.”

“The idea is good, the execution is not as good,” said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.

“I wanted to be able to see a bill that’s actually fixed and that actually works. This bill bans things like cryptocurrency, digital currency, it says you can’t use stablecoin,” he explained. “It’s a straightforward idea. But we’ve got to be able to clean up the language of this particular version of it to make sure it’s right.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., also took issue with the bill specifically for exempting Trump. He told Fox News Digital, “If it were a good bill, they would apply it to Donald Trump. The fact that they’re excluding Donald Trump, and he’s going to be exempt from it, probably means it’s not a very good bill.”

PELOSI’S STOCK TRADING LEGACY HAUNTS DEMOCRATS AS JEFFRIES SLAMS GOP FRESHMAN’S ‘THIEVERY’

He said that if passed, the bill would “deter” leaders with strong business acumen.

“I think you want to bring people like that. You’re going to deter a lot of people like from coming, not just banning them from owning stock, but saying they have to sell all of their businesses. I think it’s over the top and not well thought out,” said Paul.

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On the other side of the aisle, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., voiced support for the bill, saying, “treat everyone equally, and don’t trade stock if you’re a member here.”

In conclusion, Hawley said he agreed to the changes to exclude Trump and Vance, to get a bill that could be signed into law.

“I want something that’ll pass and that he can sign, and I think we took a step forward on that today,” he said.

The top House Democrat says that “all options should be on the table” in the Texas redistricting battle. 

“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. The Texas Democrats are going to show up and stand up and speak up for what’s right for the people of Texas, and that’s showing courage and conviction and character in doing that,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on Thursday at a news conference in Texas with Democratic state lawmakers.

The news conference came a day after Texas GOP state lawmakers unveiled the first draft of their proposed new congressional redistricting map, as part of their push to flip five Democrat-held seats in the reliably red state.

“We’ll see what happens over the next few days, over the next few weeks. But the one thing I know is clear that Texas Democrats are fighting for the people,” he added.

The Republican 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.

TEXAS GOV SAYS DEMS WHO ‘FLED’ STATE OVER ELECTIONS BILL WILL BE ARRESTED UPON RETURN

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.

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

COURT SIDETRACKS REDISTRICTING FIGHT IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE

But the move is potentially risky, as it makes some once-reliably red districts more competitive.

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.

TEXAS DEMOCRATS PREPARING STATE EXODUS TO BLOCK GOP REDISTRICTING DESPITE $500 DAILY FINES

Jeffries, after his two-day stop in Texas, heads to California for meetings with state Democrats.

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.

Newsom has suggested that the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature move forward with a mid-decade redrawing of the maps, arguing that it might not be forbidden by the 17-year-old ballot initiative that created the independent commission.

The governor also proposed quickly holding a special election to repeal the commission ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Both plans are considered long shots, as they would face plenty of legislative, legal and financial hurdles.

Democrats in other heavily populated blue states, including New York, Illinois, 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.

FIRST ON FOX: New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, in a resurfaced interview, explained that one of his “greatest victories” as a lawmaker was securing taxpayer funding for unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants.

“When I think of the greatest victories in Albany this year, I think the excluded workers fund, a fund that was created for undocumented workers who were locked out of unemployment at the federal level and at the state level,” Mamdani told SAAG Interactive in June 2021 as an assemblyman from Queens. 

“And what this fund would do is provide some modicum of relief. And this fund was won in many ways because of the pressure brought by those that the state doesn’t even recognize, the state does not even see,” Mamdani continued. “Without the pressure from those individuals, members of the state would never have taken this action because nothing happens because of benevolence, it happens because of pressure, as you know, and these workers made that very clear in the way that they organized and the victories they won.”

On Mamdani’s campaign website, his stated platform suggests he will continue to promote legislation benefitting illegal immigrants in the nation’s largest city. 

‘CULTURE OF SHAME’: NYC COUNCIL MEMBER SOUNDS ALARM OVER MAMDANI VOTERS FALLING FOR ‘PIPE DREAM’

“Donald Trump is tearing at the fabric of New York City in his second term,” the website states. 

“He has deployed ICE agents to pluck New Yorkers from their families. He has sent already-high prices skyrocketing with tariffs. And he has threatened vital social services that working New Yorkers rely on every day. Zohran Mamdani will fight Trump’s attempts to gouge the working class, and deliver a city where everyone can afford a dignified life. He’ll ensure our immigrant New Yorkers are protected by strengthening our sanctuary city apparatus: getting ICE out of all City facilities and ending any cooperation, increasing legal support, and protecting all personal data.”

UNEARTHED MAMDANI COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WRITINGS PROMOTE ANTI-ISRAEL BOYCOTT, RAIL AGAINST ‘WHITE PRIVILEGE’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment.

Mamdani recently faced backlash from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for his failure to speak out in the wake of a shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer in a New York City park. 

“His silence in the face of this brutal attack speaks volumes about where his priorities lie, and it’s not with public safety and the American people,” acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox News Digital.  

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In the same interview with SAAG interactive, Fox News Digital previously reported that Mamdani told the interviewer about his commitment to BDS sanctions against Israel and highlighted his social media history condemning Israel. 

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is teasing a “behind-the-scenes” look at her abbreviated and ultimately unsuccessful 2024 White House bid.

Harris, in a video posted to social media on Thursday, announced that her new book, titled “107 Days,” releases in September and will provide details on what she calls “the shortest presidential campaign in modern history.” 

“I believe there’s value in sharing what I saw, what I learned, and what I know it will take to move forward,” Harris said.

Harris replaced then-President Joe Biden last July as the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee after he dropped out of the race amid mounting questions over his physical and mental stamina following a disastrous debate performance a month earlier against now-President Donald Trump.

KAMALA HARRIS RULES OUT 2026 RUN IN HER HOME STATE OF CALIFORNIA

“What the world saw on the campaign trail was only part of the story,” Harris teases.

The news from Harris came one day after she announced that she wouldn’t run in 2026 for governor of her home state of California.

But her decision to keep her name off the ballot next year left the door open for a possible second presidential bid in 2028.

In her statement on Wednesday explaining her decision, Harris said, “For now, my leadership — and public service — will not be in elected office.”

“I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans,” she said.

After losing last year’s election to Trump and then serving out the remainder of her term as vice president, Harris returned to California and kept close counsel with an inner circle of confidants.

And some in her inner circle, as well as political analysts, suggested that running and winning the election in 2026 for governor of California, the nation’s most populous state and home to the world’s fifth-largest economy, would likely take a 2028 White House run off the table.

But with a gubernatorial run off the table, that’s no longer a concern.

21 DEMOCRATS WHO MAY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028

If Harris eventually does launch a 2028 presidential campaign, she would start her ride on the road to the White House as the most recognizable Democrat in what’s expected to be a large field of contenders. And she would also come equipped with a broad fundraising network that she built up last cycle.

“She would certainly be a very serious candidate in the primary in 2028, if she runs,” a Democratic strategist and veteran of multiple White House campaigns told Fox News Digital.

The strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, said that “a lot of Democrats think she was put in a tough spot in 2024 and deserves to have a chance to run a race on her own…she was limited in doing some of the things that politically she might have needed to do to make a cleaner break with Biden.”

But Harris could also potentially be weighed down with plenty of political baggage from the 2024 campaign, when the Democrats lost not only the White House but also their Senate majority, and failed to win back control of the House. 

SUCCEEDING TRUMP IN 2028: SIX REPUBLICANS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON

As the party looks to escape the political wilderness, many Democrats are aiming to make a clear break with the past as they strive for a reset.

“If you’re trying to take a different path for the party, it’s hard to go backwards and pick the person who lost to Trump,” a Democratic consultant told Fox News. “There needs to be a fresh start, a new generation.”

If Harris does run, she’d have to deal with her unwavering support for Biden as his physical and mental abilities appeared to waver in front of Americans.

Republican Rep. James Comer, who as House Oversight chair is investigating the former president’s use of the autopen and mental fitness while in the White House, said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that “the odds of Kamala Harris getting a subpoena are very high.”

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While Harris has been spending recent months mulling her decision on a gubernatorial run, other potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders have already been making early moves as they try to move past the Biden administration and last year’s election setbacks.

Among them are Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Wes Moore of Maryland, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, as well as Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and former Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

EXCLUSIVE: GASTONIA, N.C. — Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley made it official Thursday, announcing his bid for a GOP-held Senate seat in battleground North Carolina.

Whatley’s campaign launch, at an event in his hometown of Gastonia, North Carolina, comes a week after President Donald Trump endorsed Whatley and urged him to run.

“President Trump deserves an ally, and North Carolina deserves a strong conservative voice in the Senate,” Whatley emphasized as he spoke to a crowd of family, friends and supporters. “I will be that voice.” 

GAME ON IN NORTH CAROLINA AS TOP DEMOCRAT RECRUIT JUMPS INTO BATTLEGROUND SEAT SENATE RACE

The move by the RNC chair also comes four days after Democrats landed their top Senate recruit of the 2026 cycle to date. Former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper declared his candidacy in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

And in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital minutes later, Whatley highlighted that “this midterm election cycle is going to be absolutely huge, and North Carolina is going to be the marquee Senate race in the country. And I’m absolutely thrilled that President Trump has asked me to run in this race.”

Cooper’s campaign launch bolsters the Democrats’ chances of flipping a key GOP-held seat as they try to take a big bite out of the Republicans’ 53–47 Senate majority.

And beating Cooper, who has won statewide six times — four times as attorney general and twice as governor — won’t be easy.

But Whatley, in his speech, took aim at Cooper, tying the former governor to far-left figures in the Democratic Party, including New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who is part of the party’s Senate leadership.

“Roy Cooper may pretend to be different from the radical extremists that run today’s Democrat Party, but he is all in on their agenda,” Whatley said in his speech.

And Whatley told Fox News Digital, “You just have to take a look at his record. … We are going to call him out on his record. These are not just wild suppositions that we’re going to make.”

The showdown in North Carolina between Whatley and Cooper is expected to be one of the most competitive and expensive Senate battles in the country.

And Cooper raised a record-breaking $3.4 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign.

“We will be the most expensive Senate race in the history of the country,” Whatley told Fox News. “But, look, we will be able to raise the resources we need to tell our story, and we are going to work all 100 counties here across North Carolina to be able to tell our story.

“It’s a story about how Republicans win in North Carolina. We listen to the voters. We understand the issues that they care about, and we put solutions on a table,” Whatley added. “That’s how the Republican Party has won the Senate races in North Carolina since 2008. And that’s how Donald Trump won three times in a row in this state.”

Whatley, a North Carolina native, served as the state’s GOP chair for five years before Trump picked him in March 2024 to serve as RNC chair.

DNC CHAIR TELLS FOX NEWS DIGITAL DEMOCRATS HAVE HIT ‘ROCK BOTTOM’ – HERE’S HIS PLAN TO REBOUND

Trump called Tillis’ announcement in June that he wouldn’t seek a third six-year term in the Senate “great news.”

Tillis is a GOP critic of the president, and Trump torched the senator last month for not supporting his “big, beautiful” spending and tax cut bill.

After Tillis’ announcement, Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was at the top of the president’s list for the open seat in the Tar Heel State.

But, recently, Lara Trump, a North Carolina native who served as RNC co-chair alongside Whatley in 2024, announced that “after much consideration and heartfelt discussions with my family, friends, and supporters, I have decided not to pursue the United States Senate seat in North Carolina at this time.”

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Democrats took aim at Whatley in advance of his campaign launch.

“Now, Whatley is heading back to North Carolina to sell Trump’s budget betrayal that took health care away from more than 650,000 North Carolinians and spiked costs for working families,” Democratic National Committee communications director Rosemary Boeglin argued in a statement. 

“Trump and Whatley’s toxic agenda will hang around Whatley like an albatross.”

And as Whatley announced his candidacy, the Cooper campaign blasted him.

“Michael Whatley is a D.C. insider and big oil lobbyist who supports policies that are ripping health care away from North Carolinians and raising costs for middle-class families,” Cooper campaign manager Jeff Allen charged. 

“North Carolinians don’t need a lobbyist as their senator, and voters will have a clear choice between Whatley’s long career as a Beltway insider against Roy Cooper’s record of putting partisanship aside to get results for North Carolina.”

The chairwoman of the Los Angeles County GOP, who herself was a legal immigrant, says that pro-sanctuary Democrats in the state are deliberately fostering a “two-tiered” justice system designed to trap Latinos and immigrants in a “permanent underclass.”

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Roxanne Hoge, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1976 and became a citizen 2000, said that despite Democrats’ claims to be the party of the immigrant, their policies are designed to keep Latinos and immigrants down.

“If you’re a person who pays your taxes, obeys the law, doesn’t throw litter on the street and returns your library books, you’re a chump. Because if you want to start a business the right way, you’re going to be waiting for a couple of years. But if you roll up a grocery cart with a propane tank and some raw chicken on a sidewalk with a homeless person sleeping next to you, the city will give you carte blanche. And that’s the sort of thing that I think leads to the degradation of a once-great city,” she said, adding, “California claims to be for all sorts of employee protections and we’re for the worker, and yet they are also for the unbelievable exploitation of indentured servants.”

“Democrats got really upset when Republicans took away the slaves. They said, ‘Who’s going to pick the cotton?’ And now that the Republicans are saying, ‘Hey, let’s enforce immigration law,’ which is a purview of the federal government, they’re really upset saying, ‘Who’s going to pick our crops and our weed?’” she said.

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Earlier this month, federal agents conducting an immigration enforcement raid at a state-licensed cannabis facility north of Los Angeles found nine unaccompanied migrant children.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said the facility was “under investigation for child labor violations.”

He posted a photo to X on Friday afternoon, captioned: “These are the juveniles found in the marijuana facility – almost all unaccompanied, one as young as 14. California are you ready to partner with us to stop child exploitation?”

“This is Newsom’s California,” Scott added.

Hoge told Fox News Digital that “as one myself,” she believes “what’s really important to understand is just how cruel and unfair progressives are to brown people.”

‘NUMBERS DON’T LIE’: FORMER JUDGE SAYS HOUSTON MIGRANT SEX CRIME WAVE TIED TO BORDER FAILURES

“We have to remember that every time the Democrats start whining about illegal immigration, which they use to prop up their numbers and their economy, remember that they are saying how little they think of people who are beneath them,” she went on. “That’s what this is all about. They’d like a permanent underclass. And California is not that kind of place.”

Hoge also accused Democrats like California Governor Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass of manipulating immigrant populations with scare tactics regarding President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement. She pointed to a recent case in which a Mexican illegal immigrant named Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon allegedly faked her own ICE kidnapping. Before being discovered to be an elaborate hoax, Calderon’s supposed kidnapping was widely reported by media outlets and even pushed by Bass, who cited the incident as an example of the Trump administration promoting fear in immigrant communities. 

“Turns out the poor lady, whether for mental reasons or just to be part of the group, faked a kidnapping and said it was ICE, and none of the above happened,” said Hoge. “And I lay that squarely at the feet of Mayor Karen Bass, Governor Gavin Newsom, and the drama-crats who insist that passing sanctuary city rules will help people when they do the exact opposite.”

“There was a time when we had, funnily enough, a Republican mayor, Richard Riordan, and L.A. was booming and amazing, and young people were here, and everyone was excited to be living the California dream,” she said. “That’s not true anymore, because we have a two-tiered system.”

FORMER ICE CHIEF TORCHES ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’ BIDEN-ERA POLICIES AS TRUMP’S DHS FINDS MIGRANT CHILDREN

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Newsom and Bass for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Newsom has recently called Trump a “chaos agent” who has “torn asunder” California communities through his administration’s immigration enforcement actions.

The governor claimed Trump’s “cruelty” is “about appearing tough.”

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Landon Mion contributed to this report.

Former President Joe Biden took a number of potshots at President Donald Trump addressing the National Bar Association’s100th annual gala at the Hyatt in Chicago Thursday evening, saying his successor’s administration is engaged in an “existential” fight with minority communities.

“Not since those tumultuous days in 1960s has this fight been so existential to who we are as a nation, with marginalized groups so dramatically under attack,” said Biden, who spoke before being presented with the organization’s C. Francis Stradford Award, named for a co-founder of the historically Black legal association.

“My friends, we need to face the hard truth of this administration, and that it has been to ease all the gains we’ve made in my administration,” Biden went on. “To erase history rather than making it. To erase fairness, equality, to erase justice itself. And that’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact.” 

“Get ready folks, this is just starting,” he added.

HUNTER BIDEN RAGES AGAINST ‘F—ING THUG’ TRUMP, INVOKES KKK IN IMMIGRATION RANT

Raising his voice, Biden said, “Folks, in all our lives, the life of our nation, there are moments so stark that they divide all that came before from everything that followed, moments that forced us to confront hard truths about ourselves, our institutions, and democracy itself. “

“We are, in my view, at such a moment in American history, reflected in every cruel executive outreach, every rollback of basic freedoms, every erosion of long-standing, established precedent,” he said. 

Biden also cast himself as a long-time ally of the civil rights movement, touting how his administration appointed more Black women to U.S. courts of appeals “than every other president in American history combined.”

He called for resistance against the Trump administration, especially emphasizing the role of the courts. 

“Judges matter, courts matter, the law matters and the Constitution matters. I think a lot of Americans are starting to realize that under the pressure under now with this guy we have as president,” he said. 

KAMALA HARRIS TO PUBLISH BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACCOUNT OF FAILED 2024 CAMPAIGN

He also took jabs at Congress and the Supreme Court, saying, “they’re doing it all too often with the help of a Congress that is just sitting on the sidelines and enabled by the highest court in the nation. The rulings they’ve made, my god.” 

“He seems to be doing his best to dismantle the Constitution,” he went on. “These are dark days, but you’re all here for the same reason I left that prestigious law firm to go to the defender’s office years ago. It’s because our future is literally on the line and we must be unapologetic of fighting for the future.” 

The former president’s speech was free of major gaffes, though he slurred and stumbled over his words at several points. 

At one point in the speech he joked, “When I was elected, I had the dubious distinction to be elected the youngest senator in American history and the oldest president in American history. It’s hell turning 40 twice.”

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

Among the featured speakers were a host of high-profile Black lawyers, including far-left Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, MSNBC pundit Joy-Ann Reid and New York Attorney General Tish James.

“President Biden’s life and leadership reflect an unwavering commitment to the rule of law and the promise of justice for all,” National Bar Association president Wiley Adams said in a statement.

“[I]t is not only historic but also deeply meaningful to have the 46th President of the United States join us in honoring the transformative power of the law—and the enduring fight to protect our democracy,” he said.

The former president’s address comes two months after his son Hunter agreed to a voluntary disbarment stemming from drug use and alleged gun law violations.

DNC VICE CHAIR COMPARES TRUMP TO NOTORIOUS SEGREGATIONISTS DURING HEATED TOWN HALL EVENT WITH BETO O’ROURKE

The president took the stage the same month his son has made waves in the public eye.

Earlier in July, Hunter Biden sat for a marathon interview from the Delaware Valley, in which he attacked President Donald Trump and many top Democratic figures, including David Axelrod, and spoke about his former addiction to crack cocaine.

In a case that occurred in the same area where the interview took place, a gun registered to Hunter Biden had been found in a dumpster a short distance from the A.I. duPont school in Greenville, Del.

Hallie Biden, widow of former Delaware Attorney General Joseph Beau Biden III and then-girlfriend of Hunter Biden, discovered the gun in her boyfriend’s possession and disposed of it there. 

PIERS MORGAN ON BIDEN DECLINE: ‘NOT ABOUT AGE, IT’S ABOUT COMPETENCY’

Edward Banner of Newport, Del., had been rummaging through the dumpster for bottle deposits to cash-in and discovered the gun. He was later called to testify in the case.

During the registration of that weapon, Hunter Biden swore on a federal form that he was not actively using controlled substances – a declaration that led to a criminal case in Wilmington that eventually led to his disbarment.

In June 2024, District of Columbia Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby signed an order automatically suspending his license to practice law in Washington.

Hunter Biden filed a sealed affidavit in April consenting to his disbarment, which avoided a court hearing on the matter.

The speech also came just hours after longtime Biden aide Michael Donilon testified to the House Oversight Committee investigators that he could have been paid a total of $8 million if the former president won his 2024 re-election bid, a source familiar with the conversation told Fox News Digital.

Amidst allegations that close Biden allies covered up his mental decline while president, Donilon told the committee that “every President ages over the four years of a presidency and President Biden did as well, but he also continued to grow stronger and wiser as a leader as a result of being tested by some of the most difficult challenges any President has ever faced.”

FORMER WHITE HOUSE AIDES WERE CAPTIVE TO THE JOE BIDEN DELUSION: MIRANDA DEVINE

The National Bar Association, now based in Washington, D.C., was formed in Iowa at a time when the predominant American Bar Association barred Black attorneys from joining its ranks.

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Its approximately 66,000 members advocate for civil rights, diversity in the legal profession as well as equitable access to the law.

The National Bar Association said Biden’s appearance “underscores his ongoing efforts to strengthen the rule of law, defend voting rights, and support historically marginalized communities.”

President Donald Trump clashed with a reporter Thursday over questions about a newly signed tariff, telling him that he had spent his first term “fighting lunatics like you.” The intense exchange follows a White House signing ceremony for a series of executive actions aimed at expanding reciprocal tariffs and strengthening U.S. trade policy.

While speaking with reporters at the White House after the signing, a reporter confronted Trump on why he is emphasizing tariffs more in his second term. 

“You’re weighing your decision to do that, your authority to do that based on a 1977 law. It’s never been invoked before,” said the reporter. “Why didn’t you invoke this law in your first term? You could have taken in billions upon billions of dollars in your first term, but you waited until your second term?”

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

Without missing a beat, the president shot back: “Yeah, because in my first term, I was fighting lunatics like you who were trying to do things incorrectly and inappropriately to a president that was duly elected.” 

“And we did do certain tariffs in the first term,” he continued. “If you look at China, China, we took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China.” 

He also said that the COVID-19 pandemic also played a factor in his decision to not emphasize tariffs as much in his first term.

“When Covid came the last thing I was going to do is tell France and Italy and Spain and a couple of other countries that we’re going to hit you with tariffs,” he explained. “We had to fight the Covid situation when that came.” 

DAILY BEAST PULLS STORY ALLEGING MELANIA-EPSTEIN CONNECTION AFTER LAWYERS DISPUTE FRAMING

“But if you look at my first term,” he went on, “We took in hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs, but you people didn’t cover it very well.” 

A statement by the White House said that Trump’s executive actions taken on Thursday “reflects the President’s continued efforts to protect the United States against foreign threats to the national security and economy of the United States by securing fair, balanced, and reciprocal trade relationships to benefit American workers, farmers, and manufacturers and to strengthen the United States’ defense industrial base.” 

This comes shortly after Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a trade deal between the U.S. and E.U. on Sunday.

TRUMP SETS UP PRESIDENTIAL FITNESS TEST FOR ANOTHER REVAMP AFTER OBAMA RETIRED IT DURING PRESIDENCY

“We are agreeing that the tariff straight across for automobiles and everything else will be a straight-across tariff of 15%,” Trump said.

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“So, we have a tariff of 15%. We have the opening up of all of the European countries, which I think I could say were essentially closed. I mean, you weren’t exactly taking our orders. You weren’t exactly taking our agriculture,” he added, addressing von der Leyen.

Von der Leyen said Europe will also purchase $150 billion worth of U.S. energy as part of the deal, in addition to making $600 billion in other investments into the U.S.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

From shampoo and sunscreen to tampons, many personal care products on American shelves contain chemicals linked to cancer, infertility, and hormone disruption—ingredients that are banned or restricted in the European Union and other countries. Despite these alarming associations, no federal law in the U.S. requires companies to disclose potentially harmful ingredients. Only California mandates limited transparency, leaving most Americans in the dark about what they’re putting on—and absorbing into—their bodies.

For Tiah Tomlin-Harris, a two-time survivor of triple-negative breast cancer, that lack of transparency was a wake-up call. Diagnosed before age 40 with no genetic predisposition, Tomlin-Harris began asking hard questions: Where is this coming from? Genetic testing came back negative, placing her among the 80–90% of breast cancer patients whose illness isn’t linked to family history. Her background as a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry gave her a unique perspective—and a critical eye for labels.

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“I started to dig into the causations,” she told FOX. “The first thing I did was remove every single product in my house—from hair care to dish detergent. I went back to grandma’s remedies—baking soda, vinegar—because I didn’t know what was safe anymore.” As she researched, she realized just how many widely used beauty and hygiene products are packed with potentially harmful chemicals.

While Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed for the removal of toxic additives in processed foods, he has yet to tackle the personal care industry. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary admits the agency is in a “deregulatory mindset,” saying, “[We’ve] been regulating too much.”

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“That mindset has led to an explosion of consumer-driven tools like Yuka and Clearya, apps that scan barcodes and analyze ingredient safety. “Most people are shocked,” said Julie Chapon, Yuka’s co-founder. “They assume green packaging means safety.”

Tomlin-Harris emphasized the disproportionate impact on women of color, particularly Black women. “We spend nine times more on beauty products than any other demographic, yet these products often contain the most harmful ingredients—parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, benzene. These aren’t just linked to cancer. They’re weakening chemotherapy drugs. They’re disrupting hormones. They’re impacting fertility—for men and women.”

A Consumer Reports investigation found carcinogens in 10 of the top braiding hair brands, many of which are marketed to Black women and girls.

Janet Nudelman, Director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics at Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, agrees that consumers are often left choosing “between protecting against skin cancer versus increasing their risk of breast cancer” because of harmful ingredients. Dr. Leonardo Trasande, whose studies highlight the health hazards of common chemicals, called the current system “rigged to produce chemical exposures that are toxic to our hormones.” The consequences, he warns, are societal: higher healthcare costs and lifelong reproductive and developmental health problems.

The federal government is slowly responding. The Safer Beauty Bill package, reintroduced in Congress, seeks to ban toxic ingredients, increase ingredient disclosure and protect vulnerable populations like hairstylists, nail technicians, and women of color. But for now, consumers are largely left to protect themselves.

FDA Commissioner Makary insists change is coming: “We’re doing an inventory of all chemicals in the food supply to see how we can make it safer.” Still, advocacy groups say the U.S. is far behind the EU in regulating cosmetic safety.

Industry representatives push back. The Personal Care Products Council asserts: “PCPC and our member companies are fully committed to upholding the highest standards of safety, quality and transparency.”

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But for advocates like Tomlin-Harris, promises aren’t enough. “This isn’t just a women’s issue,” she said. “It’s a people’s issue. Men are affected. Children are affected. Our entire population is being exposed to chemicals we didn’t consent to, and we’re paying the price.”

Her message is clear: “We need transparency. We need regulation. And we need accountability from the companies creating these products. It’s time to detox our routines, demand safer alternatives and prioritize our health.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., took a tumble on the Senate floor Wednesday during a vote. 

Footage showed Warren attempting to sit on a desk when she fell backwards, tipping over the desk and falling to the floor. 

In a rare showing of bipartisanship, her Republican colleagues, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Susan Collins of Maine, rushed to help her up. 

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Warren got up as Cruz gave her his hand. 

Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and John Barrasso of Wyoming were seen walking over to offer assistance. 

The fall happened as the Senate was taking a vote on two resolutions to block military sales to Israel, which Warren voted in favor of. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Warren’s office. 

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The resolutions were proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a harsh critic of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

Every Republican voted against it. 

Former President Joe Biden had several slips and falls while in the White House. In 2023, he tumbled to the ground during the commencement ceremony at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

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In 2024, he slipped while walking down the stairs after exiting Air Force One in Michigan.

FIRST ON FOX: A transgender illegal alien is being charged with child rape in the sanctuary city of New York, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS told Fox News Digital that the illegal alien, Nicol Alexandra Contreras-Suarez, a Colombian biological man who identifies as a woman, is being charged with rape of a minor and stalking.

According to the agency, Contreras-Suarez was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for illegally entering the country in San Ysidro, California, in March 2023. Contreras-Suarez was released into the country under the Biden administration’s “catch and release” policy and then went on to commit several serious crimes in American communities.

Contreras-Suarez had been arrested by the Medford Police Department in Massachusetts for armed robbery, prostitution and assault with a dangerous weapon. However, “due to local sanctuary policies,” DHS said, Contreras-Suarez was once again released.

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Contreras-Suarez is now facing criminal charges in New York for first-degree rape of a child less than age 17 and stalking. Contreras-Suarez has a preliminary criminal hearing in New York City this week and is set to have his case heard by the New York Supreme Court Sept. 10.

The agency said Contreras-Suarez’s “horrific and preventable crime illustrates the consequences of the Biden administration’s catch and release and sanctuary policies.”  

Commenting on the arrest, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin lamented that “this creep should’ve never been released into our country.”

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“Thanks to the failed sanctuary policies and Biden’s open-border agenda, this serial criminal was freed to prey on innocent American children — but that ends now,” she said.

ICE lodged an immigration detainer against Contreras-Suarez in February. He is currently in custody at Rikers Island Prison in New York until his next court hearing.  

This comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing intense criticism for its crackdown on illegal immigration and as officers are dealing with an 830% increase in assaults.

While the agency has said it will not back down from arresting any immigrants who are in the country illegally, the new DHS statement says that the vast majority of those arrested thus far have criminal charges or convictions. Despite claims by some Democrats that ICE is targeting innocent immigrant communities, 70% of the agency’s arrests have been of illegal aliens convicted or charged with crimes.

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DHS called Contreras-Suarez one of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegals it has arrested in its nationwide sweep thus far.

“ICE will not allow predators like Contreras-Suarez to terrorize American citizens,” said McLaughlin.