NationalWatch

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…

– Putin mum on Trump’s 50-day ultimatum, Kremlin officials claim Russia ‘didn’t care’

– Senate GOP braces for test vote on Trump’s $9.4B clawback package

– RNC Chair Michael Whatley claims Zohran Mamdani is the ‘face of the new Democratic Party’

Biden’s Autopen Pardons Are a Troubling ‘Constitutional Scandal,’ Legal Expert Says

Constitutional legal scholar Randy Barnett admonished Democrats’ rhetoric claiming democracy is at risk under the Trump administration when “the biggest constitutional scandal in US history” played out under the Biden administration with the use of the autopen. 

“For all the talk of a ‘constitutional crisis‘ or threats to ‘our democracy’ having the executive branch systematically run by unknown subordinates of a mentally incompetent president is the biggest constitutional scandal in US history – it’s called into question the legality of official acts done in his name but without proper authority,” Barnett posted to X Monday. 

“Southern secession was a ‘constitutional crisis,’” Barnett added in a follow-up message Tuesday. “This is a constitutional scandal…” READ MORE.

White House

AMERICA FIRST: Hegseth abruptly pulls Pentagon officials from ‘globalist’ Aspen conference

RIGHT-HAND MAN: Anthony Bernal: Who is Jill Biden’s top aide ordered to testify about alleged cover-up?

TRADE HAVEN: Trump tariffs spark surge in bonded warehouse use by importers

World Stage

FALSE NARRATIVES: Squad members ‘decide to lie and twist facts’ about Israel’s history, says prominent Arab activist

AMBIVALENT: Putin mum on Trump’s 50-day ultimatum, Kremlin officials claim Russia ‘didn’t care’

WAR CABINET CHANGEUP: Zelenskyy shakes up Ukrainian government, with US weapons on the way

Capitol Hill

ONLY THE BEGINNING: Republican leading House Budget Committee looks ahead after passing Big Beautiful Bill

PUTIN ON NOTICE: ‘Game changer’: Bipartisan senators gunning for Russia sanctions ready to give Trump runway

BUDGET BATTLE LINES: Senate GOP braces for test vote on Trump’s $9.4B clawback package

RURAL LIFELINE: ‘Better access’: Bipartisan Senate push to fund farmers suicide prevention fund gains steam

BUDGET BATTLE LINES: SCOOP: Fiscal hawks fire warning shot at Senate GOP for pushing changes to Trump’s $9.4B spending cuts bill

BORDER TRAGEDY: House unanimously votes to memorialize Texas girl allegedly slain by illegal immigrants

Across America 

CAMPUS TERROR TIES: Stefanik shreds CUNY chancellor on antisemitism response, faculty ties to Mahmoud Khalil

VERBAL STRIKE: Newsom escalates Trump immigration feud with foul-mouthed insult

THREAT WATCH: Five Iranians nabbed at US northern border as terror fears grip small towns

RADICAL EDUCATOR: California professor arrested, accused of throwing tear gas canister at federal agents during marijuana farm raid

JUDICIAL REJECTION: Federal judges refuse to permanently appoint interim U.S. attorney in New York

YOUTH UPRISING: David Hogg-backed candidate eyes upset in Democratic congressional primary

Zohran Mamdani

RADICAL TAKEOVER: RNC Chair Michael Whatley claims Zohran Mamdani is the ‘face of the new Democratic Party’

‘DROP OUT’: ‘Existential threat’: Jewish leaders warn of NYC ‘mass exodus’ if Zohran Mamdani wins in November

MARKET TAKEOVER: Socialist Mamdani’s supermarket plan would be ‘bullet to the heart’ of blue-collar America, lawmaker warns

‘NO MESSAGE’: Former Obama staffer rips Cuomo campaign video: ‘No message, no charisma’

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

Progressive Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is being slammed by his GOP opponent, Maud Maron, for policies she said give criminals a “get out of jail free card,” contributing to a massive surge in shoplifting and organized crime in America’s largest city.

This comes after retail industry leaders testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday on the dramatic rise in organized retail theft in recent years.

According to the most recent data from the National Retail Federation, retailers reported a 93% increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents per year in 2023 compared to 2019, and a 90% increase in dollar loss due to shoplifting during the same period. The study further said that retailers surveyed saw a 26% increase in shoplifting incidents on average from 2022 to 2023.

NRF’s report said shoplifting has become a problem retailers across the country face on a “daily basis.”

‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT’: JEWISH LEADERS WARN OF NYC ‘MASS EXODUS’ IF ZOHRAN MAMDANI WINS IN NOVEMBER

The report stated that those surveyed experienced an average of 177 shoplifting incidents per day in 2023; however, this number increased to over 1,000, depending on the retail sector. The report listed New York as the second city most impacted by organized retail crime in 2024.

Maron, a former Democrat public defender, now running for Manhattan district attorney as a Republican, told Fox News Digital that the “surge in shoplifting” is “not surprising.”

“Shoplifters, lawbreakers, got the message: You can do this, and you will not go to jail,” said Maron, adding, “The get-out-of-jail-free card that Alvin Bragg has been issuing for the last three and a half years is not subtle.”

“Five years ago, 10 years ago, if you used to go into a store and dump a bunch of retail goods into your bag and then walk out right past the security guard and right past the cashiers, you would be arrested. And if you did it more than once, you wind up going to jail,” she said. “Now maybe someone will call the police; maybe someone won’t. Maybe the police will arrest you; maybe they won’t. Because everybody knows at the end of the line, the prosecutor is not going to prosecute the case.”

WATCH: FORMER DEM OUSTED FROM PARTY OVER ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ TAKES ON MANHATTAN DA ALVIN BRAGG

Maron claimed that when Bragg took office in January 2022, he published a day one memo that “explained that there were just whole categories of crime that he was not going to prosecute.”

“Alvin Bragg ran as a George Soros-backed progressive prosecutor, and his implementing progressive criminal justice policies means that he tries to keep as few people in jail as possible. He tries to prosecute as few people as possible, and he tries to prosecute the lowest possible charge that he can get away with doing,” she went on. “You can see there are no consequences. I will not get in trouble if I go into that store and take all of the clothes off of a shelf and walk out with them in broad daylight without even hiding my face. I can do it and get away with it. That’s why we see a surge.”

“Actions either have consequences or they don’t. And in Alvin Bragg’s New York, stealing doesn’t have a consequence,” she claimed.

In response, Richard Fife, a spokesperson for Bragg’s campaign, contested Maron’s take on the report, saying that “while there is much more to do, in the last two years, NYPD stats report that burglary is down 11%, robbery is down 8%, grand larceny is down 11%, and murder is down 35%.”

NYC SOFT-ON-CRIME DA ALVIN BRAGG ADMITS TO GETTING ‘A KNOT’ IN STOMACH WHEN FAMILY TAKES SUBWAY: REPORT

“Perennial candidate Maud Maron, who recently lost her campaign for the School Board, is once again distorting and misleading to hide her lack of qualifications,” said Fife.

He said that “when experienced prosecutor Alvin Bragg took office as Manhattan DA in January 2022, NYC—like nearly every city—was still reeling from the COVID national crime spike.”

“Alvin brought together business owners, law enforcement, and community-based organizations to stop the rise in shoplifting and targeted repeat offenders, prosecuted organized crime rings that resell stolen goods, and improved coordination with local businesses and the NYPD,” he claimed.

For her part, Maron shot back that “if Alvin Bragg were half as good at prosecuting retail theft as he is at cherry-picking statistics, New Yorkers wouldn’t have to ask security to unlock a $6 stick of deodorant just to get through the day.”

DEMOCRAT ACCUSES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OF NOT BEING ‘SERIOUS ABOUT COMBATING CRIME’

“Bragg can point to handpicked NYPD numbers all he wants, but New Yorkers live the reality: more closed storefronts, more brazen shoplifting, and more fear for working people just trying to commute or run errands,” she added. “You don’t need a spreadsheet to know Alvin Bragg’s criminal-coddling Day One Memo turned every store owner into a sitting duck for the criminals he’s emboldened. You just need to walk into a pharmacy or talk to a bodega owner.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency responsible for enforcing laws against workplace discrimination, will allow some complaints by transgender workers to proceed, a change from earlier guidance that indefinitely halted cases alleging workplace discrimination against transgender people.

An email was sent earlier this month to leaders of the EEOC in which Thomas Colclough, director of the agency’s Office of Field Programs, said if new transgender worker complaints involve “hiring, discharge or promotion, you are clear to continue processing these charges.”

Even with the change, those complaints will still face higher scrutiny than other workplace discrimination cases, requiring approval from acting EEOC chair Andrea Lucas, who was appointed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

Lucas has said one of her priorities would be “defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights.”

UTAH BATH & BODY WORKS MANAGER SAYS SHE WAS FIRED OVER COMPANY’S PRONOUN POLICY

Since Trump returned to the presidency in January, the EEOC has shifted away from its previous interpretation of civil rights law that included prohibiting workplace discrimination against people based on their gender identity.

This comes after the agency issued a landmark finding a decade ago that a transgender civilian employee of the U.S. Army had faced discrimination when her employer refused to use the worker’s preferred pronouns or allow the individual to use bathrooms based on gender identity rather than biological sex.

Under Lucas’ authority, the EEOC has dropped several lawsuits alleging discrimination against transgender workers. Lucas defended that decision during her Senate committee confirmation hearing last month, citing Trump’s executive order stating that there are only two sexes — male and female.

But she also acknowledged that the 2020 Supreme Court ruling Bostock v. Clayton County “did clearly hold that discriminating against someone on the basis of sex included firing an individual who is transgender or based on their sexual orientation.”

US EQUAL OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION DEMANDS 20 LAW FIRMS DISCLOSE DEI EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES

Colclough said in his email that the EEOC will consider transgender discrimination complaints that “fall squarely under” the Supreme Court’s ruling, including cases involving hiring, firing and promotion, which reversed an earlier policy that de-prioritized cases filed on behalf of transgender workers.

“Under federal law, charge inquiries and charges of discrimination made to the EEOC are confidential,” an EEOC spokesperson told The Associated Press, while declining to comment on the specifics of its updated policy.

“Pursuant to Title VII and as statutorily required, the EEOC is, has been, and will continue to accept and investigate charges on all bases protected by law, and to serve those charges to the relevant employer,” the spokesperson added.

But even the cases the EEOC will consider under the Supreme Court ruling must still be reviewed by a senior attorney advisor and sent to Lucas for final approval.

The expanded review process for transgender cases is not typical of other discrimination complaints and reflects the agency’s increased scrutiny of these cases, according to former EEOC commissioner Chai Feldblum, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“It is a slight improvement because it will allow certain claims of discrimination to proceed,” Feldblum told The Associated Press. “But overall it does not fix a horrific and legally improper situation currently occurring at the EEOC.”

Colclough’s email did not clarify how long the review process might take, or whether cases that include additional claims, such as harassment or retaliation, would be eligible to proceed, and the EEOC declined to address those questions.

“This is not the EEOC being clear to either its own staff or to the public what charges are going to be processed,” Feldblum said. “This is not a panacea.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump lobbed a signature zinger on Tuesday as he paused to speak with reporters before boarding Marine One en route to an artificial intelligence summit. 

“[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], look, I think she’s very nice, but she’s very low IQ, and we really don’t need low IQ,” Trump said, smiling as cameras rolled. 

He added, “Between her and Crockett, we’re going to give them both an IQ test to see who comes out best.”

TRUMP DARES AOC TO TRY TO IMPEACH HIM: ‘MAKE MY DAY’

Trump went on to share his own credentials: “I took my test. I took a real test at Walter Reed Medical Center, and I aced it. I got every one of all those questions right,” he told the waiting press. 

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has ramped up her criticism of President Trump recently, calling him a “rapist” in a post on X following a DOJ update related to Jeffrey Epstein.

She appeared to be referencing the 2023 civil trial leveled against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll. A jury found Trump liable of sexual assault, but not of rape. 

Critics said she defamed the president with the remark.

Back in May, Crockett said “you’re terrified of smart, bold Black women telling the truth and holding you accountable” after President Trump called her a “low IQ person” on Meet the Press.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Whether Ocasio‑Cortez or Crockett will take the bait and accept the IQ test challenge remains to be seen.

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

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

New York Democrats suddenly have more problems than the back end of the New York Yankees starting rotation.

But the Yankees have the opportunity to fix some of their issues before the July 31 trade deadline.

However, there’s no trade deadline in politics.

And some conservative and moderate Democrats wish there was a waiver wire. Especially for Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zorhan Mamdani.

MAMDANI’S FAILURE TO WALK BACK THESE POSITIONS COULD CAUSE RECKONING IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY: ‘FIVE-ALARM WARNING’

The nomination of the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist is cleaving the party. Democrats are still searching for a unified message after the election. And the nomination of Mamdani highlights those splits. Many major Democrats have yet to endorse him. And far-left sects of Democrats could primary incumbent House Democrats – including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. – unless they back Mamdani. 

Republicans are reveling in the Democrats divides. 

“If Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor of New York City, it’s going to put a lot of seats in play in New York,” predicted Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. 

Lawler represents a battleground district just north of the City. Democrats need to defeat Lawler – and probably Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y. on Long Island – if they’re to have a chance to flip the House.

Once again, the potential path to a Democratic House majority plows right through the Empire State. Victories by Lawler, LaLota and former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., are one of the reasons Republicans flipped the House – but barely – in 2022. 

Now Mamdani’s socialism is threatening to drive a schism as wide as Broadway through the Democratic Party. His primary victory is echoing in other swing districts now held by Democrats. And Mamdani’s nomination presents Republicans with a plum opportunity to alter the trajectory of House races near the Big Apple.

That’s why Lawler is basking in the nomination of Mamdani. And Democrats who represent swing districts, like Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., are outspoken about Mamdani and trying to build a firewall between him and their candidacies for re-election in 2026.

There’s fear Mamdani could jerk the party to the left.

“He’s not even a Democrat,” bemoaned Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., about Mamdani. “He provided an opportunity for the GOP to brand our party.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS ADVANCE $9B SPENDING CUT BILL DESPITE DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION

And Republicans are doing just that.

“He’s a legit communist,” proclaimed Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. “I think candidates like Mamdani could continue to push them further left.” 

“It would be a gift to the Republican Party,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., about Mamdani. “Every person had a kid in class growing up who ate paste. I think the potential new mayor of New York is going to be that kid and Democrats don’t know what to do.”

In college, Mamdani supported an anti-Israel boycott. And during the pandemic, Mamdani pushed the seizure of luxury condos by the government to house the homeless.

Republicans hope Mamdani molds the perceptions of voters.

“I’m just going to let him speak,” declared Kennedy about Mamdani. “I mean you never interfere with your opponent when he’s kicking his own ass.”

But some Democrats are skeptical that Mamdani’s success echoes elsewhere as we barrel toward the midterms.

“What happens in New York is not what’s going to happen in Vermont or Colorado or Texas. That’s going to be a local race,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.

Mamdani is suggesting Democratic unity.

“The conversations I’ve had with (New York) Governor (Kathy) Hochul (D) and (House Minority Leader Hakeem) Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Sen. (Chuck) Schumer, D-N.Y.), have been productive,” said Mamdani.

But Hochul has yet to endorse Mamdani. The same with Jeffries and Schumer. Jeffries plans to huddle with Mamdani on Friday. Schumer says he spoke by phone Monday night with Mamdani and will visit with him “in New York.”

However, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., just endorsed Mamdani. 

“We will come together and we, as good Democrats, we will work out our differences,” said Espaillat.

But Mike Lawler believes top New York Democrats will eventually back Mamdani. He says they’ll have no choice.

REPUBLICANS RELENTLESSLY USE MAMDANI AS SOCIALIST CUDGEL TO BASH VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS

“They’re all petrified that if they don’t get on board with the radical socialist who is now the titular head of their party that they’re going to face primaries,” said Lawler.

Mamdani allies are threatening primary challenges against five New York House Democrats – including Jeffries. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is a big supporter of Mamdani and is bringing him to Washington to meet with other Democrats. 

“I think a lot of people just need to get to know folks before they issue an endorsement. I hope that this conversation can be constructive to bring the party together and rally behind our nominee,” said Ocasio-Cortez about the breakfast meeting.

But Republicans continued to have a field day associating Mamdani with other Democrats. Especially drawing together Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez.

“Who you dine with says a lot about you as an individual. I think it’s two peas in a pod. Two socialists who want to change America for the worse,” said Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo.

“It reinforces how far left Democrats have gone and the radical elements of the party are taking over in the Democratic Party,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich.

But some Democrats – who aren’t from New York – are more than happy to visit with Mamdani. 

“What Mamdani has shown us, a lot of the ways in which we talk about the cost of living. And it’s the same thing that (President) Donald Trump talked about,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. 

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., said he had “vast disagreements” with Mamdani and called him a “socialist.” But Moskowitz said Mamdani’s success offered something Democrats should ponder. 

“He’s had a very good online campaign. So, I’m going to go and listen,” said Moskowitz. “Every district is different. Some of the things that he talks about in the City of New York is not going to work in Boca Raton. Okay. But as far as how you do a digital campaign, I think there’s something to learn from.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But to Republicans, listening to Mamdani is the same as cozying up to him. And Republicans will likely appropriate anything Mamdani does and project it onto Democrats nationwide. 

Unlike in baseball, Democrats can’t trade Mamdani now. They can’t bench him. He’s in their lineup – whether they like it or not. 

Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., and Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, introduced legislation on Tuesday to reform the U.S. immigration system, including offering legal status for certain illegal immigrants to continue working in the country amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies.

The Dignity Act of 2025 would allow illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. since before 2021 the opportunity to apply for up to seven years of legal status with work authorization. The immigrants would pay restitution and check in regularly with the Department of Homeland Security, and their legal status could be renewed based on good conduct and restitution.

The bill would offer a path to permanent residency, but the legal status afforded to the immigrants would not allow for any federal benefits or a path to U.S. citizenship.

“The Dignity Act of 2025 is a revolutionary bill that offers the solution to our immigration crisis: secure the border, stop illegal immigration, and provide an earned opportunity for long-term immigrants to stay here and work,” Salazar said in a statement. “No amnesty. No handouts. No citizenship. Just accountability and a path to stability for our economy and our future.”

MLBPA CHIEF SAYS FOREIGN PLAYERS TOLD TO CARRY DOCUMENTATION TO ‘KEEP THEIR JOB’

The bill would be fully funded through restitution payments and application fees made by immigrants, meaning it will not rely on any taxpayer money.

The measure would also aim to end catch-and-release and further bolster security at the Southern Border as well as require employers across the country to use E-Verify, the government system for checking the legal status of workers.

It would also expand training, apprenticeships, and education for American workers.

The legislation seeks to address the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which has heavily affected farms and food service providers and included raids targeting migrant workers at local businesses, sparking protests in Los Angeles and elsewhere across the U.S. against the president’s mass deportation agenda.

A recent raid on two cannabis facilities in Southern California led to a few hundred migrant arrests and clashes between federal immigration agents and protesters. One person died after the raids and others were critically injured.

HOUSE UNANIMOUSLY VOTES TO MEMORIALIZE TEXAS GIRL ALLEGEDLY SLAIN BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“I have seen firsthand the devastating consequences of our broken immigration system, and as a member of Congress, I take seriously my obligation to propose a solution. Realistic, common-sense compromise is achievable, and is especially important given the urgency of this moment. I consider the Dignity Act of 2025 a critical first step to overhauling this broken system,” Escobar said.

“Immigrants – especially those who have been in the United States for decades – make up a critical component of our communities and also of the American workforce and economy,” she continued. “The vast majority of immigrants are hard-working, law-abiding residents; and, most Americans recognize that it is in our country’s best interest to find bipartisan reforms. We can enact legislation that incorporates both humanity and security, and the Dignity Act of 2025 offers a balanced approach that restores dignity to people who have tried to navigate a broken system for far too long.”

Congress has worked in the past on comprehensive immigration reform, but Salazar and Escobar are optimistic their bill could lead to significant bipartisan support.

A bipartisan group of 20 other House members have already signed onto the bill.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“In conversations across NY-17, I’ve heard a lot of frustration, both from employers struggling to fill jobs and families looking to reunite with their loved ones,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said. “We must do this by fixing our broken legal immigration system, securing our borders, and creating a fair, earned process for those who are already here and contributing. The Dignity Act honors America’s legacy of being a nation of immigrants and that’s why I’m proud to support it.”

The administration has already begun working to provide some protection for certain migrant workers, and Trump said last month he was considering a way for some migrant workers to remain in the U.S.

“We’re working on it right now. We’re going to work it so that some kind of a temporary pass where people pay taxes, where the farmer can have a little control, as opposed to you walk in and take everybody away. What we’re going to do is we’re going to do something for farmers, where we can let the farmer sort of be in charge. The farmer knows. He’s not going to hire a murderer,” Trump said during a June 29 interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Arizona Republicans nominated contractor and small business owner Daniel Butierez in the special primary election to represent Arizona’s 7th congressional district on Tuesday night. 

Because the district spans hundreds of miles along the U.S. border with Mexico, all three Republican candidates made border security a central issue in their campaigns and vowed to carry out President Donald Trump’s robust crackdown on illegal immigration. 

The Republican nominee will challenge the Democrat’s Tuesday night winner, former Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, in the race to replace her father, the late Democratic Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, this November. 

Grijalva died of lung cancer-related complications in March. His more than two decades representing Arizona in the House of Representatives made him one of the state’s longest-serving U.S. representatives. 

TOP DEMOCRATS ADMIT ‘FAILURE,’ FECKLESSNESS ON BORDER IN SCATHING NY TIMES REPORT

His vacancy queued up a competitive Democratic primary, including his daughter, who had endorsements from prominent Democrats, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

DEM’S IMMIGRATION REFORM PLAN ADDS BORDER PATROL AGENTS, OFFERS SELECT MIGRANTS PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP

Also competing in the Democratic primary was social media influencer and progressive activist Deja Foxx, who picked up an endorsement from Leaders We Deserve, David Hogg’s super PAC that stirred up intraparty fighting this year when the former DNC vice chair unveiled his plan to spend $20 million to primary older incumbent Democrats in safe blue districts. 

Former Arizona representative Daniel Hernandez, progressive businessman Patrick Harris Sr. and environmental justice scholar José Malvido Jr., also vied for the Democratic endorsement. 

In a reliably blue district along the U.S. border with Mexico, representing parts of Tuscon, Yuma and Nogales, Butierez is likely to face an uphill battle in the special election this September. 

Grijalva won his re-election by 27 points in 2024, despite Trump defeating former Vice President Kamala Harris by more than five points statewide in Arizona last year. 

Butierez, a contractor and small business owner, received about 37% of the vote as the Republican nominee against Grijalva in 2024. Running again in the special election this year, he has vowed to “fight to keep our border secure, slash taxes where appropriate, and crush the fentanyl crisis destroying Arizona families.”

Also competing in the Republican primary was Jorge Rivas, a Salvadoran-born restaurant owner based in Tucson. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rivas picked up national attention when Trump tweeted a photo of him wearing a “Latinos Love Trump” cowboy hat at a rally in Phoenix during the 2020 presidential election, according to KAWC. He briefly launched a gubernatorial bid in 2022. 

Finally, general contractor and business owner Jimmy Rodriguez ran with a mission “to secure our borders, boost our economy, and empower families across CD7.”

Senate Republicans again coalesced behind President Donald Trump’s multibillion-dollar spending clawback package and propelled the legislation through its final procedural hurdle, again with the aid of Vice President JD Vance. 

Lawmakers will now go back and forth through 10 hours of debate on the bill, where Senate Democrats are expected to bleed time and slam the legislation for its cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting funding.

SENATE GOP AGREE TO STRIP CUTS TO HIV, AIDS PREVENTION PROGRAM FROM TRUMP’S CLAWBACK BILL

Trump’s smaller, $9 billion package passed with nearly all Senate Republicans, while all Senate Democrats voted against it. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were the only Republicans to vote against the bill. 

Once debate has wrapped up on the bill, lawmakers will go through another vote-a-rama, where an unlimited number of amendments can be offered for the bill by either side of the aisle. Democrats will likely try to sideline or derail the package, while the GOP is expected to offer an amendment that would spare about $400 million in international HIV and AIDS funding from the chopping block.

SENATE GOP BRACES FOR TEST VOTE ON TRUMP’S $9.4B CLAWBACK PACKAGE

The carveout for the Bush-era President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was agreed to ahead of the vote and is backed by the White House. Trimming funding from the program rattled some Senate Republicans, who publicly and privately warned they may not support the bill unless a fix was found.

However, slashing the funding cut from the package could prove a tricky sell to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has called on Senate Republicans to not change the bill.

‘GUT CHECK TIME’: DISSENT AMONG SENATE GOP RANKS THREATENS TO REDUCE TRUMP’S SPENDING CUT DEMAND

He’s been joined by fiscal hawks in the House Freedom Caucus, too, who have demanded that the Senate GOP stay the course on the rescissions package and warned that they would have serious issues if changes were made, stopping short of declaring a full-on rebellion against the bill.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., hoped that his colleagues in the lower chamber would play ball and pass the bill ahead of a looming Friday deadline.

“There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue,” he said ahead of the vote. “So, that’s reflected in the substitute, and we hope that if we can get this across the finish line in the Senate that the House will accept that one small modification.”

President Donald Trump’s clawback of billions in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting narrowly passed through its first hurdle in the Senate, but it still faces a rocky road ahead with dissent among the Senate GOP ranks.

Senate GOP leaders hoped that an agreement to carve out $400 million in global HIV and AIDS prevention funding will get some of the holdouts on board. However, doing so shrank the expected cuts from $9.4 billion to $9 billion.

But a trio of Senate Republicans joined with all Senate Democrats to vote against advancing the bill from the Senate Appropriations Committee, which required Vice President JD Vance to cast the deciding vote. 

Trump’s rescissions package would yank bank congressionally approved funding for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting. But some Senate Republicans have sounded the alarm and want changes made to the bill before it reaches the finish line.

SENATE GOP BRACES FOR TEST VOTE ON TRUMP’S $9.4B CLAWBACK PACKAGE

The bill that advanced out of committee Tuesday includes just shy of $8 billion in cuts from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS.

Republicans’ successful test vote comes after huddling with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, who worked to shore up support and apply pressure from the White House to get the ball rolling on the bill.

“We’re fine with adjustments,” Vought said. “This is still a great package, $9 billion, [it’s] substantially the same package, and the Senate has to work its will.”

‘GUT CHECK TIME’: DISSENT AMONG SENATE GOP RANKS THREATENS TO REDUCE TRUMP’S SPENDING CUT DEMAND

While concerns were still raised about other aspects of the spending cuts package during the closed-door meeting, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., believed that carving out the cuts to Bush-era President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) helped ease concerns among lawmakers.

But the changes didn’t sway all Senate Republicans. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, bluntly said “no” when asked if the PEPFAR carveout helped gain her support and argued, “I’d like to do some legislating.” 

“What a crazy thing, what a crazy thing,” she said. “What have we been doing around here? We did a reconciliation bill. We’re doing a rescissions bill. We’re doing nominations. Nominations are important, but let’s, like, legislate.”

And Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she liked the changes but ultimately decided to vote against advancing the bill through its first hurdle. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also joined in to vote against the bill. 

TRUMP’S PLAN TO SLASH ‘WOKE’ FOREIGN AID, NPR FUNDS CLEARS HOUSE AS SENATE BATTLE LOOMS

It now moves to yet another procedural vote, which, if successful, will open up 10 hours of total debate time on the bill and eventually set the stage for a vote-a-rama, where lawmakers on either side of the aisle can offer an unlimited number of amendments to the package.

But, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., made clear that he would prefer the Senate not make any changes to the bill.

However, that request already fell on deaf ears — as it did during the budget reconciliation process that unfolded in the upper chamber last month.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Those demands already have fiscal hawks in the House grumbling, but like the budget reconciliation process before it, an amended rescissions package will likely glide through the House GOP and onto Trump’s desk. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is blaming Democrat politicians and the mainstream media for an 830% increase in assaults on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, saying their “lies and fake stories” continue to stir hate and violence.

DHS announced Tuesday that its ICE officials have faced an 830% increase in assaults between Jan. 21, 2025 and July 14, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. The timeframe recorded begins on the day after President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office.

“Just in: our brave @ICEGov law enforcement are now facing a 830% INCREASE in assault against them,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday in a post on X. “This new data reflects the violence against our law enforcement in cities across the country in the last few weeks. Politicians across the country, regardless of political stripe, must condemn this.”

The DHS accused political figures and the mainstream media of escalating anti-ICE rhetoric, particularly pointing to Congressional Democrats who the department said were caught “doxing and even physically assaulting” officials working for ICE.

NOEM WARNS OF ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ THREAT LEVEL FOR ICE AGENTS, BLAMES ‘LIES’ FROM DEMOCRATS

Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., DHS said, shared an ICE employee’s business card with a violent group of people this week, placing a target on the employee’s back and prompting the mob to attack him.

As a result, the official was hit by a rock and taken to a hospital where he received stitches.

Another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., is accused of storming the Delaney Hall detention facility in May, where she allegedly assaulted an ICE officer. She was indicted on federal assault charges.

DHS: ASSAULTS ON ICE NOW UP NEARLY 700% OVER SAME TIME LAST YEAR

“Brave ICE law enforcement are risking their lives every day to keep our communities safe from the worst of the worst criminals,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “ICE law enforcement are succeeding to remove terrorists, murderers, pedophiles and the most depraved among us from America’s communities, even as crazed rhetoric from gutter politicians are inspiring a massive increase in assaults against them. It is reprehensible that our officers are facing this threat while simply doing their jobs and enforcing the law.”

DHS also pointed to instances in Portland, Oregon, where ICE officers were doxed and threatened by antifa-affiliated groups. The agency said the groups posted pictures and personal addresses of the ICE officers and threatened them and their families.

One officer, DHS noted, had someone show up at their house and dump trash on their lawn, which included signs that read “f–k you” along with the officer’s name.

DHS REVEALS SHOCKING 500% INCREASE IN ASSAULTS AGAINST ICE OFFICERS DURING OPERATIONS

While groups call out ICE agents by name, DHS also accused the mainstream media of publishing false stories about federal immigration enforcement efforts.

“During an enforcement operation where ICE and federal law enforcement rescued 14 children from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking, the media falsely reported that a man died in law enforcement custody,” DHS said. “This was an outright lie. The man was not being pursued by law enforcement but still chose to climb up to the roof of a green house, where he fell 30 feet.”

DHS said some media organizations are also accusing ICE of “targeting” children.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Rather than separate families, ICE asks mothers if they want to be removed with their children or if the child should be placed with someone else safe [who] the parent designates,” DHS said to clear up the reports.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported the lowest number of border crossings in recorded history in June. 
 
Nationwide, there were 25,228 CBP encounters, the lowest monthly number the agency has recorded, including a “historical low” of 8,024 apprehensions. Encounters include legal ports of entry, whereas apprehensions are arrests of those coming into the United States illegally. 
 
At the southern border alone, there were only 6,072 apprehensions in June, which is “15% lower than the previous March record.” June also brought along the lowest number of apprehensions in a day on June 28 with just 136. 

‘TRUMP EFFECT’ TOUTED AS SOUTHERN BORDER NUMBERS STAY LOW, INCLUDING NEW RECORD

“From shutting down illegal crossings to seizing fentanyl and enforcing billions in tariffs, CBP is delivering results on every front. Under this administration, we are protecting this country with relentless focus, and the numbers prove it.” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a press release Wednesday. 
 
Like May, there were no parole releases, compared with 27,766 in 2024.. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE
 
On drug seizures, the department said there was a 3% uptick from last month in fentanyl seizures, with 742 pounds confiscated. Notably, there was a 102% increase in meth seizures from May, a 19% increase in heroin seizures and a 9% increase in cocaine seizures. 

According to the press release, CBP has also collected $108.9 billion in “all tariffs, taxes and fees,” specifically noting the tariffs imposed by the president.

NEW DATA REVEALS BORDER CROSSINGS REACH RECORD LOWS AMID TRUMP ADMIN’S CRACKDOWN

TEXAS BORDER SHERIFF SAYS ILLEGAL CROSSINGS HAVE SEEN ‘DRAMATIC DECLINE’ AS CA MIGRANT CENTER SHUTS DOWN

Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls told Fox News Digital the change has been “peaceful” after a major strain on local resources, like the regional hospital, while crossings were soaring. 
 
Earlier Wednesday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced there was an 830% increase in assaults on ICE agents from last year. This comes as both border and immigration policies have seen major shifts in recent months since the border crisis under the Biden administration. 
 
“This new data reflects the violence against our law enforcement in cities across the country in the last few weeks. Politicians across the country, regardless of political stripe, must condemn this,”  Noem posted to X. 

BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN REVEALS UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS IN TRUMP’S BORDER STRATEGY

As for Border Patrol, a gunman was killed and a local police officer was injured in a shooting in McAllen, Texas. ICE also recently faced a riot at the Prarieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where 12 individuals are facing charges, including some for attempted murder of federal officers. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
 
While the border is considered much quieter, protests and riots against federal immigration authorities amid mass deportation efforts have continued. Democrats in Congress recently introduced the VISIBLE Act to prevent agents from wearing face coverings in most instances and require visible identification. 
 
“When federal immigration agents show up and pull someone off the street in plainclothes with their face obscured and no visible identification, it only escalates tensions and spreads fear while shielding federal agents from basic accountability,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said in a statement July 8. 

Fox News Channel’s Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump believes that former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a solid chance of defeating Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s election for mayor.

“I would think that he would have a good shot at winning,” the president told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, as he referred to Cuomo.

Trump offered his political punditry the day after Cuomo announced that he would continue his mayoral bid as an independent candidate.

The former three-term governor, who is gunning for a political comeback after resigning in 2021 amid multiple scandals, was convincingly defeated last month by Mamdani in the Democratic Party’s mayoral primary.

RNC CHAIR CLAIMS MAMDANI ‘FACE OF THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY’

Mamdani’s primary victory over Cuomo and nine other candidates rocked the Democratic Party, and boosted the Ugandan-born 33-year-old state assemblyman from Queens toward becoming the first Muslim and first millennial mayor of the nation’s most populous city.

Trump said that Cuomo’s “got to run a tough campaign.”

Mamdani, who was backed by progressive champions Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, surged to a primary victory over then-frontrunner Cuomo thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City’s high cost of living.

TRUMP ARGUES NYC FACES DIRE CONSEQUENCES IF ‘COMMUNIST’ MAMDANI BECOMES MAYOR

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.

Trump, in his comments Tuesday, repeated his claim that Mamdani is a “communist.”

“I don’t think that race is over yet. We do have a couple of people running. There are things coming out about him,” Trump added, as he referred to Mamdani.

Republicans have spotlighted recent news items regarding Mamdani that have gone viral. They include a 2020 photo Mamdani posted online that shows him flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus, stories about comments Mamdani made last December when he said as mayor he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his recent comments in a cable news interview that “I have many critiques of capitalism.”

‘IN IT TO WIN IT’: CUOMO REFUSES TO BACK DOWN IN HEATED NYC MAYORAL RACE AGAINST ZOHRAN MAMDANI

Cuomo, during the final days of the primary campaign, shined a spotlight on unrest last month in Los Angeles to raise warnings about Trump, and showcase his own experience. And Cuomo pledged, if elected mayor, to mount a national campaign to try and thwart Trump’s agenda, vowing to protect New York City from what he suggested could be a possible future federal crackdown against immigration protests in the city.

But Mamdani campaign spokesperson Jeffrey Lerner, highlighting Trump’s comments, said on Tuesday that “we would like to congratulate Andrew Cuomo on earning Donald Trump’s endorsement. Obviously, this triumph speaks for itself. The question now is whether Cuomo will embrace Trump’s support publicly or continue to just accept it in private.”

Trump’s apparent vote of confidence in Cuomo comes despite Mayor Eric Adams also being on the general election ballot. The embattled mayor announced earlier this year that he would seek re-election as an independent candidate.

ANDREW CUOMO OPENS UP ON WHY HE LOST THE MAYORAL PRIMARY TO MAMDANI

Adams’ poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged “long-running” scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials.

The mayor made repeated overtures to Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown.

Cuomo, in a video on Monday announcing his decision to stay in the race, said, “Only 13% of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November, and I am in it to win it.”

And Cuomo charged, “My opponent, Mr. Mamdani offers slick slogans but no real solutions.”

While he acknowledged Mamdani’s victory in the primary, Cuomo left the door open to a November run as an independent candidate, which election rules in New York state permit.

And late last month, Cuomo let pass a deadline for candidates who had already qualified to run as independents to decline that independent ballot line.

But sources told Fox News at the time that Cuomo had not committed yet to running an active general election campaign through the summer and into the autumn.

While polling in recent days suggests Mamdani is not running away with the race, Cuomo faces an uphill climb in the general election. In deep blue New York City, the Democratic primary winner is largely favored to win the general election. And some of the unions and elected officials that supported Cuomo in the primary are now backing Mamdani.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Also on the ballot in the general election are Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor running as an independent, and Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee.

Walden has proposed that an independent survey be conducted in September to determine which candidate would have the best shot of defeating Mamdani, with the other candidates agreeing to drop out.

But having Cuomo and Adams agreeing to such a scenario seems remote, as both have urged the other to exit the race.

Fox News’ Courtney De George contributed to this report.

Democratic lawmakers zeroed in on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s role in a Signal group chat during a confirmation hearing for former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to serve as ambassador to the U.N. 

Waltz came under scrutiny after his team set up a Signal group chat to discuss strikes against the Houthis. A journalist from the Atlantic was accidentally included along with other top administration officials, including Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

While Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said it was an “amateurish move” for Waltz’s office to include the journalist, Kaine said that nothing indicated Waltz shared classified information in the chat. 

But Kaine said there are at least two Pentagon investigations underway, one with the Pentagon inspector general and another with the Air Force, to determine whether Hegseth did disclose classified information in the chats when he discussed specific aircraft and times of the strikes. 

‘PROFOUND COWARDICE’: BOOKER SLAMS WALTZ FOR ‘FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP,’ SIGNALGATE ACCOUNTABILITY 

“They haven’t yet reached a conclusion, but they certainly haven’t reached a conclusion that no classified information is shared. Am I wrong about that?” Kaine said of the investigations. 

“I shouldn’t and can’t comment on ongoing investigations,” Waltz said. “What I can do is echo Secretary Hegseth’s testimony that no names, targets, locations, units, route, sources, methods, no classified information.” 

“I got it. I’m sure Secretary Hegseth says he didn’t share any classified information,” Kaine said. “But the fact of the matter is there are two investigations going on at the Pentagon precisely to determine, in an objective and independent way, whether classified information was shared and, a minimum, sharing attack plans with sensitive military information that shouldn’t have been shared.” 

SENATE DEMOCRATS PREDICTING ‘BRUTAL’ UN AMBASSADOR CONFIRMATION HEARING FOR MIKE WALTZ

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Conn., also voiced concerns about the use of the Signal group chat after Waltz doubled down on the Trump administration’s claims that no classified information was communicated over the chat. 

“You were sharing details about an upcoming airstrike and the time of launch and the potential targets,” Coons said. “I mean, this was demonstrably sensitive information.” 

Coons asked Waltz if the former national security advisor had spoken to Hegseth about his decision to share detailed information pertaining to the strike. 

NEXT US NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR? HERE’S WHOM TRUMP MIGHT PICK TO REPLACE WALTZ

“What we spoke about, Senator, was a highly successful mission that did something that the Biden administration did not do, (which) was actually target the Houthi leadership,” Waltz said. 

Lawmakers, including Coons, voiced that they’d hoped Waltz would take ownership of what was discussed in the chat, while Waltz maintained no classified information was shared. 

“I was hoping to hear from you that you had some sense of regret over sharing what was very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app,” Coons said. “That’s not, as we both know, the appropriate way to share such critical information.”  

“Again, Senator, I think we have a fundamental disagreement, as there was no classified information on that chat,” Waltz said. 

The Pentagon declined to provide comment to Fox News Digital. Waltz could not be reached for comment by Fox News Digital. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Waltz previously served as a U.S. congressman from Florida and is a retired Army National Guard colonel and former Green Beret. 

President Donald Trump announced Waltz would leave his role at the White House leading the National Security Council May 1, only to reveal hours later the former Florida congressman’s nomination to represent the U.S. at the U.N.

EXCLUSIVE: The White House is investigating former President Joe Biden’s use of the autopen, with senior administration officials telling Fox News Digital that they already are reviewing tens of thousands of documents turned over by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). 

Officials told Fox News Digital that the White House Counsel’s Office is leading the investigation, but said that they are coordinating with the Justice Department.

BIDEN ONLY HAND-SIGNED ONE PARDON DURING FINAL SPREE, AND IT WAS HIS MOST CONTROVERSIAL ONE

The investigation is focused on communications and other records related to Biden’s use of the autopen.

A senior administration official told Fox News Digital that they are not yet ready to discuss any discoveries, but said that NARA already has provided more than 27,000 records to the White House.

“Joe Biden was the worst, most incompetent, and senile president in our country’s history,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “It has been widely reported that Joe Biden handed the power of the presidency to an autopen controlled by unelected leftist staffers, who were allowed to make terrible decisions that destroyed our country.” 

“The Trump White House is committed to finding the answers to the many outstanding questions the American people still have about how business in the Biden White House was conducted,” she said. 

The official told Fox News Digital that they expect to review upward of one million documents.

As for access to records held by NARA, the official said that each sitting president has access to documents held by the archives from the prior administration.

Senior administration officials told Fox News Digital that the scope of the review covers relevant documents related to Biden’s presidency and use of the autopen over several years, in an effort to bring transparency to the American people regarding the former president’s health.

Officials also said they are specifically reviewing whether there was any policy in place to safeguard the use of the autopen.

“What did the former president direct, versus what he did not,” one official explained. “The only time a legitimate use of the autopen should happen is if the president said he wanted something done, or if he was asked for his approval.”

“This has been a priority for the administration since the beginning,” another official said. “The president’s signature is one of the most important signatures in the world.”

WHAT IS AN AUTOPEN? THE SIGNING DEVICE AT THE HEART OF TRUMP’S ATTACKS ON BIDEN PARDONS

“Was the autopen inappropriately used?” an official asked. “The White House and DOJ are reviewing documents through NARA and expect to do a deep dive on hundreds of thousands more documents.” 

Biden used the autopen to sign a slew of documents while in office. Biden also used the autopen to sign final pardons, including preemptive pardons for members of his family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley and members and staff of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. He only signed one pardon by hand, for his son Hunter, after vowing to the American people for months he would not do so. 

In his final weeks in office, Biden granted clemency and pardoned more than 1,500 individuals, in what the White House described at the time as the largest single-day act of clemency by a U.S. president.

An autopen is a machine that physically holds a pen and features programming to imitate a person’s signature. Unlike a stamp or a digitized print of a signature, the autopen has the capability to hold various types of pens like a ballpoint to a permanent marker, according to descriptions of autopen machines available for purchase. 

“The question is, did Biden surrender his Article II executive authorities to unelected staffers that the American people don’t know, and to a machine that holds the same legal authority as his right hand, because he wasn’t capable of doing the job?” one official said. “Did unelected staffers, radical staffers, use the power of this machine to radically transform America?”

Biden, in a recent interview with the New York Times, defended his use of the autopen, saying that he “made every decision” on his own.

“We’re talking about (granting clemency to) a whole lot of people,” Biden said. 

However, the Times reported that Biden “did not individually approve each name for the categorical pardons that applied to large numbers of people,” according to the former president and his aides.

Congressional committees, like the House Oversight Committee, also are investigating the use of the autopen and Biden’s health while in office. 

TRUMP CLAIMS BIDEN PARDONS ARE ‘VOID,’ ALLEGING THEY WERE SIGNED VIA AUTOPEN

A senior administration official recognized their simultaneous effort, but stressed that the White House Counsel’s investigation is completely separate from the congressional probe. 

Officials told Fox News Digital that the investigation is a “massive effort,” and one that they hope to finish “as soon as possible.” 

“Lawyers are working diligently to get answers,” one official said. “It is important for the American people to know to what extent the media played a cover-up on Biden’s well-being, and which signatures were at his direction and which were at the direction of his staff.” 

The official added: “They elected a president — not a staff.” 

As for Trump, officials told Fox News Digital that he does not use the autopen for anything that could be considered official business.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The only time Trump may use the autopen is for unofficial business, including correspondence, letters for birthdays, or commissioned records for widely shared documents.

“Nothing that would be considered official business,” a White House official told Fox News Digital. “Every executive order signing has been public and the president has signed these documents live and in person.” 

Trump, in June, sent a memo to the Department of Justice directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the autopen use, and to determine whether it was related to a decline in Biden’s mental state.

FIRST ON FOX: The White House rolled out an interactive map of the U.S. showing the savings Americans can expect from initiatives under President Donald Trump‘s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act on a state-by-state basis, Fox News Digital learned Tuesday. 

Trump signed the massive piece of legislation into law on the Fourth of July, touting that its tax cuts will make the U.S. economy similar to a “rocket ship” as Americans begin feeling its effects. 

On Tuesday, the White House published an interactive map of the 50 states that provides breakdowns of how much Americans can expect to save and see in their pocketbooks compared to if the bill had not been passed and signed into law. 

The interactive map focused on data such as: real wage increases, which are understood as the increase to a worker’s income after accounting for inflation; a family’s expected real take-home pay increase; how many seniors benefit from the no tax on Social Security; the percentage of a state’s labor force who are expected to benefit from not paying taxes on tips; the number of jobs protected in a state, and other data. 

TRUMP SIGNS ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL’ BILL IN SWEEPING VICTORY FOR SECOND TERM AGENDA, OVERCOMING DEMS AND GOP REBELS

In California, the nation’s most populated state, residents can expect a real wage increase of $4,900 to $8,800 and a real take-home pay increase of $8,500 to $12,500 for a typical family with two kids, according to the map. 

“A typical family with two children in California can expect to see higher take-home pay of about $8500 to $12500 with OBBB compared to if it was not passed,” states the map, which includes links to more detailed data on any given state. “Around 4% of the labor force is employed in occupations that would likely benefit from the no taxes on tips provision of the OBBB. Around 6.0 million seniors in California could benefit from the no taxes on Social Security provision of the OBBB.”

STEVE MOORE: TRUMP JUST SCORED THE BIGGEST CONSERVATIVE VICTORY IN THREE DECADES

Residents in a Heartland State such as Nebraska can expect a real wage increase of $3,700 to $6,600 and a real take-home pay increase for a typical family with two children of $7,300 to $10,300. The map also touts 300,000 seniors in the Cornhusker State are expected to benefit from the lack of tax on Social Security, and an expected 29% of the state’s labor force is expected to benefit from the lack of tax on overtime pay. 

On the East Coast, residents of New Jersey can expect real wage increases of $5,000 to $9,000, and a real take-home pay increase of $8,600 to $12,700 for typical families with two children, according to the data reviewed by Fox News Digital. New Yorkers can expect a $4,400 to $8,000 real wage increase, and a real take-home pay increase of $8,000 to $11,700, data show.

Trump had been rallying Republican lawmakers to pass the legislation since the early days of his administration this year, as it advances his agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt. 

House and Senate Republicans delivered the legislation to Trump’s desk in July after a hard-fought battle that included a handful of Republicans joining Democrats in their condemnation of the bill, mostly over its increase to the debt limit. 

The bill includes key provisions to permanently establish individual and business tax breaks included in Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and incorporates new tax deductions to cut duties on tips and overtime pay. It also rescinds certain Biden-era green energy tax credits, allocates approximately $350 billion for defense and Trump’s mass deportation efforts, and institutes Medicaid reforms. 

WHITE HOUSE HANDS AMERICANS ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’ CALCULATOR TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH THEY’D SAVE UNDER ACT

“We have officially made the Trump tax cuts permanent,” Trump said during the signing ceremony. “That’s the largest tax cut in the history of our country.… After this kicks in, our country is going to be a rocket ship economically. We’ve delivered no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors.… It makes the child tax credit permanent for 40 million American families.… The Golden Age of America is upon us.”

NEW PROJECTION SIGNALS GOOD NEWS FOR FAMILIES, WORKERS IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised the bill in an opinion piece published on Fox News Digital earlier in July, celebrating that Americans can expect to keep “an additional $4,000 to $7,200 in annual real wages.”

“The bill prevents a $4.5 trillion tax hike on the American people. This will allow the average worker to keep an additional $4,000 to $7,200 in annual real wages and allow the average family of four to keep an additional $7,600 to $10,900 in take-home pay. Add to this the president’s ambitious deregulation agenda, which could save the average family of four an additional $10,000. For millions of Americans, these savings are the difference between being able to make a mortgage payment, buy a car, or send a child to college,” he wrote in an op-ed published on the 4th of July. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“The One Big Beautiful Bill also codifies no tax on tips and no tax on overtime pay – both policies designed to provide financial relief to America’s working class. These tax breaks will ensure Main Street workers keep more of their hard-earned income. And they will bolster productivity by rewarding Americans who work extra hours. All Americans can learn how President Trump’s tax cuts will impact their lives for the better with a new White House calculator,” he added. 

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Aleandra Koch contributed to this report. 

A bipartisan duo bent on imposing strict sanctions against Russia are giving President Donald Trump some runway after his latest, hardened stance against Moscow.

Senators Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have pressed for stringent sanctions against Russia and its energy trade partners, and they have been working to refine their bill to meet requirements from the White House that give Trump more flexibility.

The bill had been sidelined by congressional Republicans’ push to pass the president’s “big, beautiful bill” and had been eyed for a vote possibly by the end of the month.

RUSSIA SANCTIONS BILL GAINS STEAM AS WHITE HOUSE APPEARS TO CHANGE TONE ON PUTIN

But Trump’s announcement that he would levy 100% tariffs against Moscow unless Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to end the war with Ukraine has likely again stalled that plan, and the bipartisan pair isn’t mad about it.

“It sounds like right now the president is going to attempt to do some of this on his own,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters. “If at some point the president concludes that it makes sense and adds value and leverage that he needs in those negotiations to move the bill, then we’ll do it. We’ll be ready to go.”

WHITE HOUSE TAKES INTEREST IN PROPOSED RUSSIAN SANCTIONS AS UKRAINE WAR PEACE TALKS DRAG ON

The president’s warning came after he agreed to sell weapons to NATO, which, in turn, would be sent to Ukraine to resupply their dwindling stocks.

“We’re pleased that the president sort of buys into that way of doing business. We’ll continue to work with the White House to see if we can provide him a tool that Congress has been working on,” Graham said.  

Their bill would slap up to 500% tariffs on countries buying energy products from Moscow in a bid to kneecap Russia’s war machine by imposing duties on oil, gas, uranium and other exports, largely purchased by China and India, which account for nearly three-quarters of Moscow’s energy business.

MASSIVE RUSSIA SANCTIONS PACKAGE STALLS AS TRUMP PUSHES FOR UKRAINE PEACE TALKS

But that doesn’t mean that work on the bill has ceased. Graham noted that having Congress’ blessing “is good for the president” and could help him legally and politically.

“But between the weapons flowing and sanctions through tariffs on the table, I think we can say today was a game changer that we’ve been waiting on and hoping for, and on day 51 you want to know what happens,” Graham said. “Call the Ayatollah.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Blumenthal lauded Trump’s shift and gave him credit “for seeing through the mocking and flouting by Vladimir Putin.” He argued that the bill, which has dozens of co-sponsors in the Senate and backing by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had already made an impact and noted that Trump’s move was like a “hammer.”  

“Our bill is a sledgehammer,” Blumenthal said. 

House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed Anthony Bernal, who served as chief of staff for first lady Jill Biden and as an assistant to President Joe Biden, to testify at a deposition Wednesday.

Bernal refused to appear for a transcribed interview on June 26 as part of the Oversight Committee’s investigation into the alleged cover-up of Biden’s mental decline and potentially unauthorized use of autopen for pardons and other executive actions.

He had previously confirmed he would appear for the interview, but when the White House Counsel’s Office notified him it was waiving executive privilege, Bernal said he would no longer appear for the interview.

“It’s abundantly clear that Anthony Bernal – Jill Biden’s so-called ‘work husband’ – never intended to be transparent about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and the ensuing cover-up. With no privilege left to hide behind, Mr. Bernal is now running scared, desperate to bury the truth,” Comer said. 

EX-DNC INSIDER REVEALS ‘PUPPET MASTERS’ WHO RAN THE BIDEN WHITE HOUSE

Two recent books about the Biden administration have painted an unflattering picture of Bernal’s political rise. 

FORMER BIDEN AIDE ANTHONY BERNAL SUBPOENAED BY HOUSE COMMITTEE AFTER REFUSING TO APPEAR FOR DEPOSITION

By proxy, the first lady’s top aide became one of the most influential people in the White House, according to “Original Sin,” a book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson. 

“He would not be welcome at my funeral,” a longtime Biden aide told the authors. 

Operating in a White House anchored in loyalty, Bernal wielded loyalty as a weapon to weed out the defectors, Tapper and Thompson said. 

And Bernal earned a reputation for trash-talking fellow aides, as “some even described him as the worst person they had ever met,” Tapper and Thompson said. 

Jill Biden and Bernal worked in tandem, keeping score of “who was with them and against them,” according to Tapper and Thompson. 

A former White House staffer fired back against Tapper and Thompson’s allegations about Bernal in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

“A lot of vignettes in this book are either false, exaggerated, or purposefully omit viewpoints that don’t fit the narrative they want to push. Anthony was a strong leader with high standards and a mentor to many. He’s the type of person you want on a team – he’s incredibly strategic, effective, and cares deeply about the people he manages,” the former White House staffer said in May. 

“2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” released last week by Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdor of The Washington Post, outlines how Bernal’s political influence grew alongside Jill Biden. 

WHO IS ANTHONY BERNAL?: THE ‘INDISPENSABLE’ BIDEN AIDE DITCHING HOUSE OVERSIGHT PROBE ON HIS MENTAL DECLINE

“He quickly bonded with Jill Biden and never left her side, becoming unflinchingly loyal to her and using his proximity to her to exert power wherever he decided. It was often unclear if the opinion he was expressing was his own or the first lady’s. Sometimes, when donors or voters asked her questions, Bernal would jump in to answer,” the authors said. 

Lindy Li, a former DNC fundraiser and Democratic insider who had a front-row seat to Biden’s presidency, told Fox News Digital, “People like Anthony Bernal. I saw him running the White House like he was in charge, like he was a king. It’s just so amazing now to see him dodge a subpoena and completely dodge accountability. He can run, but he can’t hide. His name is going to go down in infamy forever.”

Li said Bernal “followed Jill around like a dog.” However, Li clarified that he ran the East Wing more than the West Wing. She said Bernal was among those running the White House during Biden’s presidency.

Democratic strategist Michael LaRosa, who served as press secretary to Jill Biden, told Fox News Digital that, “No one spent more time, whether it was in the motorcade, on the plane, in the private residence at the White House, Camp David, and at both houses in Delaware, nobody spent more personal time around them and their family and the Biden family than Anthony.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Bernal and a Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on this article. 

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, was praised for the role he played in the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill. However, the congressman says this is the beginning, not the end, of spending reforms.

“We will never be able to get a balanced budget or even put our country on a path to a balanced budget and a sustainable fiscal trajectory in one reconciliation bill,” Arrington told Fox News Digital. “We’re too far down the broken road of bad and irresponsible fiscal behavior. We’re too deep in the debt hole for one bill to do it.”

Arrington, whom House Speaker Mike Johnson called the “the lead budget hawk in the House,” said he is “obsessed” with tackling deficit spending, which he sees as the biggest threat to America’s future. He believes that addressing the nation’s situation in an effective way means creating the “conditions for growing the economy.”

HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOWCASE THEY ‘TOOK ACTION’ WITH PASSAGE OF TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

“So, the pro-growth policies, the tax cuts, the work incentives, opening up our energy assets and deregulating the energy economy, all of those pro- growth policies will reignite economic growth. And that is the foundation for our country’s fiscal health and just about everything else: our military prowess, our global leadership, our way of life,” Arrington said.

The Big Beautiful Bill’s journey to President Donald Trump’s desk was not pretty, as the legislation received criticism from both sides of the aisle and caused tension among Republicans. 

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

Elon Musk, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and others argued that it did not take adequate measures to cut government spending. Arrington said he respects Massie and Musk — as well as other critics — but believes that the risk of losing the “good things” in the bill was too high. In the end, the Texas lawmaker sees the tradeoff as “permanent pro-growth tax policy” in exchange for the extra spending in the legislation.

“I think there’s a big gap in information — and accurate information. Part of it is you’ve got the Congressional Budget Office putting out these big numbers… two and a half or three trillion dollars in additional deficit that would be added to the national debt over the 10-year budget window as a result of this bill. That is just patently false. It’s completely inaccurate,” Arrington said, adding that they fail to “consider economic growth and the revenue that will flow back into the treasury when you have pro-growth policies.”

SCOTT BESSENT: PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ WILL UNLEASH PARALLEL PROSPERITY

Trump signed the bill on his self-imposed July 4 deadline, just one day after the House passed the final version of the $3.3 trillion legislation. 

Before signing the bill, the president said it would “fuel massive economic growth” and “lift up the hard-working citizens who make this country run.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

So, what’s next on the budget chairman’s agenda? Just one thing — or three, as he said to Fox News Digital, “spending cuts, spending cuts and spending cuts.”

“We didn’t get into this mess overnight, we won’t get out of it overnight, but we’ll never get out if we don’t start exercising the political will to do what we all say in our campaigns,” Arrington told Fox News Digital. “I think we established a great model for restoring fiscal health, and we just have to continue to repeat it and do it in even more dramatic fashion in the future.”

Senate Republicans are gearing up to advance a multibillion-dollar clawback package from President Donald Trump, but dissent among the ranks threatens to stymie the process.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., intends to put Trump’s $9.4 billion rescissions package, which would scrape back congressionally approved funding for a variety of so-called “woke” programs that fund foreign aid and public broadcasting.

‘GUT CHECK TIME’: DISSENT AMONG SENATE GOP RANKS THREATENS TO REDUCE TRUMP’S SPENDING CUT DEMAND

However, a handful of Senate Republicans have raised a fuss over $8.3 billion in cuts from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS.

The bill is expected to have its first test vote on Tuesday, but questions remain about whether Thune has the votes.

Senate Republicans are set to meet with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, who became a near-constant presence on the Hill during the budget reconciliation process, in a bid to shore up support among concerned lawmakers.

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

Publicly, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., have all expressed reservations about the package, particularly over proposed cuts to the Bush-era President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the public broadcasting fund.

Thune can only afford to lose three votes and will receive no help from Senate Democrats in another hyper-partisan process.

TRUMP’S PLAN TO SLASH ‘WOKE’ FOREIGN AID, NPR FUNDS CLEARS HOUSE AS SENATE BATTLE LOOMS

An amendment process coming in the form of another vote-a-rama is expected, but changing the bill could have consequences in the House, where Republicans are warning their colleagues in the upper chamber to stomach the clawbacks as proposed by the White House.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Thune said he and his leadership team have been discussing issues with the package and trying to make possible changes to the legislation before it hits the floor.

“I’m fine with it as is, but I think we have colleagues who would like to see some perhaps modest changes made, so we’re trying to find out if there’s a path forward that gets us 51 and stays consistent,” he told reporters. 

EXCLUSIVE – Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s stunning Democratic Party primary victory in the nation’s most populous city appears to be the gift that keeps on giving for Republicans aiming to paint Democrats as extreme radicals.

When asked if Mamdani is giving the GOP extra ammunition in their messaging battle, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley answered “absolutely.”

“I mean, this is the face of the new Democratic Party,” Whatley said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. 

Whatley argued that “everybody who wants to lead that party wants to lead it to the left….they’re moving away from the American public right now at a pretty rapid clip.”

REPUBLICANS RELENTLESSLY USE MAMDANI AS ‘SOCIALIST’ CUDGEL TO BASH VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS

Mamdani, who convincingly topped former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates last month to capture the New York City Democratic mayoral nomination and take a big step toward becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor, is giving Republicans plenty of fodder.

He’s 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.

TRUMP ARGUES NYC FACES DIRE CONSEQUENCES IF ‘COMMUNIST’ MAMDANI BECOMES MAYOR

Also fueling the Republican attacks are recent news items that have gone viral. They include a 2020 photo Mamdani posted online that shows him flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus, stories about comments Mamdani made last December when he said as mayor he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his recent comments in a cable news interview that “I have many critiques of capitalism.”

Republicans have been relentless in trying to anchor Mamdani to Democrats across the country who are running in competitive races in elections this year and in next year’s midterms.

“He certainly is going to fit right into that upper echelon of Democrats who are vying for a lead in that party,” Whatley said of Mamdani. He claimed that “they’re just unabashedly in that radical woke part of the party.”

Pointing to last year’s elections, when the Republicans won back the White House and Senate and held onto their razor-thin House majority, Whatley argued that “every single candidate right now on the Democratic side of the aisle is buying into the same failed agenda that they lost with in 2024.”

‘IN IT TO WIN IT’: CUOMO REFUSES TO BACK DOWN IN HEATED NYC MAYORAL RACE AGAINST ZOHRAN MAMDANI

Additionally, Democrats question the effectiveness of the GOP push.

They argue that there’s a world of difference between heavily blue New York City, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a roughly six-to-one margin, and some key battleground states and swing districts across the country.

Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, a Democrat, told reporters the day after Mamdani’s victory that “I love New York, but it’s a very liberal place, and I don’t know that you can necessarily apply that to the rest of the country.”

In the high-profile 2026 race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Republican candidate and former Sen. Scott Brown went up last week with a digital ad that edits a picture of Rep. Chris Pappas, the Democratic candidate in the race, alongside photos of Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive rock star who backed Mamdani.

Pappas, speaking with Fox News Digital last week, said, “Republicans have spent tens of millions of dollars running attack ads against me through the years trying to paint me as someone that I’m not.”

“People know me. They know the work that I’ve been doing. They know that I’m one of the most bipartisan members of the House of Representatives because I believe in solving problems and getting things done,” Pappas said. “I’m a New Hampshire Democrat. I’m proud of my track record in Congress.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Pappas was joined on the campaign trail by longtime Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who spent plenty of time in New Hampshire ahead of her third-place finish in the state’s 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

“It’s about New Hampshire. They’re going to do this in all these races across the country. They try to attach people. People have never even met some of these people. And they keep doing it,” Klobuchar told Fox News when asked about the Republican ad anchoring Mamdani to Pappas. “To me this is about what’s going on for the people of this state.”