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Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian migrant who was erroneously deported to El Salvador before being returned to the U.S. to face federal prosecution last week, was arraigned Friday in Nashville on human trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Abrego Garcia is expected to enter a plea as he faces charges for the transport of undocumented migrants, and for conspiring with others to do so, that stem from a 2022 traffic stop.

The criminal case against Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 member, comes after a high-profile, protracted legal fight over his deportation and the Trump administration’s efforts to delay his return to the U.S., even after the Supreme Court ordered the administration to “facilitate” his release earlier this year.

US JUDGE BLASTS TRUMP LAWYERS FOR 11TH-HOUR TACTICS IN MS-13 DEPORTATION CASE

In this handout provided by Sen. Van Hollen’s Office, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) meets with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (L) at an undisclosed location on April 17, 2025 in San Salvador, El Salvador.  (Sen. Van Hollen’s Office via Getty Images)

His case has become a national flashpoint in the broader fight over Trump’s hard-line immigration policies in his second White House term.

In a court filing Wednesday night, lawyers for Abrego Garcia urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Holmes in Tennessee to release their client from custody while awaiting trial, arguing that the government’s grounds for a detention hearing – and his alleged status as an MS-13 gang member – are meritless.

“Mr. Abrego Garcia asks the Court for what he has been denied the past several months – due process,” his lawyers said, adding that there is no evidence their client is a flight risk, or that he has “systematically engaged in international travel in the recent past.”

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

Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., in May to protest the detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who has since been returned to the U.S. to face federal criminal charges. (Breanne Deppisch for Fox News Digital)

Federal prosecutors disputed that and have urged the judge to keep him in custody, saying in a filing of their own that Abrego Garcia “would have enormous reason to flee” if he were not immediately detained by ICE. 

Court documents show the Justice Department filed the charges against Abrego Garcia on May 21– prompting a flurry of questions as to when the investigation and impaneling of a grand jury would have taken place. 

Kilmar Abrego Garcia listens to court arguments during his hearing in Tennessee in a courtroom sketch from last week.  (Paul Collins)

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Abrego Garcia’s family sued the Trump administration in March after the Salvadoran man, who entered the country illegally around 2012 and was living in Maryland, was abruptly deported to El Salvador in March. An immigration judge had ruled in 2019 that he could be deported, just not to El Salvador.

Upon being returned to the U.S. last week, Abrego Garcia was immediately sent to Tennessee to face federal charges related to transporting undocumented immigrants.

This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.

A second federal judge on Friday blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump aimed at overhauling elections in the U.S.

Trump’s March 25 executive order sought to compel officials to require documentary proof of citizenship for everyone registering to vote for federal elections, accept only mailed ballots received by Election Day and condition federal election grant funding on states adhering to the new ballot deadline.

Citizens go through the voting process at Scheig Center & Gardens on Election Day on Nov. 5, 2024, in Appleton, Wisc. (Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Fox News talked to lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who are rattled by the incident with Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.

Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a news conference regarding the recent protests in Los Angeles earlier Thursday.

Even some Republicans are privately concerned about how Padilla was treated, although they concede his tactics were aggressive. 

This is where some GOPers believe this is theatrical, as Democrats struggle to find a message against the Trump administration that resonates.

PADILLA CUFFED, MCIVER INDICTED: CAN CONGRESS COME BACK FROM THE BRINK? 

Sen. Alex Padilla speaks during a press conference at the Wilshire Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd. on Thursday in Los Angeles. (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Senators are particularly shaken. The Senate is a body of equals. And if this can happen to one of them, well, there’s a worry they could be next. 

Democrats demand a full-blown investigation. 

California Democrats and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus hectored House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in the hall yesterday, accusing him of lying. 

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: GOP LAWMAKERS PREPARE TO SLASH $9.1B FROM USAID, NPR, AND PBS IN RARE VOTE 

Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, departs after speaking to reporters outside the Wilshire Federal Building, after he was forcibly removed after interrupting a news conference being held by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on June 12. (GETTY IMAGES)

Johnson believes Padilla should be censured. 

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., said she had a private conversation with Johnson on Thursday. She wants to lower the temperature but said only President Donald Trump can do that. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., spoke to Padilla and Senate Sergeant at Arms Jennifer Hemingway about the incident. 

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“I remain hopeful that Leader Thune and other Republicans can walk us back from the brink. But I am not so sure anymore,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.

California GOP gubernatorial candidate, Steve Hilton, and former Democratic state senate leader Gloria Romero spoke to Fox News Digital outside a graffiti-covered Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) station as anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots ravage the streets of LA. 

“I’ve been here for days, seeing what’s going on with these riots. One of the most shocking things is the scale of the graffiti,” Hilton told Fox News Digital. “Everywhere you go in downtown LA, every surface is covered in vile, disgusting graffiti. And to me it is a really vivid symbol of the total collapse of law and order of civilized values, that they just let this happen. All of this could have been prevented.”

MARINES TO BEGIN OPERATIONS IN LOS ANGELES FRIDAY, AHEAD OF NATIONWIDE ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTS

Hilton, who declared his candidacy for governor in April, has not shied away from critiquing Gavin Newsom’s leadership in the Golden State. 

California Governor Gavin Newsom is being mocked online for an “embarrassing” televised address Tuesday night that experienced several technology meltdowns, resulting in the governor not being audible for parts of his speech. (Getty Images)

But with the nation watching the battle between the sitting California governor and President Donald Trump over squelching the riots and ICE deportations, Hilton went as far as to say that “Newsom is a total joke.”

“He’s shown in the last few days he is not fit to be governor of this state,” Hilton explained to Fox. “He is certainly not fit to be President of the United States, which is the only thing he seems to be focused on, which is why right at the beginning of all this, instead of acting immediately to make sure that things didn’t get out of hand and to protect communities, to protect small businesses and to prevent law and order and uphold civilized values.”

LOS ANGELES RIOTERS DELAY HUNDREDS OF LEGAL MIGRANTS FROM RECEIVING CITIZENSHIP: DHS

Hilton was joined in the interview with Fox News Digital by Gloria Romero, a former Democratic California senate leader turned Republican who previously represented East Los Angeles. 

Steve Hilton is joining the race to succeed California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.  (Fox News/Screenshot/Tayfun Coskun/Getty Images)

“For years and years, I tried to fight for reform within the party,” Romero told Fox. “Finally, like my friend[s] Leo Terrell, Bobby Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, I said, the [Democrat] party left me. It is so woke. It is gone.”

“Today we are looking at what happens then when those who are unvetted come in, and we’re looking at not only just the Maryland man as they described him, the California man, but we’re looking at rapists, convicted rapists, sex traffickers, murderers,” Romero added.

LIBERAL MEDIA DOWNPLAYS LA RIOTS, DISMISS VIOLENCE AS ISOLATED WHILE TOUTING ‘PEACEFUL’ ANTI-ICE PROTESTS

Newsom has stood firm in refusing to back down from Trump as riots raged on, and some see his rhetoric and decision-making as a means to propel himself as the leader of the anti-Trump movement as well as possibly the Democrat party as a whole. 

National Guard are deployed around downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following an immigration raid protest the night before.  (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Speculation that Newsom could make a run for the Democratic ticket for president in 2028 heightened during his national address this week, where he said “California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next.”

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Newsom is termed out as California governor, giving Hilton and other GOP hopefuls a chance to flip the state red for the first time since Arnold Schwarzenegger over 14 years ago. 

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

President Donald Trump promised that Israel’s next round of attacks on Iran would be “even more brutal” in a Truth Social post pressuring Iran to cut a deal on its nuclear activity. 

“There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,” Trump said. 

“Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Trump said he warned Iran that “the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it.”

“Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”

Rescue teams work outside a building damaged by Israeli strikes in Tehran, Iran. (AFP via Getty Images))

ISRAEL LAUNCHES SWEEPING STRIKE ON IRAN WHILE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SEEKS DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION

The U.S. and Iran have another round of nuclear talks scheduled for this weekend in Muscat, Oman, while the two sides remain on opposite ends over whether Iran should have the capacity to enrich uranium at all, even for civil energy purposes. 

It is not clear whether those negotiations will carry on in light of the attack. Trump had urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to let talks play out before launching any strikes. 

 “I think it would blow it,” Trump said earlier yesterday of the prospect of a premature Israeli attack. But then, he mused, it “might help it actually, but it also could blow it.” 

TRUMP AWARE OF ISRAEL STRIKES ON IRAN BEFOREHAND, SAYS THERE WERE NO SURPRISES

President Donald Trump speaks during an “Invest in America” roundtable with business leaders at the White House on Monday, June 9, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

After the attack, Secretary of State Marco Rubio put out a statement insisting the U.S. had no part in the strikes and urged Iran not to attack U.S. positions. Earlier, non-essential embassy staff in Iraq had been evacuated in light of the prospect of an attack. 

Tehran fired over 100 drones toward Israel on Friday morning in a counter-move, which Israel intercepted. 

Israeli says it struck 100 sites in Iran in the first wave of attacks. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This Image shows a residential building that was destroyed in Tehran, Iran, during the attacks. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Netanyahu revealed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) struck a key nuclear site, Natanz, during the attack on the regime.

Among those killed were top nuclear scientists and top military leaders: General Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s highest-ranking military official and chief of staff of the IRGC, along with most of the IRGC air force high command, who were convened in an underground bunker at the time. 

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The first wave of strikes hit over 100 targets with 200 Israeli fighter jets dropping “330 different munitions,” the IDF said, adding the strikes will carry on for days. 

It appears that the group of American voters who have shifted in large numbers from Democrats to Republicans in recent years on the combustible issue of immigration are actually the nation’s immigrants themselves.

A look at pre- and post-election surveys from the 2020 and 2024 cycles indicates a 49-point swing by voters born outside the United States – the vast majority of whom are considered immigrants – on which major political party would do a better job handling the issue of immigration.

American National Election Studies (ANES) data from the 2020 presidential election indicates voters born in another country said they favored Democrats rather than Republicans on the issue of immigration by a 58%-24% margin.

TRUMP DEPLOYMENT OF TROOPS TO QUELL LA RIOTERS LATEST PAGE IN PRESIDENT’S POLITICAL PLAYBOOK

Data from pre- and post-election surveys from the 2020 and 2024 cycles indicate a 49-point swing by voters born outside the United States on which major political party would do a better job handling the issue of immigration. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Four years later, the data indicated 45% of voters born in another county who cast a ballot in the 2024 presidential election said the GOP would do a better job handling immigration, with 30% pointing to the Democratic Party.

There was a smaller but still prominent shift from the Democrats to the Republicans by all voters, according to the data from ANES, which is the oldest election study in the world (dating back to 1952) and is often referred to as the gold standard for election surveys.

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Daron Shaw, who serves as a member of the Fox News Decision Team and is the Republican partner on the Fox News poll, said the large shift toward the GOP on the immigration issue by those born outside the U.S. is “reflective of the fact that immigrant voters started so pro-Democrat. There’s more room for them to shift.”

Shaw also noted that before President Donald Trump first ran for the White House in 2016, immigration and border security were generally seen as separate issues.

President Donald Trump (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Since Trump has come on the scene, those issues have really melded to the Republican advantage,” Shaw said.

Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas, also said “you’re seeing a movement towards the Republican Party on immigration because it’s been largely focused on border security. That’s true with non-immigrant populations as well as immigrant populations.”

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Immigration and border security were key issues that Trump spotlighted as he campaigned to win back the White House in last year’s presidential election.

Republicans won back control of the presidency and the Senate and defended their small House majority in the 2024 elections. And Republicans made gains among Black, Hispanic and younger voters, all traditional members of the Democratic Party’s base.

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Border security and immigration have remained in the nation’s political spotlight in the nearly five months since Trump returned to the White House, thanks to the president’s sweeping and controversial moves on the two issues.

Aiming to extinguish escalating protests in Los Angeles sparked by immigration raids carried out by ICE at his administration’s direction, Trump sent in National Guard troops and even mobilized Marines. The unrest and the moves by Trump have dominated national headlines for nearly a week.

Fox News’ Dana Blanton and Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

When it comes to the nation’s federal government, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is “not a fan.” 

He believes that it “causes or exacerbates more problems than it actually solves,” telling Fox News Digital during an interview on Wednesday that the bulk of his oversight is “to expose how awful government is” in order to obtain “public support for reducing it, limiting its size, limiting its cost, limiting its influence over our lives.”

“As our federal government grows, our freedoms recede,” he said. “You see what the federal government does, how it wastes money.”

TRUMP ALLY STANDS FIRM AGAINST ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ DESPITE PRESSURE: ‘IT’LL COMPLETELY BACKFIRE’

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., arrives for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

The national debt has ballooned to the eye-watering sum of more than $36 trillion, with lawmakers and presidents from both parties presiding over the deficit spending that has led the nation to this point. 

Johnson said he’s “trying to force reality” upon everyone in the nation’s capital, regardless of whether they want to face that reality.

He said for decades the nation has been suffering a “chronic debt crisis,” illustrating the dramatic decline in the value of the U.S. dollar by noting that “the dollar you held back in 1998 is now only worth $0.51 cents,” while “a dollar you held in … 2019 is only worth $0.80 cents.”

The senator referred to inflation as “the silent tax.”

But he’s certainly not staying silent.

Johnson indicated that the elected leaders are mortgaging the future of American children, but “don’t talk about it.”

“I’m forcing everybody to look at it,” he said, noting that his “primary role” is to force “acknowledgment of our problem.”

A burning US dollar bill, London, 8th August 2011.  (Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)

But as keenly as Johnson advocates the idea of slashing the sprawling tentacles of the massive federal bureaucracy, right now he’s just pushing to pare spending down to pre-pandemic levels.

The conservative fiscal hawk has been making headlines for taking a stand against the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that cleared the GOP-controlled House of Representatives last month. 

But Johnson told Fox News Digital that he actually likes a lot of the measure.

“I’m really not critical of the bill as far as it goes,” Johnson explained, noting that he’s a “big supporter” of much of what’s in it, though he noted that has not read all of it — the measure is more than 1,000 pages long. 

REPUBLICANS CHALLENGE ‘IRRELEVANT’ BUDGET OFFICE AS IT CRITIQUES TRUMP’S ‘BEAUTIFUL BILL’

“My main beef is it just doesn’t go far enough,” he said, noting that after the COVID-19 pandemic Democrats failed to return to pre-COVID spending and deficit levels.

The Congressional Budget Office’s estimated budgetary impact for the measure indicates that the net effect on the deficit would be a more than $2.4 trillion increase over the fiscal years 2025-2034.

But White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has said the measure would decrease deficits.

“The bill REDUCES deficits by $1.4 trillion over ten years when you adjust for CBO’s one big gimmick–not using a realistic current policy baseline. It includes $1.7 trillion in mandatory savings, the most in history. If you care about deficits and debt, this bill dramatically improves the fiscal picture,” Vought said in a post on X.

US OFFICIALS DELAYED WARNING PUBLIC ABOUT HEART INFLAMMATION RISK FROM COVID SHOT: REPORT

Johnson also noted during the interview that there has not been a “reckoning” regarding the “abuse” at all levels of government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that he does not refer to the COVID-19 jab as a vaccine. Instead, he referred to it as an “injection,” asserting that it is “not a vaccine,” and that it caused injuries and death.

The senator said that he thinks the shots should have “black box warnings.” 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website states that the “CDC recommends a 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine for most adults ages 18 and older” and claims that the “vaccine helps protect you from severe illness, hospitalization, and death.”

Johnson isn’t necessarily interested in another term in office.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

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Johnson, who has served in the Senate since 2011 and won election to a third term in 2022, said he’d prefer not to seek another term in office.

“I don’t covet this job,” he said, noting that he wants to leverage his post to help save America and aid those who are “ignored by the system.”

While he’s not ruling out another run, Johnson, who turned 70-years-old earlier this year, said he’d “be happy” to return to Oshkosh and “live a nice, peaceful life.”

Elmo has a friend, indeed.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., brought along a stuffed friend to help make a point on the House floor Thursday.

Jeffries held up a stuffed Elmo doll while accusing Republicans of targeting beloved children’s shows like “Sesame Street” in their push to slash federal spending.

“Today, we are on the floor of the House of Representatives debating legislation that targets Elmo. And Big Bird. And Daniel Tiger and ‘Sesame Street,'” Jeffries said, waving the puppet as he railed against the GOP-led rescissions package.

TRUMP SENDS $9.4 BILLION DOGE CUTS PROPOSAL TO CONGRESS, TARGETING NPR, PBS

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., holds a stuffed Elmo doll while speaking on the House floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jun. 12, 2025. Jeffries used the prop to criticize the Republican-led rescissions bill, accusing the GOP of targeting Sesame Street and children’s programming by cutting funds to public broadcasting. (Pool)

The moment, widely circulated online, came during debate over the Republican-backed Proposed Rescissions of Budgetary Resources from President Trump, which would eliminate over $9 billion in unspent or low-priority federal funds.

Among the targeted programs: $3 million in taxpayer support for an international version of Sesame Street in Iraq.

Democrats objected to what they characterized as cultural and humanitarian vandalism disguised as fiscal responsibility. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., delivered one of the sharpest lines of the day: “While you all have killed off Elmo, I urge my colleagues to vote no on this trash and I yield back,” Garcia said.

Republicans dismissed the theatrics and defended the package as a commonsense rollback of bloated, ideological spending. The bill also includes broader cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports PBS and NPR, long-time targets of fiscal conservatives who argue the taxpayer shouldn’t subsidize public media.

Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., rebutted, “I never realized Elmo was more important to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle than the American people.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., pushed back forcefully: “The Minority Leader held up a Sesame Street character here on the floor as if Sesame Street’s somehow going to go away,” Scalise said. 

SESAME STREET’S PRIDE MONTH POST SPARKS BACKLASH FROM REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS AMID PBS FUNDING THREATS

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., responds to Jeffries’ remarks on the House floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jun. 12, 2025. Scalise defended the $9.4 billion rescissions bill, rejecting claims that it would eliminate Sesame Street, and argued the program thrives on private funding. (Pool)

“I was watching a commercial on TV yesterday where the Cookie Monster was actually doing an advertisement for Netflix because a private company is paying money to run Sesame Street. It’s not going away. It’s doing just fine. Very lucrative.”

Scalise argued the bill doesn’t threaten Sesame Street’s survival, only its taxpayer subsidy, and called out what he described as “far-left, radical views” being promoted through outlets like NPR and PBS.

“There is still going to be a plethora of options for the American people,” he said. “But if they are paying their hard-earned dollars to get content, why should your tax dollars go to only one thing that the other side wants to promote?”

He concluded bluntly: “They can still watch Sesame Street in Iraq. But let the Iraqi people pay for it — not the taxpayers of the United States of America’s children.”

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., delivers remarks during House debate on the GOP rescissions bill at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jun. 12, 2025. Kamlager-Dove echoed Democratic outrage over proposed cuts to public media, accusing Republicans of “killing off Elmo” and calling the legislation “trash.” (Pool)

Even more eyebrow‑raising was the inclusion of taxpayer‑funded global health spending for procedures like circumcisions.

Among the line items flagged by GOP lawmakers: $3 million to subsidize circumcisions, vasectomies and condoms in Zambia, alongside similar grants for transgender surgeries in Nepal. Republicans contended that pulling back these types of low-impact or ideological slush funds was a logical first step toward returning more than $9 billion to the U.S. Treasury.

The bill passed the House Appropriations Committee earlier this week and Senate Democrats have signaled strong opposition.

The bill passed the House in a 214–212 vote. Four Republicans, Reps. Mark Amodei, R-Nev.; Mike Turner, R-Ohio; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; and Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., broke ranks to vote against the bill. All Democrats voted no.

No word yet from Elmo. But with Congress in session, the puppetry continues.

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The Office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Ahead of the second New York City mayoral debate, former New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo admitted that, despite previous testimony to Congress to the contrary, he did see the report detailing the number of COVID nursing home deaths and that he may have altered the report.

Speaking with local outlet PIX 11 News on Wednesday, Cuomo said, “I did not recall seeing the report at the time. I did see the report, it turns out.”

He also said, “I’m sure that if I read the report. I made language changes.”

Despite this, Cuomo said the published report “was accurate” and that “this has been politicized from day 1.”

BILLIONAIRE EX-MAYOR BLOOMBERG ENDORSES CUOMO IN NYC DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY SHOWDOWN

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (Getty Images)

Cuomo, who resigned his governorship in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, is the leading candidate running for New York City mayor. However, he continues to face criticism over the misconduct allegations as well as claims that he altered a report to undercount the number of COVID-19 nursing home deaths.

During the first New York mayoral debate last week, fellow Democrat opponents blasted Cuomo for allegedly lying to Congress, an allegation pushed by Republicans that the Trump administration is currently investigating. 

The Trump Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation in May to get to the bottom of whether Cuomo lied to Congress about the decisions he made during the COVID-19 pandemic while serving as governor.

CUOMO LINKS LA VIOLENCE TO TRUMP AS HE COURTS NYC VOTERS AHEAD OF PRIMARY

Andrew Cuomo (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Cuomo repeatedly dismissed questions throughout the debate about whether he lied to Congress about his role in drafting a New York State Department of Health report that officials determined had undercounted the number of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Cuomo blasted the current investigation as a symptom of partisan politics and insisted the report in question “did not undercount the deaths.”

Though he admitted on Wednesday to incorrectly testifying about not seeing the report and possibly making changes, Cuomo continued to maintain the accuracy of its numbers.

“Let’s just be clear for the record, because a lot of misinformation has been spread, New York always followed the federal guidance on what to do with nursing homes from the best federal medical minds available,” he said.

DOJ SUES NEW YORK FOR SANCTUARY POLICY ‘UNDERMINING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT’

Andrew Cuomo (REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs)

He noted that the federal guidance “changed over time as the federal officials learned more,” saying that “the state and other states followed the federal guidance.”

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“When all is said and done, New York state is No. 38 in the rate of nursing home deaths. Think about that, 38 out of 50 states. Only 12 states had a lower rate of death than New York,” he said.

Cuomo is expected to again face intense questioning from opponents and moderators about the report during the second mayoral debate on Thursday night.

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he was the reason President Donald Trump never sent the National Guard to New York City amid the violent George Floyd riots of 2020.

Cuomo’s comments came during the second of two Democrat primary debates for New York City mayor after he was asked how he would handle the current situation around the anti-ICE protests and the president’s decision to involve military personnel.  

“President Trump did this, and Trump won. He did it a number of times. He sent troops into cities all across the country. This is him being macho, authoritarianism; he’s the commander in chief,” Cuomo responded. “He never sent them into New York because I said to him, ‘You better never send troops into New York. We don’t need them. It would be a hostile act. It would be a problem.'”

CUOMO LINKS LA VIOLENCE TO TRUMP AS HE COURTS NYC VOTERS AHEAD OF PRIMARY

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says President Donald Trump never ordered military troops into New York City amid the violent George Floyd riots of 2020 because he told him not to. (Associated Press)

Trump ordered thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to go into Los Angeles over the weekend and help quell the unrest and assist federal immigration authorities in their efforts to deport illegal immigrants. During the similarly violent 2020 George Floyd riots, Trump directed federal troops to Washington, D.C. and Portland, Oregon, in an effort to end the destruction, danger and chaos.   

New York City saw some of the greatest violence during the Floyd riots, but Trump never deployed any federal agents there, as Cuomo noted during the debate.

Protesters march in downtown Brooklyn on June 5, 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s death by police. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

TRUMP SENDS CLEAR MESSAGE FEDERALIZING NATIONAL GUARD FOR LA RIOTS: THIS IS NOT 2020    

New York City, similar to Los Angeles, is a self-proclaimed “sanctuary city” that protects illegal immigrants from deportation or prosecution by federal authorities.

Cuomo says Trump never sent troops to NYC during the George Floyd riots in 2020 because he told him not to. (GETTY IMAGES)

During Thursday night’s debate, Cuomo said he, too, would defend New York City’s sanctuary city laws as mayor. 

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“Right now, in this situation, we’re going to protect our immigrants. This is a sanctuary city, and we are going to defend the laws of the sanctuary city,” Cuomo said. “We have an NYPD that is the largest police force in the United States of America. Donald Trump only picks fights that he can win. He cannot win a fight with me as mayor of New York.”

Conservatives on social media lambasted Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., for interrupting a Department of Homeland Security press conference in Los Angeles Thursday despite the Senate being in session.

Padilla was kicked out of the event, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she does not know him personally. 

“This is embarrassing [Padilla] spare me the fake outrage. Where were you when LEOS were being pelted with bricks? Hiding along with puppet [Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna]? #FactsMatter,” former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva posted on X.

REP. NADLER CONDEMNS TRUMP ADMIN AFTER STAFF MEMBER HANDCUFFED DURING CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE SECURITY SWEEP

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was interrupted during a news conference by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. (Getty Images/Fox News)

“Whoa!! A sitting US Senator, Alex Padilla, was just shoved and forcibly removed from a press conference with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Reports are he’s been arrested. No one is above the law. It’s about time these Democrats stopped acting like they are,” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk tweeted.

“Sen. Padilla missed Senate votes all week, only to throw a temper tantrum, rush the stage where DHS Secretary Noem was speaking, and get forcibly removed by security. Good on security to quickly address the threat,” conservative communications operative Steve Guest posted on X. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

The political tensions between California leaders and the Trump administration mounted with Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the city, which have prompted protests and riots in the area. 

President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to guard ICE officers despite Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass adamantly opposed to it. Newsom said the move was “unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy.”

“Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President. We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions,” he added.

NOEM DISMISSES JEFFRIES’ WARNINGS AS DHS CONSIDERS ARRESTS OF DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS AFTER ICE FACILITY CLASH

Sheriff Alex Villanueva speaks at a news conference Aug. 12, 2020, in Los Angele to give an update on the fatal shooting by a deputy of Andres Guardado near Gardena. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“Senator Padilla is currently in Los Angeles exercising his duty to perform congressional oversight of the federal government’s operations in Los Angeles and across California,” his office said in a statement.

“He was in the federal building to receive a briefing with General Guillot and was listening to Secretary Noem’s press conference. He tried to ask the secretary a question and was forcibly removed by federal agents, forced to the ground and handcuffed. He is not currently detained, and we are working to get additional information.”

DHS CHIEF NOEM ACCUSES LAWMAKERS OF ‘COMMITTING FELONIES’ AT NEWARK ICE FACILITY: ‘THEY SHOULD BE CENSURED’

Riots in Los Angeles have caused extensive damage. (Getty)

After the incident, Padilla’s office said he is not in police custody. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Noem and Padilla had a meeting after the scuffle. The secretary confirmed to Fox News that the meeting went well, and the two exchanged phone numbers.

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“During a press conference today held at the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, Senator Alex Padilla was detained by members of the U.S. Secret Service assigned to Secretary Noem’s detail when he became disruptive while formal remarks were being delivered,” the FBI said Thursday. 

“Secret Service agents were assisted by FBI Police who are in Los Angeles at this time. Senator Padilla was not wearing his Senate security pin; however, (he) was subsequently positively identified and released.”

You have lots of places to choose from to get your message out to the press if you’re House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

It’s best to get your message out succinctly, clearly and free of interference.

So when Johnson decided to boast about the House making good on the first bill to codify DOGE cuts and slash $9.4 billion from USAID and public broadcasting, he stepped just outside the House chamber and into a throng of reporters gathered by the Will Rogers Statue.

“Republicans will continue to deliver real accountability and restore fiscal discipline,” said Johnson.  

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: GOP LAWMAKERS PREPARE TO SLASH $9.1B FROM USAID, NPR AND PBS IN RARE VOTE

But the Will Rogers Statue area is a major thoroughfare in the Capitol. At the moment Johnson spoke Thursday, dozens of House Democrats were headed toward the office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. They were demanding answers about why federal agents tossed Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., to the ground and handcuffed him during a press conference in Los Angeles with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

When Johnson finished talking about reeling in the money for public broadcasting and USAID, reporters only wanted to ask about Padilla.

Yours truly included.

Despite all the talk of Republican spending cuts, there was only one thing on the minds of reporters in the halls of Congress on Thursday: what had just happened to Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

“Did the federal agents go too far,” I asked. “Was that a bridge too far?”

A long line of angry House Democrats squeezed past Johnson in the Will Rogers corridor. But because Johnson chose to speak in such a heavily-trafficked locale, Democrats hectored Johnson as they marched to the Senate.

“Yes it was!” shouted an unidentified Democrat as she strode past the scrum, answering my question for Johnson.

DEMOCRAT SENATOR FORCIBLY REMOVED AFTER CRASHING DHS SECRETARY NOEM’S PRESS CONFERENCE

But Johnson immediately pivoted to what Padilla did, standing up at Noem’s press conference to holler questions at her from the back of the room.

“It was wildly inappropriate,” said Johnson of Padilla as he spoke to the Capitol press corps. “You don’t charge a sitting cabinet secretary…”

“That’s a lie!” shouted another unidentified Democrat.

“A lie!” yelled someone else.

Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., was among the members of Congress who appeared to heckle House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. (Dai Sugano/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images)

Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., stopped to snarl something at the Speaker. But it was impossible to hear over the din.

“He was acting like a senator,” charged Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y. “Why don’t you stand up for Congress!”

“Can you respond to these people heckling you Mr. Speaker?” I asked.

“I’m not going to respond to that,” replied Johnson.

The Capitol was pulsing at this point. The crush of House Democrats barged into the office of Thune, who was at the White House.

Lucky him.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: HOW THE HOUSE IS TECHNICALLY DONE WITH THE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

The Democrats then trooped back across the Rotunda and poured into Johnson’s office.

“When the Speaker of the House refers to a sitting Member of the U.S. Senate who simply tried to exercise his First Amendment rights as acting like a thug, we’re very concerned about that,” said Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y. “Both the Speaker and Leader Thune should step up to the moment and preserve the institution of Congress, which are a balance in democracy and important balance in democracy.”

One lawmaker who didn’t join the angry Democratic mob was Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa. Dean stood apprehensively just beyond the wall of reporters and outside the invisible bubble created by Johnson’s security detail. When Johnson concluded speaking, Dean tried to pierce the security ring to have a civil conversation with the Speaker.

Johnson’s talks of spending cuts were quickly dashed by reporters demanding an explanation about Padilla. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Mike! Mike!” said Dean, trying to capture Johnson’s attention. “It’s Madeline.”

Johnson finally realized that “Madeleine” wasn’t some reporter trying to squeeze in an extra question for the Speaker. But someone he obviously knew. A fellow lawmaker. Someone from across the aisle with whom he must have a friendship and working relationship.

Johnson and Dean spoke in hushed tones as they walked quietly across Statuary Hall. Some in the press corps followed, trying to divine what they were saying. This wasn’t an offstage chat back in the Speaker’s Suite or on a private telephone call. But it went down in a very public part of the U.S. Capitol.

TRUMP’S SPENDING BILL HEADS TO SENATE WHERE REPUBLICANS PLAN STRATEGIC ADJUSTMENTS TO KEY PROVISIONS

The conversation continued as the duo stopped adjacent to the “British Steps” near the Speaker’s Office. Dean clenched both of her hands into fists as she and the Speaker were about to part ways. She lightly touched Johnson on the right arm as he ducked into the Speaker’s Office.

“Thank you, sir,” said Dean.

“What were you speaking to the Speaker about?” I asked the Congresswoman.

“I just want to keep that to myself,” answered Dean. “But the one thing I wanted to say is that it’s up to the President to turn the temperature down. Everyone is inflamed. And agitated. But it starts with the President. He said ‘I’m talking to the President,’” said Dean.

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., told me “it’s up to the President to turn the temperature down” after a quiet conversation with Johnson in Statuary Hall. (Andrew Harrer/Pool via Reuters)

But other Republicans may have tried to dial up the temperature by blasting Padilla.

Padilla left Washington earlier in the week to be in LA during the riots. The senator was supposed to start at first base for the Democrats in the Congressional Baseball Game on Wednesday night.

Republicans charged that Padilla should have stayed moored in Washington.

“He has a responsibility to show up at work not to go make a spectacle,” said Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo.

POWER PLAYERS OR BASEBALL PLAYERS? THE HISTORY BEHIND THE CONGRESSIONAL BASEBALL GAME

“The fact that he’s in California and not in D.C. while the Senate is voting means he’s not as concerned about doing his job here,” said Senate Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

Scalise conceded he had gone home to Louisiana when hurricanes threatened the state. He argued that he “wouldn’t go back home to try to stir angst against the federal agents that were coming and help us get back on our feet.”

Outraged Democrats thundered on the Senate floor, railing against the plight of Padilla.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Padilla’s plight “despicable” and “disgusting.” (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“This is the stuff of dictatorships. It is actually happening,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.

“It’s despicable. It’s disgusting. It is so un-American,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“I think it’s unprecedented,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. “It’s obnoxious, and it’s rather escalatory.”

But the outrage wasn’t limited to Democrats.

US ATTORNEY ALINA HABBA ANNOUNCES REP. MCIVER HIT WITH FEDERAL CHARGES OVER NEWARK ICE CLASH

“I’ve seen that one clip. It’s horrible. It is shocking at every level. And it’s not the America I know,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski,” R-Alaska.

The band of Democrats who ran over to Thune’s office never did find him. But by nightfall, Thune said he spoke to Padilla, Senate Sergeant at Arms Jennifer Hemingway and tried to contact Noem.

“We want to get the full scope of what happened,” said Thune.

This falls against the backdrop of the feds charging Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., for assaulting federal agents at a Newark detention facility earlier this spring. These episodes have shaken Congress. 

Lawmakers wonder what would happen if the shoe were on the other foot. And despite the partisan chasms, they’re all lawmakers. They know that if something like this can happen to Padilla, well, they could be next.

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Confidence and trust are waning.

“I remain hopeful that Leader Thune and other Republicans can walk us back from the brink,” said Schatz. “But I am not so sure anymore.”

FIRST ON FOX: Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins sent letters to California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass this week alerting them to the impact the anti-ICE riots there are having on the city’s veteran community.

The letter cites the “violent” riots as the reason why the VA decided to close its Los Angeles Ambulatory Care Center for at least five days. It stated that local agency leaders made the “difficult decision” after the building’s outer walls were defaced with graffiti threatening the lives of federal immigration officials.

In total, more than 600 veteran appointments were affected.

WATCH LIVE: VETERANS AFFAIRS SECRETARY DOUG COLLINS ON FOX & FRIENDS FIRST AT 5:30 A.M. FRIDAY

GOP LAWMAKER FLIPS SCRIPT ON NEWSOM, BASS BY DEFINING ANTI-ICE RIOTS WITH 1 WORD

Graffiti with profane language and threats to federal officials was seen sprayed all over a Department of Veterans Affairs community care center in Los Angeles.  (Dept of Veterans Affairs)

Graffiti with profane language and threats to federal officials seen sprayed all over a Department of Veterans Affairs community care center in Los Angeles.  (Dept of Veterans Affairs)

Graffiti with profane language sprayed over the Department of Veterans Affairs community care center in Los Angeles.  (Dept of Veterans Affairs)

“In other words, your state’s failure to maintain law and order in Los Angeles is coming between Veterans and the healthcare they have earned,” the letters, signed by Secretary Collins, stated. “What has struck me the most about the city and state’s response to this ordeal is that your primary concern seems to be virtue signaling your opposition to President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to restore law and order throughout the city rather than protecting the hardworking Angelenos who are being victimized by violent rioters and other criminals.”    

Collins added that the city and state’s “lackadaisical response to the riots” raises questions about the safety and security of veterans, particularly those who benefit from federal VA programs, after the National Guard and other federal law enforcement leave the area.

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

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins (RIGHT) and the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles (LEFT) (Getty/Reuters)

The letter requested both Newsom and Bass respond with specific steps they are currently taking to restore law and order in the area where the VA care center was shutdown. It also requested a status update on state and local investigations into the defacement of the care center that was closed, and requested that state and local authorities pay to repair the damage to the building since, according to Collins’ letter, it was their lack of police presence that led to the defacement.

Both Newsom and Bass opposed any federal intervention to quell the riots, calling it unconstitutional and an overreach. Eventually, Newsom, with support from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking an emergency restraining order to block National Guard and other military personnel from assisting federal agents with immigration enforcement. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

“Defendants, including President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have sought to bring military personnel and a ‘warrior culture’ to the streets of cities and towns where Americans work, go to school, and raise their families,” Newsom’s lawsuit states. “Now, they have turned their sights on California with devastating consequences, setting a roadmap to follow across the country.”

A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump acted illegally when he seized control of California’s National Guard during ICE-related riots in Los Angeles.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer issued the decision Thursday, siding with Governor Gavin Newsom and ordering Trump to return control of the Guard to the state “forthwith.”

“His actions were illegal—both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Breyer wrote. “He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”

“Federalism is not optional,” the ruling states. “Even the president cannot legislate by fiat.”

JUDGE MULLS TRUMP’S AUTHORITY OVER NATIONAL GUARD, WARNS US IS NOT ‘KING GEORGE’ MONARCHY

U.S. National Guard are deployed around downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following an immigration raid protest the night before. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer) (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Recent anti-ICE protests have led to riots, looting, and clashes with federal agents in Los Angeles. Trump issued a proclamation invoking federal authority, but Breyer rejected the justification, calling it constitutionally hollow.

In his order, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order and took immediate action to halt federal control of the California National Guard.

“Defendants are temporarily ENJOINED from deploying members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles,” the ruling states. “Defendants are DIRECTED to return control of the California National Guard to Governor Newsom.”

TRUMP TELLS JUDGE HE DOES NOT NEED NEWSOM’S PERMISSION TO CRACK DOWN ON RIOTERS, DEPLOY NATIONAL GUARD

A protester places debris in a fire as Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stand guard outside an industrial park in Paramount, Calif., on Saturday, June 7, 2025.  (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

The court stayed the order until noon on June 13, 2025, giving the defendants a narrow window to comply. Plaintiffs were also ordered to post a nominal bond of $100 within 24 hours.

Looking ahead, Judge Breyer scheduled a hearing to determine whether the temporary restraining order should become a preliminary injunction.

“Defendants are further ORDERED TO SHOW CAUSE why a preliminary injunction should not issue,” Breyer wrote. The hearing is set for June 20, 2025, at 10 a.m.”

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

The CIA released 54 declassified documents related to the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) on Thursday, providing an additional 1,450 pages of material for the public to scour through for answers to their conspiracies.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe released the documents in response to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. and RFK.

According to the CIA, the latest batch of documents complements the thousands of pages the agency provided to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as part of their public releases related to JFK earlier this year.

The most recent release shows for the first time that RFK, as a senator, shared his experiences traveling to the former Soviet Union with the CIA while reflecting his patriotic commitment to serving his country.

‘LIGHT ON THE TRUTH’: GABBARD ANNOUNCES RFK FILES RELEASED MONTHS AFTER TRUMP’S ORDER

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy speaks to the delegates of the United Auto Workers at a convention hall in Atlantic City, N.J., on May 9, 1968. (AP Photo)

“Today’s release delivers on President Trump’s commitment to maximum transparency, enabling the CIA to shine light on information that serves the public interest,” Ratcliffe said. “I am proud to share our work on this incredibly important topic with the American people.”

Along with sharing information about RFK’s Soviet Union experiences, the files also dive into the psychological assessments of Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot and killed RFK in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968.

In a personality assessment memo on July 8, 1968, federal authorities declared that “under no circumstances would we have predicted that [Sirhan] was ‘capable’ of doing what he did.”

GABBARD SAYS RFK, MLK JR RECORDS ‘READY TO RELEASE’ IN DAYS, HAS ‘HUNTERS’ LOOKING AT FBI, CIA FOR MORE FILES

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, center, is escorted by his attorney, Russell E. Parsons, at the Los Angeles County Jail on June 28, 1968. (AP Photo/George Brich)

In the same memo, the feds said the odds of Sirhan being successful were “tremendous.”

“Obviously, we cannot see him as part of a conspiracy,” the memo read. “He could be a tool of a conspiracy in the sense that the attempted assassin of Secretary of State [William] Seward and the assigned assassin of Vice President Andrew Johnson [George Atzerodt] were tools of the [John Wilkes] Booth conspiracy. It is very likely, however, that he could have effectively acted under precise instructions.”

It goes on to say that most people of the type of attack Sirhan was accused of at the time attack their mother or their girlfriend.

“Occasionally they will lash out against an employer or colleagues (a case in point is the recent Pennsylvania case of the ‘quiet’ man who killed his car pool and then himself),” the memo read. “Sometimes they will pick public figures and make abortive attempts to get at them. Essentially, we see Sirhan as being more like the impulsive assassins of [former presidents James] Garfield and [William] McKinley than the calculating assassins of [Abraham] Lincoln and President Kennedy.”

LAWMAKERS CHEER TRUMP’S JFK FILES RELEASE: ‘RESTORATION OF THE PEOPLE’S TRUST’

The file release is what the CIA said was a collaborative effort directed by Trump and led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard with coordination from the CIA, Department of Justice, FBI and NARA.

“Today’s release is another important step in fulfilling President Trump’s commitment to maximum transparency. Thank you to those at the CIA, ODNI, and NARA who worked hard to locate, review, and digitize these documents, many of which have never been released publicly before,” Gabbard said. “We will continue coordinating with our partners across the Intelligence Community to fulfill President Trump’s promise of maximum transparency.”

The documents are available to the public and can be viewed by visiting cia.gov and archives.gov/rfk.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a guest on Fox News’ “The Story” on Thursday and told host Martha MacCallum that he did not know his father was reporting back to the CIA during his trip to the Soviet Union in 1955, when he was a Senate aide.

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“My mother was on that trip,” RFK Jr. said. “She joined him in St. Petersburg, and she actually was working for the CIA at that time, and she was wearing a carnation in her lapel that was attached to a little bubble where she could take pictures.”

RFK Jr. continued by saying the Soviets had brought artwork back to now-St. Petersburg after the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Germans, he explained, had confiscated the artwork from some of the Jewish families and that the CIA was interested in that.

“I don’t think it was anything of grave national security interest, but it was, you know, it’s an interesting fact that I didn’t know about my dad,” he said.

Fox News Digital’s Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.

A federal judge pressed the Department of Justice during a hearing Thursday about whether President Donald Trump followed the law when he activated the National Guard in response to recent anti-immigration enforcement protests and riots in Los Angeles County, California.

Judge Charles Breyer, a Clinton appointee, repeatedly drew comparisons to a monarchy as he weighed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request that the court temporarily restrict Trump’s power to use the National Guard.

Breyer said the United States is not ruled by a king and that presidential power has limitations.

“We’re talking about the president exercising his authority, and the president is, of course, limited to his authority,” Breyer said. “That’s the difference between a constitutional government and King George. It’s not that a leader can simply say something, and it becomes it.”

RETIRED JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER’S BROTHER ASSIGNED TO NEWSOM NATIONAL GUARD LAWSUIT

President Donald Trump, California Gov. Gavin Newsom.  (Getty Images)

Breyer, who is the brother of retired liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, did not make any decisions from the bench during the hearing and did not signal how he would rule. He indicated that a decision would come as soon as Thursday evening.

The judge’s remarks came as he weighed arguments presented by DOJ Civil Division head Brett Shumate. Shumate argued the courts do not even have authority to review Trump’s invocation of Title 10, a set of laws that lays out what mechanisms a president can use to federalize National Guard members.

The National Guard is a state-based military force under the dual control of presidents and governors. Typically, a president activates the National Guard with a governor’s consent.

But, as demonstrated in the courtroom in Northern California on Thursday, the law does not make clear that a governor’s permission is necessary.

The Title 10 law that Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth relied on to federalize thousands of National Guard members says presidents must go “through” a governor. A memorandum Hegseth sent out deploying the soldiers states that he went through Newsom, a point Breyer questioned.

FORMER AG BARR SHREDS GAVIN NEWSOM’S ‘NONSENSE’ LEGAL CLAIMS AS TRUMP SENDS IN TROOPS TO QUELL LA RIOTS

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“I’m trying to figure out how something is ‘through’ somebody if, in fact, you didn’t give it to him,” Breyer said.

Newsom vehemently opposed Trump sending the military into his state, saying the president’s show of force exacerbated the fledgling riots in parts of Los Angeles and caused them to worsen.

After the president’s proclamation, protests and riots intensified. Demonstrators set several self-driving cars on fire, looted stores, and continued assaulting law enforcement officers, including by pelting officers with concrete and other hard objects.

TRUMP TELLS JUDGE HE DOES NOT NEED NEWSOM’S PERMISSION TO CRACK DOWN ON RIOTERS, DEPLOY NATIONAL GUARD

A rioter waves a Mexican national flag next to a car on fire during a protest following federal immigration operations, in the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles, California on June 7, 2025. (Getty Images)

California’s attorney general filed a lawsuit over Trump’s actions, pitting the president against Newsom, one of the most prominent Democrats in the country and a possible 2028 presidential contender. 

Attorneys for Newsom argued in a complaint that Trump and Hegseth exceeded their authority, violated Title 10, and violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

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They “unlawfully bypassed the Governor of California,” the attorneys wrote. In addition to possibly requiring consent from a governor, Title 10 also requires that there be a rebellion or similar type of scenario that is underway.

“At no point in the past three days has there been a rebellion or an insurrection,” the attorneys wrote. “Nor have these protests risen to the level of protests or riots that Los Angeles and other major cities have seen at points in the past, including in recent years.”

The Department of Justice on Thursday advised its nearly 100 U.S. Attorney Offices to be prepared for criminal investigations related to the planned nationwide protests on Saturday against the Trump administration’s policies.

Thousands of “No Kings” protests are slated to take place across the country on Saturday, with attendees expected to rally against the Trump administration’s policies.

“As we’ve said repeatedly, the Department respects the right to peacefully protest & assemble to engage on important issues,” a DOJ spokesperson wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. “However, the Department and its 94 US Attorney Offices will not tolerate unlawful violence & destruction of property.”

The Justice Department said it will not tolerate unlawful demonstrations. (AP Images / Getty Images)

PROTESTERS EXPECTED TO CONVERGE ON DC, NEIGHBORING CITIES AHEAD OF TRUMP’S MILITARY PARADE

Washington, D.C. on Saturday will host a large military parade for the Army’s 250th anniversary, which coincides with Flag Day.

No Kings’ website, however, alleges the military parade is in honor of President Donald Trump, describing the event as “a made-for-TV display of dominance for his [79th] birthday.”

The parade and protests follow multiple days of violent riots in Los Angeles and New York City.

 A rioter holds up a Mexican flag as burning cars line the street on June 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. 

FRESH WAVE OF ANTI-ICE PROTESTS THREATENS UNCERTAINTY, VOLATILITY BEFORE TRUMP’S MASSIVE MILITARY PARADE

“No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance,” organizers wrote on their website. “From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we’re taking action to reject authoritarianism—and show the world what democracy really looks like. … The flag doesn’t belong to President Trump. It belongs to us. We’re not watching history happen. We’re making it.”

Protesters confront Los Angeles police department personnel in riot gear in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, June 9, 2025.  (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

TRUMP WARNS ANY POTENTIAL PROTESTORS AT HIS MILITARY PARADE WILL BE ‘MET WITH VERY BIG FORCE’

U.S. Attorneys have reportedly been warned that federal charges may need to be filed if the protests become violent.

“We are prepared to respond accordingly,” a spokesperson said.

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Organizers noted on the No Kings site they will not be hosting an event within the nation’s capital, focusing instead on rallies in Philadelphia, Virginia and Maryland.

However, No Kings’ partners, DC Joy Day, will be hosting an event in Anacostia Park, located within the city.

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…

Waters Makes Waves

Eighteen-term Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters resurfaced in the news after several run-ins with federal authorities during the ongoing illegal immigration riots in California, just as her House tenure began amid prior Angeleno unrest.

In 1992, as she was finishing her first term in Congress, the not-guilty verdict against White LAPD officers seen beating a Black motorist named Rodney King sparked a similar conflagration in Los Angeles, and Waters was in the midst of it then as well.

The riots greatly affected her South Los Angeles district, and Waters was quoted at the time as appearing to downplay the violence not as a “riot” but as “just a bunch of crazy people who went out and did bad things for no reason.”…READ MORE

Rep. Maxine Waters, seen after Rodney King riots with Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, left, and amid LA riots, on right (Getty; Reuters)

White House

RIFT HITS RATINGS: Musk’s favorability among Republicans drops 16 points after Trump feud

SUPPORT SLIPS AWAY: Public opinion turns against Trump-backed tax and spending bill, new survey finds

‘NEXT-GENERATION’: Trump’s ‘next-generation’ missile defense plan gains momentum as US faces foreign threats

WIN FOR TRUMP: Appeals court grants Trump short-term win over Boasberg in immigration ruling

Judge James Boasberg’s rulings have often come under fire by President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)

World Stage

‘ABSOLUTE EVIL’: Hamas attack on aid workers leaves eight dead as org fears some were ‘taken hostage’

WINS BIG: Israel’s Netanyahu holds on to power, attempt to dissolve government falls short

RED ALERT: Taiwan ramps up Coast Guard and military readiness in face of Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ warfare

Capitol Hill

SPENDING SHOWDOWN: GOP lawmakers prepare to slash $9.1 billion from USAID, NPR and PBS in rare vote

POWER OF THE PURSE: Fate of Trump’s $9.4 billion spending cut package hangs on House GOP moderates

TRUMP TEAM TARGETED: Democrat congresswoman draws boos over ‘shameful’ sexism remark in committee hearing with Treasury Secretary

TAX BOMB TICKING: Pence group warns Senate not to rubber-stamp Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s conservative organization wants Republican senators to gut provisions from Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’ (Getty;AP)

‘WIN THE ARGUMENT’: Fetterman issues ‘DO’ and ‘DO NOT’ list, doubling down on anti-violence message after calling out LA ‘anarchy’

TRIMMING THE FAT: Republican senators roll out DOGE budget proposals for Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

Across America 

TRACK RECORD LOOMS: Mayor Karen Bass’ handling of LA riots adds to decades of political baggage

‘GET THE HELL OUT’: California Dem tells Hegseth he’s an ’embarrassment’ to the US, should ‘get the hell out’ of the DOD

LAW ENFORCED: National Guard authorized to detain ICE attackers, DHS says

Los Angeles riots continue. (Getty)

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

The Trump administration and Republican lawmakers slammed Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for comparing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations to the Gestapo, which was a police force in Nazi Germany.

“When you compare the old films of the Gestapo grabbing people off the streets of Poland, and you compare them to those nondescript thugs… it does look like a Gestapo operation,” Lynch said at the House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday where Walz, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker were facing questions over their state’s immigration policies, particularly on compliance with federal authorities.

The White House’s rapid response account slammed the remarks as “disgusting.”

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

Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., speaks with reporters during a news conference in Boston on Aug. 4, 2019. (Getty Images)

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., slammed Lynch’s remarks as “sick.”

“Comparing lawful police activity by our nation’s brave law enforcement officers to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo is sick. Securing the border and mass deportations are 80/20 issues, but Democrats refuse to give up the virtue signaling. To Democrats, illegal aliens > Americans,” the Arizona lawmaker posted to X.

“This is the type of dangerous rhetoric inciting violence across the country,” the RNC Research’s X account said. 

Walz was also criticized at the hearing for his similar comments about ICE at a University of Minnesota law school commencement address last month.

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

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who himself was chosen as a vice presidential candidate to reach out to blue-collar men, has recognized that the Democratic Party has a long way to go in order to repair its relationship with them. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images)

“I’m gonna start with the flashing red light — Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz said at the time. “They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons. No chance to mount a defense. Not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye. Just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.” 

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Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., directly called out his remarks, including a post from May 2018 in which Walz said that he will “support policies that keep law enforcement from enforcing federal laws that everyone knows are broken.”

“Given the attacks on ICE agents that took place in Los Angeles over the weekend, don’t you regard your dangerous inflammatory rhetoric as a problem?” Emmer asked.

HOMELAND SECURITY SAYS BOSTON’S MAYOR COMPARING ICE AGENTS TO NEO-NAZIS IS ‘SICKENING’

ICE’s federal law enforcement officers take Jorge Carvajal Castrejon, 36, into custody in Houston on Jan. 28. (ICE)

“So, sir, it saddens me that you refuse to express regret from comparing ICE to Nazis,” he later added, saying ICE agents are “brave Americans.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) echoed Emmer’s sentiment. 

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“Governor Walz’s comments comparing ICE agents to the Nazi Gestapo is SICKENING. ICE agents put their lives and safety on the line to arrest criminal illegal aliens let into our country,” DHS posted to X.

The Trump administration’s ICE arrest goals and Democratic leaders continue to be at odds, especially when it comes to state and local authorities’ compliance with federal immigration enforcement. ICE currently has a daily goal of 3,000 arrests of people in the country illegally. 

The House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion plan to claw back federal funds for foreign aid, PBS and NPR.

The vote was mostly along party lines, with no Democrats voting for the bill.

Trump allies largely viewed the package as a test run to see whether congressional Republicans could stomach cuts that were widely seen across the GOP as low-hanging fruit.

President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speak to reporters following a closed-door meeting with House Republicans on May 20, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Spending cuts in the legislation include a $8.3 billion rollback of funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and just over $1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funnels federal dollars to NPR and PBS.

GOP UNVEILS NEW WEAPON TO HELP SLASH BILLIONS IN GOVERNMENT WASTE AS REPUBLICANS RALLY BEHIND TRUMP’S PLAN

Capitol Building, NPR, PBS (Getty Images)

Republican leaders argued the majority of the USAID dollars getting cut were going toward “woke” programs like $1 million for voter ID in Haiti and $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street.

On NPR and PBS, conservatives have long accused the two networks of taking federal money while growing increasingly liberal in their bias, rather than focusing on impartiality.

But some moderate Republicans had concerns about the legislation’s effect on critical disease prevention research in Africa.

NONCITIZEN LA RIOTERS COULD BE DEPORTED UNDER NEW HOUSE BILL

President Donald Trump speaks as he welcomes the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team to the South Lawn of the White House on April 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Others argue that entirely slashing federal funding to public broadcasting would disproportionately hurt small local news outlets that rely on it most, and which are situated in areas that otherwise would be an information desert without those resources.

The legislation ultimately passed, however, and will now be sent to the Senate for consideration.

The $9.4 billion proposal is called a rescissions package, a mechanism for the White House to block congressionally approved funding it disagrees with.

Once transmitted to Capitol Hill, lawmakers have 45 days to approve the rescissions proposal, otherwise it is considered rejected. 

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Such measures only need a simple majority in the House and Senate to pass. But that’s no easy feat with Republicans’ thin majorities in both chambers.

If passed, Republican leaders hope the bill will be the first of several rescissions packages codifying spending cuts identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).