NationalWatch

Greenbelt, Md. – A federal judge in Maryland issued an emergency ruling Wednesday blocking the Trump administration from immediately taking Salvadorian migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia into ICE custody for 72 hours after he is released from criminal custody in Nashville, Tennessee — attempting to slow, if only temporarily, a case at the center of a legal and political maelstrom.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said in her order that the government must refrain from immediately taking Abrego into ICE custody pending release from criminal custody in Tennessee, and ordered he be returned to the ICE Order of Supervision at the Baltimore Field Office— the closest ICE facility near the district of Maryland where Abrego was arrested earlier this year. 

Xinis said at an evidentiary hearing this month that she would take action soon, in anticipation of a looming detention hearing for Abrego Garcia in his criminal case. She said she planned to issue the order with sufficient time to block the Trump administration’s stated plans to immediately begin the process of deporting Abrego Garcia again upon release — this time to a third country such as Mexico or South Sudan.

Xinis’s order said the additional time will ensure Abrego can raise any credible fears of removal to a third country, and via “the appropriate channels in the immigration process.” She also ordered the government to provide Abrego and his attorneys with “immediate written notice” of plans to transport him to a third country, again with the 72-hour notice period, “so that Abrego Garcia may assert claims of credible fear or seek any other relief available to him under the law and the Constitution.”

TRUMP HAS CUSTODY OVER JAILED CECOT MIGRANTS, EL SALVADOR SAYS, COMPLICATING COURT FIGHTS

Xinis said in her order Wednesday that the 72-hour notice period is necessary “to prevent a repeat of Abrego Garcia’s unlawful deportation to El Salvador by way of third-country removal.”

“Defendants have taken no concrete steps to ensure that any prospective third country would not summarily return Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in an end-run around the very withholding order that offers him uncontroverted protection,” she said.

The order from Xinis, who presided over Abrego Garcia’s civil case, was ultimately handed down on Wednesday just two minutes after a federal judge in Nashville — U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw — issued a separate order, upholding a lower judge’s decision that Abrego should be released from criminal custody pending trial in January.

Crenshaw said in his order that the government failed to provide “any evidence that there is something in Abrego’s history at warrants detention.” 

The plans, which Xinis ascertained over the course of a multi-day evidentiary hearing earlier this month, capped an exhausting, 19-week legal saga in the case of Abrego Garcia that spanned two continents, multiple federal courts, including the Supreme Court, and inspired countless hours of news coverage.

Still, it ultimately yielded little in the way of new answers, and Xinis likened the process to “nailing Jell-O to a wall,” and “beating a frustrated and dead horse,” among other things.

“We operate as government of laws,” she scolded lawyers for the Trump administration in one of many terse exchanges. “We don’t operate as a government of ’take my word for it.'” 

FEDERAL JUDGE EXTENDS ARGUMENTS IN ABREGO GARCIA CASE, SLAMS ICE WITNESS WHO ‘KNEW NOTHING’

Xinis had repeatedly floated the notion of a temporary restraining order, or TRO, to ensure certain safeguards were in place to keep Abrego Garcia in ICE custody, and appeared to agree with his attorneys that such an order is likely needed to prevent their client from being removed again, without access to counsel or without a chance to appeal his country of removal.

“I’m just trying to understand what you’re trying to do,” Xinis said on more than one occasion, growing visibly frustrated. 

“I’m deeply concerned that if there’s no restraint on you, Abrego will be on another plane to another country,” she told the Justice Department, noting pointedly that “that’s what you’ve done in other cases.”

Those concerns were echoed repeatedly by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys in a court filing earlier this month.

They noted the number of times that the Trump administration has appeared to have undercut or misrepresented its position before the court in months past, as Xinis attempted to ascertain the status of Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, and what efforts, if any, the Trump administration was making to comply with a court order to facilitate his return.

The Trump administration, who reiterated their belief that the case is no longer in her jurisdiction, will almost certainly move to immediately appeal the restraining order to a higher court.

TRUMP HAS CUSTODY OVER JAILED CECOT MIGRANTS, EL SALVADOR SAYS, COMPLICATING COURT FIGHTS

The order comes two weeks after an extraordinary, multi-day evidentiary hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, where Xinis sparred with Trump administration officials as she attempted to make sense of their remarks and ascertain their next steps as they look to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country.

She said she planned to issue the order before the date that Abrego could possibly be released from federal custody— a request made by lawyers for Abrego Garcia, who asked the court for more time in criminal custody, citing the many countries he might suffer persecution in — and concerns about what legal status he would have in the third country of removal. 

Without legal status in Mexico, Xinis said, it would likely be a “quick road” to being deported by the country’s government to El Salvador, in violation of the withholding of removal order. 

And in South Sudan, another country DHS is apparently considering, lawyers for Abrego noted the State Department currently has a Level 4 advisory in place discouraging U.S. travel due to violence and armed conflict. 

Americans who do travel there should “draft a will” beforehand and designate insurance beneficiaries, according to official guidance on the site.

 FEDERAL PROSECUTORS TELL JUDGE THEY WILL DEPORT KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA TO A THIRD COUNTRY AFTER DETENTION

In court, both in July and in earlier hearings, Xinis struggled to keep her own frustration and her incredulity at bay after months of back-and-forth with Justice Department attorneys.

Xinis has presided over Abrego Garcia’s civil case since March, when he was deported to El Salvador in violation of an existing court order in what Trump administration officials described as an “administrative error.”

She spent hours pressing Justice Department officials, over the course of three separate hearings, for details on the government’s plans for removing Abrego Garcia to a third country — a process she likened to “trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.” 

Xinis chastised the Justice Department this month for presenting a DHS witness to testify under oath about ICE’s plans to deport Abrego Garcia, fuming that the official, Thomas Giles, “knew nothing” about his case, and made no effort to ascertain answers — despite his rank as ICE’s third-highest enforcement official. 

The four hours of testimony he provided was “fairly stunning,” and “insulting to her intelligence,” Xinis said. 

Ultimately, the court would not allow the “unfettered release” of Abrego Garcia pending release from federal custody in Tennessee without “full-throated assurances” from the Trump administration that it will keep Abrego Garcia in ICE custody for a set period of time and locally, Xinis said, to ensure immigration officials do not “spirit him away to Nome, Alaska.”

During the July hearing, Judge Xinis notably declined to weigh in on the request for sanctions filed by lawyers for Abrego Garcia, but alluded to it in her ruling Wednesday.

“Defendants’ defiance and foot- dragging are, to be sure, the subject of a separate sanctions motion,” she said in the ruling— indicating further steps could be taken as she attempts to square months of differing statements from Trump officials. 

“The Court will not recount this troubling history in detail, other than to note Defendants’ persistent lack of transparency with the tribunal adds to why further injunctive relief is warranted,” she said. 

TRUMP’S REMARKS COULD COME BACK TO BITE HIM IN ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION BATTLE

The Justice Department, after a short recess, declined to agree, prompting Xinis to proceed with her plans for the TRO.

Xinis told the court that ultimately, “much delta” remains between where they ended things in court, and what she is comfortable with, given the government’s actions in the past.

This was apparent on multiple occasions Friday, when Xinis told lawyers for the Trump administration that she “isn’t buying” their arguments or doesn’t “have faith” in the statements they made — reflecting an erosion of trust that could prove damaging in the longer-term.

The hearings this week capped months of back-and-forth between Xinis and the Trump administration, as she tried, over the course of 19 weeks, to track the status of a single migrant deported erroneously by the Trump administration to El Salvador—and to trace what attempts, if any, they had made facilitate his return to the U.S.

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Xinis previously took aim at what she deemed to be the lack of information submitted to the court as part of an expedited discovery process she ordered this year, describing the government’s submissions as “vague, evasive and incomplete”— and which she said demonstrated “willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations.”

On Friday, she echoed this view. “You have taken the presumption of regularity and you’ve destroyed it, in my view,” Xinis said. 

A man who entered the country illegally during the Biden administration after being deported three times before was convicted, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced.

Santo Beato Aybar-Aybar, 49, was most recently deported on Sept. 21, 2021, but returned without ever being “inspected, admitted or paroled” by federal immigration authorities.

The Dominican national was arrested by ICE Boston, and he pleaded guilty in June in federal court.

“Santo Beato Aybar-Aybar repeatedly displayed a blatant disregard for U.S. immigration laws, and that resulted in his conviction for illegally reentering the country after deportation,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde said in a statement on Sunday.

SECOND SUSPECT ARRESTED IN CBP OFFICER SHOOTING HAS LENGTHY CRIMINAL PAST, DHS SAYS

“We will not stand idly by as criminals subvert our immigration laws and take refuge in our neighborhoods. ICE Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing illegal alien offenders from our New England communities.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

Aybar-Aybar could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of “supervised release” when he is sentenced on Sept. 11. 

Even after he serves his sentence in prison, he will be deported once again, according to an ICE press release.

TRUMP ADMIN FIGHTS TO DEPORT CONVICTED MURDERER SHIELDED BY BIDEN-ERA TORTURE PROTECTION

ICE Boston has been very active under the Trump administration, with federal leaders often going toe to toe with local Democrats.

Boston and other cities in Massachusetts are considered sanctuary cities, meaning they have laws that limit local authorities’ ability to comply with federal law enforcement on certain immigration-related matters.

On July 17, ICE Boston announced another conviction of Guatemalan national Manuel Ruiz-Luis, 52, who was deported in both April 1996 and March 2012, but he came back into the country illegally, and it’s unclear when.

ABREGO GARCIA RETURN TO US PROMPTS NEW QUESTIONS FOR OTHER IMMIGRANTS DEPORTED BY TRUMP

ICE Boston noted that the man, who was living in New Bedford, was previously criminally convicted for “operating under the influence” and driving without a license four different times. Ruiz-Luis will be sentenced on Sept. 18, and he could face two years behind bars, a $250,000 fine, and a year of “supervised release” and will be deported after prison time.

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“Furthermore, Ruiz-Luis chose to endanger our law-abiding residents by driving his vehicle under the influence of alcohol. ICE Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing criminal alien offenders from our New England neighborhoods,” Hyde stated. 

EXCLUSIVE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer against an illegal immigrant who allegedly murdered a 15-year-old and attempted to rape the child’s mother.

Gildardo Amandor-Martinez, 36, attempted to rape his girlfriend, Aleida Lopez, in Morehead, Kentucky, on Sunday, at their apartment, then allegedly bit her left hand, armpit, and hurt her arm.

While trying to protect his mother, the 15-year-old, Luis Lopez, was allegedly shot three times by Amandor-Martinez. The suspect then proceeded to assault Lopez’s daughter, also a minor, with a firearm, according to Fox 56. 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN JOCELYN NUNGARAY’S MURDER NOW ACCUSED OF PRIOR SEXUAL ASSAULT IN COSTA RICA

The outlet reported that he’s been charged with murder, first-degree assault, and first-degree attempted rape.

He attempted to enter the United States three times before successfully doing so in 2021 at the southern border, but managed to enter the U.S. as a “gotaway” at an unspecified time and location, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

During the Biden administration, there were hundreds of thousands of “known gotaways” by federal immigration authorities, including 670,674 in fiscal year 2023 alone.

TRUMP’S DHS SAYS BIDEN RELEASED ‘BARBARIC’ ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT NOW ACCUSED OF HEINOUS CRIME

“15-year-old Luis Lopez died trying to save his mother from this criminal illegal alien who was attempting to rape her. Gildardo Amandor-Martinez is a rapist and cold-blooded killer who should have never been in this country,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

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“The Biden administration’s open-border policies allowed this monster to walk American streets and commit these evil crimes, including murder, assault, and attempted rape, against a mother and her children. ICE has placed an arrest detainer to ensure Amandor-Martinez will not be released onto America’s streets and allowed to terrorize American families again,” McLaughlin added.

Rowan County Senior High School mourned the loss of Lopez in a statement posted to Facebook.

TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT PUSH RESULTS IN SKYROCKETING ARRESTS OF CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS

“We are saddened to lose one of our own today. Luis was a sweet child who worked hard to do his best everyday at school,” the post stated. “We extend our deepest sympathies to everyone that loved Luis. Even though it is summertime, if a student or adult needs any assistance, our office is open each day from 8:00 to 3:00 this week where you can reach out.”

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DHS says detainers are used to prevent the release of an individual behind bars before they can be transferred into the custody of federal authorities.

Jenny Frazier, communications director for the city of Morehead, told Fox News that the city is working with “state and federal partners” in the ongoing investigation. 

“While it does remain an active investigation, we are pretty much directing all those specific questions concerning ICE to ICE themselves, but there is the decision on the detainer that is just at the discretion of the federal level. So the city of Moorhead is not involved with any of the enforcement,” she added.

Following violent incidents in Los Angeles and other cities targeting ICE officers – including assaults on K9s and mounted units – Rep. Aaron Bean introduced legislation to strengthen penalties for those who harm law enforcement animals and their handlers.

The news comes after the Department of Homeland Security released new data showing immigration officers collectively are experiencing a 690% increase in assaults against them, as such data tacitly includes animal officers.

“Our police dogs and horses serve on the front lines, protecting officers and communities alike,” Bean, R-Fla., who chairs the DOGE caucus, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“They deserve real protection, not just praise – and the ‘Leo K9 Protection Act’ will deliver tougher penalties against those who harm these heroic animals in the line of duty.”

DOGE MEETS CONGRESS: GOP LAWMAKER LAUNCHES CAUCUS TO HELP MUSK TAKE ON ‘CRAZYTOWN’

The bill, announced late Tuesday at a ceremony outside the Capitol, implements sentences as high as 15 years – and is named for Marion County, Florida, Sheriff’s Deputy K9 Leo, who was killed in the line of duty.

In February, Leo and his handler responded to a report of battery-by-strangulation at a home in Silver Springs, outside Ocala. 

When Leo charged the armed suspect, he was shot and died days later. The suspect was killed by return fire from human officers.

“Leo did exactly what he was trained to do, and that is to fearlessly defend and protect those deputies – to charge directly at danger,” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods told the Ocala News at the time.

Leo’s handler, Sgt. Justin Tortora, joined Bean and others on Tuesday, calling the K9 “more than a partner – he was family.”

“By supporting this bill, we can guarantee that federal working K9s receive the urgent care they deserve and help prevent more handlers from experiencing the heartbreak of losing their partners in the line of duty,” Tortora told Fox News Digital.

TRUMP SALUTES ‘FEARLESS’ MILITARY, POLICE DOGS ON K-9 VETERANS DAY: ‘CANINE COURAGE’

Bean’s bill expands federal statutes protecting human officers to apply to local, state or federal police animals assisting federal agencies. It also directs the Department of Transportation to give a “safe harbor” exception to people rushing injured police animals for veterinary care.

During violent anti-ICE riots in California, at least two suspects were arrested for assaults on non-human police officers.

Dana Whitson of Oro Valley, Arizona, was charged in Los Angeles on several felony counts, including assault upon a peace officer and animal cruelty, after he allegedly assaulted a police horse.

Whitson allegedly shoved the horse and struck its muzzle in June, according to local reports.

Another man, Iran Castro of El Monte, California, was similarly charged for allegedly yanking the reins of police horses after police had given an order for the protesters to disperse, according to Los Angeles’ NBC affiliate.

Debbie Johnson, founder of K9s United, which supports and advocates for police animals, celebrated the bill, calling its introduction a “defining moment in the fight to protect federal working K9s who defend our nation every day.”

“[This] is the result of years of tireless advocacy and we are proud to carry this mission forward. We are deeply grateful to Congressman Bean for standing with us to honor and protect our nation’s four-legged heroes,” she said.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said President Donald Trump could proceed with the firing of three Democratic members of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) who were fired and then reinstated to their roles on the board — the latest high-stakes court clash centered on Trump’s authority as authority to remove or otherwise control the fate of independent agency.

The majority sided with the Trump administration in a 6-3 vote on the emergency order, the last of the Supreme Court’s current term. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court in early July to stay the decision of a lower court judge in Maryland who sided with the three ousted board members, Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr. U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox, a Biden appointee, ruled that their firings were unlawful and ordered they be reinstated to their roles.

The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals declined to grant the Trump administration’s request to stay the order, clearing the way for the administration to appeal the matter to the Supreme Court.

APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP FROM FIRING FEDERAL BOARD MEMBERS, TEES UP SUPREME COURT FIGHT

In its emergency filing to the Supreme Court, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer pointed to the court’s decision in another, factually similar emergency case reviewed by the high court earlier this year, in which justices agreed to temporarily block the reinstatements of board members for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

Sauer pointed to the factual similarities underpinning both cases, and argued that the high court’s emergency decision there “squarely controls this case.”

The CPSC board members disputed that notion in their own Supreme Court filing — arguing that their removals from the CPSC would “disrupt the status quo” from an agency dedicated to consumer protection and safety.

They also pointed to the timing of their removals, noting that the Trump administration made no attempt to oust them for four months — a delay they argue shows no urgency and undercuts any claim of “irreparable harm,” a key standard for emergency court action.

BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGE THWARTS TRUMP’S ATTEMPT TO CLEAN HOUSE AT CONSUMER SAFETY AGENCY

After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit rejected the government’s request to temporarily freeze Maddox’s order, the government appealed it to the Supreme Court.

In his ruling, Maddox said that the tenured design and protection of the five-member, staggered-term CPSC board does “not interfere with” Trump’s executive branch powers under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.

The case is the latest in a string of challenges centered on Trump’s ability to remove members of independent boards. Like the NLRB and MSPB rulings, it centers on the 90-year-old Supreme Court decision known as Humphrey’s Executor, in which the court unanimously ruled that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.

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Maddox invoked the uncertainty created by the preliminary posture of the NLRB and MSPB cases, which saw both plaintiffs removed and reinstated to their positions multiple times — which he said was the basis for ordering more permanent injunctive relief.

“Disruption might have resulted in the instant case if Plaintiffs had been reinstated while this case was in its preliminary posture, only to have the Court later deny relief in its final judgment and subject Plaintiffs to removal again,” said Maddox. “The risk of such disruption is no longer a factor now that the Court is granting permanent injunctive relief as a final judgment.” 

In his ruling, Maddox said that the tenured design and protection of the five-member, staggered-term CPSC board does “not interfere with” Trump’s executive branch powers under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.

President Donald Trump has secured a $221 million settlement with Columbia University to resolve multiple federal civil rights investigations.

The deal includes $200 million over three years for alleged discriminatory practices and $21 million to settle claims of antisemitic employment discrimination against Jewish faculty after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel. 

The White House called it the largest antisemitism-related settlement in U.S. history; Columbia confirmed the dollar amounts, but did not characterize the deal that way.

The agreement restores billions in federal research funding and imposes oversight through an independent monitor. Columbia has agreed to reform, including enhanced campus protest rules and changing disciplinary authority from faculty to administrators.

“The Trump Administration’s deal with Columbia University is a seismic shift in our nation’s fight to hold institutions that accept American taxpayer dollars accountable for antisemitic discrimination and harassment,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “For decades, the American public has watched in horror as our elite campuses have been overrun by anti-western teachings and a leftist groupthink that restricts speech and debate to push a one-sided view of our nation and the world. 

“These dangerous trends fueled the outbreak of violent antisemitism that paralyzed campuses after the October 7th massacre and was previously unthinkable in the United States of America.”

COLUMBIA PROFESSORS DEMAND ANSWERS AS WHITE HOUSE FINALIZES NEGOTIATIONS WITH IVY LEAGUE UNIVERSITY

Columbia confirmed that most of its suspended federal grants will be reinstated, including those from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Health and Human Services. The university noted that a portion of funding not restored reflects unrelated federal cuts in specific research areas.

The agreement also codifies reforms Columbia announced earlier this year, including changes to campus safety, enhanced training programs, and new reporting mechanisms. It further includes the appointment of Title VI and Title VII coordinators, as well as additional commitments made in July, most notably, the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

Columbia’s public statement does not acknowledge White House claims that the university will review international student admissions or Middle East programs or share admissions process data.

The university’s Jewish student life organization, Columbia/Barnard Hillel, said the settlement represents a major step in the right direction.

JEWISH STUDENT SETTLES RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION SUIT AGAINST COLUMBIA

“This announcement is an important recognition of what Jewish students and their families have expressed with increasing urgency: antisemitism at Columbia is real, and it has had a tangible impact on Jewish students’ sense of safety and belonging and, in turn, their civil rights,” Lavine Family Executive Director Brian Cohen said in a statement. “Acknowledging this fact is essential, and along with the new path laid out by the President and Trustees, I am hopeful that today’s agreement marks the beginning of real, sustained change.

“In the months ahead, Columbia/Barnard Hillel will continue our work with the administration, faculty, students, and alumni to strengthen Jewish life at Columbia including making sure that the roadmap laid out in this agreement is followed.”

Acting President Claire Shipman said the settlement safeguards academic independence and allows essential research to resume. 

Columbia admitted no wrongdoing but acknowledged the need for reform after “painful, unacceptable incidents” affecting Jewish students and faculty.

Columbia’s public statement does not mention several claims made by the White House, including a mandated review of Middle East programming and new data-sharing requirements tied to international student admissions.

“This agreement marks an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty,” Shipman said. “The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track. Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest.”

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The White House also cited provisions related to women’s sports and campus safety not mentioned in Columbia’s statement.

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s additional request for comment.

The full Columbia statement can be found here.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, was slammed by a Republican colleague on Wednesday after suggesting that lawmakers who are critical of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives must inherently think her views are untrustworthy because she is a minority.

The comments came during a Wednesday afternoon hearing about the state of DEI in the United States under the second Trump administration. The senator’s comments came after she got into a back-and-forth with a witness from an anti-DEI law group over whether the courts have ever opined on the constitutionality of DEI.

“Okay, well, I’m out of time,” Hirono said, seemingly unsatisfied that the witness pushed back on her claims that the courts have never called diversity, equity and inclusion unconstitutional. “You can see that we are very – we are a very divergent group of people here.”

HIRONO RIPPED FOR ‘DERANGED’ OPENING CONFIRMATION HEARING QUESTION TO BURGUM: ‘THIS LADY HAS ISSUES’

“Intellectually diverse!” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, quipped in response to Hirono. 

Hirono looked in Schmitt’s direction and smiled before saying: “You know, on the basis of the suspicion supposedly for people who are DEI, that would mean that you suspect me of something – I cannot be trusted. I hope that is not your view.”

“I don’t know if you’re talking – hopefully you’re not talking about me, because that is a ridiculous accusation,” Schmitt shot back.

HAWAII’S HIRONO ONLY SENATOR TO VOTE NO ON COLLINS, CONTINUING PARTISAN STREAK AT HEARINGS

Hirono then turned back to Schmitt and said, “good, thank you.”

“I wish everybody else would say the same thing – about those people in our country who happen to look different from the rest of us…” she continued before Schmitt interjected to adjourn the hearing. 

“Okay – your time has expired, senator. Thanks. Thanks so much.”

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Hirono has frequently criticized Republicans, President Donald Trump and his administration over the past few months, and she had an odd line of questioning for many of Trump’s nominations during the confirmation process.

During his confirmation hearing to be defense secretary, Hirono accused then-nominee Pete Hegseth of being willing to shoot at lawful protesters. She was also the only lawmaker on the Senate’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee to oppose the confirmation of Trump’s nominee for Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary.

Elpidio Reyna, an alleged violent rioter who was captured on video throwing rocks at the windshields of moving Border Patrol vehicles in Los Angeles, was arrested on Wednesday at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Video of the attack allegedly shows Reyna, who is wearing what appears to be a motorcycle helmet, picking up several large rocks on the side of the road and lobbing them at Border Patrol vehicles as they pass by. The alleged attack occurred in Paramount, California, on June 7, during the height of the Los Angeles anti-ICE riots.

Bill Essayli, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, released video of the alleged violent rioter being picked up at the San Ysidro port of entry in San Diego. One federal officer was injured as a result of the attack.

According to Essayli, Reyna, whom he called a “dangerous felon,” surrendered to federal authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border to face a felony charge of assault on a federal officer. He was apprehended by a U.S. Border Patrol officer who was inside of the vehicles damaged by the attack and “could have been killed in last month’s dangerous and reckless attack.”

ICE CHIEF WARNS AI TECHNOLOGY COULD LEAD TO SAFETY RISKS FOR AGENTS: ‘FRINGE ORGANIZATIONS’

Essayli said that Reyna will make his initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday afternoon.

“To anyone who thinks they can attack federal officers and hide behind a mask or helmet, Reyna’s arrest today proves we can find and charge anyone who violates federal law,” he said, adding, “Don’t touch our officers.”

Commenting on the arrest, FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI “will never tolerate violence against those who serve and protect this country.”

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino also chimed in, posting on X, “You may remember Elpidio Reyna, a subject who allegedly threw rocks at federal officers during immigration operations in California June 7. We got him.”

GRIEVING MOM TESTIFIES ABOUT MARINE VET SON’S DEATH AT HANDS OF VIOLENT ILLEGAL ALIENS

“Those who attack America’s police officers can run but they can’t hide,” said Bongino.

Violent and fiery riots erupted across Los Angeles for several days in response to ICE activity in the area. The Trump administration deployed 700 Marines and federalized roughly 4,000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles to quell the riots. The move was harshly criticized as unnecessary and illegal by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass and other Democrats.

Newsom sued the Trump administration for deploying California National Guard troops despite his opposition. He argued that the National Guard troops were likely violating the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits troops from conducting civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil.

‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ARRESTED IN NATIONWIDE CRIMINAL ILLEGAL-ALIEN CRACKDOWN: DHS

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The governor won an early victory in the case after a federal judge ruled the Guard deployment was illegal and exceeded Trump’s authority. An appeals court tossed that order, and control of the troops remained with the federal government. The federal court is set to hear arguments next month on whether the troops are violating the Posse Comitatus Act.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Russia allegedly had intelligence suggesting that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was taking “heavy tranquilizers,” which former President Barack Obama and Democratic Party leaders found to be “extraordinarily alarming,” a newly declassified intelligence report claims. 

Fox News Digital first reported that the U.S. intelligence community did not have any direct information that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to help elect Donald Trump during the 2016 election, but, at the “unusual” direction of then-President Obama, reportedly published “potentially biased” or “implausible” intelligence suggesting otherwise.

BRENNAN DIRECTED PUBLICATION OF ‘IMPLAUSIBLE’ REPORTS CLAIMING PUTIN PREFERRED TRUMP IN 2016, HOUSE FOUND

The information came from a report declassified by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The report was prepared by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2020.

The report, which was based on an investigation launched by former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was dated Sept. 18, 2020. At the time of the publication of the report, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was the chairman of the committee. 

The report had never before been released to the public, and instead, remained highly classified within the intelligence community.

Fox News Digital obtained the “fully-sourced limited-access investigation report that was drafted and stored in a limited-access vault at CIA Headquarters.” The report includes some redactions.

One section of the report states that the material in Putin’s possession included Russian intelligence on Democratic National Committee information allegedly showing that senior Democrat leaders found Clinton’s health to be “extraordinarily alarming.” 

“As of September 2016, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service had DNC information that President Obama and Party leaders found the state of Secretary Clinton’s health to be ‘extraordinarily alarming,’ and felt it could have ‘serious negative impact’ on her election prospects,” the report states. “Her health information was being kept in ‘strictest secrecy’ and even close advisors were not being fully informed.” 

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service also allegedly had DNC communications that showed that “Clinton was suffering from ‘intensified psycho-emotional problems, including uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression, and cheerfulness.'” 

“Clinton was placed on a daily regimen of ‘heavy tranquilizers’ and while afraid of losing, she remained ‘obsessed with a thirst for power,’” the report states.

The Russians also allegedly had information that Clinton “suffered from ‘Type 2 diabetes, Ischemic heart disease, deep vein thrombosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.’”

The Russians also allegedly possessed a “campaign email discussing a plan approved by Secretary Clinton to link Putin and Russian hackers to candidate Trump in order to ‘distract the American public’ from the Clinton email server scandal.” 

Gabbard, during the White House press briefing Wednesday, said there were “high level DNC emails that detailed evidence of Hillary’s, quote, psycho-emotional problems, uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression and cheerfulness, and that then Secretary Clinton was allegedly on a daily regimen of heavy tranquilizers.” 

“Then CIA Director Brennan and the intelligence community mischaracterized intelligence and relied on dubious, substandard sources to create a contrived false narrative that Putin developed a, quote unquote, ‘clear preference’ for Trump,” Gabbard said. “Brennan and the IC misled lawmakers by referencing the debunked Steele dossier to assess, quote unquote, ‘Russia’s plans and intentions,’ falsely suggesting that this dossier had intelligence value when he knew that it was discredited, the intelligence community excluded significant intelligence and ignored or selectively quoted reliable intelligence that contradicted the intelligence community assessments.” 

“Key findings on Putin’s alleged support for Trump, including this intelligence reporting, would have exposed the ICA’s claim as implausible, if not ridiculous,” she said. 

Neither Clinton nor Obama responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

A tranquilizer is a drug used to reduce mental disturbance, such as anxiety and tension. Tranquilizers are typically prescribed to individuals suffering from anxiety, sleep disturbances and related conditions affecting their mental and physical health. 

OBAMA OFFICIALS ADMITTED THEY HAD NO ‘EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE’ OF TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION: HOUSE INTEL TRANSCRIPTS

Fox News Digital, in 2020, first reported on the “Clinton Plan.”

On July 28, 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed Obama on a plan from one of Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisors allegedly “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.” 

Comey, Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were in the Brennan–Obama briefing.

After that briefing, the CIA reportedly properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to Comey and Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the subject line: “Crossfire Hurricane.”

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated: “The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate.”

“Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date,” the memo continued. “An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”

The FBI on July 31, 2016, opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 campaign. That investigation was referred to inside the bureau as “Crossfire Hurricane.”

OBAMA ADMIN ‘MANUFACTURED’ INTELLIGENCE TO CREATE 2016 RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE NARRATIVE, DOCUMENTS SHOW

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the FBI’s original “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation. After nearly two years, Mueller’s investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.

Shortly after, John Durham was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the “Crossfire Hurricane” probe.

Durham found that the FBI “failed to act” on a “clear warning sign” that the bureau was the “target” of a Clinton-led effort to “manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes” ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

“The aforementioned facts reflect a rather startling and inexplicable failure to adequately consider and incorporate the Clinton Plan intelligence into the FBI’s investigative decision-making in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation,” Durham’s report states.

“Indeed, had the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation as an assessment and, in turn, gathered and analyzed data in concert with the information from the Clinton Plan intelligence, it is likely that the information received would have been examined, at a minimum, with a more critical eye,” the report continued.

Durham, in his report, said the FBI “failed to act on what should have been – when combined with other incontrovertible facts – a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election.”

Meanwhile, the report states that Brennan “ordered the post-election publication of 15 reports containing previously collected but unpublished intelligence, three of which were substandard – containing information that was unclear, of uncertain origin, potentially biased, or implausible – and those became foundational sources for the ICA judgments that Putin preferred Trump over Clinton.”

FBI LAUNCHES CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS OF JOHN BRENNAN, JAMES COMEY: DOJ SOURCES

“The ICA misrepresented these reports as reliable, without mentioning their significant underlying flaws,” the committee found.

“One scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard reports constitutes the only classified information cited to suggest Putin ‘aspired’ to help Trump win,” the report states, adding that the ICA “ignored or selectively quoted reliable intelligence reports that challenged-and in some cases undermined – judgments that Putin sought to elect Trump.”

The report also states that the ICA “failed to consider plausible alternative explanations of Putin’s intentions indicated by reliable intelligence and observed Russian actions.”

The committee also found that two senior CIA officers reportedly warned Brennan that “we don’t have direct information that Putin wanted to get Trump elected.”

Despite those warnings, the Obama administration moved to publish the ICA.

The report also includes intelligence from a longtime Putin confidant who explained to investigators that “Putin told him he did not care who won the election,” and that Putin “had often outlined the weaknesses of both major candidates.”

FLASHBACK: DNI DECLASSIFIES BRENNAN NOTES, CIA MEMO ON HILLARY CLINTON ‘STIRRING UP’ SCANDAL BETWEEN TRUMP, RUSSIA

The report also stated that the ICA committed context showing that the claim that Putin preferred Trump was “implausible – if not ridiculous.”

The committee also found that the ICA suppressed intelligence that showed that Russia was actually planning for a Clinton victory because “they knew where (she) stood” and believed Russia “could work with her.”

The declassification of the report comes just days after Gabbard declassified and released documents that included “overwhelming evidence” that demonstrated how, after Trump won the 2016 election against Clinton, then-President Obama and his national security team laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe.

Meanwhile, Fox News Digital, in 2020, exclusively obtained the declassified transcripts from Obama-era national security officials’ closed-door testimonies before the House Intelligence Committee, in which those officials testified that they had no “empirical evidence” of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election, but continued to publicly push the “narrative” of collusion.

DURHAM TESTIFIES THAT THE FBI IGNORED HILLARY CLINTON PLAN TO LINK TRUMP TO RUSSIA

The House Intelligence Committee, in 2017, conducted depositions of top Obama intelligence officials, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, among others.

The transcripts, from 2017 and 2018, revealed top Obama officials were questioned by House Intelligence Committee lawmakers and investigators about whether they had or had seen evidence of such collusion, coordination or conspiracy – the issue that drove the FBI’s initial case and later the special counsel probe.

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“I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election,” Clapper testified in 2017. “That’s not to say that there weren’t concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence…. But I do not recall any instance where I had direct evidence.”

A House panel Wednesday voted in favor of subpoenaing former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., offered a motion during a House Oversight Committee subcommittee hearing to call on Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., to subpoena people with possible links to Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former associate of late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“I have a motion to subpoena the following individuals to expand the full committees investigation into Miss Maxwell – and the list reads as follows: William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, James Brian Comey, Loretta Elizabeth Lynch, Eric Hampton Holder, Jr., Merrick Brian Garland, Robert Swan Mueller III, William Pelham Barr, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions the third, and Alberto Gonzales. That’s the full list, Mr. Chairman. And that’s the motion,” Perry said.

The motion passed by voice vote, meaning there was not an individual roll call.

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

The subpoenas would actually need to be issued by Comer to be active.

A House Oversight Committee aide told Fox News Digital, “The subpoenas will be issued in the near future.”

It comes after Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., a member of the progressive “Squad,” pushed for a vote on her own motion to subpoena any files related to Epstein.

That motion passed in an 8-to-2 vote, also directing Comer to issue that subpoena.

Republican lawmakers have dealt with a barrage of media scrutiny on Epstein’s case over the last two weeks. It’s a side effect of the fallout over a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) memo effectively declaring the matter closed.

Figures on the far-right have hammered Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing them of going back on earlier vows of transparency.

At Trump’s direction, the DOJ is moving to have grand jury files related to Epstein’s case unsealed. Bondi is looking into whether imprisoned former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell will speak with federal authorities as well.

A House GOP-led motion directing Comer to subpoena Maxwell passed the House Oversight Committee unanimously on Tuesday, and Comer issued the subpoena the following day. 

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

But Democrats have nonetheless seized on the Republican discord with newfound calls of their own for transparency in Epstein’s case. 

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Wednesday’s hearing by the Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on federal law enforcement was unrelated to Epstein – but it’s part of a pattern of Democratic lawmakers in the House using any opportunity to force Republicans into an uncomfortable political position on the issue.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., another member of the subcommittee, successfully got Lee’s amendment altered to also call for the release of Biden administration communications related to Epstein.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Clinton Foundation for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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…

– Coast Guard overhaul takes off amid Trump administration’s immigration, narcotics crackdown

– ‘Big beautiful bill’ tax cuts touted in ad blitz as Senate GOP gears up for midterms

– NYC council member sounds alarm over Mamdani voters falling for ‘pipe dream’

Brennan directed publication of ‘implausible’ reports claiming Putin preferred Trump in 2016, House found

FIRST ON FOX: The intelligence community did not have any direct information that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to help elect Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, but, at the “unusual” direction of then-President Barack Obama, published “potentially biased” or “implausible” intelligence suggesting otherwise, the House Intelligence Committee found.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a report prepared by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence back in 2020… READ MORE.

White House

WAR OF WORDS: Trump border czar Tom Homan slams ‘former first drug addict’ Hunter Biden over inflammatory immigration rant

HIDDEN HANDS: 7 details revealed in newly released MLK files

‘INSTRUMENTAL’: Coast Guard overhaul takes off amid Trump administration’s immigration, narcotics crackdown

World Stage

ALGORITHM OF WAR: AI arms race: US and China weaponize drones, code and biotech for the next great war

POWER PLAY POLITICS: How China ‘weaponized’ the battery supply chain to control over 80% of the materials needed for batteries in defense tech

HUNGER ON THE FRONT: News agency says its Gaza journalists suffering health woes as union warns they will die without intervention

BACKSTABBING ALLIES: Huckabee hits back at Western countries that ‘side’ with terror group Hamas

REAL ‘WONDER WOMAN’: ‘Wonder Woman’ actress Gal Gadot praises ‘strength’ of freed Hamas hostages during emotional visit

PRICE WAR SHOWDOWN: Trump says he may use trade to force countries, pharma companies to buy into his most favored nation provision

POWER GRAB BACKLASH: Ukraine sees sweeping protests over bill weakening anti-corruption agencies

Capitol Hill

‘QUIET PART OUT LOUD’: Immigrants needed for ‘redistricting purposes,’ House Dem admits in viral clip: ‘Quiet part out loud’

PASSING GRADE: Senate weathers Dem opposition, advances first government funding bill

CASHFLOW: WATCH: Lawmakers break down how billions in the ‘big, beautiful bill’ boost Trump’s immigration crackdown

JUDICIAL SHOWDOWN: Senate votes to consider former Trump lawyer for lifetime as appeals court judge

‘POTENTIALLY BIASED’: Brennan directed publication of ‘implausible’ reports claiming Putin preferred Trump in 2016, House found

STAYING PUT: After meeting with Trump, Republican in key House battleground announces major decision on ‘Fox and Friends’

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: ‘Big beautiful bill’ tax cuts touted in ad blitz as Senate GOP gears up for midterms

‘KEEP SHOOTING, DAD’: Grieving mom testifies about Marine vet son’s death at hands of violent illegal aliens

Across America 

LEGAL LEGEND LOST: Roy Black, famed defense attorney for Rush Limbaugh and Jeffrey Epstein, dies after illustrious career

COURT ORDER: New Jersey’s ban on privately operated ICE detention centers struck down by court

CRACKING DOWN: Trump’s immigration enforcement push results in skyrocketing arrests of criminal illegal aliens

‘PROHIBITS SPEECH’: Federal judge partially blocks law banning adults from helping minors get out-of-state abortions

STEALTH AGENDA: WATCH: DEI efforts were rebranded at 2 red-state colleges to skirt Trump orders, staffers admit

‘CULTURE OF SHAME’: NYC council member sounds alarm over Mamdani voters falling for ‘pipe dream’

‘DEADLY FORCE’: ICE chief warns AI technology could lead to safety risks for agents: ‘Fringe organizations’

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

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are now digging into Hunter Biden’s implication that an Ambien sleeping pill was responsible for his father’s consequential debate performance one year ago, Fox News Digital has confirmed. 

The revelation comes as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is leading an investigation into the alleged cover-up of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and his administration’s potentially unauthorized autopen use for pardons and executive actions.

“He’s 81 years old. He’s tired as s–t,” Hunter Biden told Andrew Callaghan on his “Channel 5” podcast last weekend. “They give him Ambien to be able to sleep. He gets up on the stage, and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights.” 

But the former president’s son later clarified to ABC News that he did not mean Biden was taking Ambien directly before the debate, and he had intended to make a greater point about his father’s rigorous travel schedule in the weeks leading up to that disastrous debate night. 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS FLOAT GRILLING JOE, JILL BIDEN AS FORMER AIDES STONEWALL COVER-UP PROBE

“Hunter Biden’s claim that ‘they gave him Ambien to be able to sleep’ raises serious questions,” a House Oversight Committee spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “The House Oversight Committee is looking into this as part of its investigation into the cover-up of President Biden’s cognitive decline and unauthorized executive actions by White House staff.”

Ambien, or zolpidem, is a prescription medication for insomnia. It is intended only for short-term use, according to GoodRx. Common side effects include dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, muscle and joint pain, and double or blurry vision.

JILL BIDEN ‘WORK HUSBAND’ PLEADS FIFTH AMENDMENT, DODGES HOUSE GOP COVER-UP PROBE QUESTIONS

The medication can also cause memory problems and grogginess during the day, and more serious and rare side effects can include hallucinations, “abnormal thinking and behavior” and “possible increased risk of dementia in older adults,” according to GoodRx.

Biden’s former chief of staff and a fixture of his re-election campaign, Ron Klain, is expected to participate in a transcribed interview on Thursday before the House Oversight Committee. 

In a letter requesting his appearance, Comer quoted Klain as cutting Biden’s debate prep short last year “due to the president’s fatigue and lack of familiarity with the subject matter,” adding that Biden “didn’t really understand what his argument was on inflation,” citing a POLITICO report from earlier this year. 

“If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition—or to perform his duties—Congress may need to consider a legislative response,” Comer said, arguing that the scope of Klain’s responsibilities in his personal and professional capacities “cannot go without investigation.”

Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times, and Isaac Arnsdor of The Washington Post describe in their new book, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” how during the June 2024 debate “Biden’s aides winced as the president started answering the first question.”

And backstage, as Biden stumbled over an answer that questionably ended with, “We finally beat Medicare,” Klain stood up and announced, “We’re f—ed,” according to the authors. 

When reached for comment to confirm the book’s allegation, Klain told Fox News Digital, “I have nothing to add.”

A top former Biden administration aide invoked the Fifth Amendment during her closed-door deposition with the House Oversight Committee, Fox News Digital was told.

Annie Tomasini became the third Democratic ex-official to stonewall investigators looking into whether signs of Biden’s alleged mental decline were covered up by his inner circle.

The former White House deputy chief of staff was seen entering and exiting the committee room in under an hour, saying nothing to reporters either time.

A source familiar with the discussions told Fox News Digital that she invoked the Fifth Amendment multiple times. Tomasini herself did not answer when Fox News Digital asked if she did so, and her lawyers did not respond to a request for comment. 

“Today, the third witness in our investigation into the cover-up of President Biden’s cognitive decline and unauthorized executive actions pleaded the Fifth Amendment. There is now a pattern of key Biden confidants seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability for this potential conspiracy,” Comer told Fox News Digital. 

Tomasini is the third former Biden administration official to come before committee investigators under subpoena, and the fifth to appear overall.

She was meant to appear Friday for a voluntary transcribed interview, but a committee aide previously told Fox News Digital that Tomasini’s lawyers had asked Comer to issue a subpoena specifically.

Both prior officials who appeared under subpoena—former White House physician Kevin O’Connor and Anthony Bernal, a longtime aide to former First Lady Jill Biden—also invoked the Fifth Amendment.

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Biden’s office declined to comment to Fox News Digital about the House GOP probe into his alleged Ambien use. 

But a source familiar with the Biden team’s thinking regarding the ongoing House Oversight investigation had previously told Fox News Digital that Trump and congressional Republicans are simply seeking “retribution” through a “partisan, coordinated effort.”

“It’s an attempt to smear and embarrass,” the source said. “And their hope is for just one tiny inconsistency between witnesses to appear so that Trump’s DOJ [can] prosecute his political opponents and continue his campaign of revenge.”

Fox News’ Melissa Ruddy, Aishah Hasnie, Tyler Olson and Kelly Phares contributed to this report. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., accused Democrats of orchestrating a “cover-up” of President Joe Biden’s signs of mental decline in a set of remarks to reporters on Wednesday.

The leader of the House of Representatives criticized left-wing lawmakers for their public pressure campaign regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s case, dismissing their calls for transparency as a hypocritical political ploy.

“We will not be lectured on transparency by the same party that orchestrated one of the most shameless, dangerous political cover-ups in the history of the United States – and that was President Biden’s obvious mental decline,” Johnson told reporters.

“House Republicans stand for maximum transparency and truth. We always have, and we always will.”

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

It comes as the House Oversight Committee continues to investigate allegations that the former president’s top White House aides obscured signs of mental and physical decline in the octogenarian leader from the public and others in the administration.

Biden told The New York Times earlier this month that he was fully aware of every decision he made in a story regarding his use of autopen for clemency orders.

Johnson and other Republican lawmakers have dealt with a barrage of media scrutiny on Epstein’s case over the last two weeks. It’s a side effect of the fallout over a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) memo effectively declaring the matter closed.

Figures on the far-right have hammered Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing them of going back on earlier vows of transparency.

At Trump’s direction, the DOJ is moving to have grand jury files related to Epstein’s case unsealed. Bondi is looking into whether imprisoned former Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell will speak with federal authorities as well.

Democrats seized on the discord by forcing Republicans on a key panel – the House Rules Committee – to take multiple votes on whether to make files related to Epstein’s case public.

GOP lawmakers’ frustration at being put into a tough political situation forced House Republicans’ agenda to partially grind to a halt this week, forcing leaders to send the House into August recess a day earlier than initially planned.

Some Republicans are frustrated with the Trump administration’s handling of the issue, while others are angry at fellow GOP lawmakers joining Democrats in public calls for transparency.

Many, like Johnson, have accused Democrats of operating on a double-standard. 

“The way Democrats have tried to weaponize this issue is absolutely shameless. And I just want to say this – Democrats said nothing and did nothing, absolutely nothing, about bringing transparency for the entire four years of the Biden presidency,” the speaker said. But now, all of a sudden, they want the American people to believe that they actually care.”

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

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When reached for comment, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pointed Fox News Digital to his remarks on Epstein earlier this week, questioning what Republicans were “hiding.”

“Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide during the Trump administration. Trump administration officials have said, prior to arriving in Washington in positions of prominence, including at the FBI and the Department of Justice, that they were going to release the Epstein files. Trump administration officials are now in a position to release the Epstein files,” Jeffries said. 

“Does any of that, in your view, have anything to do with President Joe Biden? Why do we think President Joe Biden or President Barack Obama’s names are being invoked?”

Fox News Digital also reached out to the office of former President Joe Biden for comment but did not immediately hear back.

President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains steady at 45% as he closes out the sixth month of his second term. 

Support for the president is split along party lines, as Republicans express strong approval and Democrats disapprove of his policies almost across the board, according to a new Marquette Law School Poll national survey, conducted July 7-16, 2025.

Independent voters remain substantially more negative than positive, disapproving at 62%, which is down seven points since May. Yet, Trump maintains a 55% disapproval rating among all voters. 

Trump’s overwhelming approval among Republicans, at 86%, and disapproval among Democrats, at 93%, have remained consistent since the start of his second term, according to the four Marquette Law School Poll national surveys conducted this year. 

TRUMP TOUTS ‘VERY POPULAR’ DOMESTIC POLICY BILL AHEAD OF WHITE HOUSE SIGNING

The polling reflects an omnipresent partisan divide on Capitol Hill and across the country, as Republicans celebrate and Democrats protest Trump’s sweeping second-term agenda, including a robust crackdown on illegal immigration and his marquee legislation, the “one big, beautiful bill.”

FOX NEWS POLL: ECONOMIC PESSIMISM ABATES SLIGHTLY AS VOTERS REFLECT ON THE ECONOMY

Trump’s megabill includes tax cuts, funding for border security, Medicaid reform and an American energy overhaul, among other fulfillments of Trump’s 2024 campaign promises. A Republican-led Congress passed the bill through the reconciliation process, and Trump signed the bill by a self-imposed July 4 deadline. 

According to the poll, 59% of all adults disapprove of Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” Democrats almost unanimously disapprove of the bill, at 94%, while 79% of Republicans said they support it. 

Some conservative fiscal hawks, including Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who voted against the bill, sounded the alarm on the megabill adding to the federal deficit. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) dynamic analysis found it would raise budget deficits by an estimated $2.4 trillion over a decade.

Sixty-eight percent of people think the federal deficit will increase, up 52% from the last survey in May. And that number nearly doubled among Republicans from 22% in May to 44% in July. 

Fifty-nine percent of Americans surveyed think Trump’s tariff plans will hurt the U.S. economy. Inflation is the top issue facing the country for 34% of Americans, followed by the economy at 16% in July. Meanwhile, just 28% of Americans think Trump’s policies will bring down inflation, and 60% say his policies will increase inflation. 

Those views on the economy are split along party lines, as a majority of Republicans believe Trump will decrease inflation and majorities of Independents and Democrats think his policies will increase inflation, per the survey. 

Among Trump’s leading issue of deporting illegal immigrants, 57% favor and 43% oppose his deportation rollout, which is lower than in May, when 66% were in favor and 34% were opposed. 

This polling follows a surge in violence against federal immigration authorities and protests rejecting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) erupting across the country, particularly in Los Angeles, where Trump authorized the National Guard to disrupt protests that delved into riots last month.

Republicans continue their overwhelming support for deportations, but a majority of Independents are now opposed, following a decline from May to July. Meanwhile, disapproval among Democrats rose 17 percentage points from May to July. 

According to the poll, 55% of Americans believe the United States is mostly deporting immigrants with no criminal record, with most Republicans agreeing, while majorities of Independents and Democrats think deportations mostly involve those without criminal records. 

TRUMP’S 2ND-TERM APPROVAL RATINGS DIP DESPITE BORDER SECURITY GAINS

Trump has aggressively asserted executive authority in his second term, overturning longstanding government policy and aiming to make major cuts to the federal workforce through an avalanche of sweeping and controversial executive orders and actions, with some aimed at addressing grievances he has held since his first term.

The president started his second administration with poll numbers in positive territory, but his poll numbers started to slide soon after his late-January inauguration. 

His approval ratings sank underwater by early March and have remained in negative territory ever since in most national surveys. The president’s approval ratings were underwater in 17 of the 21 national polls conducted so far in July.

Sunday marked six months since Trump started his second tour of duty in the White House.

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Former President Joe Biden, whose single term in the White House is sandwiched by Trump’s two terms, enjoyed positive approval ratings in July 2021, six months into his tenure.

However, Biden’s numbers were sinking at the time, and dropped into negative territory in the late summer and autumn of 2021, after his much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan and amid soaring inflation and a surge of migrants crossing into the U.S. along the nation’s southern border with Mexico.

Biden’s approval ratings remained underwater for the rest of his presidency.

Congressional Democrats are trying to get on the same page and display a unified front after threatening to derail the government funding process.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., met behind closed doors Tuesday night, along with the top Democrats in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, to plot a course forward in the forthcoming government funding fight.

SENATE WEATHERS DEM OPPOSITION, ADVANCES FIRST GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL

The meeting came after Democrats in the upper chamber overwhelmingly supported the first government funding bill to hit the Senate floor, one that would fund military construction and Veterans Affairs. Ahead of the vote, Senate Democrats had signaled they may vote against the bill and further obstruct the appropriations process because of highly partisan legislation rammed through the upper chamber by Senate Republicans.

“We all want to pursue a bipartisan, bicameral appropriations process,” Schumer said. “That’s how it’s always been done, successfully, and we believe that, however, the Republicans are making it extremely difficult to do that.”

The meeting just off the Senate floor was meant to get congressional Democrats on board with a messaging plan over the next weeks and months ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government.

CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS FACE BRUISING BATTLE TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

It was also likely designed to prevent a repeat of the Democratic debacle in March, when Schumer broke with Jeffries and threatened to shutter the government before ultimately caving and providing Republicans the votes necessary to advance yet another government funding extension, known as a continuing resolution.

Republicans are quick to point out that when Schumer led the upper chamber, none of the House GOP’s spending bills made it to the floor — in Congress, the spending process begins in the lower chamber.

Since taking over earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has committed to returning to regular order, or passing each of the dozen spending bills to fund the government, and trying to get the appropriations process back to normal.

However, it’s a feat that hasn’t been successfully done in Washington since the late 1990s. 

“Frankly, I think a lot of us around here think [this] is long overdue,” Thune said.  

However, Democrats contend that their trust in Republicans is wearing thin after two major partisan bills, one being President Donald Trump‘s “big, beautiful bill,” and the other the president’s $9 billion clawback package, were pushed through the chamber without any Democratic input.

‘BAIT AND SWITCH’: SCHUMER WARNS OF BITTER FUNDING FIGHT OVER GOP CUTS PLAN

Thune argued that Senate Democrats were using the rescissions package to shut down the appropriations process and effectively shut down the government.

In the Senate, most bills that come to the floor require at least 60 votes to smash through the filibuster, meaning that most legislation requires bipartisan support to some extent.

Earlier this year, the House GOP produced a partisan government funding extension that was a tough pill for Senate Democrats to swallow, but they still ultimately opted to vote for it. This time around, they’re demanding more involvement in the process.

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Jeffries said that congressional Democrats would play ball if the process was “bipartisan and bicameral in nature” and put the onus of a partial government shutdown at the feet of congressional Republicans.

“House Republicans are, in fact, marching us toward a possible government shutdown that will hurt the American people,” he said.

However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., threw the responsibility on Democrats over whether the government would shutter or stay open come the end of September.

“They’re gaming out how they can shut the government down,” Johnson told Bloomberg Government. 

A federal judge has blocked a portion of a Tennessee law that made it a crime for adults to help minors obtain out-of-state abortions without parental consent. 

Known for prohibiting “abortion trafficking of a minor,” the law, enacted in 2024 by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, with support from the GOP-controlled legislature, criminalizes certain behavior toward pregnant, unemancipated minors by adults who are not their parents or legal guardians who help them receive abortions – even if the abortion is legal in another state. 

U.S. Circuit Judge Julia Gibbons, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, took issue with the law’s “recruitment provision,” which criminalizes giving information to minors about how to receive an abortion out of state or helping minors make travel plans. In a summary judgment Friday, Gibbons agreed the provision violates the First Amendment because it “prohibits speech encouraging lawful abortion while allowing speech discouraging lawful abortion.” 

FEDERAL JUDGE SLAPS TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ON MISSISSIPPI DEI BAN

“That is impermissible viewpoint discrimination, which the First Amendment rarely tolerates – and does not tolerate here,” Gibbons, who sits on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote.

Gibbons permanently blocked enforcement of the provision banning encouraging a minor to seek a legal out-of-state abortion. 

“The recruitment provision targets speech because of its message – that abortion is safe, common and normal – and available in certain states – and is presumptively unconstitutional,” the judge added.

Gibbons noted that she was brought in to hear this lower court case after four judges from the Middle District of Tennessee recused themselves. If Tennessee appeals the decision, the case will advance to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The Tennessee attorney general has already appealed a November decision by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger that temporarily blocked the recruitment provision. That appeal remains pending in the Sixth Circuit Court. 

The case was brought by Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn, who is a licensed social worker, and Rachel Welty, a Nashville attorney and pro-abortion advocate. 

“Because plaintiffs wish to speak about legal abortions and seek to help minors obtain legal, out-of-state abortions, their intended speech is protected under the First Amendment,” Gibbons wrote.

 WH PRAISES SCOTUS RULING UPHOLDING TN BAN ON TRANSGENDER TREATMENTS: ‘VICTORY FOR AMERICA’S CHILDREN’

In response to the decision, Welty and Behn’s lead counsel, Daniel A. Horwitz, said Gibbons’ “thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion protects the right of all Tennesseans to share truthful information about abortion without fear that crusading prosecutors will try to punish them criminally for doing so.”

“It also affirms that the government has no authority to enact overbroad laws that criminalize pure speech based on the government’s disagreement with a speaker’s point of view,” he added in a statement. “This is a major victory for Ms. Welty, Representative Behn, and all Tennesseans who believe that the government has no right to prosecute citizens for sharing truthful information.”

In the final decision, Gibbons, however, rejected the plaintiffs’ claims that the law is too vague to be constitutional under the Due Process Clause. The judge sided with the state on that matter, saying the law is sufficiently specific in what behavior is forbidden. Gibbons did not block portions of the law criminalizing physically transporting minors across state lines to receive an abortion or harboring a minor for the purpose of helping them receive an abortion. 

“The court grants summary judgment for the plaintiffs on their free speech claims and enjoins enforcement of the recruiting prong of the statute,” Gibbons wrote. “The statute is not, however, void for vagueness. The court therefore grants summary judgment for defendants on plaintiff’s vagueness claim.”

The law does not apply to the minor’s parent or legal guardian, licensed media providers acting in emergency situations, or law enforcement acting within official duties. 

Violations constitute a Class A Misdemeanor punishable by up to 11 months and 29 days in jail or a fine of up to $2,500. The statute provides that violators “may be held liable in a civil action for the wrongful death of an unborn child who was aborted.” 

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After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Tennessee enforced a “trigger law,” effectively banning abortions in most cases, with limited exceptions. 

Efforts to overhaul the Coast Guard are gaining traction on Capitol Hill — coinciding with the Trump administration’s endeavor to revamp the service to address illegal migrant crossings and drug seizures. 

Multiple initiatives to update the Coast Guard are underway in both chambers of Congress, and within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). All seek to elevate the service so it’s on par with the other branches of the military that fall under the Department of Defense, and better equip it to tackle drug and immigration interdiction missions. 

House legislation authorizing funding for the service through 2029 recently cleared a committee vote and aims to empower the service to conduct these missions, according to Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., a co-sponsor of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025. 

“The Coast Guard is very similar to law enforcement,” Ezell told Fox News Digital July 16. “It’s going to fight the narcotics epidemic that we have coming into the country. Our Coast Guard officers and men and women are going to really be able to go after that.”

INSIDE THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S OVERHAUL OF THE COAST GUARD AMID BORDER SECURITY BLITZ

Such missions are only increasing for the Coast Guard. DHS announced July 15 that the service had seized a total of 242,244 pounds of cocaine since President Donald Trump took office in January. That amounts to a more than 100% increase in seizures in comparison to the same timeframe in 2024 during the Biden administration, according to DHS. 

Ezell, along with Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo., Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., introduced the Coast Guard Authorization Act July 2, and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the measure July 15, paving the way for the measure to head to the House floor. 

One of the most significant provisions in the legislation would establish a civilian secretary of the Coast Guard to align more similarly with the other branches of the military that fall under the Department of Defense. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of DHS and does not have a top civilian leading the service. 

Installing a secretary of the service will “streamline some of this red tape that we’ve seen over the years that’s slowed progress down” because he or she will report directly to the White House and Congress — eliminating multiple layers of bureaucracy, according to Ezell. 

“This person is going to be instrumental in getting things done,” Ezell said. 

COAST GUARD RESCUES 4 PASSENGERS FROM CAPSIZED BOAT OFF FLORIDA COAST 

“Coming from my background as a sheriff and the chief of police, I know the importance of coordinating with other agencies to get the job done,” Ezell said. “When you have one person that’s a point of contact who will put all the information out from the president, from the DHS Secretary, it’ll be so much simpler.” 

Prior to being elected to the House, Ezell served as a law enforcement officer for over 40 years, including serving as sheriff of Jackson County, Mississippi. 

Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia introduced legislation in the Senate in April that would similarly establish a secretary for the Coast Guard. 

“The establishment of a Secretary of the Coast Guard is an important step in ensuring our nation’s maritime security is led with the strength and efficiency it deserves to ensure it can fulfill its mission and adapt to any challenges,” Scott said in an April statement. 

“It’s critical to have a dedicated Secretary for the U.S. Coast Guard working closely with President Trump, our military leaders, and the Department of Homeland Security for a coordinated, successful effort to keep the nation safe,” Scott said. 

The efforts on Capitol Hill also align with initiatives underway at the Department of Homeland Security to reform the service. In April, the Coast Guard unveiled its new Force Design 2028 plan to revamp the service’s organizational structure, personnel, acquisitions, contracting and technology, in keeping with directives from Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

COAST GUARD AIRLIFTS CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER WHO HAD STROKES 300 MILES OFF HAWAII COAST

The proposal aims to beef up the Coast Guard’s force, which currently consists of roughly 43,000 active-duty personnel, and determine which specialties need reinforcement to expand training. The blueprint also calls for a series of changes to better align the Coast Guard with the Department of Defense’s standards for physical fitness, body composition and grooming.

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The Coast Guard, unlike other military services, does not enforce fitness standards unless personnel are attached to boat crews of law enforcement teams. 

The initiative comes in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to tackle illegal immigration and drug smuggling, a DHS official familiar with the plan told Fox News Digital in April. 

“We’ve been making changes practically daily in the service to really keep moving forward,” the official told Fox News Digital in April. “The goal of 2028 is that the transformation of the service will be complete by 2028.”

President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” was signed into law earlier this month, with Republican lawmakers celebrating a broad range of GOP victories in the massive tax-and-spending legislation.

That includes billions of dollars aimed at Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration in the U.S. Nearly $30 billion is marked for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) alone, and $45 billion is going toward building up detention facility capacity.

House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital last week hailed that funding boost, even as critics of the Trump administration accuse the White House of taking too heavy a hand on the issue. 

“Having that money to now be able to work on the wall along the southern border, to be able to hire more agents, to pay them more, to invest in the technology, to patrol and secure the border – it is hugely important,” Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. “If you ask President Trump, that was the most important issue of the 2024 election.”

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

Rep. Michael Guest, R-Tenn., who chairs the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement on the House Homeland Security Committee, said the detention facility funding is particularly significant.

Guest urged ICE to use those funds to ramp up “targeted” enforcement against illegal immigrants.

It comes as many on the left and some on the right have urged the Trump administration not to go too far in rounding up suspected illegal immigrants who otherwise pose no known threat to the public.

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

“I think targeted enforcement, making sure that they’re going after the worst of the worst – those individuals who have either committed crimes in the United States or we learn after they released into the interior that they had committed crimes in their country origin, [or] those people who have final orders of removal,” Guest said.

“Those are the people that I believe that ICE needs to be targeting. Those are the people where you see widespread support from the American public that they want to get off the street.”

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., pointed out that ICE had been asking for that funding for some time.

“Tom Homan has done a tremendous job. He’s indicated for a while he needs more money to keep doing his job. And he’s being fought by everybody, particularly the sanctuary cities, to prevent that from happening,” Norman said. “The least we can do is provide the funding, and we did it.”

And Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., said he hoped the increased border and immigration crackdown would help fight the ongoing drug crisis still plaguing the U.S.

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“So in order to have a secured border, in order get rid of these criminal, illegal aliens that are raping and murdering American citizens on the regular, we have to have a very strong immigration enforcement system,” Van Orden said.

Reps. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., highlighted the funding for Trump’s border wall and for more ICE personnel, respectively.

The bill passed the House earlier this month and was signed into law by Trump on the Fourth of July.

In addition to funding immigration operations, it also extends key parts of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), rolls back some Biden administration-era green energy subsidies, and imposes new work requirements for federal aid.

The Senate narrowly voted to move forward with considering the nomination of former Trump lawyer Emil Bove to a federal court of appeals on Tuesday.

The 50-48 vote saw one Republican break ranks and vote against his nomination, while Democrats have done everything in their power to slow down the nomination. Bove, who currently works at the Justice Department, is nominated to serve on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Democrats have argued that Bove, a former defense attorney for President Donald Trump, is unfit for the role, pointing to allegations that he proposed behind closed doors that the Trump administration could simply ignore judicial orders. Bove denies those allegations.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted with Republicans to move forward but said in a statement that she will oppose Bove’s confirmation on a final vote. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the lone Republican to vote against moving forward with Bove’s nomination.

TRUMP CONSIDERS FORMER DEFENSE ATTORNEY EMIL BOVE FOR FEDERAL APPEALS COURT VACANCY

“We have to have judges who will adhere to the rule of law and the Constitution and do so regardless of what their personal views may be,” Collins said in a statement. “Mr. Bove’s political profile and some of the actions he has taken in his leadership roles at the Department of Justice cause me to conclude he would not serve as an impartial jurist.”

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee stormed out of the meeting where the committee approved Bove last week.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., attempted to push for more debate time, but Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pushed forward with the vote.

“What are you afraid of?” Booker erupted, after Grassley tried to speak over him and hold the vote. “Debating this [nomination], putting things on the record — Dear God,” he said, “that’s what we are here for.”

 “What are they saying to you,” he said, referring to the Trump administration, “that is making you do something to violate the decorum, the decency and the respect of this committee to at least hear each other out?”

TRUMP’S REMARKS COULD COME BACK TO BITE HIM IN ABREGO GARCIA DEPORTATION BATTLE

Booker ended the sharp exchange with Grassley by saying simply, “This is wrong, sir, and I join with my colleagues in leaving,” before streaming out of the committee room.

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It comes as Trump administration officials have taken aim at “activist” judges they argue are blocking the president’s agenda and preventing him from enacting his sweeping policy goals, including the administration’s crackdown on border security and immigration.

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A top political group that’s allied with Senate Republicans is launching a major ad blitz showcasing what it calls the “Working Family Tax Cuts” in the newly passed GOP domestic policy package.

The spots by One Nation, a public policy organization aligned with Majority Leader John Thune, applaud Senate Republicans for “delivering President Trump’s agenda” by passing the sweeping and controversial measure named by Trump as the “one, big, beautiful bill.”

The ads, which One Nation said will run for several weeks on broadcast, cable and digital, are part of an eight-figure issue campaign. The spots were shared first with Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“America is back, thanks to President Trump and Leader John Thune’s Working Family tax cuts. Not tax on tips or overtime. Real relief for every American up early and home late,” the narrator in the national ad touts.

RNC CHAIR SAYS ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’ KEY TO GOP’S MESSAGING EFFORT HEADED INTO MIDTERMS

Besides the national ad, the spots will run in Alaska, Florida, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia, and will thank GOP Sens. Dan Sullivan, Ashley Moody, Jon Husted, Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn, and Shelley Moore Capito for helping to pass the megabill.

And the ads are part of a concerted messaging effort by the White House and Senate and House Republicans to showcase how the tax cuts in the measure will benefit working-class Americans.

POLITICAL FIGHT OVER ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’ IS FRONT-AND-CENTER IN KEY SENATE RACE

“One Nation will never cease to educate Americans about the Republican Party’s historic effort to pass the Working Family Tax Cuts,” said former GOP Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who serves as One Nation chairman.

The Republican package is stuffed full of Trump’s 2024 campaign trail promises and second-term priorities on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit. 

It includes extending the president’s signature 2017 tax cuts — which were set to expire later this year — and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. 

FIRST ON FOX: HOUSE REPUBLICANS LAUNCH FIRST ADS TOUTING ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The measure also provides billions for border security and codifies the president’s controversial immigration crackdown.

“Senate Republicans got President Trump’s conservative agenda done, securing the border, finishing the wall, bringing manufacturing jobs back home,” the narrator in the ad highlights.

The massive legislation is also projected to surge the national debt by $4 trillion over the next decade, but many Republicans dispute the projection by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

And the new law also restructures Medicaid — the almost 60-year-old federal program that provides health coverage to roughly 71 million low-income Americans. The CBO this week estimated that 10 million people could lose their health insurance over the next decade.

DEMOCRATS TAKE AIM AT TRUMP’S ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The changes to Medicaid, as well as cuts to food stamps, another one of the nation’s major safety net programs, were drafted in part as an offset to pay for extending Trump’s tax cuts. The measure includes a slew of new rules and regulations, including work requirements for many of those seeking Medicaid coverage.

“It protected Medicaid for Americans, not illegals,” the narrator in the ad emphasizes.

But Democrats, for months, have repeatedly blasted Republicans over the social safety net changes. And they spotlighted a slew of national polls last month and this month that indicate the bill’s popularity in negative territory.

WHAT’S ACTUALLY IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) claims that the bill, which Trump signed into law on July 4 after the GOP-controlled House and Senate narrowly passed the measure along near-party-line votes, will gut Medicaid, forcing rural hospitals and nursing homes to close their doors. 

“Rural hospitals were already on the brink of collapse thanks to Donald Trump, but now he has put the last nail in the coffin for rural hospitals with his billionaire budget bill,” DNC chair Ken Martin argued in a statement to Fox News earlier this week.

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Martin highlighted that “in states across the country, hospitals are either closing their doors or cutting critical services, and it’s Trump’s own voters who will suffer the most. This is what Donald Trump does — screw over the people who are counting on him.”

Both parties see the “big, beautiful bill” as a key part of their messaging heading into next year’s midterm elections, when the Republicans will be defending their slim majorities in the House and Senate.