NationalWatch

Former President Barack Obama denied President Donald Trump’s “bizarre allegations” that he was the Russiagate “ringleader,” in a rare public statement Tuesday evening. 

Trump, earlier on Tuesday, claimed that former President Barack Obama was the “ringleader” of Russiagate, calling for him to be criminally investigated amid new claims that members of his administration allegedly “manufactured” intelligence that prompted the Trump–Russia collusion narrative.

“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.” 

“These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” Obama’s spokesman continued. “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.” 

He added: “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.” 

Rodenbush’s statement on behalf of Obama comes after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently declassified documents revealing “overwhelming evidence” that claimed that after Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, then-President Obama and his national security team allegedly laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe.

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

Gabbard said the documents revealed that Obama administration officials “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to allegedly create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, despite information from the intelligence community stating otherwise.

The new documents name Obama, top officials on his National Security Council, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, national security advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others.

Gabbard, on Monday, sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department related to those findings. Department of Justice officials did not share further details on whom the criminal referral was for.

OBAMA OFFICIALS USED DOSSIER TO PROBE, BRIEF TRUMP DESPITE KNOWING IT WAS UNVERIFIED ‘INTERNET RUMOR’

As for Gabbard’s criminal referral, Trump was asked which specific figures should be under criminal investigation, to which he replied: “President Obama. He started it.”

“And Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there. Brennan. They were all there in the room right here. This is the room,” Trump said from the Oval Office Tuesday during a meeting with the president of the Philippines. “It was President Obama. It was lots of people all over the place.”

No other former Obama-era officials have responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The president went on to say that his administration has “all of the documents, and from what Tulsi told me, she’s got thousands of additional documents coming.”

“So President Obama, it was his concept — his idea,” Trump said Tuesday. “But he also got it from crooked Hillary Clinton — crooked as a $3 bill, and Hillary Clinton and her group, the Democrats, spent $12 million to Christopher Steele to write up a report that was a total fake report.”

Steele authored the discredited anti-Trump dossier, which was paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through law firm Perkins Coie.

The anti-Trump dossier served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The intelligence community, at the time, widely viewed the dossier as “internet rumor,” but top officials, like Comey, McCabe and Brennan, reportedly pushed for its inclusion in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment.

“It took two years to figure that out, but it came out that it was a total fake report — it was made-up fiction — and they used that,” Trump said. “The Steele report was a disaster — all lies, all fabrication, all admitted fraud.”

Meanwhile, Trump said “we caught Hillary Clinton, we got Barack Hussein Obama. They’re the ones. And then you have many, many people under them. Susan Rice — they’re all the names.”

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

“I guess they figured they’re going to put this in as classified information and nobody will ever see it again — but it doesn’t work that way,” Trump said. “It is the most unbelievable thing I think I’ve ever read.” 

Trump added: “Never has a thing like this happened in the history of our country.” 

On July 28, 2016, Brennan briefed President Obama on a plan from one of Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisors “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service,” meeting notes said. 

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

“We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from (REDACTED),” read Brennan’s handwritten notes, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October 2020. “CITE (summarizing) alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.”

After that briefing, the CIA 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.”

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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.

Comey and Brennan are currently under criminal investigation, launched by FBI Director Kash Patel. 

Fox News’ Mike Emanuel contributed to this report. 

BALTIMORE— – A federal judge in Baltimore cleared the way for potential contempt proceedings to be brought against the Trump administration on Tuesday after it failed to comply with a court order requiring it to return a deported Venezuelan migrant from El Salvador back to U.S. soil.

The update from U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher capped an extraordinary court hearing centered on the status and location of “Cristian,” a 20-year-old Venezuelan migrant who was deported to El Salvador’s CECOT maximum-security prison in March, as part of the Trump administration’s early wave of Alien Enemies Act deportation flights.

Gallagher told Cristian’s lawyers on Tuesday that the flurry of recent updates in the case could allow plaintiffs to potentially move on sanctions or possible contempt proceedings against the Trump administration, though she stressed she was not opining on whether the effort would be successful.

“I don’t disagree that you have proffered a basis under which you could potentially seek some sort of sanctions or contempt” against the administration, Gallagher said. “I’m certainly not ruling on that – or offering any opinion on whether that effort would succeed – but it sounds to me that you have proffered a basis on which you believe such a motion could possibly be forthcoming.”

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

She also stressed that, despite the procedural changes before the court, it does not mean they are “abandoning ship” in efforts to secure Cristian’s return to the U.S., though she acknowledged the situation on the ground had shifted significantly.

Gallagher, a Trump appointee, had ruled in April that Cristian’s deportation violated a settlement agreement that the Department of Homeland Security struck last year with a group of young asylum seekers. Under the 2024 deal, DHS agreed not to deport members of that class until their asylum claims could be fully adjudicated by a U.S. court.

The hearing sharply underscored the fast-changing fact pattern underpinning Cristian’s custodial status. Days earlier, Cristian was deported from CECOT, in El Salvador, to his home country of Venezuela. 

Gallagher said Tuesday that the new situation has put the court “in a different posture” compared to its position just one week ago.

Lawyers for Cristian argued on Tuesday that his removal to Venezuela, which they had no prior notice of, should be grounds to move on holding the Trump administration in criminal contempt. Gallagher did not rule it out.

In Gallagher’s ruling four months ago, she determined that Cristian’s removal was a “breach of contract” due to the settlement terms of the 2024 DHS deal. She then ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the U.S.

But as Tuesday’s hearing made clear, Daniel Lozano-Camargo, the migrant referred to in court documents as “Cristian,” is not on his way to the U.S. from CECOT.

In fact, Justice Department lawyers confirmed Tuesday that he was deported from CECOT back to his home country of Venezuela on Friday along with 251 other Venezuelan migrants, whom the Trump administration deported from the U.S. to El Salvador in March under the auspices of a wartime immigration law used just three times previously in U.S. history.

Their return to Venezuela was part of a prisoner swap made on Friday in order to secure the release of 10 Americans detained in that country. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the swap in a social media post later that evening.

The decision to deport 252 Venezuelan nationals sent by the U.S. to CECOT back to their country of origin has raised profound concerns from immigration advocates. 

To date, there is little public information available about the identity of the migrants deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March. It is unclear if – or how many – migrants removed to the CECOT prison might have been under “withholding of removal” orders from a federal judge, which would block the U.S. from deporting them back to Venezuela.

Cristian’s lawyer, Kevin DeJong, on Tuesday upbraided the Trump administration for its “blatant disregard” for Gallagher’s court order, and described his inclusion in the prisoner swap as an “egregious violation” of the court.

FEDERAL JUDGE JAMES BOASBERG FINDS PROBABLE CAUSE TO HOLD TRUMP IN CONTEMPT OVER DEPORTATION FLIGHTS

The Trump administration, plaintiffs said Tuesday, sent Cristian to Venezuela, “the country he is seeking asylum from,” without providing any notice to the court or to his legal team until after he was on the ground. They said they were first notified late Friday.

DeJong told the court that Cristian’s removal to Venezuela appears to have been in the works for several weeks – suggesting, in their view, that the Trump administration may have taken “active, purposeful steps to deport [Cristian] to the country from which he fears persecution.”

“I do not say this lightly, and it’s a weighty issue to consider, but given the history of violations here, criminal contempt should be on the table,” DeJong said. 

Gallagher did not immediately discount that option, though she noted it would only come after a separate discovery process into the government’s behavior. 

“We’re in a different position now,” Gallagher said, nodding to what she described as the court’s “unusual” procedural situation. 

She also stressed that the court still does not have an answer on whether the Trump administration attempted to comply with the court’s order to facilitate Cristian’s return to the U.S., or whether it even made such a request to the government of El Salvador.

“We do not know if that happened or not,” Gallagher told Justice Department attorney Ruth Ann Mueller.

The Justice Department attempted, unsuccessfully, to argue that the matter is moot.

“No, that doesn’t comply with my order,” Gallagher sharply objected. “That doesn’t answer the question.”

After a short recess, lawyers for Cristian told Gallagher they would file appropriate sanctions-related measures within the next 10 days. 

In the interim, Gallagher said, she will require the Trump administration to file weekly status reports on Cristian’s status in Venezuela, beginning this Friday.  

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

The hearing on Tuesday was relatively short, though not insignificant.

In one remarkable exchange, lawyers for the Justice Department argued that any continued discussions or discovery in the case – including attempts to ascertain Cristian’s status in Venezuela – are “outside the scope” of the court.

Gallagher interjected to note that sanctions discoveries, and motions to compel, would allow the court to consider the Trump administration’s “overarching conduct” in the case.

The case bears many similarities to the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian migrant wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March and ordered by a federal judge to be returned to the U.S. 

Like Abrego Garcia, Cristian remained in El Salvador for months, despite a court order demanding his return and requiring the administration to file regular updates to his status in order to determine compliance with the order. 

But Tuesday’s motions hearing – and the blitz of court filings submitted to Gallagher in recent days – underscored the very different situation that has played out instead. 

“Cristian was a pawn in this plan,” DeJong said on Tuesday, noting that the government took “active purposeful steps to deport him” despite the court order, and with apparent prior knowledge. 

“They could have included him” on the flight back to the U.S. with Abrego Garcia, he argued.

Instead, DeJong said, the “only reasonable inference we see is that the government attorneys willfully disregarded” the court.

Gallagher in May declined to grant the Trump administration’s request for her to lift her order requiring them to return Cristian. She stressed that her order has nothing to do with the strength of his asylum request, in a nod to two apparent low-level drug offenses and a conviction as recently as January. 

Rather, she said, it is about allowing him due process under the law, and under the settlement struck with DHS.

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She said it was not a case of whether Lozano-Camargo would eventually receive asylum – it was a question of process.

The DHS settlement agreement “requires him to be here and have his hearing,” she said then.

House Republicans are proposing to rename the Kennedy Center’s Opera House after first lady Melania Trump.

On Tuesday, House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee approved an amendment in a 33-25 vote on an annual spending bill that would rename the opera house at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.”

Trump serves as the honorary chairman of the board of trustees at the Kennedy Center.

DAVID MARCUS: DEMS’ KENNEDY CENTER GAY ‘GUERRILLA THEATER’ STUNT IS WHY THEIR ACT WEARS THIN

“This is an excellent way to recognize her support and commitment to promoting the arts,” said Rep. Michael Simpson-R-Id. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to The Kennedy Center and the White House. 

The move came months after President Trump appointed himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center and fired multiple board members.

DEMOCRATIC SENATORS HOST PRIDE CONCERT AT KENNEDY CENTER TO PROTEST TRUMP TAKEOVER

At the time, he said that he and then-chair David Rubenstein “do not share [the same] Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” according to the announcement on Truth Social.

“Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” Trump wrote in the post. 

The opera house in the Kennedy Center is the second-largest theater in the center, with 2,347 seats.

“Over the years, the Opera House has welcomed dozens of the world’s great dance and opera companies and has hosted some of the most important artistic events of the last quarter-century,” the center’s website states. 

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The opera house also serves as the site for the annual Kennedy Center Honors, the nation’s highest award for lifetime achievement in the arts.

Alaska Natives and state leaders lauded a landmark move by the Trump administration to transfer 28,000 acres of land in the Arctic to a consortium of Natives after the Biden administration balked at state officials’ wishes to develop the so-called Ambler Mining Road and claimed they instead were protecting the locals.

By refusing to allow the haul-road to be built between Coldfoot – a remote outpost on the “Ice Road Trucker” Dalton Highway between Deadhorse and Fairbanks – and the isolated community of Ambler about 220 miles westward, mining and other development was mooted by the feds despite both Juneau’s and the Natives’ wishes.

Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a vocal proponent of responsible development of the Last Frontier’s energy potential, praised President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum after the land transfer was announced.

“[It] demonstrates how the Trump administration is prioritizing both local control and responsible natural resource development,” Dunleavy told Fox News Digital on Monday.

‘HOMELAND WOULD’VE BEEN STOLEN’: AK NATIVES SOUND OFF ON BIDEN ENERGY BANS AS TRUMP OFFICIALS TOUR TUNDRA

“As governor, I look forward to working with Secretary Burgum and his staff on delivering federal lands due to the state under the Alaska Statehood Act,” he said. The 1958 law signed by President Dwight Eisenhower both presaged Alaskan statehood one year later and gave the 49th state greater control over development of its natural resources.

“This bodes well for both the state and our Native Corporations,” he said, as “NANA” – the recipient of the land transfer – is owned by 15,000 Iñupiaq residents who live in and around Kotzebue, Ambler and northwestern Alaska.

He said the move was “long overdue,” as many Alaska Natives support responsible development of ANWR, Ambler (called “Ivisaappaat” by the Natives), and other lands they share with such untapped resources – despite claims to the contrary from the Lower 48.

John Lincoln, NANA’s president, said in a statement to Anchorage’s NBC affiliate that the community is also “grateful” to the Trump administration and the state’s congressional delegation for their work.

ALASKA SENATOR LITERALLY SHREDS BIDEN ENERGY ORDERS, BOOSTS WH EFFORTS TO LEVERAGE ARCTIC LNG IN ASIA TRADE

“NANA’s land selections [under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)] were made many years ago by our Elders and past leadership,” Lincoln said, further praising Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski for their pro-development advocacy in Washington.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with our federal government on the conveyance of the remaining 100,000+ acres of selected lands and on other issues of great importance to our state and nation.”

NANA’s position appeared to conflict with Biden administration claims that Native communities would be hurt by or might oppose the Ambler project moving forward.

In April 2024, the Biden administration reversed a first-Trump-administration permit for 211 miles of road, which was compounded in June of that year by a “record of decision” from the Bureau of Land Management claiming environmental risks to caribou and fish and formally denying the permit.

In a last-minute move before Trump took office, the Biden administration tripled down in January and asked the Army Corps of Engineers to at minimum suspend the Ambler project’s Clean Water Act permitting.

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The administration also alleged negative impacts on the public health of Native communities, including “stress, subsistence/food insecurity and potential exposure to toxins [that] would disproportionately negatively affect… Alaska Native villages in and near the project area,” according to the Alaska Beacon.

Burgum told Fox News Digital the Ambler Mining Road land transfer was the Trump administration “delivering on its promises.”

He said Interior will continue to cut “red tape,” honor agreements with Native communities and reduce federal barriers to resource development.

AIDEA, the state’s business development and export authority, cited in a 2019 proposal for the Ambler Mining Road that large caches of zinc, lead, silver, gold and cobalt could be mined, and that construction of the three-phase road project itself would create 3,000 jobs in addition to thousands from multiple planned mine prospects themselves.

As Texas Republicans attempt to redraw their congressional districts to widen their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of competitive midterm elections expected in 2026, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, said Democrats should “meet fire with fire.”

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate told former Biden advisor Neera Tanden at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Tuesday that he supports California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s own attempt at redistricting the blue state to deepen Democrats’ own congressional control. 

O’Rourke rationalized California’s redistricting because “we already have an authoritarian president.” And while he acknowledged the irony of his party following suit on something Democrats “don’t like Republicans doing,” O’Rourke said, “This is for the very future and fate of the republic. We lose it, you will never, ever get it back.”

“Not only do I think [Newsom] should do this, I don’t think he should wait for Texas,” O’Rourke said. “In other words, why the f–k are we responding and reacting to the other side instead of taking the offense on these things?”

COURT SHUTS DOWN REDISTRICTING FIGHT IN KEY SWING STATE — HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS

O’Rourke criticized the Democratic Party for caring “more about being right” than about “being in power.” He said Democrats, who are grappling with losing control of the White House and Congress in 2024, “have to be ruthlessly focused on winning power.”

DEMOCRAT BETO O’ROURKE SAYS HE’LL RUN FOR SENATE IF TEXANS WANT HIM TO

If Democrats don’t fight back, O’Rourke said, “a state that was already something less than democracy is about to descend even further.”

The GOP-controlled state legislature in Texas began a special session on Monday, and one of the key items on their agenda is the push by Republicans in the red state to redraw the current congressional maps to reduce the number of districts controlled by already marginalized Democrats.

It’s part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to keep control of the chamber, and cushion losses elsewhere in the country, as the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

And President Donald Trump is aiming to prevent what happened during his first term, when Democrats grabbed a majority in the House in the 2018 midterms.

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

Hours earlier, Trump held a call with Texas’ Republican congressional delegation, and sources confirmed to Fox News that the president told the lawmakers that he was aiming to redraw the maps to create five new winnable seats.

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

The idea is to relocate Democratic voters from competitive seats into nearby GOP-leaning districts, and move Republican voters into neighboring districts the Democrats currently control.

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

“Coincidentally or not, each of those seats is held by a Democrat who is either Black or Mexican-American,” O’Rourke said Tuesday. “That’s what they’re doing. It’s members of Congress choosing their own voters, literally.”

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

Democrats are slamming Trump and Texas Republicans for what they describe as a power grab, and vowing to take legal action to prevent any shift in the current congressional maps, as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said, “Democrats are going to push back aggressively because it’s the right thing to do.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Former President Joe Biden’s campaign dodged answering whether the president planned to take performance-enhancing drugs ahead of his debate against President Donald Trump just over a year ago, instead arguing that Trump and his campaign were spreading “desperate, obviously false lies” about the 46th president potentially taking drugs. 

About one year after Biden’s ill-fated debate, former first son Hunter Biden claimed in a wild and expansive interview published Monday his dad’s poor debate performance was due to taking Ambien, a sedative-hypnotic typically used to treat insomnia. 

“I know exactly what happened in that debate,” Hunter Biden said in the interview. “He flew around the world, basically, the mileage that he could have flown around the world, three times. He’s 81 years old. He’s tired as s—. 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,” Hunter added. “And it feeds into every f—ing story that anybody wants to tell.” 

BIDEN AIDES PUSHED FOR EARLY DEBATE TO SHOW OFF BIDEN’S ‘STRENGTH,’ EXPOSE TRUMP’S ‘WEAKNESS,’ BOOK SAYS

On June 26, 2024, the day before the debate, Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign inquiring if Biden had any plans to use performance-enhancing drugs for the debate, but staffers twice avoided a direct answer to the question. 

At the time, Trump was leading a rising chorus, which included lawmakers, demanding that Biden take a drug test before the showdown. Those advocating a screening suggested Biden may have been motivated by a desire to quell mounting concerns about his mental acuity. 

“Donald Trump is so scared of being held accountable for his toxic agenda of attacking reproductive freedom and cutting Social Security that he and his allies are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies,” a Biden campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital the evening ahead of that 2024 debate. 

When asked in a follow-up email for a “yes” or “no” response, the spokesperson said the original statement answered the question.

“The accusation from Trump on drugs is a desperate, obviously false lie,” the response said. 

Ambien is a sedative that slows brain activity to help a person fall asleep and would not act as a performance-enhancing supplement for a public debate. 

FLASHBACK: THE DEBATE NIGHT AGAINST TRUMP THAT THREW BIDEN’S REELECTION CAMPAIGN INTO A FREE FALL

ONE YEAR LATER: HOW JOE BIDEN’S DISASTROUS DEBATE PERFORMANCE FORCED HIS MEDIA ALLIES TO TURN ON HIM

Joe Biden spent days preparing for the debate at Camp David in Maryland with videos of his public gaffes and missteps haunting the campaign in the days leading up to the debate. Trump, meanwhile, led the charge in demanding Biden take a drug test to prove he was not taking performance-enhancing supplements ahead of the highly anticipated event. 

“DRUG TEST FOR CROOKED JOE BIDEN??? I WOULD, ALSO, IMMEDIATELY AGREE TO ONE!!!” Trump posted to Truth Social in the lead-up to the debate. 

Fox News Digital also reached out to the White House and Trump campaign asking if Biden or Trump, respectively, planned to take performance-enhancing drugs ahead of the debate. The Biden White House did not respond at the time, while the Trump campaign responded. 

“Absolutely not,” then-campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital at the time. 

“President Trump has naturally elite stamina and doesn’t need performance-enhancing drugs, unlike Joe Biden, who many are saying will be drugged up for the debate like he was at the State of the Union,” Leavitt said at the time. “President Trump has repeatedly asked Joe Biden to participate in drug testing. What does Team Biden have to hide?” 

BOOK REVEALS BIDEN ADVISORS DECLINED TO HAVE PRESIDENT TAKE A COGNITIVE TEST IN FEBRUARY 2024: REPORT

Hunter Biden’s recent explosive interview on “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan,” released on YouTube, fanned the flames of Biden’s presidency and exit from the 2024 federal election amid ongoing accusations that Biden’s mental acuity had cratered during his Oval Office tenure. 

Biden entered the re-election cycle already racked by claims and concerns that his mental acuity had slipped, and he was not mentally fit to continue serving as president, which was underscored by special counsel Robert Hur’s report in February 2024 that rejected criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials, saying he was “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” 

Biden also brushed off accusations he was using any performance-enhancing supplements, including mocking Trump’s challenge that he take a drug test in an X post just before the debate showing him drinking a can of water. 

“I don’t know what they’ve got in these performance enhancers, but I’m feeling pretty jacked up. Try it yourselves, folks. See you in a bit,” the X post said, accompanied by a photo of Biden drinking a can of water that said “Get real, Jack. It’s just water.”

The debate was an abject failure for Biden as he stumbled over his responses and appeared to lose his train of thought and slur words at times, opening the floodgates of criticism from longtime Democratic allies who called on Biden to drop out of the race and pass the torch to a younger generation to take on Trump. 

A handful of former President Barack Obama’s allies and former advisors publicly helped lead the charge in calling on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race earlier in the summer, including David Axelrod, who said Biden was “not winning this race;” George Clooney, who called on the president to quit in a bombshell op-ed; and Jon Favreau, who served as former director of speech writing for Obama. 

BIDEN CAMP DODGES ANSWERING IF PRESIDENT PLANS TO USE PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS BEFORE DEBATE

Hunter Biden unleashed on the Democrats who turned their backs on his dad as he attempted to recover from the debate performance in his expletive-riddled interview Monday. 

“F‑‑- you. What do you have to do with f‑‑‑ing anything? Why do I have to f‑‑‑ing listen to you? What right do you have to step on a man who’s given 52 years of his f‑‑‑ing life to the service of this country,” Hunter Biden said of Clooney.

“They’re all going to insert their judgment over a man who has figured out, unlike anybody else, how to get elected to the United States Senate over seven times … and how to garner more votes than any president that has ever won, and they’re going to replace their judgment for his?” he added, assailing other Biden allies who encouraged Joe Biden to drop out of the race. 

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Fox News Digital reached out to the former president’s office regarding Hunter Biden’s remarks and the campaign’s previous statements when asked about whether Biden would use performance-enhancing drugs ahead of the 2024 debate, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Trump border czar Tom Homan fired back Tuesday night at Hunter Biden for a recent profanity-laced rant against President Donald Trump’s policies on illegal immigration.

“I don’t really care what the former first drug addict thinks,” Homan told Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle.”  “I just thank God every morning I wake up we got President Trump in the Oval Office. And because of President Trump, in seven weeks we got the most secure border in this nation’s history.

“And now we’re arresting public safety threats and national security threats every day across this country,” he continued. “We’ve already arrested three times the number of criminals that Biden did in the same timeframe.”

BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN’S MESSAGE TO ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS: ‘YOU WANT SOME? COME GET SOME’

Biden recently sat down with “Channel 5” podcaster Andrew Callaghan for a wide-ranging discussion of his father’s presidency, his drug use and other topics. 

During the interview, he slammed Trump as a “f—— thug” and compared his deportation agenda to Nazi Germany.

“There is a minority group that those in power, that came into power through democratically elected means, are going to target this minority group because they’re stealing all the jobs,” Biden said.

“And what we’re going to do is we’re going to send masked men to this marginalized group, and we are going to take them, put them on planes, put them on buses, put them on trains, and send them to a prison camp in a foreign country,” he continued. 

HOMAN ACCUSES DEMS, MEDIA OF PUSHING ‘FAKE’ STORIES ABOUT ICE AFTER AGENTS CLASH WITH CALIFORNIA RIOTERS

“What am I describing right then? Am I describing Germany? Or am I just describing the United States right now? Because I will tell you what. You think that the prison in El Salvador is not a f—ing concentration camp, you’re out of your f—ing mind.”

Biden infamously revealed to “CBS Sunday Morning” in 2021, that he would smoke “anything that even remotely resembled crack cocaine,” including “more Parmesan cheese than anyone you know.”

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele also responded to Biden via a post on X, also referring to Biden’s history of drug use. 

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“Is Hunter Biden sniffing powdered milk?” Bukele asked, adding a clip from the interview. 

Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

A U.S. appeals court struck down a law in New Jersey that prevented the federal government from contracting with private firms to operate immigration detention centers across the state.

The court’s 2-1 ruling marked a victory for President Donald Trump and his administration during their ongoing illegal immigration crackdown across the country.

One of the Trump administration’s efforts has been to expand a network of detention centers in preparation for the deportations of dangerous illegal aliens.

The court’s ruling also means CoreCivic Corp., a private prison firm, can continue to operate the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, which is one of the centers ramping up deportations.

DEM REP TO PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGES FOR INCIDENT AT NEWARK ICE FACILITY

In the decision, U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, who was appointed to the post by Trump, wrote, “Just as states cannot regulate the federal government itself, they cannot regulate private parties in a way that severely undercuts a federal function.”

Bibas added that the law “interferes with the federal government’s core power to enforce immigration laws.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a law in 2021 that barred CoreCivic from renewing its agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to continue operating the Elizabeth Detention Center.

DEM REP MCIVER EXPECTED TO MAKE FIRST COURT APPEARANCE AFTER NEWARK INCIDENT

CoreCivic ultimately sued the state, resulting in a district court judge siding with the private firm. The state then appealed the ruling to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court and received a decision counter to what it had hoped.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin expressed disappointment about the decision in a post on X on Tuesday.

DEM LAWMAKERS DEFEND ‘STORMING’ OF ICE FACILITY, SAY TRUMP ADMIN IS ‘LYING AT ALL LEVELS’

“As recent events at Delaney Hall underscore, entrusting detention to for-profit companies poses grave risks to health and safety, and as the dissenting judge noted, States retain broad latitude to protect the health and safety of people within their borders – particularly where, as here, there is no conflict with federal legislation,” Platkin wrote, in part.

Platkin added he is evaluating the next steps in the case.

CoreCivic’s Ryan Gustin told Fox News Digital that the company has “played a limited but important role” in the U.S. immigration center at the Elizabeth facility for more than 25 years.

“We appreciate that we’ve had the opportunity to present our positions to the courts and are grateful to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals for reaffirming the federal government’s discretion to rely on the Elizabeth Detention Center to support its vital mission,” Gustin said.

DEM CONGRESS MEMBERS STORM NEW JERSEY ICE PRISON TO CONDUCT ‘OVERSIGHT VISIT’: ‘PEOPLE DESERVE DIGNITY’

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was hit with a federal indictment for allegedly obstructing Homeland Security agents during an incident outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark on May 9.

McIver and two other members of Congress said they were conducting a congressional oversight visit that coincided with an immigration protest when a clash ensued with federal agents.

According to the DOJ, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was allowed into the facility’s secured area and refused to follow federal agents’ warnings to leave.

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When officers tried to arrest him, McIver allegedly put her arms around the mayor and “slammed her forearm” into one officer while grabbing another and using both of her forearms to forcibly strike the second officer.

McIver has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In testimony to Congress on Tuesday, a mother shared the heartbreaking details of how her son, a U.S. Marine veteran, was gunned down by illegal immigrants on their property in South Texas under the Obama administration.

Marie Vega, a legal immigrant from Mexico, shared the harrowing experience in testimony in the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee’s hearing on “Biden’s Border Betrayal” on Tuesday.

According to Vega’s testimony, her family was enjoying a barbecue on their property in La Feria, Texas, when two illegal immigrants “ambushed” them without any warning in July 2014.

“Our beautiful day turned into a nightmare when two criminal illegal aliens decided to ambush us in an attempt to steal both four-wheel drive trucks. The two illegals jumped out of the stolen vehicle they were driving, and without hesitation or a warning, they began shooting at us,” she shared.

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

Her son and husband attempted to return fire. But in the attack, her son, Javier “Harvey” Vega Jr., a former Marine and Border Patrol officer, was killed. Her husband, meanwhile, suffers from permanent injuries from the incident.

Besides the death and physical injuries her family sustained, she said that she, her daughter-in-law and young grandchildren were left traumatized.

“Open borders have consequences,” Vega said. “And you can see from what I have experienced because of the crimes committed by illegals, the pain lives with us for the rest of our lives.”

Vega said she attempted to protect her grandchildren and watched helplessly as her son was shot in the chest.

Through tears, Vega asked, “Do you know what it is like to see your son go down after being shot? Do you know what it is like to hear the gunshots, bullets whizzing past you? Do you know what it’s like when your mind is trying to process everything, telling your grandchildren to duck while thinking your son is on the ground with a bullet in his chest?

“Do you know what it’s like to hear your son’s last words to his father? ‘Keep shooting, Dad.’ Keep shooting were his last words,” she asked, adding, “That should never have happened.”

ILLEGAL ALIEN WHO RAPED, IMPREGNATED HIS OWN DAUGHTER AT GOVERNMENT-RUN SHELTER LEARNS PRISON SENTENCE

She called the ordeal a “nightmare,” saying, “Had my husband and I not returned fire, the illegals would have killed everyone there, leaving no witnesses.”

According to Vega’s testimony, the two illegals had prior criminal records, had menaced other neighbors in their community and had been previously deported. She said that she continues to live with “survivor’s guilt” and struggles to sleep at night because of the trauma.

“Open borders have consequences. And you can see from what I have experienced because of the crimes committed by illegals, the pain lives with us for the rest of our lives.”

“11 years is how much I have struggled to survive without my baby,” she said. “11 years I have lived with flashbacks during every waking moment. 11 years we have celebrated the boys’ birthdays, graduations, weddings, starting new families, new careers, and amazing accomplishments, without my baby.

“Illegal aliens have impacted American lives in a very negative way,” Vega went on. “They have no regard for human life. As I witnessed firsthand, the illegals that killed Harvey also shot my husband in the back and shot at innocent children and women. My grandbabies and their friend were only eight and 11 years old. Take a moment and imagine your child or grandchild witnessing this horror.”

TRUMP’S TREASURY DEPARTMENT TARGETS DANGEROUS VENEZUELAN PRISON GANG WITH SANCTIONS ON 6 TOP LEADERS

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She concluded that “had our immigration laws been enforced, our son would be here.”

“Barack Obama failed me, my family and our community and our nation,” she said.

Addressing the senators on the subcommittee, Vega said, “You took an oath to uphold the Constitution and work for we the people. That means working with your fellow politicians regardless of which side of the aisle you are on. You are supposed to work together, representing us, ensuring that those coming in are obeying our immigration laws. They need to be properly vetted, not only for their safety, but yours and ours.”

Far-left organizations could be using artificial intelligence and other technology to reveal the identity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Lyons’ remarks come as Democrats in Congress recently proposed the VISIBLE Act, which would require clear identification of ICE agents and prevent masking of federal immigration authorities in public-facing circumstances.

“If legislation passes to try to unmask ICE agents, they are not allowed to wear them, it runs the risk of agitators, different groups, you know, these fringe organizations using reverse technology, AI, to try to dox their families, try to get their identity, their home addresses,”  Lyons said of the reaction from agents on the ground. “We’ve heard elected officials say there shouldn’t be any rest for ICE agents or their families.

“So they’re definitely concerned about that. They’re also concerned about their own well-being when they go out to effectuate these arrests because now we have to send more officers out into the communities because where we can send four or five to make arrests in the past, now we had to send up to eight or 10 just to protect the four that are making the arrests of one individual.”

MASSACHUSETTS BILL WOULD FORCE ICE AGENTS TO UNMASK

He added that the safety risk does require more resources when conducting arrests. When ICE was conducting operations in Los Angeles in June, President Donald Trump sent in the California National Guard to the city with the goal of protecting agents and quelling riots. That move was legally challenged by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“The Marines are withdrawing. This is another win for Los Angeles,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass posted to X Monday.

ICE agents have faced an 830% increase in assaults since last year, according to DHS. However, proponents of the VISIBLE Act have said it’s nessescary for accountability.

“For weeks, Americans have watched federal agents with no visible identification detain people off the streets and instill fear in communities across the country,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, said in a statement July 8. 

“Reports of individuals impersonating ICE officers have only increased the risk to public and officer safety. The lack of visible identification and uniform standards for immigration enforcement officers has created confusion, stoked fear and undermined public trust in law enforcement.”

DHS FIRES BACK AT DEMOCRATS FOR ‘BEYOND THE PALE’ RHETORIC AS ICE AGENTS FACE WAVE OF VIOLENT THREATS

“Assault could be anything from resisting arrest where they assault the officers, whether they’re kicking, grabbing officers. It could be something as dramatic as what we saw in Alvarado, Texas, where we had local police ambushed with firearms,” Lyons said.

“You saw it during the recent marijuana grow farm raid operation, where we had an individual firing a handgun at ICE officers, rocks thrown at them. It’s everything from verbal assault to physical assault to threats of bodily harm, deadly force. It’s run the whole gamut.”

Authorities have charged 12 people in an alleged anti-ICE attack at the Prairieland Detention Center on Independence Day, including ten for alleged attempted murder of federal officers and gun offenses. Reports have indicated that some planning occurred through a Signal group chat, and Lyons noted that this was likely planned by the Dallas area activists for some time.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“Well, the FBI is doing a great job investigating it as a whole organized event,” Lyons said. “So, you saw where it was actually organized with social media, where you have organized people in a typical L-shaped ambush where you had escape vehicles. So, without getting too much into what the Department of Justice and the FBI do, there is definitely evidence that this was planned for a while, and it wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment protest. These were agitators focused on assaulting law enforcement officers and assaulting ICE.”

In terms of facing these coordinated efforts, the director said it’s a matter of planning and looking at the information available before conducting an operation.

ACTING ICE DIRECTOR CALLS MAYOR WU’S NEO-NAZI COMPARISON ‘DISGUSTING’ AMID INCREASE IN AGENT ASSAULTS

“What we’re doing is definitely working with all of our federal partners as well as the state partners that do coordinate with us what we use and all the intelligence that we have at our disposal to go ahead and try to find out as much about these groups and as much as about these organizations and these planned events that we can to let our officers and agents know in the field prior to going out,” Lyons said.

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“So, we wanna make sure that officers are fully aware of what the situations they’re getting into, but we are also making sure that we’re properly staffed when we go out.”

In addition, he said recent funding from  the “big, beautiful bill” would be to try to bring back personnel that “retired early” under the Biden administration and look at veterans and officials at the local and state levels who “already have the training” to “beef up” staffing at the agency. 

The Department of Homeland Security released a statement Tuesday highlighting some of the “worst of the worst” offenders who have been arrested in the agency’s nationwide crackdown on criminal illegal aliens.

According to the statement, 70% of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arrests have been of illegal aliens convicted or charged with crimes. This comes as the agency is facing intense criticism for its enforcement of immigration laws and officers are dealing with an 830% increase in assaults.

Some Democrats have accused ICE of targeting innocent, everyday immigrants. In the midst of anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles in June, Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., accused President Donald Trump and the administration of targeting anyone they consider “undesirable.” She also pushed a theory that the president will target U.S. citizens the same way he has deported criminal migrants.

“Trump, Homan, Miller and this whole regime has waged a campaign of terror against our neighbors, against our families, our loved ones, as they advance their fascist agenda and try to cast immigrants as a public enemy,” Ramirez said.

ERIC ADAMS RESPONDS TO TOM HOMAN PLEDGE TO ‘FLOOD THE ZONE’ WITH ICE AGENTS AFTER CBP SHOOTING

While the agency has said it will not back down from arresting any immigrants who are in the country illegally, the new DHS statement says that the vast majority of those arrested thus far have criminal charges or convictions. 

The illegals highlighted in the DHS statement include criminals charged with hit-and-run, aggravated assault, felony menacing, grand theft and drug possession.

Olinda Micaela Gonzalez-Ortiz, a 21-year-old illegal alien from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE Baltimore and has a criminal history, including a conviction for hit-and-run in Salisbury, Maryland. 

Another, Federico Fong-Nunez, a 53-year-old Mexican illegal arrested by ICE Denver in Boulder, has 21 criminal convictions, including burglary, aggravated assault, and felony menacing.

ICE TORCHES ‘DEAFENING’ SILENCE FROM MAMDANI ON CBP OFFICER SHOOTING

Jhon Jervis Chavez-De La Rosa, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, has a criminal history including a conviction of assault causing bodily injury. He was arrested by ICE in Houston.

Two others, Luis Alberto Leonardo Cortes-Rivera, a 34-year-old from from Mexico, and Rureiro Falkao, a 46-year-old illegal from Honduras, were arrested by ICE in Los Angeles and Oklahoma City, respectively. Cortes-Rivera has a criminal history that includes nine criminal convictions, including grand theft, burglary, and tampering with a vehicle. Falkao’s criminal background includes conviction for possession of methamphetamine.

ICE has also arrested scores of illegal immigrants either charged with or convicted of child sex offenses.

In June, ICE arrested 1,361 illegal immigrants in the Houston area alone, including individuals previously convicted of hijacking an airplane, homicide, sexual assault and more. Of those arrested, 32 were previously convicted of child sex offenses, nine for homicide-related offenses, and 16 believed to be gang or drug cartel members. One person arrested by ICE was convicted of hijacking an airplane headed to Key West, Florida, from Cuba.

ILLEGAL ALIEN WHO RAPED, IMPREGNATED HIS OWN DAUGHTER AT GOVERNMENT-RUN SHELTER LEARNS PRISON SENTENCE

An ICE Homeland Security Investigations probe in Maryland led to the sentencing of Mark Rice, 38, to 30 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release for having “used his position of authority” to sexually abuse a 2-year-old and produce and distribute child sex abuse material online.

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In the Tuesday statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commended President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for having “unleashed ICE to target the worst of the worst.”

“Our brave law enforcement is facing an 830% increase in assaults against them and yet they continue to arrest violent criminals and drug traffickers every single day,” said McLaughlin. “We will not allow sanctuary politicians, activist hacks, or rioters stand in our way of protecting the American people. Our message is clear: criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States.”  

Fox News Digital reached out to Ramirez’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

Fox News Digital’s Adam Sabes and Brooke Taylor contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans and Democrats advanced the first set of spending bills through the upper chamber, despite signals from Democrats that they may block the government funding process.

In the days and weeks leading up to the vote, Senate Democrats warned that Republicans’ passage of highly partisan bills, like President Donald Trump’s $9 billion clawback package, had eaten away at the trust that girds the appropriations process.

DEMS SEEK RETALIATION OVER GOP CUTS AS THUNE CALLS FOR ‘COOPERATION’ ON FUNDING VOTE

Still, after meeting behind closed-doors Tuesday afternoon, Democrats ultimately provided enough votes to advance the bill, which would fund military construction and the VA. The vote allows for lawmakers to make amendments and debate the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after the meeting that Democrats were still gunning for a bipartisan spending deal, effectively opening the door for his conference to back the spending bill package for now. 

“We’re working together to get one,” Schumer said. “But the bottom line is, Republicans are making it much harder. Rescissions, impoundment, pocket rescissions directly undoes this.” 

The bill advanced on a 90 to 8 vote, with Schumer and the majority of Senate Democrats joining every Republican to open debate on the bill.

Democrats were largely frustrated with the passage of Trump’s rescissions package last week, which slashed funding from foreign aid and public broadcasting, arguing that doing so dissolved trust between the parties when it came to crafting spending bills.

CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS FACE BRUISING BATTLE TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

They argued that reaching an agreement on a funding bill, only to see their priorities later stripped out through rescissions, shattered confidence in their Republican colleagues to stick to their word.

“There’s no doubt,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a high-ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Fox News Digital. “I mean, someone does one thing one day and undoes it the next day, that obviously creates issues with trust.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., opted to call his counterparts’ bluff, and put the bill on the floor. Failure to advance the the legislation could have signaled a rocky road ahead for funding the government and beating the Sept. 30 deadline to avert a partial government shutdown.

“Democrats have indicated that they’re so upset over a rescissions bill last week, which, by the way, cut one tenth of 1% of all federal spending, that somehow they could use that to shut down the appropriations process and therefore shut down the government,” Thune said. 

“We think that would be a big mistake, and hopefully they will think better of it and work with us, and we’re trying to give them what they’ve been asking for, [which] is a bipartisan appropriations process,” he continued.

Prior to the vote, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, urged passage of the bill through the procedural hurdle, and noted that when she and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the panel, took the helm of the committee, they “committed to working together” on spending bills.  

She noted that when Democrats controlled the chamber, lawmakers didn’t get the same opportunity to consider spending bills, but acknowledged that it was still a “challenging legislative environment.”

“This is a fundamental responsibility of Congress, and I want to express my gratitude to Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Thune, for giving us the opportunity to bring the first of the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills to the Senate floor,” she said.

‘ALL THE OPTIONS’: GOP EYES CUTTING AUGUST RECESS TO MOVE DOZENS OF TRUMP NOMINEES STALLED BY DEMS

But, passage of the first bill, and the ensuing amendment process leading to a final vote, does not guarantee that the appropriations process will go smoothly before the deadline hits in the next couple of months.

Congress has not passed spending bills through a process called regular order since the late 1990s and has typically relied on short government funding extensions, known as continuing resolutions, and year-end, colossal spending packages, known as omnibuses, to keep the lights on in Washington.

Disagreements over funding levels between the Senate and House, coupled with lingering questions about whether Schumer will continue to play ball with Republicans, could tee up another showdown around the September deadline.

Schumer said that he would have a confab with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and the top Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Murray, “to discuss the appropriations process in both the House and the Senate in the weeks ahead.” 

“With so much hard work ahead, the government funding deadline only less than 25 legislative days away, Republicans should be focused on working with us to deliver for American families,” he said. 

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Sen. John Fetterman, who earlier this year voted with Republicans and a handful of his Democratic colleagues to thwart a partial government shutdown, had a stern message for Senate Democrats that may want to obstruct the government funding process.

“I will never, ever vote to shut our government down,” the Pennsylvania Democrat told Fox News Digital. “That’s a core responsibility. And now we may not like a lot of these changes to things, and I don’t, but I’m saying that’s the way that democracy works.”

“And now shutting the government down, how could you do that and plunge our country into chaos,” he continued. 

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

– Trump pulls US out of UN agency over its backing of ‘woke’ social causes

– ‘Not going away’: Inside the Epstein drama that’s thrown House GOP into chaos

– Louisville agrees to halt sanctuary policy after DOJ threatens lawsuit

Salvadoran President Hits Back at Hunter Biden’s Invasion Threat: What is He ‘Sniffing’?

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele responded late Monday to having his country under the threat of invasion from a future “President Hunter Biden.”

Bukele, who has emerged as a top ally of President Donald Trump and a partner in the U.S. leader’s mass deportation operations targeting illegal immigrants, appeared to laugh off the threat.

“Is Hunter Biden sniffing powdered milk?” Bukele replied on X, where he shared a snippet of Biden’s interview with podcaster Andrew Callaghan… READ MORE.

Migrant Crime 

HOUSTON HORROR: Chilling video allegedly shows illegal migrant dragging screaming sex trafficking victim back to captivity

LEFTIST BACKGROUND: Anti-ICE attackers revealed to have extensive history of radical protest activities

FORENSIC TWIST: Illinois coroner releases new details about woman found dead on illegal immigrant’s property

World Stage

THREAT COUNTDOWN: EU defense chief warns of ‘most dangerous moment’ — coordinated Russian-Chinese aggression by 2027

FREE ON MASSIVE BOND: Chinese citizen admits stealing US trade secrets for next-generation national security tech

DIPLOMATIC DIVIDEND: ‘Trump has changed the game’: NATO enters brave new era under pressure from US, Russia

‘SENSELESS LOSS’: American man from Oklahoma ‘brutally executed’ by Syrian-backed jihadis

MATTER OF PRIDE: Iran will not give up enrichment, top official confirms in exclusive Fox News interview

RED LINE: China prevents dozens of Americans from leaving under shadow ‘exit ban’

Hunter Biden

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES: 5 bizarre moments from the former first son’s meltdown

Capitol Hill

DEPORTATION DIVIDE: House Republicans warn anti-ICE rhetoric from Democrats is driving violent attacks on agents

BIG, BEAUTIFUL FIGHT: Scoop: Democrats launch billboards outside hospitals to target Trump for ‘Gutting Rural Health Care’

IN THE CROSSHAIRS: Trump blasts Massie as ‘the worst Republican Congressman’ and says he’s seeking a challenger to support

DEMS IN DISARRAY: AOC slams progressive critics for ‘lying’ about her Iron Dome stance in defense bill fight

BUDGET BATTLE LINES: Dems seek retaliation over GOP cuts as Thune calls for ‘cooperation’ on funding vote

FAITH UNDER FIRE: GOP lawmakers advocate for US condemnation of persecution against Christians in Muslim-majority nations

CIVIL WAR: ‘Not going away’: Inside the Epstein drama that’s thrown House GOP into chaos

FLIP FLOP: Trump endorses GOP senator years after asserting ‘I will never endorse this jerk again’

Across America

MAYOR BACKS DOWN: Louisville agrees to halt sanctuary policy after DOJ threatens lawsuit

CAMPUS CRACKDOWN: Columbia University disciplines 70 students more than a year after violent library takeover

JUDGMENT DAY: Newsom to decide on Menendez brothers’ parole by Labor Day weekend

TAKE TWO: Cuomo tones down Trump rhetoric after stunning loss to Mamdani in NYC mayor primary

‘DISGUSTING’: NYC councilwoman warns Mamdani victory will drive away key voting bloc: ‘Afraid to live here’

VOTED OUT: Judges vote against extending Alina Habba’s term as US attorney in New Jersey

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

FIRST ON FOX: Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced legislation that would identify and penalize organizations and individuals who are allegedly funding and directing “violent” and “extreme” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and antisemitic protests across the country. 

The Financial Underwriting of Nefarious Demonstrations and Extremist Riots (STOP FUNDERs) Act was introduced in the Senate Tuesday, which would allow the Department of Justice to use the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act to issue conspiracy charges, asset forfeiture, and enhanced criminal penalties to organizations or individuals who fund or coordinate violent interstate riots. 

“Every American has the right to freedom of speech and peaceful protest, but not to commit violence,” Senator Cruz told Fox News Digital. “Domestic NGOs and foreign adversaries fund and use riots in the United States to undermine the security and prosperity of Americans.

ICE TORCHES ‘DEAFENING’ SILENCE FROM MAMDANI ON CBP OFFICER SHOOTING

“My legislation will give the Department of Justice the tools it needs to hold them accountable, and I urge my colleagues to pass it expeditiously,” Cruz added. 

As recently as June, thousands of rioters took to the streets of Los Angeles in protest of President Donald Trump’s fulfilled campaign promise to deport illegal immigrants and secure the border. Los Angeles officials reported more than $20 million in total damage across the city from the destruction of public buildings and funding for law enforcement overtime. 

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security revealed an 830% increase in assaults on ICE officers.

HARVARD, TRUMP BATTLE FOR BILLIONS IN FEDERAL FUNDS AS JUDGE WEIGHS NEXT STEPS

On college campuses, antisemitic attacks have ravaged multiple universities across the country, canceled classes, and rattled student life since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

The Anti-defamation league (ADL) reported 2,637 anti-Israel incidents of harassment, assault, protests and other attacks on college campuses from June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024, a 628% increase from the same period in the previous year. 

These prominent protests have been speculated, though not confirmed, to receive funding and direction by outside groups linked to domestic nonprofits and some wealthy individuals. Last month, the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into where the funding is coming from and specifically noted China-based billionaire Neville Roy Singham.

PENTAGON ORDERS 700 MARINES TO WITHDRAW FROM LOS ANGELES AS STABILITY RETURNS FOLLOWING ICE PROTESTS

“It has been reported that Mr. Singham is ‘the main backer behind’ the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), which has organized nationwide protests, including the Los Angeles riots,” GOP Oversight members wrote in a letter to Singham. “He has created an elaborate dark money network which allows him to send funds to a series of non-profits, such as the ‘United Community Fund’ and ‘Justice Education Fund,’ that have almost no real footprints.”

Singham denied the allegations set forth by the New York Times in a 2023 statement, saying, “The [New York Times] intentionally chose not to publish all the factual rebuttals that I provided to them on July 22, 2023, prior to their publication date.”

“The [New York Times] has done a great disservice to the cause to press freedom,” Singham added. “I categorically deny and repudiate all claims of illegality and impropriety and wish to set the record straight.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Mr. Singham for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

The STOP FUNDERs Act will now head to committee and begin the legislative process.

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The Senate GOP-led legislation is cosponsored by Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, Senator Tom Tillis, R-North Carolina, Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, and Senator Bill Hagerty, R-Tennessee.

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

President Donald Trump claimed that former President Barack Obama was the “ringleader” of Russiagate, calling for him to be criminally investigated amid new claims that members of his administration allegedly “manufactured” intelligence that prompted the Trump–Russia collusion narrative.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently declassified documents revealing “overwhelming evidence” that claimed that after Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, then-President Obama and his national security team allegedly laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe.

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

Gabbard said the documents revealed that Obama administration officials “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to allegedly create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, despite information from the intelligence community stating otherwise.

The new documents name Obama, top officials on his National Security Council, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, national security advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others.

Gabbard, on Monday, sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department related to those findings. Department of Justice officials did not share further details on whom the criminal referral was for.

OBAMA OFFICIALS USED DOSSIER TO PROBE, BRIEF TRUMP DESPITE KNOWING IT WAS UNVERIFIED ‘INTERNET RUMOR’

As for Gabbard’s criminal referral, Trump was asked which specific figures should be under criminal investigation, to which he replied: “President Obama. He started it.”

“And Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there. Brennan. They were all there in the room right here. This is the room,” Trump said from the Oval Office Tuesday during a meeting with the president of the Philippines. “It was President Obama. It was lots of people all over the place.”

None of the former Obama-era officials have responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The president went on to say that his administration has “all of the documents, and from what Tulsi told me, she’s got thousands of additional documents coming.”

“So President Obama, it was his concept – his idea,” Trump said Tuesday. “But he also got it from crooked Hillary Clinton – crooked as a $3 bill, and Hillary Clinton and her group, the Democrats, spent $12 million to Christopher Steele to write up a report that was a total fake report.”

Steele authored the discredited anti-Trump dossier, which was paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through law firm Perkins Coie.

The anti-Trump dossier served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

The intelligence community, at the time, widely viewed the dossier as “internet rumor,” but top officials, like Comey, McCabe and Brennan, reportedly pushed for its inclusion in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment.

“It took two years to figure that out, but it came out that it was a total fake report – it was made-up fiction – and they used that,” Trump said. “The Steele report was a disaster – all lies, all fabrication, all admitted fraud.”

Meanwhile, Trump said “we caught Hillary Clinton, we got Barack Hussein Obama. They’re the ones. And then you have many, many people under them. Susan Rice – they’re all the names.”

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

“I guess they figured they’re going to put this in as classified information and nobody will ever see it again – but it doesn’t work that way,” Trump said. “It is the most unbelievable thing I think I’ve ever read.” 

Trump added: “Never has a thing like this happened in the history of our country.” 

On July 28, 2016, Brennan briefed President Obama on a plan from one of Clinton’s campaign foreign policy advisors “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service,” meeting notes said. 

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

“We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from (REDACTED),” read Brennan’s handwritten notes, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October 2020. “CITE (summarizing) alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.”

After that briefing, the CIA 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.”

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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.

Comey and Brennan are currently under criminal investigation, launched by FBI Director Kash Patel. 

Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba’s future as the top prosecutor in the District of New Jersey was thrust into uncertainty Tuesday after district court judges voted against keeping her in the role.

Habba’s 120-day term expires Tuesday night, and after convening behind closed doors Monday to consider extending her term, the judges voted to replace her with Desiree Grace, a career attorney and Habba’s top assistant. Grace will take over the post temporarily beginning Wednesday.

Habba, who served as President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and legal spokeswoman during his campaign, stirred controversy soon after she ascended to U.S. attorney.

She had Newark’s Democratic mayor, Ras Baraka, arrested in May for allegedly trespassing in an immigration detention facility. But Habba quickly dropped the charges, and a judge scolded her for the move, suggesting she was attempting to “satisfy public clamor.” Baraka is now suing Habba for defamation.

ALINA HABBA: WE MUST REFOCUS TAXPAYER DOLLARS ON IMPORTANT THINGS

Trump made clear this month he wanted to keep Habba as U.S. attorney, nominating her for the full four-year position earlier this month. Habba has also nabbed endorsements from several law enforcement groups, who have praised her as a tough prosecutor who will prioritize street crime.

But Habba has also been heavily criticized for having no prior prosecutorial experience and politicizing the role, including by saying on a right-wing podcast after she took the job that she hoped to help “turn New Jersey red.” 

Habba has no current path to Senate confirmation after New Jersey’s two Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, submitted blue slips disapproving of her nomination.

Trump found a roundabout way to temporarily reinstate the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, who had been in a situation similar to Habba’s. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended Habba on Monday and said the criticisms, including those from the senators and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, were a “smear campaign.”

Habba has the “full confidence of DOJ leadership because she’s doing the job—aggressively, independently, and by the book,” Blanche wrote on X on Monday. “The district judges should not be swayed by political noise. Keep her in place.”

Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this report.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is pushing a resolution that would indicate that the Senate denounces the persecution of Christians in Muslim-majority nations, while Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.V., and several other House Republicans are pushing a House version that would declare the lower chamber’s condemnation of such persecution.

The resolutions urge the president to prioritize the defense of persecuted Christians in America’s foreign policy, including via “diplomatic engagement with Muslim-majority countries” as well as “efforts to stabilize the Middle East.”

The proposed resolutions also urge the president to leverage the diplomatic toolkit “to advance the protection of persecuted Christians worldwide and within Muslim-majority countries.”

AMERICANS LOOK AT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND SEE A ‘DUMPSTER FIRE’: SEN. JOSH HAWLEY

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, which did not provide comment.

“Our country was founded on religious liberty. We cannot sit on the sidelines as Christians around the world are being persecuted for declaring Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We must condemn these heinous crimes,” Hawley said, according to press releases issued by the offices of Hawley and Moore.

“Year after year, the number of Christians murdered by extremists in Nigeria has numbered in the thousands. Millions more have been displaced. We cannot allow this to continue. I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning the persecution of Christians around the world by supporting this resolution.”

CHRISTIANS INCREASINGLY PERSECUTED WORLDWIDE AS ‘MODERN AND HISTORICAL FACTORS CONVERGE’

Original cosponsors in the House included GOP Reps. Greg Steube of Florida, Michael Guest of Mississippi, Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, Addison McDowell of North Carolina, Brandon Gill of Texas, Pat Harrigan of North Carolina, and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida.

While not an original cosponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, is a cosponsor of the resolution in the House, according to congress.gov.

FEARS REMAIN THIS EASTER THAT CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA ARE BEING ‘WIPED OUT’ BY MUSLIM EXTREMISTS

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“Around the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ face rampant persecution for simply acknowledging the name of Jesus. That is unacceptable. In Nigeria alone, more than 50,000 Christians have been martyred and more than 5 million have been displaced simply for professing their faith. During a Divine Liturgy in Damascus last month, an islamic jihadist opened fire on worshippers and detonated an explosive device — killing at least 30 and wounding dozens more. These examples illustrate the violence and death Christians face on a daily basis,” Moore said, according to press releases.

“Unfortunately, decades of U.S. foreign policy blunders have exacerbated this crisis, with ethno-religious cleansing accelerating in Iraq after our failure to stabilize the country following the 2003 invasion. We as lawmakers cannot continue to sit idly by. I urge my colleagues to join me in condemning the persecution of Christians across the globe.”

Some members of the group charged in the Prairieland Detention Center anti-ICE attack on Independence Day have been arrested in the past for protest activities.

Ines Soto, who is part of the group of ten charged with attempted murder of federal officers and firearm offenses, was arrested at a protest in 2016 for allegedly resisting arrest and trying to avoid detention, according to K-HOU 11 at the time.

The protest was against a speech by Richard Spencer at Texas A&M University. The outlet My Aggie Nation noted that Soto was 31 in 2016, which corroborates with a KERA News report stating that Soto is now 40 years old and was released on a $10,000 bond.

FBI CAPTURES FORMER MARINE CORPS RESERVIST ACCUSED OF SHOOTING AT ICE OFFICERS AT TEXAS DETENTION CENTER

Meanwhile, KERA News reported that Savanna Batten partook in the Occupy Wall Street movement through an “Occupy Dallas” protest in 2011, where she was arrested for allegedly not allowing people to come and go from a Chase Bank. The case was ultimately dismissed, as a criminal trespassing charge was scrapped in exchange for 24 community service hours, the outlet reported.

Batten also specifically has a history of anti-ICE activism, as she was charged for allegedly blocking a highway in June 2018 near a Dallas ICE facility, and the charge for that was also dismissed in 2019 as part of a program.

Fox News Digital reported last week that Benjamin Song, who was captured by the FBI last week, had a known protest background. He was named in a 2023 lawsuit over a counter-protest to the New Columbia Movement at a drag brunch in Fort Worth, Texas. The lawsuit noted Song was tied with a pro-arms leftist group, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club.

UNEARTHED SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS EXPOSE RADICAL VIEWS OF ANTI-ICE SHOOTING SUSPECT CAPTURED BY FBI

In addition, he was also arrested in 2020 during a protest in Austin for allegedly assaulting a public servant, according to Fox 4.

Song’s social media profiles also indicated that he was extremely vocal online about his stances and activism, and also appeared to use a martial arts studio tied to his mother to film tactical exercises.

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“Do you want to end mass shootings? Abolish the police,” he posted in June 2022 under the X handle, BubbleBreakBS.

Song, a former U.S. Marine Corps reservist, is accused of firing two AR-15-style rifles at two correctional officers and one Alvarado police officer, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News Digital.

MORE DETAILS REVEALED ON SUSPECTS IN INDEPENDENCE DAY ICE ATTACK IN TEXAS

“Make no mistake, this was not a peaceful protest,” Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Larson said in a July 8 statement. “This was an ambush on federal and local law enforcement officers. This increasing trend of violence against law enforcement will not be tolerated in the Northern District of Texas. Those who use violence against law enforcement officers will be found and prosecuted using the toughest criminal statutes and penalties available.”

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A local police officer was shot in the neck by a suspect in the woods, according to the complaint. Another assailant allegedly fired dozens of rounds at unarmed correctional officers who had stepped outside the facility. Cars outside the facility were vandalized with “Ice pig” and “Traitor,” as authorities obtained anti-government literature from those involved, as well as a flag that said “Fight Fascism, Fight Oligarchy.” 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

In the closing weeks ahead of New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral primary, as he appeared to be cruising toward capturing his party’s nomination, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo focused his campaign’s spotlight on President Donald Trump. But an unexpected loss to democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani forced his campaign to make an abrupt change in messaging.  

“Trump’s coming for New York. Who do you think can stop him?” the narrator in a Cuomo campaign ad said, over images of the June rioting in Los Angeles sparked by Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“Trump’s at the city gates. We need someone experienced to slam them shut,” the narrator said, as he suggested that Cuomo was the most experienced candidate to push back against the president’s agenda.

The former three-term governor, who resigned amid twin scandals in 2021, pledged, if elected mayor, to protect New York City from what he suggested could be a possible future federal crackdown against immigration protests in the city. And he vowed to mount a national campaign to try and thwart Trump’s agenda.

POLL POSITION: MAMDANI’S THE FRONTRUNNER, BUT ISN’T RUNNING AWAY WITH THE NYC MAYORAL RACE

But Mamdani’s stunning victory over Cuomo and nine other candidates last month to capture the Democratic Party nomination rocked the race for mayor in the nation’s most populous city. 

And as Cuomo resets as he runs in the mayoral general election as an independent candidate, references to Trump have plummeted as the former governor stands for interviews. He didn’t mention the president once in his video announcing his general election campaign.

Longtime Cuomo adviser and spokesman Rich Azzopardi said “that’s not the case” when asked by Fox News Digital if the former governor was de-emphasizing Trump messaging.

“It’s silly. It’s only been eight days since the campaign had a relaunch,” Azzopardi said. And he said that in the local interviews Cuomo has done, “it has been more local and pocketbook issues that have come up.”

“I think New Yorkers know that the person best equipped to protect New York from any excesses that may come out of Washington is Andrew Cuomo, because he’s done it before,” Azzopardi added.

But Mamdani’s campaign argues that Cuomo is taking a page from their playbook as he shines a spotlight on his proposals to lower the rent, build more housing, and improve public transportation.

MAMDANI ON EXTENDED AFRICA TRIP AMID NYC MAYORAL CAMPAIGN

The 33-year-old Ugandan-born state assemblyman from Queens, who was backed by progressive champions Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, surged to a come-from-behind primary victory, thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City’s high cost of living.

Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) “tuition-free,” freezing rents on municipal housing, offering “free childcare” for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores.

And Mamdani, thanks in part to the efforts of a massive grassroots army of volunteers, rode a wave of support from younger and progressive voters to catapult himself into first place.

Cuomo now says he’s committed to making New York a city with “lower rent, safer streets, where buying your first home is once again possible, where child care won’t bankrupt you.”

And he’s taken aim at Mamdani for putting out “slick slogans, but no real solutions.”

POTUS THE PUNDIT: TRUMP SAYS CUOMO’S GOT A ‘GOOD SHOT’ OF BEATING MAMDANI

Cuomo is one of four candidates in the general election who are taking on Mamdani, who, as the Democratic Party nominee, is the front-runner in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a roughly six-to-one margin.

Also in the race are Mayor Eric Adams, the embattled incumbent who announced earlier this year that he would seek re-election as an independent candidate, and Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee.

And Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor, is also running as an independent.

Cuomo, since his primary defeat, has noted that the general election electorate in New York City is much larger than the pool of voters who cast ballots in the Democratic nomination race.

“Only 13% of New Yorkers voted in the June primary,” Cuomo said in his general election launch video.

And as he now faces a broader and more moderate electorate than that in the Democratic Party primary, Cuomo’s apparent pivot away from Trump and towards issues of affordability appears strategic.

Azzopardi, pointing to the campaign re-launch, told Fox News, “It was important to hit the ground running to meet New Yorkers where they are, and that’s what we’re doing.”

“The message is a simple one. It’s New Yorkers are generally not hard-core pro-MAGA Trumpers, nor are they socialists. They are in the middle, and the governor is making the case about how he is the person best equipped to bring the first competent administration back to City Hall in 12 years,” Azzopardi said.

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But veteran Democratic strategist Lauren Hitt, who advised an anti-Cuomo super PAC in the Democratic primary, argued that New York City voters are likely to be skeptical of the former governor’s message.

“Cuomo already had his chance to make New York more affordable, and he did just the opposite. So he can try to slap another label on his campaign, but New Yorkers already know they don’t like what he’s selling,” Hitt said.

The European Union’s first-ever defense commissioner has issued a stark warning: the world’s “most dangerous moment” could arrive as soon as 2027, when Russia and China may coordinate aggressive moves designed to overwhelm Western defenses.

Andrius Kubilius, the EU’s commissioner for defense and space, echoed recent remarks by U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top commander for air operations. Both officials highlighted 2027 as a potential flashpoint year when simultaneous military actions by Moscow and Beijing could stretch the transatlantic alliance to its limits.

“The most dangerous moment can be in 2027, when both Russia and China will make these aggressive moves in a coordinated way,” Kubilius told reporters during a briefing in Washington.

Grynkewich had warned last week that the United States and its European allies must be prepared to fight two wars simultaneously – one in Europe, should Russian President Vladimir Putin escalate in Ukraine or Eastern Europe, and another in the Pacific if Chinese President Xi Jinping launches an invasion of Taiwan.

UKRAINE’S EX-FOREIGN MINISTER BACKS TRUMP ON DEFENSE SPENDING, WARNS DIPLOMACY WITH PUTIN IS NEARLY EXHAUSTED

“We’re going to need every bit of kit and equipment and munitions that we can in order to beat that,” Grynkewich said.

In a speech later Monday evening, Kubilius said the U.S. has the “right and reason” to turn its focus to China.

“We are recognizing that you, Americans, have really the right and the reason in the longer-term perspective to start to shift more and more toward the Indo-Pacific in order to mitigate Chinese rising military power,” he said.

“We Europeans need to ramp up our defense capabilities,” the former Lithuanian prime minister said, adding: “That is what we are doing.”

Their warnings align with growing concerns across the U.S. defense establishment over what is often referred to as the “Davidson Window” – a term coined by former Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Philip Davidson, who testified before Congress in 2021 that China could attempt to forcibly reunify with Taiwan by 2027. The assessment has since become a widely cited benchmark for military planners preparing for a potential crisis in the Indo-Pacific.

The 2027 window has taken on added urgency as China rapidly accelerates its military modernization program, aiming to achieve what Xi Jinping has called “world-class” warfighting capabilities by the People’s Liberation Army’s centennial in 2027. U.S. and NATO officials also fear that Russia, despite sustaining major losses in Ukraine, could reconstitute and redirect its forces toward renewed aggression in Eastern Europe by that same timeframe – placing strategic pressure on two fronts simultaneously.

Kubilius traveled to Washington to assess potential shortfalls in European defense capabilities as the U.S. increasingly pivots its strategic attention toward the Indo-Pacific. He said EU member states are actively preparing for a shift in the American military posture on the continent.

As of 2025, more than 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe – a presence widely expected to decline in the coming years as the Pentagon presses its European allies to assume greater responsibility for their own defense.

“We are preparing ourselves to take responsibility on our shoulders,” Kubilius said. “We don’t know what Americans will decide.”

Kubilius emphasized that Europe must not only fund its own defense but also build it. He noted that the EU has reduced its reliance on U.S.-made weapons from 60% of total imports to 40%, and hopes to lower that dependency further through increased domestic production.

TRUMP’S NATO TURNAROUND: FROM THREATENING TO PULL US OUT TO ‘DADDY’ OF THE ALLIANCE

As defense commissioner, Kubilius is tasked with implementing an $840 billion framework to “Re-Arm Europe,” including a €150 billion loan facility available to member states for building out their armed forces and industrial capacities.

Separately, NATO leaders at last month’s summit in Washington agreed to a sweeping pledge to increase defense spending – raising the benchmark from 2% of GDP to 5% for member countries, a historic shift in alliance posture amid growing global instability.

Adding to the sense of urgency, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would offer advanced weapons systems to Ukraine – on the condition that European partners cover the cost. Western defense ministers convened on Monday to discuss the proposed financing mechanism.

“We’re going to be sending Patriots to NATO and then NATO will distribute that,” Trump said last week, referring to the high-value air defense systems that Kyiv has long sought.

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Kubilius declined to elaborate on which other weapons may be included in the package, but underscored the critical importance of maintaining unwavering support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“China is watching,” he said. “China will be able to make a conclusion that if the West is weak in Ukraine, then we can expect aggressive behavior from China against anyone.”