NationalWatch

Dr. Kevin O’Connor made a house call this week.

Specifically to the House of Representatives.

O’Connor served as President Biden’s physician. The House Oversight Committee wanted to talk to O’Connor about whether Biden was fit to serve as president. So House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., issued a subpoena for O’Connor.

The doctor was in.

But not for very long.

After 20 minutes behind closed doors with Comer and company, the deposition concluded. Committee attorneys peppered O’Connor with questions about whether he thought former President Biden was up to the job and if he was asked to lie about the commander in chief’s health. But Comer got the same response each time. Even when committee lawyers posed a simple question, asking O’Connor if he understood the proceedings.

REPUBLICANS NAVIGATE POST-VICTORY AGENDA AFTER TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ BECOMES LAW

O’Connor deployed his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination each time. The committee even took the rare step of releasing a video from most of the deposition the same evening.

“Most people invoke the Fifth when they have criminal liability. And you know, that’s what it would appear (to be) on the surface here,” said Comer after the deposition concluded. “The American people have a right to know the health condition of the president. Both physical and mental.”

Comer observed that O’Connor’s silence “adds more fuel to the fire that there was a cover-up.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Tex., was the only Democrat who showed up for the deposition. Crockett just bowed out a few weeks ago from a bid to become the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee after the death of late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

“It was important to make sure that a Democrat was in the room. Because unfortunately, sometimes people like to cherry pick and make sure that they can give whatever fits their narrative,” said Crockett.

But the video revealed O’Connor repeatedly citing the Fifth Amendment “on the advice of counsel.” That’s why Comer hoped to shape one narrative about the health of former President Biden. Comer also suggested the potential lengths that O’Connor was willing to go to in order to protect the former president. And perhaps himself.

Crockett was incredulous at Comer’s assertions.

“It’s kind of astounding to hear someone say, if you invoke the Fifth Amendment, that is only because you are guilty,” said Crockett. “(Republicans) have been very good at rallying people up and getting them emotional because they don’t fully understand some of our processes.”

Crockett added that patients “have the right to confidentiality when it comes to your health care.”

The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the use of the autopen by Biden. O’Connor’s lawyers say that led their client to exercise his Fifth Amendment rights.

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“We want to emphasize that asserting the Fifth Amendment privilege does not imply that Dr. O’Connor has committed any crime,” said his legal team.

And the statement also indicated there was concern about O’Connor keeping medical information of the First Patient in confidence.

“The Committee has indicated that it will demand that Dr. O’Connor reveal, without any limitations, confidential confirmation regarding his medical examinations, treatment and care of President Biden,” read the statement. “Revealing confidential patient information would violate the most fundamental ethical duty of a physician.”

His attorneys went on to say that O’Connor could face “civil liability” and “revocation” of his medical license.

Regardless, O’Connor wasn’t answering any questions anywhere. Inside the meeting room. Heading to the meeting room. Or heading home.

“Will you invoke the Fifth? What about patient doctor confidentiality?” yours truly asked O’Connor as he navigated a third-floor hallway in the Rayburn House Office Building with a small coterie of attorneys. “Do you think (President Biden) was up to the job? Do you think he was up to serve?”

No response.

O’Connor reprised his reticence on the way out.

“Did you take the Fifth because you’re trying to cover up what the President’s state was?” I asked as he departed down a Rayburn stairwell.

Nothing.

The statement from the physician’s counsel declared that the pact between doctors and patients “require that Dr. O’Connor refuse to testify.”

This is a question which vexes even doctors who double as lawmakers.

Such is the case with Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. He’s an OB-GYN.

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“I can see both sides of it. I can certainly see, as a physician, you take an oath of confidentiality with every patient. If there’s a national security issue, does that outweigh that relationship?” pondered Marshall. “I would really have to think about that. I want to get a couple of consults myself and talk to some constitutional lawyers.”

But aside from the Constitutional, ethical and medical questions, Democrats reverted to defending the former president.

I asked Crockett if she ever perceived health problems with the president.

“No. None. No. None. I had none. Now, granted, I didn’t see Joe Biden every single day. But I did have an opportunity to interact with the president. I never had a concern,” said Crockett. “He may get fumbled up by words. But that’s not anything new. And it’s not anything that (didn’t come) with age.”

There had been discussion about getting O’Connor to cooperate without a subpoena. Comer contends his investigation isn’t about plowing some of the same Biden political fields explored a couple of years ago when it was thought the former president might seek a second term. This isn’t about business dealings or Burisma or “influence peddling.” But Comer is posing a legitimate question here about the fitness of a president. Any president. Regardless of what Crockett says, there are plenty of questions about Mr. Biden’s acuity and whether staff made decisions – in lieu of the president.

And these questions aren’t new when it comes to presidential health. President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke during his time in office. Historians believe First Lady Edith Wilson made decisions on behalf of the president. Questions lingered about President Ronald Reagan. And the Washington press corps was complicit hiding the infirmaries of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from the public in an era before television and social media.

The committee wheels in other former Biden figures in the coming days. That includes former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain and Anthony Bernal, a top aide to former First Lady Jill Biden.

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Because of patient-doctor confidentiality, we may never know O’Connor’s true analysis of former President Biden. It’s a problem because the public deserves to know if the commander in chief is up to the job.

But there’s a special relationship between a patient and their doctor.

The question is whether issues of national security and the administration of government outweigh those private rights.

President Donald Trump on Saturday defended Attorney General Pam Bondi as doing a “fantastic job” after she came under fire from some Trump supporters over the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. 

“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’ They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a fantastic job,” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on Truth Social on Saturday. “We’re on one team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.” 

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He continued to question why people were “giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden administration.”  

“LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE’S GREAT! The 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen, and they tried to do the same thing in 2024 — That’s what she is looking into as AG, and much more. One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it’s the “HOTTEST” Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Saturday that charges against a doctor accused of destroying COVID-19 vaccines and giving children fake shots at their parents’ request have been dropped. 

“At my direction @TheJusticeDept has dismissed charges against Dr. Kirk Moore,” Bondi wrote on X. “Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so. He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today.” 

Moore, whose trial got underway Monday, was facing decades in prison for allegedly destroying more than $28,000 in COVID-19 vaccines and fraudulently completing and distributing hundreds of vaccination record cards. 

The Utah-based plastic surgeon was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2023. 

FBI’S DAN BONGINO THINKING OF RESIGNING AFTER CLASH WITH AG PAM BONDI OVER EPSTEIN FILES: SOURCE

Prosecutors say Moore and his three co-defendants ran a scheme out of Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah Inc. to “defraud the United States and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).” 

On Tuesday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she was writing a letter to the Justice Department to urge it to drop charges against Moore. 

“This man is a hero, not a criminal,” she contended on X. “The charges were filed under Biden’s DOJ, not Trump.”

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also praised Moore on X in April, writing, “Dr. Moore deserves a medal for his courage and his commitment to healing!”

Greene thanked Bondi on Saturday. 

“Thank you AG Pam Bondi for dropping the WRONGFUL charges against Dr. Kirk Moore!” she wrote on X. “We can never again allow our government to turn tyrannical under our watch. Thankfully, as soon as I told Pam Bondi about Dr. Moore’s case she swiftly moved to drop the charges against him. This is a big win!”

Bondi wrote that getting the charges against Moore dropped would not have been possible without Greene, “who brought this case to my attention. She has been a warrior for Dr. Moore and for ending the weaponization of government.”

Bondi’s actions come as some supporters of President Trump are calling for her resignation after the Justice Department and FBI on Sunday released a joint review that ended theories about an alleged Jeffrey Epstein client list, concluding there was no such list detailing the names of the world’s elite who allegedly took part in Epstein’s history as a sexual predator.

PROSECUTORS TIED TO JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT CASES FIRED BY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: REPORTS

The DOJ also concluded the disgraced financier committed suicide in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting further sex trafficking charges. 

Public outrage ensued after the release of a prison surveillance video that the administration used to prove that no one entered Epstein’s cell in the hours leading up to his death.

The 10-hour video, though, has one minute missing, which has fueled conspiracy theories that the administration is participating in a cover-up involving Epstein’s death.

“President Trump is proud of Attorney General Bondi’s efforts to execute his Make America Safe Again agenda, restore the integrity of the Department of Justice, and bring justice to victims of crime. The continued fixation on sowing division in President Trump’s Cabinet is baseless and unfounded in reality,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt siad.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is also considering resigning over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files after a heated argument with Bondi this week, a source told Fox News Digital this week.

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Bongino has not been seen in his office since Wednesday, a source said, adding he has yet to make a final decision about his future. 

Fox News’ Amanda Macias, David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report. 

Butler, Pa. – One year after an assassin’s near-miss attempt on President Donald Trump, many who witnessed the shooting firsthand say they remain deeply dissatisfied with official investigations, which they believe have failed to provide meaningful answers.

“I’m highly dissatisfied with the lack of preparation,” said Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., who was seated in the front row at the rally. “The failures were almost unbelievable,” he told Fox News Digital, echoing a widespread view that the breach was the result of avoidable missteps by law enforcement.

Despite probes by multiple federal agencies and a formal congressional investigation, both local residents and lawmakers say they’re still left wondering what went wrong.

“The task force was bipartisan. And frankly, I don’t think to this day they’ve gotten all the answers,” Meuser said.

ONE YEAR AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, BUTLER WIDOW DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY FROM SECRET SERVICE

Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was killed by law enforcement at the scene. Since then, the Secret Service has undergone a series of high-profile shakeups.

A congressional select committee found in its report a “lack of planning and coordination between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners,” adding that the agency had been alerted to Crooks’ suspicious movements for over 10 minutes before he fired a shot.

But for those who were there, major questions remain:

What was Crooks’ motive? Why weren’t agents stationed on a nearby pitched roof? Why was Crooks’ presence on top of the AGR building not acted on sooner? How was he able to fire eight rounds before being neutralized by a Secret Service countersniper?

In the absence of concrete answers, some attendees have drawn their own speculative conclusions.

“There were certain stock transactions that transpired right beforehand,” one rally-goer said.

“CNN never airs Trump’s rallies. Why did they air this one?” another asked. (CNN has said it aired the Butler rally in anticipation of Trump announcing his vice presidential pick.)

WHO WAS THOMAS CROOKS? ONE YEAR LATER, MOTIVE AND MISSED WARNINGS HAUNT TRUMP RALLY SHOOTING

“I don’t think it was [Crooks],” another witness claimed. “Nobody that went to school with him believes he could have engineered that kind of event.”

Zach Scherer, a Butler local who has worked on all three of Trump’s presidential campaigns, voiced ongoing skepticism.

“We don’t know anything about this kid from Bethel Park,” he said. “The Comperatore family needs answers. The rest of the community does too. It affected every single person who was here.”

Corey Comperatore, a local firefighter, was killed during the shooting.

“Investigations that were already done are very inconclusive,” said Erin Autenreith, a GOP activist and rally attendee from Glenshaw, Pennsylvania. “There’s just so much technology now – these videos have such high resolution they can actually see the bullets.”

“The American people, they don’t trust the investigations,” she added. “Nobody believes it. So I don’t think it’s good.”

Jim Hulings, chairman of the Butler County GOP, criticized Pennsylvania officials for what he called apathy toward the case. He singled out both the Republican district attorney and state attorney general.

SECRET SERVICE CHANGES THE AGENCY HAS MADE POST-TRUMP BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

“Murder was never investigated,” Hulings said. “We asked for the district attorney to call for a grand jury. He wouldn’t do it. We gave him a letter and 8,000 signatures on a petition. He still wouldn’t do it.”

“The AG doesn’t really care either,” Hulings added. “We got Dave Sunday elected, and he went persona non grata.”

Some argue the investigation should be elevated to the federal level, given its national implications.

But longtime rally-goers agreed on one thing: a scant security presence was noticeable from the start of the day in Butler last year. 

“All the other rallies I’d been to, there was Secret Service everywhere, so I just assumed they were going to be there. And they weren’t,” said Lucie Roth. 

“There was no counter sniper teams visible. There was no drones. There was no helicopters,” said Hulings. “Very few police.” 

A number of factors have been blamed: technical issues with drones, high temperatures prompting Secret Service to seek refuge in the air conditioning, a force that was spread thin by long hours and unexpected overtime. 

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A Senate report found that key resource requests were denied, and some were not even made: Secret Service did not request a surveillance team to help patrol the rally of 15,000 attendees, while an event for first lady Jill Biden had one assigned for her event of 400 individuals roughly an hour away.

Until a fuller picture emerges, those who lived through that harrowing day say they won’t stop pushing for accountability – not just for Trump, but for Comperatore and a shaken community still seeking closure.

Sens. Alex Padilla and Cory Booker, two of the leading Capitol Hill critics of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, introduced legislation this week that would require immigration enforcement officers to clearly identify themselves without masks, leaving senators divided.

Republicans on Capitol Hill dismissed the Democrats’ bill, telling Fox News Digital that immigration agents should be allowed to wear masks to conceal their identities and protect their personal safety. 

“I do think they should be allowed to wear masks, because not only have the ICE agents been threatened, but their families and their children are being threatened. When you have those kinds of threats to your family, just because you’re doing your job and enforcing the law, you ought to be able to protect your identity,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers typically wear face coverings during illegal immigration raids and arrests to protect their identity. 

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Padilla, who was handcuffed for disrupting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference last month, and Booker, a consistent critic of Trump, proposed the Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement (VISIBLE) Act of 2025. 

TRUMP SEETHES THAT DEMS FLOATING BILL REQUIRING THE UNMASKING OF ICE, CBP AGENTS MUST ‘HATE’ AMERICA

Federal immigration law enforcement officers have been targeted since Trump signed his “big, beautiful bill” – which includes legislation for robust immigration reform – into law last Friday. There have been at least two ambushes in Texas, and protesters clashed with federal officers at the Portland, Oregon, ICE facility. 

Anti-ICE rhetoric intensified in June, when federal officials descended on Los Angeles to conduct raids to deport illegal immigrants, which was met by protests that devolved into riots last month. 

“When there are other people calling for violent attacks on ICE agents, why wouldn’t the ICE agent wear a mask? And it’s not just the ICE agents. It’s his family. You can follow them home, attack his family,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said when asked about the new legislation. 

“Let’s not be naive,” he added. “This is an attempt to intimidate the ICE agent. It’s about nothing more than that.”

But Democrats have a different take.

“That’s what you see in a fascist state,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., told Fox News Digital about masked agents. “We are not a fascist state. We are ‘We the People’ and we need to make sure that people are accountable.”

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said, “They should be clearly identified. What’s their agency? Who are they?”

Booker and Padilla’s bill would also require all federal agents to clearly display their agency name or initials and their name or badge number. 

“No masks and clear identification of an ICE agent, I think, promotes safety,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., added. 

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, agreed. “Law enforcement should identify themselves,” she said.

Trump weighed in on the new legislation this week, telling Fox News’ Peter Doocy that Booker and Padilla wouldn’t be proposing this bill “if they didn’t hate our country.”

“These officers are doing a tremendous job,” he continued. “They’re great patriots.”

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But Booker fired back on X, writing, “We love America, and love keeping Americans safe. Which is why we introduced the Visible Act that requires ICE agents to wear identifiable badges and conduct their duties unmasked. It’s a fact that policies centered around transparency and accountability are effective in making communities, and law enforcement safer all around.”

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.

While the 2024 assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, has resulted in a host of changes to bolster the Secret Service’s security practices, the agency has its work cut out for it in an era of unprecedented threats against the president, according to former Secret Service agents. 

Trump faces a plethora of threats, ranging from violent extremists backed by proxy groups, to domestic actors inspired to incite violence amid heightened political rhetoric, according to experts.

“No U.S. president has been under so much threat of violence,” Bill Gage, who served as a Secret Service special agent during Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s administrations, told Fox News Digital Wednesday. “The threat on President Trump is the greatest that any president has ever faced.”

ONE YEAR AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, BUTLER WIDOW DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY FROM SECRET SERVICE

Twenty-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Trump from a rooftop during the rally — with one of the eight bullets shot grazing Trump’s ear. In addition to injuring two people, the gunman also shot and killed Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father and husband attending the rally. 

Months later, another man was apprehended and charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Both incidents are under investigation. 

Political rhetoric from the left that paints Trump as a threat to democracy is dangerous and could provide fodder for political radicals to believe assassinating the president is the way to save the country — potentially leading to a similar assassination attempt seen in Pennsylvania, Gage said.

Other factors contributing to the heightened threat levels include policies related to immigration or funding cuts from the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that are unpopular with the left, as well as hostile proxy groups who are backed by actors like Iran who oppose Trump, Gage said. 

“That increases the threat level on Trump,” Gage said. “There’s probably dozens and dozens of threats every day, just sort of insider threats, or threats within our own borders that the Secret Service has to run down.” 

Specifically, Gage pointed to comments from leaders like Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who delivered an address to the nation in June where he claimed “democracy is under assault,” following the Trump administration’s decision to dispatch thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to respond to the immigration riots in the Golden State and place them under federal command, rather than state command. 

“Right now there is someone out there reading Newsom’s quotes, someone who wishes President Trump harm,” Gage said in an email in June to Fox News Digital. “It is up to the USSS to stop them. Hopefully those wishing the President harm will not slip through the cracks.”

A spokesperson for Newsom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Trump isn’t the only subject that’s a potential target for politically motivated violence. 

Attacks against federal immigration officials are on the rise and a gunman opened fire against Border Patrol agents Monday at an annex in McAllen, Texas. Authorities have yet to identify a motive. 

However, lawmakers have not minced their words on Trump’s immigration agenda. In June, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., accused ICE of acting “like a terrorist force” — comments she has since defended. 

Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., who oversees the House Homeland Security committee’s subcommittee on border security and enforcement, said in a Wednesday statement to Fox News Digital that “radical anti-law enforcement rhetoric” has prompted the surge in violence against federal immigration officials.  

TRUMP CHIEF OF STAFF SUSIE WILES RECOUNTS BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, THOUGHT PRESIDENT WAS DEAD AT FIRST

Meanwhile, threats continue to change, creating additional challenges for security forces like the Secret Service as they adapt. 

Although the Secret Service is taking action to enhance its security measures, the agency still faces “considerable vulnerabilities given the rising complexity and sophistication of the threats it faces,” Tim Miller, who served as a Secret Service agent during Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s administrations, said in an email Wednesday to Fox News Digital.

“The FBI has consistently warned about homegrown violent extremists, which remains a major concern,” Miller said. 

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While Miller characterized Butler as a “wake-up” call for the Secret Service and said the incident is sharpening the agency’s ability to handle threats, there is still a lot of work that must be done, he said. 

“The Secret Service is also still playing catch-up when it comes to adopting critical technology — especially in the areas of secure communications, drone surveillance, and real-time intelligence tools,” Miller said. “These are not luxuries; they are vital to modern protective operations.”

A bipartisan House task force that investigated the attack found that the attempted assassination was “preventable,” and determined various mistakes were not an isolated incident. 

At the top of the list of mistakes, the report identified that the Secret Service did not secure a “high-risk area” next to the rally, the American Glass Research (AGR) grounds and building complex. Failure to secure this area “eventually allowed Crooks to evade law enforcement, climb on and traverse the roof of the AGR complex, and open fire.” 

Other faults the task force found included handing over advance planning roles to inexperienced Secret Service personnel, along with various technology and communication breakdowns. 

“Moreover, relevant threat information known by members of the intelligence community was not escalated to key personnel working the rally,” the House task force said in its report. 

As a result, the agency has spearheaded a series of reforms. 

JOURNALIST WHO REFUSED TO DUCK DURING TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT REFLECTS ON BUTLER RALLY IN NEW BOOK

According to former Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe, immediate changes to the agency following Butler, Pennsylvania, included expanding the use of drones for surveillance purposes, and also incorporating greater counter-drone technology to mitigate kinetic attacks from other drones. 

The agency also overhauled its radio communications networks and interoperability of those networks with Secret Service personnel, and state and local law enforcement officers, Rowe told lawmakers on a bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempt in December 2024.  Updates to these radio communications are a significant change, according to Gage, who noted that he could carry up to five radios at a time because an integrated system didn’t exist.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AFTERMATH, REACTIONS FROM INNER CIRCLE REVEALED IN NEW BOOK

Rowe also told lawmakers that the Secret Service was aiming to up its staffing in the next year, and had placed more special agents in Trump’s security detail. Some of the additional $231 million in funding that Congress approved for the Secret Service in a stopgap spending bill in September 2024 to hire 1,000 new agents and officers in 2025 would go toward these increased hiring plans, Rowe said. 

A few other changes are in the pipeline, including possibly building a precise replica of the White House. Historically, agents have trained using Tyler Perry’s White House replica at his Atlanta film studio. 

Secret Service director Sean Curran said in an interview on Fox News’ “My View with Lara Trump” in April that the agency is working with the White House to install such a building at the James J. Rowley Training Center, a 500-acre center in Laurel, Maryland. 

“In order for our officers and agents to train up properly, they have to see what it’s like to be at the White House,” Curran said. “It’s an important complex to know. There’s a lot of ins and outs, and something as simple as the local fire department showing up to help with a fire, and they need to know where they are going.” 

Altogether, Congressional oversight bodies issued nearly 50 recommendations to the Secret Service following the assassination attempt, including ones related to better radio communications and planning for events. The agency reported Thursday that it has executed 21 of those recommendations, and is in the process of implementing 16 others. 

“The reforms made over this last year are just the beginning, and the agency will continue to assess its operations, review recommendations and make additional changes as needed,” the Secret Service said in a news release Thursday.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino was outraged this week during a closed-door White House meeting about the Department of Justice’s review of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking case files, according to multiple sources.

Bongino raised his voice during a discussion with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles before storming out of the meeting, according to two sources close to DOJ leadership. Bongino also exchanged heated words with Attorney General Pam Bondi during the meeting, and the whole ordeal has led him to consider resigning from the FBI, another source said.

Another person with knowledge of the meeting disputed the characterization that Bongino yelled at Wiles or Bondi during the sitdown.

However, that person agreed that Bongino was “enraged.” The source said the deputy director was angry about the Epstein memo rollout and what he viewed as Bondi’s “lack of transparency from the start.” The memo, a joint product of the DOJ and FBI, said the two agencies had no further information to share with the public about Epstein’s case, a revelation that sparked fury among the MAGA base. The memo first appeared in Axios over the weekend, and then the DOJ and FBI published it Monday.

FBI’S DAN BONGINO THINKING OF RESIGNING AFTER CLASH WITH AG BONDI: SOURCE

Asked about the claim that Bongino yelled at Wiles, a White House official said it was “100% false.” Wiles is a veteran of Florida politics who led Trump’s campaign, and the president has described her as “universally admired.”

The fracture in DOJ and FBI leadership spilled into the public on Friday amid fallout from the memo.

The memo stated that the DOJ and FBI concluded their review of Epstein’s files and did not find any information that could lead to charges against anyone new.

Despite Bongino reportedly now breaking with leadership over the memo and weighing resignation, people familiar with the matter said as of Friday that FBI Director Kash Patel and Bondi remained in communication and that Patel is happy with his job.

A DOJ spokesman and an FBI spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

JEFFREY EPSTEIN DIED BY SUICIDE, DID NOT HAVE CLIENT LIST: DOJ MEMO

Bongino, a former Secret Service agent with no prior FBI experience, hosted a popular podcast before Trump tapped him to serve in the No. 2 role at the bureau. On his show, Bongino repeatedly raised alarm over Epstein’s “client list,” saying “there’s a reason they’re hiding it” and that its release would “rock the political world.”

But in the memo released on Monday, the FBI and DOJ said they uncovered no such list.

Bongino, Bondi and Patel are all facing blowback over the Epstein files from a faction of their supporters, who say they reneged on repeated vows to open the curtain on details of Epstein’s case.

Epstein, a financier who was known to engage with wealthy, well-known figures, was indicted in 2019 over allegations he recruited dozens of women, including minors as young as 14, and had sexual relations with them or sexually abused them. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of conspiring to sexually abuse minors and is serving a 20-year prison sentence. She has an appeal pending.

The DOJ and FBI said in their memo that much of the nonpublic information related to Epstein’s case is under court-ordered seals or contains child pornography and private information about victims.

10 REASONS DOJ AND FBI FACE BACKLASH AFTER EPSTEIN FILES FLOP

Before joining the bureau, Patel and Bongino both advanced theories that the government was hiding information about the case, including a supposed “list” of unindicted sexual predators.

The DOJ and FBI’s memo poured cold water on that idea by noting that the agencies found “no incriminating ‘client list.'”

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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on X that DOJ and FBI leadership, including Bongino, were in lockstep during the compilation and release of the memo. The idea that “there was any daylight” between the FBI and DOJ was “patently false,” Blanche said.

Bongino was not at work on Friday because he was so upset by the fallout from the Epstein memo, sources said. One said Bongino had not anticipated the backlash from his supporters.

Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

The hallmark of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s week included touching down in Kerrville, Texas, Friday after massive floods in the region took the lives of more than 120 people.

Both the president and the first lady met with local officials and first responders who are addressing the fallout and devastation of flash floods that struck the Central Texas community, after the Guadalupe River surged more than 22 feet in just a matter of hours. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this. This is a bad one,” Trump said during a roundtable Friday with the local officials and responders. 

In addition to the lives lost in the flood, officials report that more than 160 people are missing and unaccounted for in Kerr County, Texas. 

TRUMP, FIRST LADY MOURN YOUNG LIVES LOST IN TEXAS FLOODS

“So all across the country, Americans’ hearts are shattered,” Trump said. “We’re filled with grief and devastation. It’s the loss of life, and unfortunately, they’re still looking.” 

“My administration’s doing everything in its power to help Texas,” he said. 

Those who died in the flooding were at least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp founded nearly 100 years ago for girls. 

“They were there because they loved God,” Trump said at the roundtable. “And as we grieve this unthinkable tragedy, we take comfort in the knowledge that God has welcomed those little beautiful girls into his comforting arms in heaven.”

Here’s what also happened this week:

Cabinet meeting

Trump held a Cabinet meeting Tuesday where he discussed plans to visit the Texas flood sites. 

“I’ll be going down on Friday with the first lady, and we will be taking a trip,” Trump said. “And we don’t want to get in anyone’s way, because, you know, it’s what happens. The president goes, and everyone’s around focused. I don’t want anyone to focus on us, but it’s possible they could have.”

TRUMP SHIFTS TONE ON PUTIN

Trump also addressed SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s new pitch for a third political party, following the signing of Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” on the Fourth of July. Musk opposed the measure due to concerns it would increase the deficit and raise the debt ceiling. 

But Trump said he isn’t worried about any challenges from Musk’s new “America Party.” 

“I think it’ll help us. It’ll probably help. Third parties have always been good for me,” Trump said at the Cabinet meeting. 

Trump also shared details of a recent call he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming he’s becoming frustrated with Putin as the war between Russia and Ukraine rages on. 

“We get a lot of bulls— thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “He’s very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Netanyahu meeting

Trump also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and Tuesday — marking the third time Netanyahu has visited Washington during Trump’s second term. The visit comes as Trump is seeking to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 

Trump signaled one might be on the horizon soon. 

HAMAS ‘SERIOUS’ ABOUT REACHING CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT BUT INSISTS ON LONG-STANDING DEMANDS

“I will tell you we’re getting very close to a deal,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “I don’t know if it’s secret or not secret, but doesn’t matter to me — secrets fine if it gets us to where we want to be, we want to have a ceasefire.”

“We want to have peace,” he said. “We want to get the hostages back. And I think we’re close to doing it.” 

A new report from the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) outlines the U.S. Secret Service’s security failures during the first attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., one year ago.

The report, ordered by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reveals that the Secret Service received classified intelligence regarding a threat to Trump’s life 10 days before the rally, but failed to share the information with other key agencies. It also identified a series of procedural and planning mistakes, including “misallocation of resources, lack of training and pervasive communication failures” that led to the near assassination.

“One year ago, a series of bad decisions and bureaucratic handicaps led to one of the most shocking moments in political history,” Grassley said. “The Secret Service’s failure on July 13 was the culmination of years of mismanagement and came after the Biden administration denied requests for enhanced security to protect President Trump. Americans should be grateful that President Trump survived that day and was ultimately reelected to restore common sense to our country.

Trump, whose campaign had requested enhanced security but was denied by the Biden administration, was grazed in the right ear while addressing the crowd. Secret Service agents swarmed him, but he famously rose to his feet as he was being hustled to safety, raised his fist in the air and exhorted horrified onlookers to “Fight, fight, fight.” One man in the crowd, Cory Comperatore, was killed protecting his family, while two others were injured. A 20-year-old local man, Thomas Crooks, was shot dead by counter snipers as he crouched on the roof of a nearby building.

“There were mistakes made, and that shouldn’t have happened,” Trump told his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, on Fox News. 

‘ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM’: CALLS FOR MORE ACTION AFTER SECRET SERVICE AGENTS SUSPENDED FOR SECURITY FAILURE

The GAO is the U.S. government’s primary auditor. Its nearly year-long probe is the longest review of the attempted assassination to date. Key findings include:

• Ten days before the event, high-level Secret Service officials were briefed on a classified threat to Trump. “Once those officials reviewed the intelligence, they could have then requested that personnel within their chain of command be briefed on the specific information.” Officials failed to share this information, leaving federal and local law enforcement entities planning and staffing the event unaware of the active threat, including members of the Donald Trump Protective Division. Local law enforcement officials told the GAO they would have requested additional assets for the Butler rally, had they known.
• The Secret Service agent who was responsible for “identif[ying] site vulnerabilities,” was new to her role. The Butler event was “her first time planning and securing a large outdoor event as the site agent.”
• At the time of the Butler event, the Secret Service lacked a formal policy for communicating a protectee staff’s requests for changes to security plans. A Trump campaign staffer had asked the Secret Service advance team, who was unaware of the active threat to Trump, not to use large farm equipment to address line-of-sight concerns near one of the buildings so as not to interfere with campaign press photos. The advance team complied, a decision which may have given Crooks a clearer shot at the stage from his rooftop perch.
• Secret Service officials denied the Donald Trump Protective Division’s request for enhanced counter Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (cUAS) equipment at the Butler event, as “these resources had already been allocated for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.” Fortunately, senior officials with knowledge of the threat against Trump stepped in to approve counter sniper assets for the rally, a decision which was described as “inconsistent” with agency practices for making resource decisions.” Absent this last-minute decision, Trump “would likely not have received the counter sniper assets that ultimately took out [Crooks],” the GAO wrote.

Fox News confirmed ahead of the one-year anniversary of Trump’s first attempted assassination that six Secret Service agents were suspended without pay after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at Trump during a rally in western Pennsylvania last summer. 

SECRET SERVICE CHANGES THE AGENCY HAS MADE POST-TRUMP BUTLER ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

Supervisors and line-level agents were given suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days without pay in February, the Secret Service confirmed to Fox News.

And the news comes as Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., approved a subpoena to the FBI and Justice Department for more information on the Butler assassination attempt. 

Johnson, who chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, was a co-author of the bipartisan Senate Homeland Security Committee report on the assassination attempt last year.  

On the House side, the assassination attempt task force released its final report on Dec. 5, 2024, highlighting the “significant failures in the planning, execution, and leadership of the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners.”

The report concluded the shooting was “preventable,” identifying poor advance planning, lack of coordination with local law enforcement and poor Secret Service coordination by the U.S. Secret Service. It proposed 37 “actionable recommendations related both to the security failures on July 13 and to overarching structural changes” the Secret Service should adapt to increase safety measures moving forward. 

Both Senate and House reports followed congressional testimonies, including from acting FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, who acknowledged the agency’s “failure” in Butler. 

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned from the agency less than a week after the attempted assassination of Trump amid mounting pressure, taking “full responsibility for the security lapse.”

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One day after Butler, the FBI announced its federal investigation into the shooting, calling it an assassination attempt and a potential act of domestic terrorism. 

Fox News’ Alexis McAdams and Alex Miller contributed to this report. 

GILSUM, N.H. – Republicans aren’t wasting an opportunity to make democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani a cudgel to bash Democrats across the country.

Mamdani’s stunning mayoral primary victory in the nation’s most populous city rocked the political world, adding fuel to an already volatile election season.

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.

That’s the case in New Hampshire, in the high-profile 2026 race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

Republican candidate and former Sen. Scott Brown went up this 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.

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

The caption on the ad reads “Comrade Chris.”

Pappas, speaking with Fox News Friday on the campaign trail as he toured W.S. Badger, a natural and organic skincare and sunscreen company in this southwestern New Hampshire town, 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.”

THE PLOT TO STOP MAMDANI: DEMOCRATS SCRAMBLE TO PREVENT FAR-LEFT TAKEOVER IN NYC

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.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) was one of the first out of the gate to capitalize on Mamdani’s leftward lurch, firing off an email release minutes after his victory that claimed, “the new face of the Democrat Party just dropped, and it’s straight out of a socialist nightmare.”

Aiming to tie House Democrats to Mamdani, NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella argued that “every vulnerable House Democrat will own him, and every Democrat running in a primary will fear him.”

The National Republican Senatorial Campaign (NRSC) also quickly got into the game, tying Pappas and Abdul El-Sayed – one of the contenders for the Democratic Senate nomination in battleground Michigan – to Mamdani.

No surprise – the Republican attacks have even come from President Donald Trump, who, since Mamdani’s victory two weeks ago, has repeatedly claimed that the 33-year-old Ugandan-born state assemblyman from the New York City borough of Queens is a “communist.”

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

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.

RESURFACED MAMDANI PHOTO SPARKS SOCIAL MEDIA FIRESTORM 

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.”

“The Democratic Party’s trying to convince people that the tail is not wagging the dog, and they don’t answer to the more extreme elements of their party,” veteran Republican strategist Colin Reed told Fox News. “Now, that entire effort is undercut by a socialist winning handily in a bellwether election to determine who’s going to run America’s largest city.”

“It’s a messaging nightmare that’s going to unfold in real time from now until the midterms,” said Reed, who is a top political advisor to Brown.

MAMDANI LANDS ENDORSEMENT OF TOP CUOMO BACKER

Veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance told Fox News that “the primary challenge for Democrats regarding Mamdani’s candidacy is not his policy approach. The challenge is his party identification as a democratic socialist.”

“If there’s any doubt about the negative implications of adding the word socialist to Mamdani’s party affiliation, one need only peruse the national coverage whose focus has been on his party and the absence of party leadership to rush to his defense or offer endorsements,” Lesperance, the president of New England College, said.

But 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 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.”

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Pappas campaign communications adviser Collin Gately pointed to the ad from the Brown campaign and said, “Granite Staters trust Chris and will see through these attacks.”

And veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo cautioned, “I wouldn’t read too much into this.”

Caiazzo, a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, argued that “Republicans are making too much out of this.”

EXCLUSIVE: Some individuals awaiting deportation at “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida were convicted of serious crimes, according to new information from the Florida Attorney General’s office. 

“The left-wing press continues to spend their time amplifying false reports, but the reality is that there are monsters awaiting deportation within Alligator Alcatraz far worse than the monsters lurking in the surrounding Everglades,” Jeremy Redfern, communications director for Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, said in a statement.

“This group of murderers, rapists, and gang members are just a small sample of the deranged psychopaths that Florida is helping President Trump and his administration remove from our country,” he continued.

DEM LAWMAKERS TO INSPECT ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ DETENTION CENTER, CITING SAFETY CONCERNS

Lazaro Rodriguez Santana, a Cuban national, was convicted in Texas of sexual assault and failure to register as a sex offender. Honduran national Jose Fortin was convicted of second-degree murder in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Furthermore, authorities say Oscar “Satan” Sanchez of Honduras is an MS-13 gang member who faced convictions for resisting arrest, conspiracy to commit murder and assault in New York, as well as RICO offenses.

Guatemalan national Luis Donald Corado was convicted of burglary, forced entry, and voyeurism in Miami. Specifically, Corado’s case involved him looking into a woman’s window, according to the Florida official’s office.

Venezuelan national Wilfredo Alberto Lazama-Garcia is wanted for murder and aggravated robbery in the South American country. He is presumed to be a “gotaway” in 2021 during the border crisis.

INSIDE ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’: THE NEW MIGRANT DETENTION FACILITY ERECTED AT AN ABANDONED EVERGLADES AIRPORT

In the United States, he was convicted of conspiracy “to defraud the U.S. government in Oklahoma.” Eddy Lopez Jemot of Cuba was convicted of murder, arson, and assault. He was arrested for “cutting the throat of an elderly woman” in Key Largo, Florida, and then lit her residence on fire with hopes of hiding the evidence. 

Later that night, he allegedly “threatened to kill” another woman via beheading.

The facility is receiving initial backing by the state of Florida and is expected to receive repurposed FEMA funds on the federal level.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“It’s known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ which is very appropriate, because I looked outside, and that’s not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon,” Trump said while touring the facility earlier this month. “But very soon, this facility will have some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.”

TRUMP SAYS ONLY WAY OUT OF ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ IS DEPORTATION

Alligator Alcatraz opened earlier this month with fierce opposition from environmentalists, who oppose its location in the Everglades, as well as some Democrats, who have been critical of the Trump administration’s immigration and deportation policies.

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“This proposed detention center isn’t just cruel, it’s environmentally catastrophic. This facility would desecrate ecologically critical wetlands, trample on Tribal sovereignty, and transform one of the world’s most cherished ecosystems into a prison camp for political gain,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in a June 24 news release. 

A former White House physician is criticizing Kevin O’Connor after the ex-Biden administration doctor refused to answer questions by House Oversight Committee investigators earlier this week.

Dr. O’Connor, who served as White House physician to former President Joe Biden, sat down for a transcribed interview with committee staff and panel Chair James Comer, R-Ky., on Wednesday. The closed-door meeting lasted roughly 30 minutes, with O’Connor invoking the Fifth Amendment to all questions, save for his name.

His legal team said there were concerns the broad scope of Comer’s probe could force O’Connor into a position of risking doctor-patient confidentiality privileges. 

“Well, you can’t do both,” Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, a former White House doctor himself, told Fox News Digital in an interview afterward.

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

“I mean, the Fifth Amendment is designed to keep him from incriminating himself in some type of, you know, criminal or unethical behavior. He’d already addressed the issue of patient-doctor privacy, or confidentiality, with the committee.”

He pointed out that O’Connor’s lawyers had already raised issues with patient-doctor confidentiality in a letter to the committee trying to get the interview delayed, but Comer pressed forward.

“They had already let him know that in this particular case, because he had been subpoenaed, and it was a legal process, he’d been subpoenaed to testify before Congress in this closed session, that the patient-doctor privilege no longer applied,” Jackson said. “And President Trump had waived presidential privilege. So it left him with nothing. Nothing to stand on except for pleading the Fifth.”

Before being elected to Congress, Jackson served as White House physician to both former President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump.

Comer told reporters on Wednesday that Jackson played a key role in crafting questions for O’Connor. 

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

“We have a lot of questions that we’ve prepared for this. We’ve consulted closely with Ronny Jackson, my colleague, who was the White House physician in the first Trump administration. We’ve consulted with a lot of people in the medical community, so there’s going to be a lot of medical questions that are asked,” he told reporters before the transcribed interview.

He is investigating accusations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president’s full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back on those claims.

“The cover-up could not have happened without the assistance and the help of his personal physician, Kevin O’Connor,” Jackson said. “I think that’s why he pled the Fifth, because he realized he was about to implicate himself as a key player in this cover-up.”

O’Connor’s lawyers have denied any implications of guilt.

Jackson said some of the questions he recommended to the committee would have surrounded any potential neurological concerns or cognitive tests while Biden was in office.

But many of those were left unasked, it appears, after O’Connor’s brief meeting with House investigators.

The doctor’s lawyers said O’Connor’s refusal to answer questions on Fifth Amendment grounds was not an admission of guilt, but rather a response to what they saw as an unprecedented investigatory scope that could have violated the bounds of patient-physician privilege.

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“This Committee has indicated to Dr. O’Connor and his attorneys that it does not intend to honor one of the most well-known privileges in our law – the physician patient privilege. Instead, the Committee has indicated that it will demand that Dr. O’Connor reveal, without any limitations, confidential information regarding his medical examinations, treatment, and care of President Biden,” the attorney statement said.

“Revealing confidential patient information would violate the most fundamental ethical duty of a physician, could result in revocation of Dr. O’Connor’s medical license, and would subject Dr. O’Connor to potential civil liability. Dr. O’Connor will not violate his oath of confidentiality to any of his patients, including President Biden.”

Fox News Digital reached out to O’Connor’s lawyers for further comment.

Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is taking aim at the U.S. government, seeking $20 million after he was targeted for deportation and locked up by the Trump administration.

“Mr. Khalil is seeking $20 million, which he would use to help others similarly targeted by the Trump administration and Columbia University,” the Center for Constitutional Rights noted in a press release. “He would accept, in lieu of payment, an official apology and abandonment of the administration’s unconstitutional policy.”

The release stated, “The claim is a precursor to a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, which he will bring under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a 1946 federal statute that allows individuals to sue the U.S. government for damages for civil law violations.”

LEGAL EXPERT REVEALS HOW TRUMP ADMIN CAN DEPORT MAJOR ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST

Khalil missed the birth of his first child while he was being detained earlier this year.

The activist accuses Israel of perpetrating a genocide against Gaza.

“This is the first step towards accountability. Nothing can restore the 104 days stolen from me. The trauma, the separation from my wife, the birth of my first child that I was forced to miss. But let’s be clear, the same government that targeted me for speaking out is using taxpayer dollars to fund Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Khalil said, according to the press release.

ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST MAHMOUD KHALIL RELEASED FOLLOWING JUDGE’S ORDER

Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin slammed Khalil in a statement.

“Mahmoud Khalil’s claim that DHS officials branded him as an antisemite and terrorized him and his family is absurd. It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus. He ‘branded’ himself as antisemite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric,” McLaughlin asserted. “It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property.”

ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST MAHMOUD KHALIL CLAIMS IMMIGRATION DETENTION ‘FELT LIKE KIDNAPPING’

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A senior State Department official noted that “there is ongoing litigation with respect to this matter. However, our position is that the actions of the United States with respect to Mahmoud Khalil were correct and necessary and fully supported both by fact and by law.  It is our duty to use all available lawful tools and measures to remove aliens who violate our laws or pose a threat to our fellow citizens and communities.”

Fox News’ Maria Paronich contributed to this report

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into Minnesota “to determine whether it has engaged in race- and sex-based discrimination in its state employment hiring practices.” 

The inquiry is the Trump administration’s latest clash with Gov. Tim Walz’s state following his failed 2024 vice presidential bid. It comes as the Minnesota Department of Human Services is rolling out a new policy demanding supervisors “provide a hiring justification when seeking to hire a non-underrepresented candidate when hiring for a vacancy in a job category with underrepresentation” — or else they face possible disciplinary action, including termination. 

“Minnesotans deserve to have their state government employees hired based on merit, not based on illegal DEI,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. 

“Federal law has long prohibited employment policies that discriminate based on race or sex,” added Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department refuses to tolerate such conduct, and states invite investigation when they engage in biased hiring practices tied to protected characteristics.” 

TIM WALZ BLASTED FOR COSTING MINNESOTA TAXPAYERS $430,000 IN LEGAL PREP AHEAD OF HILL HEARING 

The Minnesota Department of Human Services said the purpose of its new “hiring justification” policy is to make sure the state “meets affirmative action responsibilities to comply with state statutes and must increase the diversity of its workforce to reflect and effectively serve its client base.” 

“The policy defines ‘underrepresented candidates’ to include ‘females,’ and racial ‘minorities’ who are ‘Black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander,’ ‘American Indian or Alaskan native,’” Dhillon wrote in a letter on Thursday to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minnesota Department of Human Services’ temporary commissioner Shireen Gandhi. 

READ THE LETTER BELOW. APP USERS CLICK HERE: 

“Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminating against an individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. When the Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that a state or local government employer is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in violation of Title VII, it is the Attorney General’s responsibility to take appropriate action to eliminate that violation, including presenting the matter to the appropriate court for civil proceedings,” Dhillon added. 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RESPONDS TO MINNESOTA’S LAWSUIT TO LET TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS 

“Specifically, we have reason to believe the Minnesota Department of Human Services is engaging in unlawful action through, among other things, the adoption and forthcoming implementation of its ‘hiring justification’ policy,” he also said. 

The Minnesota Department of Human Services told Fox News Digital that it “follows all state and federal hiring laws.” 

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“Justification of non-affirmative action hires for some vacancies has been required by state law since 1987,” it added. 

The probe comes after the Justice Department in late June filed a complaint challenging laws in Minnesota that provide free and reduced in-state tuition to illegal aliens, claiming the laws are unconstitutional. 

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Ellison also announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration and Department of Justice in April to ensure that states can continue letting biologically male trans athletes play in girls’ sports. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Jackson Thompson contributed to this report. 

In her new book, “Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland,” released just days before the first anniversary of the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, veteran political reporter Salena Zito reveals what she believes is the one element the mainstream media has missed in their coverage of his rallies.

The Pennsylvania-based told Fox News Digital that when she first interviewed Trump during his 2016 run, she noticed how he interacted with “the people behind the scenes – the janitors, the people that were pushing the water bottles, the caterers, the plumbers, the electricians, the people that made the event happen that are never seen.”

Zito said she saw Trump communicating with American voters with an authenticity and curiosity that she hadn’t seen in a lot of politicians.

“I understood in that moment that he wasn’t a billionaire running for president, he was a guy that saw people that don’t usually get seen by elected officials, in a way that was very unique. Between that and driving across the country and interviewing people, I understood that he was going to win that cycle,” Zito said of the 2016 election. 

TRUMP ATTRIBUTED SURVIVAL AT BUTLER RALLY TO ‘HAND OF GOD’: AUTHOR AND WITNESS REVEALS FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT

Flash forward to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

“What I noticed covering 2024 was the amount of young people that were out there, that were engaged, that were excited, that were voting for the first time, and really excited to be part of ‘bigger than self’… and they really glommed on and became excited about the way that President Trump talks about Americanism and love of country and getting to a better place together,” Zito said. 

JOURNALIST WHO REFUSED TO DUCK DURING TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT REFLECTS ON BUTLER RALLY IN NEW BOOK

Zito’s book takes readers back to July 13, 2024, when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired multiple gunshots into the Butler crowd, grazing Trump’s ear, injuring two people and killing one rally attendee, firefighter Corey Comperatore. She had planned to interview Trump at the Butler rally and was mere steps away from him when the shots were fired.

But when Zito heard the shots, she told Fox News Digital, “I didn’t get down. There was this inner voice that told me, ‘You have a job to do, continue doing it.’” As a journalist, Zito quickly began to commit the historic moment to memory as it was unfolding, gathering details that eventually led to her book.

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Throughout the campaign, Zito said she could feel that sense of community building at Trump rallies. While his supporters have various degrees of support for the president, at Trump rallies, she said they are happy, patriotic and excited. 

“Trump pulled them together by place and rootedness and connective tissue, and it was really, really missed by my profession, but it was so right in front of me everywhere I went in Pennsylvania.”

Progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, made a second surprise appearance at the House Oversight Committee’s closed-door discussions with former Biden administration aides this week, once again criticizing President Donald Trump on the way out.

Crockett surprised reporters when she arrived roughly 15 minutes after House investigators’ transcribed interview with former White House advisor Ashley Williams began, declining to speak on the way in.

The Texas Democrat emerged just over 30 minutes later, saying little about what went on inside but telling reporters she still had “absolutely” no concerns about Biden’s mental fitness while in office.

She said it was important to “be there physically” for Biden allies being interviewed in the GOP probe – even going as far as suggesting the Trump administration created a threatening environment for members of Congress and its own political opponents.

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

“It is important…in my mind, to be there for these witnesses. Unfortunately, we know what happens when this regime gets going. We know about the threats that come upon them, that come upon us as members of Congress,” Crockett said.

“I think it is important to stand there in solidarity and to at least be there physically so that they don’t feel like they’re alone as they are enduring egregious attacks consistently from this administration.”

Crockett was the only lawmaker seen going in or out of Williams’ meeting with investigators on Friday. The transcribed interview was expected to be staff-led, and lawmakers were not required to attend.

“Right now, the Republicans continue to act as if this is a main priority. Yet none of them are showing up,” she said.

“I do think that it is important that I show up because if they are going to make allegations about the former commander-in-chief, egregious allegations they continue to wage. I want to make sure that I’m in the room to correct the record, because a lot of times they like to mischaracterize things.”

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

When asked by Fox News Digital if the interview was still ongoing as she exited, however, Crockett answered, “It’s still going. I’m leaving early. I’ve got to get to another thing.”

A source familiar with the ongoing proceeding told Fox News Digital that Crockett came in during Republican investigators’ round of questioning and so was unable to make inquiries herself. Fox News Digital reached out to Crockett for a response.

Williams was the former Director of Strategic Outreach under the Biden administration. She did not speak to reporters on the way into her transcribed interview.

Crockett initially caught reporters and potentially even staff off guard when she arrived for the closed-door deposition of Biden’s former White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., was there as well, as is the norm for sworn depositions.

Williams, unlike O’Connor, is not on Capitol Hill under subpoena.

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During her Wednesday appearance, Crockett declared she never had any concerns about Biden’s mental state while he was president, though she did raise similar claims about Trump.

White House spokesman Harrison Fields told Fox News Digital in response to Crockett questioning Trump’s mental acuity: “The Democrats’ rising star has done more to cement the party’s demise than the President she breathlessly supported, the decrepit and feeble Joe Biden. Jasmine continues to prove she’d be better suited as a reality TV star on VH1 than an elected official on Capitol Hill.”

Comer is investigating accusations that Biden’s former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president’s full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back on those claims.

FIRST ON FOX: The President of Glass House Farms, the cannabis farm that federal immigration authorities raided in California on Thursday despite protests, has donated thousands to Democrats in California.

Co-founder, president, and board director Graham Farrar, who self-identifies on social media as residing in Santa Barbara, California, has made numerous political donations to the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee’s federal political action committee and Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., according to Federal Election Commission records.

According to California public campaign finance records, he also donated $10,000 to California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2018, and his most recent public political donation was to California Democratic Assemblymember Gregg Hart in July 2023.

IMMIGRATION OPERATION AT CALIFORNIA CANNABIS FARMS LEADS TO CLASH BETWEEN FEDERAL AGENTS AND PROTESTERS

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott tweeted that the farm is “now under investigation for child labor violations” and the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News on Friday that nine unaccompanied children in the U.S. illegally were rescued.

“So glad our law enforcement could rescue another child,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated.

Glass House Brands said in a statement that they complied with the federal warrants issued.

“Yesterday, Glass House Brands received immigration and naturalization warrants. As per the law, we verified that the warrants were valid and we complied. Workers were detained and we are assisting to provide them legal representation,” the company tweeted. 

GOV GAVIN NEWSOM: TRUMP IS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY. DO NOT LET HIM

“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors. We do not expect this to affect operations moving forward. We will provide additional details when applicable.”

“Know there are lots of questions, we have a lot of them too, as we get more information we will update. Our team has been continually on site and we are focused on taking care of our people and our plants,” Farrar posted to X. 

Farrar’s X feed also shows him retweeting Republicans, such as former Rep. Matt Gaetz, in support of cannabis policy reforms.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

In response to being asked about the campaign donations, Newsom’s senior political advisor Lindsey Cobia, who was the deputy campaign manager when Newsom received the $10,000 donation, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “It’s rich for Fox News and Trump Admin to point to campaign donations to Democrats, when in fact, the CEO is a Trump supporter who donated to the Governor’s recall and has given to more Republicans than Democrats.” Newsom posted the same message on X and included an Instagram photo of Kyle Kazan and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. 

The Newsom post omitted another Instagram photo Kazan took with Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democratic California congressman that Kazan donated thousands of dollars to. Earlier this year, Garcia told CNN that it was time to “bring actual weapons” to fight the Trump admininistration and has been a vocal critic of Republicans.

Newsom’s rapid response team referenced a Los Angeles Times report in which Kyle Kazan is noted as a supporter of President Donald Trump. He is labeled as a supporter of the president in a comment from Marc Cohodes, who invested in the company and disagreed with the raid.

On a donation level, a review of public records found that Kazan has donated to various Democrats in recent years. The most notable recent Republican donation under the name Kyle Kazan was to former gubernatorial candidate Kevin Faulconer in 2021 for $10,000. He also recently made at least $12,500 in business contributions through Glass House Brands to ActBlue California as recently as June 2024. Fox News Digital’s review of state and federal election records found no Kazan donations to Trump’s presidential campaigns.

On Thursday, protesters clashed with federal authorities in Camarillo during an immigration operation. Federal authorities had a warrant for illegal employees, Fox News has learned. Another raid also occurred at another Glass House Farm in Carpinteria.

In addition, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said the FBI has offered a $50,000 award for information leading to the conviction of an unknown suspect who appeared to fire a pistol at federal law enforcement officers near Camarillo.

ICE OFFICERS ASSAULTED DURING RAID THAT NABBED 70 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AT MEAT PLANT: DHS

People were seen confronting the agents, who used tear gas and smoke bombs. Federal personnel used gas to push back protesters who arrived on the scene after getting word of a raid.

Military helicopters were also seen flying low over the fields, a maneuver generally used to flush out people hiding.

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“It is becoming increasingly apparent that the actions taken by ICE are bold and aggressive, demonstrating insensitivity towards the direct impact on our community,” Luis Mc Arthur, the mayor of nearby Oxnard, said in a social media post. “These actions are causing unnecessary distress and harm. I remain committed to working alongside our Attorney General and the Governor’s office to explore potential legal avenues to address these activities.”

When the governor was asked his thoughts on the footage of somebody firing a gun at federal authorities by right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok, Newsom replied “Of course I condemn any assault on law enforcement, you sh* poster. Now do Jan 6.”

“California prosecutes child exploiters and traffickers. Trump tear-gasses children, rips them from their parents, and deports farmworkers. Priorities,” Newsom tweeted in response to Scott’s post about the child labor allegations against the farm. 

Fox News reached out to Glass House. 

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

A divided federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., on Friday tossed out an agreement that would have allowed 9/11 terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in another failed effort to end a years-long legal saga surrounding the military prosecution of men held at Guantánamo Bay.

The 2-1 D.C. Circuit appeals court decision upheld then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to undo the plea deal approved by military lawyers and senior Pentagon staff.

The deal would have carried life without parole sentences for Mohammed and two co-defendants, potentially taking capital punishment off the table. 

FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS ATTEMPTED DEPORTATION OF ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL MAY BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Mohammed, a Pakistani national, is accused of spearheading the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and another commercial jetliner that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Austin said a decision on whether to take the death penalty off the table could only be made by the Secretary of Defense.

However, legal concerns stemmed from whether the original plea deal was legally binding and whether Austin waited too long to get it dismissed.

TRUMP FOE JUDGE BOASBERG RULES DEPORTED MIGRANTS CAN CHALLENGE REMOVALS, IN BLOW TO ADMINISTRATION 

The court found Austin indisputably had legal authority to withdraw from the agreements because the promises made in the deal had not yet been fulfilled, and the government had no adequate alternative remedies.

Since the appeals court put the agreement on hold, the defendants were not sentenced Friday as previously scheduled, marking a temporary victory for the Biden administration.

Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao, of the majority opinion, noted the government “adequately explained that Secretary Austin delayed action to avoid an unlawful influence challenge, waiting to see what type of agreement, if any, would result from the negotiations and only then deciding whether intervention was necessary.”

Citing previous unlawful influence allegations against various government officials, including the secretary of defense, Millett and Rao found Austin was “reasonable” to withdraw from the agreements to avoid additional litigation.

“Having properly assumed the convening authority, the Secretary determined that the families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out,” the judges wrote. “The Secretary acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment.”

ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL’S FREE SPEECH LAWSUIT AGAINST US GOVERNMENT MUST BE HEARD: JUDGE

Judge Robert L. Wilkins, in dissent, argued that siding with the government would be an overreach.

“The Court’s holding is stunning,” Wilkins wrote. “Not only does the majority believe that Respondents [prosecutors who negotiated the plea deal] did not begin performance, but it holds that the government established a clear and indisputable right to a writ of mandamus or prohibition.

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“It is impossible for me to conclude that the government has shown it is clearly and indisputably entitled to relief,” he continued. “That demanding mandamus standard is even further out of the government’s reach where the government cannot cite binding on-point precedent in support of its claims and we are constrained to reviewing for clear error both the Military Judge’s finding that the PTAs encompassed the relevant promises and his application of the withdrawal regulation. But even on de novo review of those findings, the government has not met its burden.”

President Donald Trump on Friday said he has given federal immigration agents “Total Authorization” to protect themselves after clashes with protesters during an enforcement operation at a California cannabis farm. 

Trump was traveling to Washington from Texas, where he toured the region where devastating floods have left at least 120 people dead, and he penned a lengthy post on Truth Social about the violence against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.  

“I am on my way back from Texas, and watched in disbelief as THUGS were violently throwing rocks and bricks at ICE Officers while they were moving down a roadway in their car and/or official vehicle,” he wrote on Truth Social. 

“Tremendous damage was done to these brand new vehicles. I know for a fact that these Officers are having a hard time with allowing this to happen in that it shows such total disrespect for LAW AND ORDER.”

UNION SAYS FARM WORKER DIED AFTER ICE RAID THAT UNCOVERED UNDERAGE LABORERS

Federal authorities conducted raids on Glass House Farms families in Camarillo and Carpinteria. Authorities used tear gas, and there were reports of objects being thrown at agents. 

NEWSOM DONOR’S CANNABIS FARM UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION FOR ‘CHILD LABOR VIOLATIONS’

In response, Trump said he directed Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan to instruct ICE, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other law enforcement on the receiving end of “thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so.”

“I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,” he wrote. “I never want to see a car carrying a Law Enforcement Officer attacked again! AUTHORIZATION IMMEDIATELY GRANTED FOR ARREST AND INCARCERATION. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

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The United Farm Workers said one worker died from his injuries. 

“This man was not in and has not been in CBP or ICE custody,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. “Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30 feet. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”

Ashley Williams, a longtime ally of former President Joe Biden, met with House investigators behind closed doors for nearly six hours Friday as Republicans probe allegations the Democrat’s top aides hid his mental decline.

A source familiar with the transcribed interview told Fox News Digital Williams said she did not “recall” various things “an untold number of times.”

“Examples include she could not recall if she spoke with President Biden in the last week, if teleprompters were used for Cabinet meetings, if there were discussions about President Biden using a wheelchair, if there were discussions about a cognitive test, if she discussed a mental or physical decline of President Biden, if she ever had to wake President Biden up and how she got involved with his 2020 campaign,” the source said.

Williams told House investigators Biden is fit to be president today, the source said. 

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

In addition to whether senior aides covered up Biden’s alleged decline, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is looking into whether any presidential orders were signed via autopen without the former commander in chief’s knowledge.

Any allegations of wrongdoing so far have been denied by the ex-president’s allies.

‘PRESIDENTIAL INCAPACITY’: SENATE REPUBLICAN SEEKS PAPER TRAIL OF BIDEN’S AUTOPEN USE

But Republican investigators have pointed to Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate and subsequent revelations in the media that there were more concerns from Biden’s inner circle about his fitness for office than previously known.

Williams, however, argued he was in command of himself during that debate, the source said.

The former White House aide said nothing to reporters when entering or leaving the committee meeting room for her voluntary interview.

Fox News Digital reached out to Williams’ lawyers for their account of events inside the room.

It was a staff-led meeting, but Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, briefly stopped in for just under 30 minutes to show “solidarity” with the witness, the progressive told reporters afterward.

“I do think that it is important that I show up because if they are going to make allegations about the former commander in chief, egregious allegations they continue to wage, I want to make sure that I’m in the room to correct the record because a lot of times they like to mischaracterize things,” she said.

When asked by Fox News Digital if the interview was still ongoing as she exited, Crockett answered, “It’s still going. I’m leaving early. I’ve got to get to another thing.” 

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

The source who spoke with Fox News Digital said Crockett had come in during the GOP’s questioning session and did not ask any questions herself. Fox News Digital reached out to her office for a response.

Williams is a longtime Biden ally whose time with the Democrat goes back to assisting second lady Jill Biden during the Obama administration, according to a 2019 profile of Biden staffers.

Williams later worked for Biden’s 2020 campaign and presidential transition team. She served as his trip director before being hired by the White House as deputy director of Oval Office operations and a special assistant to the president.

Williams ended her White House tenure as deputy assistant to the president, senior advisor to the president and director of strategic outreach, according to her LinkedIn page.

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Notably, the social media page also says Williams still works for the ex-leader as senior advisor in the Office of Former President Joe Biden.

She was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee last year during Republicans’ investigation into Biden’s cognitive health, but GOP investigators say the former White House blocked her from giving any information.

The Democratic staffer is the third person to appear before committee investigators in recent weeks.

Former Biden White House physician Kevin O’Connor appeared for a sworn deposition Wednesday after being subpoenaed by Comer.