NationalWatch

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is quietly working towards a new goal: to become a progressive kingmaker in the burgeoning battle for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.

The socialist mayor of the nation’s most populous city, who can’t run for president himself because he’s not a natural-born U.S. citizen, has been meeting behind closed doors with labor leaders to highlight the need for a union-aligned or left-wing candidate to seek the presidency.

The mayor’s moves come as he’s reportedly said he’s uncertain whether progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, his close political ally, will run for the White House.

According to Axios, which was first to report the news, Mamdani is concerned that if Ocasio-Cortez stays out of the 2028 race, it could leave progressives without a standard-bearer to face off against a more centrist presidential frontrunner in the primary battle.

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Mamdani, who is seen as a major powerbroker for the left wing of the Democratic Party after his historic 2025 mayoral election victory, argues that the progressive movement can’t waste its momentum coming out of last week’s trouncing of Republicans in the midterm elections, as Democrats won a massive House majority and control of the Senate.

A source familiar with Mamdani’s 2028 conversations told Axios the mayor “wants the progressive ecosystem to mobilize quickly, strategically and efficiently if a moderate candidate is clearly on the rise,” 

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez is publicly pumping the brakes on speculation she’ll launch a presidential campaign or bid for the Senate in New York, even as a newly formed group of activists is urging her run for the White House.

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“I think the thing that’s important here is the last thing that people want to hear from me or any other politician here is about the next election. And what they actually want to hear from us is about what we are going to do with the electoral results they just gave us on Tuesday,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters Monday night, pointing to the midterms.

The comments from Ocasio-Cortez, who was re-elected last week to a fifth term representing parts of New York City, came hours after the formal launch of Ready for AOC, a political group working to encourage her to run for president by showing her she has legions of supporters ready to mobilize on her behalf.

“A people-powered movement asking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for President in 2028. No campaign. No money. Just names,” is how the group described itself on social media.

But Ocasio-Cortez said voters are more concerned about congressional Democrats’ immediate legislative agenda rather than speculating about the next election.

“I think people are less concerned about the horse race, and they want to know: What are the investigations we’re going to be starting? What is the legislation that we’re going to be starting?” she said.

Veteran Democratic strategist David Plouffe, campaign manager for former President Barack Obama’s landmark 2008 White House victory and a senior advisor on then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 bid, said last week, “If AOC runs, she’s going to start, 20-25%, probably. The question is, can she add to that? If she doesn’t run, then that is wide open. That’s where I think someone like Abdul may say, ‘Even though I just won, should I look at it?'”

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Plouffe, who was speaking at a forum hosted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, was referring to Democratic Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, who made history last week as the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.

“That’s the thing about this race. It’s so wide open that there may be some people run who surprise us. I also think there’ll be some people who don’t run who’ll surprise us,” Plouffe added.

Ocasio-Cortez said in September that she’s weighing what to do next, whether it be a White House run or a bid for the seat currently held by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow Democrat and New Yorker.

“I know there is a lot of speculation about what I will decide to do in 2028. I get asked about it nearly every interview and event,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a fundraising email to supporters.

The now-37-year-old lawmaker with a massive social media footprint said in a New York Times interview two months ago that her decision, which could happen sometime after the midterm elections, would come down to answering the question, “Where can I do the most good?”

Schumer, who turns 76 later this month, has left his 2028 plans open and has not announced whether he’ll run for sixth six-year term in the Senate.

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Ocasio-Cortez isn’t the only leading figure on the left who is mulling a presidential run. So is Rep. Ro Khanna of California, a top House progressive.

Allies of the soon-to-be six-term congressman last week launched a draft committee called “Run Ro” to build support and raise funds for a potential 2028 presidential campaign.

Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, widely believed to be considering a presidential run in 2028, is facing renewed scrutiny over his resume — this time from his former Army supervisor who is questioning the governor’s claim that he led soldiers in combat.

In an investigative deep dive into Moore’s military service, The Baltimore Sun spoke with a retired Army Lt. Col. James A. “Jamie” Gottschling, who served with Moore in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006. What Gottschling described was Moore’s patriotic service and dutiful fulfillment of his role, but exaggerations — and in some cases falsehoods — about incidents that occurred overseas.

Moore’s team said that “partisan politics got in the way” and led to Gottschling’s latest assessment, where he told Fox News Digital: “I wouldn’t call him a soldier.”

Fox News Digital spoke with Gottschling on Monday.

WES MOORE PREEMPTIVELY UNLOADS ON BALTIMORE SUN AHEAD OF EXPOSE, AS SPOX BEEFS WITH ‘RIGHT WING’ OWNERSHIP

He said in the interview that while Moore would occasionally leave the base, the governor never saw combat. Gottschling said he would describe Moore and himself as “combat veterans” who are “not veterans of combat.”

“When you think of a veteran of combat, you think somebody that’s in a foxhole, getting shot at, IED blowing up the convoy, or even more dramatically, when you think about World War II movies, Easy Company, or any of those things where it’s like, those guys are getting shot,” Gottschling said. “That just wasn’t the environment that he was in.”

“He starts talking about, you know, in his TED Talk and really struggling with reintegration into the civilian world after the deployment, I’m like, ‘what is he talking about?’ You know, he spent six months over there, basically in, you know, a forward base that pretty much is as safe as anywhere. You’d probably be at more risk going to an ER in any of the cities in the United States than you would be in Afghanistan, in Salerno.”

Moore is widely considered a contender for the 2028 Democratic Party nominee for president.

“I just think it’s disingenuous to really associate with the struggle. I mean you can have some empathy for people that might struggle with the transition, but when you come over there pretty much dip into a combat zone situation, work on the staff for six months and then come out you know saying that, you know, all this trauma that you had … and it’s like, oh, give me a break,” Gottschling told Fox News Digital.

“So I think it’s just him emotionalizing and capitalizing on what soldiers do. And he’s not a soldier,” he continued.

“He was in the Army as a reservist in a staff position in Iraq, but I wouldn’t call him a soldier.”

The Baltimore Sun report describes Gottschling, who then held the rank of major, as the “Army officer who supervised Moore daily” in Afghanistan. Moore has framed himself as a paratrooper in the famed 82nd Airborne Division who led troops into battle during his deployment overseas.

Moore worked on information operations coordination while the pair were stationed together at Forward Operating Base Salerno in the Khost Province near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. According to The Baltimore Sun, Moore’s job was “analyzing reports from infantry battalions and provincial reconstruction teams, coordinating for civilian assistance and helping Afghan officials communicate with the public.”

Central to Moore’s personal narrative is that he led troops into combat in Afghanistan. He said that on multiple occasions on X while he was campaigning for Maryland’s governorship.

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“I’ve seen real patriotism when I led paratroopers in combat in Afghanistan and I’ve seen it in my own family,” he said in a Nov. 6, 2022 post, just two days before he was elected governor.

“Service has defined my life, starting when I joined the Army when I was 17, through leading soldiers in combat with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan, to today,” he said in a post earlier that year.

In his book, “The Work,” Moore describes being shot at.

“As a soldier, you never forget the first time you were shot at,” he wrote in the book. “A sudden, stunning commotion engulfs you—the sound of shells buzzing past your ears, a flurry of divots leaping out of the earth around your feet—but then your training kicks in,” the book says.

“Moments before those first shots came at me, I was convinced I was prepared for the experience,” the book continues.

MARYLAND’S LONE CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICAN BLASTS MOORE’S REDISTRICTING PUSH AS ALLEGED 2028 WHITE HOUSE PLAY

Moore, who is widely considered a contender for the Democratic nominee for president in 2028, reaffirmed that that passage from his book was true during a July interview with CNN, again claiming that he “led soldiers in combat.”

Gottschling also contests the extent to which Moore led other soldiers. In “The Work,” Moore described fellow soldiers as “my paratroopers” and rejects Moore’s framing that he was ever “leading” troops in combat.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Moore’s senior press secretary described Gottschling’s motives as political.

“Five days after Marylanders re-elected Governor Moore in a historic landslide, Sinclair is back to swiftboating a veteran by recycling the exact same stories and interviews they already ran months ago,” Ammar Moussa said. “Twenty years ago, before partisan politics got in the way, Lt. Col. Jamie Gottschling signed an official Army evaluation declaring Wes Moore a ‘top 1% officer’ and ‘the best lieutenant I’ve encountered during Operation Enduring Freedom.'”

Gottschling addressed that evaluation with The Baltimore Sun.

“There’s a lot of embellishment with that, but that’s just how the system was,” he told the outlet. “You’re not trying to be deceitful about it, but you want to elevate what they did (your soldiers) … so they can get their next job or next promotion.”

“Now, a longtime Donald Trump donor who has openly stated his goal is to stop Governor Moore from being in contention for the presidency is working with Sinclair to contradict his own signed military records,” Moussa continued. “Governor Moore’s service in Afghanistan—including earning the Combat Action Badge and coming under rocket fire alongside fellow service members—has been independently verified by official Army records and The Baltimore Banner, which interviewed fellow service members, and no partisan swiftboat campaign will change the facts.” 

The Combat Action Badge is also addressed in The Baltimore Sun’s story. The story describes it as a “minor indirect rocket attack” where nobody was injured.

Moussa, citing a report in the Baltimore Banner, said a Marine named Anthony Del Signore who was attached to Moore’s unit said that their convoy “took some shots” at least once. 

A New York Times exposé found in 2024 that Moore for years claimed to be the recipient of a Bronze Star when he had not been awarded one at the time. He included the Bronze Star claim on his resumé when applying for a White House fellowship in 2006. In 2024, he received the award after then-Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., urged the Army to give him one.

In a story published in July on the topic of Moore’s military service, Gottschling said he doesn’t want Moore to be president. At that time, Moore was running for reelection as governor.

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“I care about my faith and country. I do not really care whether Moore is elected governor of Maryland, but I do care if he is in contention for the presidency,” he said. “I could not live with myself if I was not vocal about the truth.”

Gottschling made it clear that he wasn’t putting down Moore’s service, which he called exemplary, but took issue with what Moore said about his service after he came home and elevated his political profile.

Gottschling called Moore a “valued staff officer” and said he “appreciated every minute” of the work he did.

“I think there’s nothing wrong with that, if it ended there, that would be it,” Gottschling said. “But it didn’t end there. The embellishment, the aggrandizing of his actions over there that didn’t take place is the problem that I have. I’m a pursuer of the truth, you know, and I want to tell the truth.”

President Donald Trump says he may not put his thumb on the scale when it comes to picking the Republican Party’s 2028 presidential nominee.

“Probably, not necessarily,” Trump said in a post-midterm election interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” when asked whether he will endorse in the primary to pick the next Republican nominee. “So I may or may not get involved… Maybe I’m better off not getting involved.”

Trump for months has touted the GOP’s “great bench” when asked about the likely Republican field of contenders aiming to succeed him in the White House.

The president reiterated that opinion after the GOP’s drubbing in last week’s midterm elections, as the party lost control of both the House and the Senate.

VANCE, CRUZ, DESANTIS DIAGNOSE GOP’S MIDTERM DISASTER AS 2028 BATTLE BEGINS

“I think we have an unbelievable bench of talent,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum in an Election Night interview on Fox News.. “We have a great group of talented people that I think would do a very good job.”

Early jockeying by the potential contenders began the morning after Election Day, with midterm post-mortems by Vice President JD Vance, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis grabbing plenty of headlines.

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“There’s going to be a robust field of candidates that test the waters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina and that’s exactly as it should be,” Nicole Schlinger, a veteran Iowa-based Republican strategist, told Fox News Digital. “We’re going to get an opportunity to see which approach to our message of where we as the Republican Party goes next is going to resonate the most with the grassroots voters who are going to show up and kick tires.”

Here’s a look at the list of potential GOP presidential contenders in the burgeoning race to become the party’s next standard-bearer and impact which direction the party will head in a post-Trump era.

Vice President JD Vance

The vice president has long been viewed as the likely frontrunner for the 2028 GOP nomination and Trump’s heir apparent.

But the conventional wisdom from pundits is that the shellacking the GOP took in the midterms has transformed what may have been a Vance coronation into a more competitive and crowded nomination battle.

Vance kicked off the post-midterms debate last Wednesday morning with a roughly 600-word postmortem on X, blaming the war with Iran for the ballot box setbacks, in what some pundits viewed as an early pitch to eventually claim the MAGA and America First mantle.

Even with last week’s setbacks, Vance leads many of the early 2028 GOP presidential primary polls, has built a formidable fundraising network thanks in part to his role as the Republican National Committee’s finance chair, and has a team of advisers and aides that would form the beginnings of a presidential campaign.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Rubio, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, is doing his best to stay far away from the 2028 spotlight.

The former senator from Florida has long been floated by Trump and by pundits as a possible White House contender, and his support in early 2028 polls has soared. But Rubio has downplayed such speculation, and dismissed reports he was considering stepping down as secretary of state to lay the groundwork for a presidential run.

Rubio, who has said a handful of times over the past year that he’d back Vance if the vice president decides to launch a White House campaign, was asked about 2028 Monday while taking questions from reporters during a stop in France.

“I don’t know why you’re wasting your time,” Rubio said. “I’m not going to talk about 2028 any longer. I’m just not going to talk about 2028 anymore.”

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas

The conservative firebrand senator from Texas, who was runner-up to Trump in the bruising 2016 presidential primaries, has made no secret that he may run for the White House again in 2028.

In his post-Election Day assessment, Cruz described the midterms as a “blue tsunami” and warned that his party had lost touch with voters, particularly in the Lone Star State.

“2026 was not simply a blue wave; it was a blue tsunami. It was an a– kicking,” Cruz wrote. “It was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election. It was a Watergate-level repudiation.”

In a possible preview of the Republican primaries, Cruz has put plenty of daylight between himself and Vance over support for Israel, with Cruz spotlighting his support for the Israeli government.

Boosting Cruz if he decides to run would be his top-ranked podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, which has allowed the senator to build a massive grassroots network.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

The term-limited conservative Florida governor, who finishes up in Tallahassee at the start of the new year, ran for the White House in 2024. He was an early frontrunner before being decisively defeated by Trump.

DeSantis held a news conference the morning after Election Day where he called the midterm election results “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans across the country.”

“Let’s just be clear, that is going to hurt — not just for the next two years… That is something that can reverberate for the next decade or more,” he said. “We knew it could be worse. I don’t think most of us thought it would be this bad.”

But DeSantis, who sat for a slew of media interviews in the wake the midterms, repeatedly highlighted that “the one state that was able to hold the line and withstand that is right here in the free state of Florida.”

While in 2028 buzz about DeSantis surged since last week’s election, the governor took to social media on Friday to blast a report that he was planning a 2028 run, emphasizing, “I have not reached out to anybody about running for anything. Just another pathetic attempt to garner clicks.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence

Pence, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has said he has “no plans” to run for White House again in 2028.

But Pence has seen Advancing American Freedom, his policy and advocacy organization, dramatically expand over the past year.

And the Trump’s first vice president told Fox News Digital earlier this year that his fight to keep the Republican Party from drifting too far from its conservative roots and principles, amid a rise of populism in the GOP and big government creep during his Trump’s second administration, is “the calling of my life right now.”

Last week Pence argued, “The American people have rejected our party’s shift toward economic populism, and our majorities in Congress and state legislatures and governorships across the country paid the price.”

But he emphasized, “The conservative comeback starts today.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp

The conservative term-limited governor, who finishes out his tenure in Atlanta in two months, is also seen as a potential White House contender.

In the wake of the midterm shellacking, Kemp spelled out a GOP vision centered on the “conservative principles of our party.”

“It’s time we get back to those principles in the months and years to come,” the governor wrote.

Former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Youngkin, who instantly soared to political stardom after 2021 gubernatorial victory energized Republicans a year after Trump lost the White House and the Senate in the 2020 election, has consistently downplayed talk of a 2028 presidential campaign.

Instead, Youngkin has focused on his signature issue – education – by pushing to promote school choice programs through he recently formed national policy group Empowering America’s Parents.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie

Christie, who unsuccessfully ran for the 2016 and 2024 GOP nominations, is seriously mulling a third run for the White House.

“The midterms were a repudiation of the GOP and Donald Trump. It is time Republicans do the autopsy, learn the lessons, and move forward,” Christie, a vocal Republican critic of the president, argued in the days after last week’s election. “The Trump era is over. He has led us to the greatest losses this country has seen for a party since Richard Nixon.”

Christie has said he’ll decide on a presidential run in the next few months, telling Fox News Digital recently that “I think there’s a lot of flexibility on the timing.”

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska

Bacon, a former Air Force brigadier general who has at times split with Trump on foreign policy and national security issues, decided against running for re-election this year and exits Congress in two months.

Bacon has said he is open to a potential run for president in 2028 or serving in a supporting role on another Republican candidate’s ticket.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, earned national attention as Trump’s White House press secretary for much of his first term

Sanders, who made history four years ago as the first woman elected Arkansas governor and last week won re-election by double digits, is increasingly seen as a potential presidential contender.

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas

Cotton, who took a hard look at a 2024 GOP presidential run before deciding against launching a campaign, was just re-elected.

The senator, an Army veteran who served in combat in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars before becoming a rising star in Republican Party and who was on Trump’s running mate short list two years ago, is also viewed as a potential White House hopeful.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida

Scott, a self-made multimillionaire and former two-term governor who’s the wealthiest member of the Senate, also mulled a 2024 bid before running for re-election.

Midterm election campaign trail stops in Iowa and New Hampshire – the two states that lead off the Republican presidential nominating calendar – sparked speculation that Scott was considering a 2028 campaign.

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana

Kennedy, who’s up for re-election in 2028, has said he would consider a White House run instead of seeking another term in the Senate if he felt he could no longer be effective in the Senate or if he felt dissatisfied with the Republican presidential primary field.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Pompeo, a former four-term congressman from Kansas who served as CIA director and later as the top U.S. diplomat in Trump’s first administration, also took a hard look at a 2024 run before passing.

Asked last year about a 2028 bid, Pompeo told Fox News Digital, “We’ll see what the good Lord brings in a couple of years.”

He’s currently viewed by pundits as a possible contender.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky

The vocal Republican critic of the president who relentlessly pressed for the release of the Epstein files before losing his bid for renomination earlier this year to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein has said he’s “not ruling anything in or out” when it comes to a presidential bid.

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Last week Axios first reported that a group of Libertarian Party operatives and anti-Trump MAGA defectors was urging Massie to run for the White House as a third-party or Libertarian presidential candidate.

FIRST ON FOX: The House Oversight Committee released a report concluding that prosecutorial failures, preferential treatment and institutional negligence allowed Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to continue sexually exploiting young women and girls for years.

The investigation, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving federal prosecutors, financial institutions that overlooked warning signs of sex trafficking and individuals accused of facilitating Epstein’s abuse.

The report identified two former federal prosecutors whose involvement in Epstein’s original investigation raised potential conflicts of interest.

Matthew Menchel, a senior federal prosecutor who recommended resolving Epstein’s case through a non-prosecution agreement, previously had a romantic relationship with Lilly Ann Sanchez, who later represented Epstein.

Menchel did not recuse himself from the investigation and continued communicating and meeting with Epstein after the agreement, according to documents cited by the committee.

TODD BLANCHE SAYS ‘NO CLOSED INVESTIGATIONS’ IN EPSTEIN CASE, VOWS DOJ WILL PURSUE NEW SUSPECTS

Investigators also learned of an alleged photograph showing Menchel skiing with Epstein in Colorado in the early 2000s but could not verify its existence or establish that Menchel’s decisions were improperly influenced. 

Menchel, however, denied ever having skied with Epstein in a statement to the Miami Herald but did not deny meeting with him after leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office. His attorneys said their correspondence concerned potential legal representation and referrals, none of which resulted in business.

His attorneys also maintained that Menchel was not responsible for the final plea agreement, which was more lenient than the arrangement he recommended. A 2020 Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility report found that Menchel failed to disclose his relationship with Sanchez to supervisors but found no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.

Sanchez did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Former federal prosecutor Bruce Reinhart established a private law practice while employed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and later represented Epstein associates. His practice was involved in matters related to Epstein’s work-release program.

Former U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta testified that he did not know whether Reinhart had access to information about the Epstein investigation.

Reinhart did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The committee said it urged the Justice Department to investigate further former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and celebrity hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai further, following testimony from Sarah Kellen, a former Epstein assistant who alleged that Epstein and the two associates sexually abused her. 

Both Levine and Fekkai have denied the allegations in earlier statements. Levine and Fekkai did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Kellen also testified that Epstein instructed another assistant to remove computers, hard drives and other equipment from his Palm Beach residence before authorities searched the property in 2005. Investigators believed the equipment could contain evidence of sexual exploitation.

Epstein’s attorney, Darren Indyke, testified that he later learned the hard drives were in the possession of private investigators. Federal investigators identified a potential lead concerning the equipment but abandoned the effort before finalizing Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement.

The report also examined whether Sandy Berger, former national security advisor to President Bill Clinton, warned Epstein about the search, given that he sent Epstein an urgent message 18 days before the search. However, the committee found no evidence establishing that Berger tipped him off or that the message concerned the investigation.

CLINTON JUDGE ORDERS DOJ TO UNSEAL THE EPSTEIN FILES IT HAS BEEN KEEPING HIDDEN

The committee recommended further investigations, stronger protections for trafficking survivors and reforms to prevent similar federal law enforcement failures.

Among those recommended for further investigation was Lesley Groff, Epstein’s executive assistant for nearly two decades.

Groff, who scheduled Epstein’s daily massage appointments and coordinated travel and lodging for women visiting his properties, testified that she was unaware he was sexually abusing young women and girls. 

Groff continued working for Epstein after his 2008 conviction.

Groff did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

The committee also criticized Epstein’s treatment following his 2008 conviction, arguing that his work-release privileges allowed him to continue abusing women.

Epstein served approximately 13 months of an 18-month sentence and was permitted to leave jail for up to 12 hours daily, six days a week.

His privileges included working at the Florida Science Foundation, which the committee described as a sham organization, traveling in private vehicles accompanied by paid off-duty sheriff’s deputies, meeting visitors without continuous monitoring and visiting his Palm Beach residence.

Kellen and other survivors alleged that Epstein continued sexually abusing them during his work release.

The investigation also examined Epstein’s relationships with prominent politicians, business executives and academic institutions, including billionaire Bill Gates and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Lutnick told the Oversight Committee in 2026 that he had “done absolutely nothing wrong.” He acknowledged visiting Epstein’s private island for lunch with his family in 2012, despite previously claiming he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005. Lutnick said he could not recall why his family had lunch there. Comer said Lutnick addressed the discrepancy in his opening statement.

Gates testified that Epstein requested reimbursement for expenses involving a woman with whom Gates had an affair. Gates said he refused to pay, ended his relationship with Epstein in late 2014 and was never a client of Epstein’s financial businesses.

Gates and Lutnick did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. 

The committee also identified billionaire financier Leon Black as a major source of Epstein’s income following his 2008 conviction.

Black paid Epstein approximately $158 million to $170 million for purported tax and estate planning services.

The committee identified an agreement involving a woman with whom Black had an extramarital relationship that reportedly required payments of $100,000 per month for 15 years, among other benefits, in exchange for confidentiality. Epstein reportedly advised Black on the agreement.

Black cited an independent investigation that found he was not involved in Epstein’s criminal activities, although the committee questioned its independence.

EPSTEIN-LINKED BILLIONAIRE POURS $500K INTO SUPER PAC BACKING KENTUCKY DEMOCRAT: ‘DIRTY EPSTEIN-CLASS MONEY’

Black also refused to fully answer certain committee questions and failed to comply with subpoenas, prompting a unanimous House vote in September 2026 to hold him in criminal contempt of Congress.

Black did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

The report also examined Epstein’s relationships with current and former public officials.

Kathryn Ruemmler, former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, maintained a professional relationship with Epstein after his 2008 conviction and received expensive gifts, including designer handbags, boots, spa services and travel upgrades.

In a 2016 email, Ruemmler joked about receiving the “best massage ever but not your kind of massage.”

Ruemmler acknowledged that the remark was in poor taste and testified that she believed Epstein had resolved his criminal case and was living lawfully.

She also testified that a May 2019 meeting with Epstein concerned potential litigation threatened by attorney Michael Avenatti, not a criminal investigation.

The report identified Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., as having exchanged text messages with Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing, including communications about questioning a witness.

Plaskett did not deny exchanging the messages. Her office said she received texts from staff, constituents and members of the public, including Epstein, whom she described as a constituent who contacted her following a widely circulated hearing exchange. The committee did not allege wrongdoing by Plaskett.

Ruemmler and Plaskett did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. 

The report also cited an email indicating that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries’ campaign solicited a donation from Epstein.

Jeffries, however, said he had no recollection of the email and had never met or communicated with Epstein. Federal election records reportedly show no donations from Epstein to Jeffries or the committees involved. Reports identified Lisa Rossi of the political consulting firm Dynamic SRG as the sender of the message.

Jeffries did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: OSSOFF CHALLENGED TO RETURN EPSTEIN-LINKED DONATION OR RETRACT ‘EPSTEIN CLASS’ ATTACK

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Regarding Epstein’s death in 2019, the committee identified serious prison security failures but did not overturn the official suicide finding.

The report also criticized the Justice Department for missing disclosure deadlines and exposing survivors’ personal information during the release of millions of Epstein-related documents.

The Republican-led investigation stated that it uncovered no evidence implicating President Donald Trump in Epstein’s criminal activities and accused congressional Democrats of politicizing the investigation.

Gov. Gavin Newsom-signed California redistricting has scored at least a 2-for-1 consolidation of House Republicans.

Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., is projected to defeat fellow Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., in the 40th Congressional District race called Monday night, ostensibly forcing two incumbents to battle for one seat in the gerrymandered district.

“I want to congratulate Congressman Ken Calvert on his victory,” Kim wrote in a statement posted to X, sharply criticizing the map that effectively drew one of them out. “I wish him the very best as he continues representing our communities. It is unfortunate that Gavin Newsom’s political redistricting scheme forced two Republican members of Congress into this race.”

AMERICA SAW THE BLUE WAVE COMING — BUT DRASTICALLY UNDERESTIMATED THE EXTENT OF THE DEM TSUNAMI

All told, Democrats’ redistricting and the so-called blue wave have more than cut the Republican California delegation in half, from nine seats (eight Republicans and one independent that caucuses with them) to just three or four (one race remains too close to call a week after the election).

Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in California’s House delegation, had declared victory days earlier while ballots were still being counted.

The district covers suburban communities in eastern Orange County and stretches into the Inland Empire in western Riverside County — southeast of Los Angeles.

California voters approved the Democratic-backed redistricting plan that combined portions of the two lawmakers’ previous districts into a single seat, setting up the rare intraparty contest in one of the state’s remaining Republican strongholds. Kim had represented the area since 2018. Calvert’s prior district, which included much of Riverside County and Palm Springs, was carved up and redistributed.

ALL THE REPUBLICAN HOUSE MEMBERS OUSTED FROM CONGRESS

Calvert is just one of three House Republicans in the state to survive thus far.

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and Rep. Vince Fong, R-Calif., won re-election in the 5th and 20th Congressional Districts. Those are heavily Republican stretches of the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills — rural agricultural and mountain country well inland, roughly between San Francisco and Los Angeles but far from both coastal metros in the western parts of the state.

Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., is clinging to a narrow lead of just 3,384 votes over Democratic challenger Tessa Lynn Hodge in California’s 23rd Congressional District, a High Desert seat in San Bernardino County that was rated Solid R by the Fox News Power Rankings before the midterms.

With ballots still being counted, Obernolte holds a just 1.6-point edge — about 50.8% to 49.2% — after winning the district by more than 20 points in 2024.

BLUE WAVE NEARLY SWALLOWED SOME OF AMERICA’S REDDEST STATES AS ELECTION DATA EXPOSES GOP’S CLOSE CALLS

Four other Republicans from California are leaving Congress in January 2027.

Rep. James Gallagher, R-Calif., lost to Democrat Mike McGuire by nearly 13 points, while Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., lost to Democrat Randy Villegas by nearly 37 points.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., did not seek re-election and his former seat flipped to blue under the new map, with Democrat Marni von Wilpert defeating Republican Jim Desmond by nearly 20 points.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., who left the Republican Party to try to keep his seat as an independent, lost by more than 17 points to Democrat Richard Pan.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS DECIDE WHO WILL SUCCEED NEWSOM IN CONSEQUENTIAL GOVERNOR’S RACE

Calvert against Kim was the lone GOP vs. GOP battle left by the new map.

“As an immigrant who came to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream, serving this nation in Congress has been one of the greatest honors of my life,” Kim wrote in her statement posted to X late Monday night. “It has been a privilege to give back to the community that has given me so much, and I am incredibly grateful to my family, our volunteers, supporters, and everyone who placed their trust in me throughout this campaign.”

Kim said she was proud of the record built “delivering results for our communities, working to secure our country at home and abroad, strengthen our economy, and make life safer and more affordable for California families.”

During the campaign, both candidates supported President Donald Trump’s agenda early on and later sought to project themselves as pragmatic conservatives.

DEM WINS TRUMP-TARGETED TEXAS DISTRICT IN REBUKE OF REPUBLICAN REDISTRICTING SHAKEUP

The race turned negative, with Kim citing ethics complaints and an FBI investigation into some of Calvert’s real-estate dealings. Calvert denied the allegations and was never charged.

Calvert highlighted a campaign donation Kim received from a Chinese American businessman who has faced scrutiny over alleged foreign influence. Kim returned the contribution and said she was unaware of the claims.

“With the passage of Prop 50, Californians were sold a bill of goods, allowing Gavin Newsom and his radical allies in Sacramento an unprecedented power grab to redraw the Congressional map and silence those who disagree with his extreme policies,” Calvert wrote on X a year ago.

“Gerrymandering districts because you don’t like the results of an election is politics at its absolute worst. 

“Governor Newsom pouring millions into this ballot initiative while crime goes unchecked, housing costs skyrocket, and taxes as well as gas prices remain among the highest in the nation shows he’s more interested in protecting his party’s stranglehold on the state than delivering on the issues families face. Despite the passage of Prop 50, I am determined to keep fighting for the families I represent in Congress.”

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Calvert’s victory leaves him as the senior Republican voice in California heading into 2027.

Russia and Ukraine will finally return to the negotiating table Tuesday for their first trilateral peace talks with the U.S. in nine months.

Ahead of the talks, officials said both Moscow and Kyiv have shown “a little bit of flexibility privately” on territorial disputes that have long stood in the way of reaching an agreement.

U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will sit down with Ukrainian intelligence chief Rustem Umerov and Putin aide and veteran negotiator Vladimir Medinsky in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Trump administration has asked Russia to accept an “Article Four and an Article Five-like security guarantee” for Ukraine that would be “effectively very similar to NATO,” a U.S. official said Monday on a background call previewing the negotiations.

President Donald Trump has not yet decided what security guarantee the U.S. itself would provide, the official said, describing an American guarantee as a “really, really big deal” that would ultimately have to be worked out between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

RUSSIA’S NEIGHBOR REVEALS PERSONAL APPEALS TO TRUMP AS US WEIGHS NATO TROOP PULLBACK IN EUROPE

A lot has happened on the geopolitical stage since the latest trilateral talks happened in Geneva, Switzerland, in February. The first being the inception of a new conflict between the U.S. and Iran — and the second being the 2026 midterm elections, which saw a sweeping rebuke of Republicans with a blue wave taking the country by storm.

The latest round of talks will also mark the beginning of structured negotiations over territory.

Russia continues publicly to demand all of Donetsk, while Ukraine has pushed for freezing the conflict along the current line of contact. But behind closed doors, “both sides have shown a little bit of flexibility privately,” the official said.

UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY OPEN TO FREEZING FRONT LINES IN CEASEFIRE WITH RUSSIA

Trump also suggested in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday that Ukraine’s borders could ultimately change under a peace agreement, saying the country could emerge from the war with “a little bit different shape.”

U.S. negotiators do not expect to resolve the territorial dispute in Abu Dhabi. Instead, officials say the goal is to clarify where each side stands, identify the remaining gaps and begin exploring potential compromises that can ultimately be taken back to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy.

The administration increasingly views the territorial question and postwar security arrangements as inseparable.

Officials believe neither Russia nor Ukraine will make the concessions needed to settle the territorial dispute until each understands what the security landscape will look like after the fighting stops.

INSIDE MELANIA TRUMP’S SECRET DIPLOMATIC ROLE IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CEASEFIRE DEAL

Before sitting down with Russia and Ukraine, U.S. negotiators will meet with national security officials from Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy, along with NATO, the European Union and Ukraine, to discuss security guarantees and a broader postwar security architecture.

Washington then hopes to persuade Russia to join a broader multilateral negotiating process involving European governments.

“We need Europe at the table,” a U.S. official said, arguing that direct negotiations between Russia and European countries will ultimately be necessary for a durable settlement.

Among the ideas under consideration is reviving the NATO-Russia Council, which the administration wants to make a more robust forum for communication, de-escalation and resolving future disputes.

Officials are also exploring crisis communications, greater military transparency and reciprocal measures intended to reduce the risk of another conflict.

The administration’s goal in Abu Dhabi is not a final agreement. Officials instead hope the talks can establish a framework for more frequent negotiations and eventually move the process from a U.S.-Russia-Ukraine format to broader multilateral talks involving Europe.

The administration also sees sanctions as potential leverage in enforcing an eventual agreement. A U.S. official suggested sanctions on Russia could potentially be eased over time while retaining the ability to “spring back in place” if Moscow violates a peace deal.

Witkoff and Kushner, the son-in-law of the president, are also considering returning to meet Putin and Zelenskyy soon, depending on the outcome of the Abu Dhabi talks.

“This is the first time I feel like we see real desire on the Russian side to finish,” the official said.

But officials acknowledged the negotiations remain highly uncertain, with deep distrust between Moscow and Kyiv and major decisions on territory and security still unresolved.

The immediate test in Abu Dhabi will be whether the private flexibility U.S. negotiators say they are seeing can translate into something concrete once Russia and Ukraine are back in the same room.

But the Abu Dhabi talks could also set the stage for higher-level diplomacy.

U.S. officials said Witkoff and Kushner are considering returning to meet Putin and Zelenskyy soon, depending on the outcome of the two-day negotiations.

Trump is also preparing to travel to China for the APEC summit next week, where he said Sunday he expects to meet Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Discussions about a potential three-way meeting are underway, though no summit has been finalized.

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President Donald Trump is defending War Secretary Pete Hegseth as outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., targets the Pentagon chief for impeachment.

The president issued a Truth Social post on Monday slamming the congressman as “a total loser” while asserting that the war secretary “should be praised, not impeached.”

“Defeated Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a total loser, is trying to Impeach perhaps the most popular and successful military official in the Country, Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth,” Trump declared Monday on Truth Social.

HEGSETH IMPEACHMENT VOTE LOOMS AS HOUSE REPUBLICANS PRIVATELY WARN IT COULD PASS

“With recruitment at an ALL-TIME HIGH, from an all-time low under Sleepy Joe Biden, and TWO VICTORIES, Venezuela and Iran, Pete Hegseth should be praised, not Impeached. Congress, stand up for Pete!!!” he added.

Massie did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s comment request on Tuesday.

Hegseth shared a screenshot of the president’s post and thanked him.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: HOW MIDTERMS MAY CHANGE THE HOUSE IMPEACHMENT EQUATION FOR HEGSETH

“Thank you Mr. President. Like you, we will never back down,” Hegseth wrote.

Massie, who has served in the House of Representatives since late 2012, lost the GOP primary earlier this year in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL who went on to win the seat during the general election.

“My effort to impeach Secretary Hegseth is a much gentler version of what’s coming when the Democrats assume control of the House and Senate next year,” Massie said, according to a press release. “They will hold hearings and trials. President Trump should replace Secretary Hegseth now while he can still get a replacement confirmed in the Senate.”

WHY THE HOUSE LET OUT EARLY IS A MATTER OF DEBATE AFTER JOHNSON SAYS CHAMBER HAS ‘DONE ITS WORK’

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Hegseth said Monday there will be a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday morning.

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican isn’t ready to support Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to stay as the top Republican as the GOP’s leadership elections fast approach.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in an interview with Fox News Digital, argued that whoever would be the next to lead the Senate GOP and earn his vote in the process needed to lay out a plan on how Republicans would pass key agenda items heading into the lame-duck session of Congress before Senate Democrats take control in January.

Thune plans to run again for another term as the GOP leader, but Scott and a cohort of others want to delay Tuesday morning’s leadership elections to debrief after stunning losses across the board on Election Night. Whether he’ll support Thune for another term depends on his pitch.

SENATE GOP REBELS MOVE TO DELAY LEADERSHIP VOTE, DEMAND RECKONING AFTER MIDTERM DISASTER

“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse,” Scott said. “I mean, I think the first step is what do we want to accomplish? And then anybody, including John Thune, if they want to be that, the first thing I have to say is, ‘Do they want to do that?’”

“If that’s not what they want to accomplish, then why would we elect them? But if that’s what they want to accomplish, then tell us why they’re the best at it,” he continued.

Senate Democrats flipped the upper chamber with wins in red states across the country, clinching a 54-seat majority that could grow even more depending on the outcomes of outstanding races in Mississippi and Alaska.

STATE OF PLAY: BLUE WAVE SWEEPS DEMOCRATS INTO POWER, WITH KEY RACES STILL HANGING IN BALANCE

That gives Republicans little time with a trifecta in government to ram through key remaining agenda items before Democrats officially take over.

Thune still plans on running for leader, too, despite the grumbling among Republicans. He said on Monday after lawmakers returned to Washington that he expected a “very engaged conversation” ahead of the leadership election.

“We’ll see where it goes from there, but, yeah, I’m running for leader, and I think it’s important that we have that discussion, and we will,” Thune said.

Scott said that he wants the candidates to be “specific” on how they can balance the budget and pass a slew of legislation, including a stock trading ban for lawmakers, permitting reform, the National Defense Authorization Act and the SAVE America Act.

SCHUMER TANKS POPULAR INSIDER TRADING BAN IN DEM EFFORT TO DERAIL REPUBLICAN’S AGENDA AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

All of that, he said, would be a show that Republicans are listening to voters after getting pummeled in the midterms.

“Back home, they don’t care about anything other than do we make their lives better,” Scott said.

Thune is so far running unopposed for the top job — Scott reiterated that he had no interest in running again, trying twice for the gig, once against Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in 2022, and in 2024 when Senate Republicans were searching for McConnell’s replacement.

When asked if he would like to see someone else jump into the fray, Scott said, “Oh, I wouldn’t do that to anybody.”

Scott and Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Ted Budd, R-N.C., John Kennedy, R-La., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, all signed onto a letter demanding that Republicans meet before holding their leadership elections and delay voting until they have a full debrief on the midterm losses and what comes next.

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They’re joined by Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Dave McCormick, R-Pa., who called for the elections to be delayed but did not sign onto the letter pushing leadership for a meeting.

When asked how long he’d like to see the leadership elections delayed, Scott said, “I think this first step is how long is it gonna take us to agree on what our path should be?”

“If we can get that done quickly, then we can, you know, have elections after that,” he said. “And then people that want to run with that agenda in mind, saying they believe in that agenda and will work hard to get that agenda accomplished, then that’s how we would decide how we vote.”

Fresh off her re-election victory, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is not ruling out a spot on the 2028 Democratic presidential ticket as the party begins looking toward the next White House race.

When asked by The New York Times what her response would be if a 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful was seeking a running mate, Hochul indicated she would be open to the idea.

“I will say this,” Hochul said. “I didn’t get to where I am by slamming doors.”

Hochul’s comments come as Democrats begin looking toward the 2028 presidential election, with several high-profile figures floated as potential contenders, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

TOP DEMOCRAT GOVERNORS ARE HOPING TO RIDE THEIR RECORDS TO THE WHITE HOUSE. CAN THEY?

The Democratic governor, however, also emphasized that her current priority is “fighting” on behalf of New Yorkers as governor.

“So, as someone who has the support of the people of my state — and they know I’m fighting for them for the next four years, I’m going to keep doing that,” Hochul told the NYT.

“Look at our initiatives on universal childcare,” she added. “People saw the broad appeal of that. I want to become a national voice on that issue as well, and how other states can do it.”

KATHY HOCHUL ‘EXCITED’ ABOUT PROSPECT OF DEMOCRATS TYING TRUMP UP IN INVESTIGATIONS

“Clearly she [Hochul] hasn’t been in the discourse with more nationally prominent Democrats around the country, but I wouldn’t take that as a disadvantage,” Isaac Goldberg, a New York-based Democratic strategist, told the NYT.

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“Governor Hochul hasn’t spent the last few years auditioning for president, but she has built a record in New York that Democrats across the country can learn from,” Jerrel Harvey, senior communications advisor for Hochul’s office, told Fox News Digital on Monday. “Her approach offers a national model for delivering on big priorities like affordability and public safety, finding common ground across a diverse party, and earning a clear mandate without abandoning core values.”

Hochul’s comments come after she defeated Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman in New York’s gubernatorial race on Tuesday, securing 59.7% of the vote to Blakeman’s 40.1%, according to estimates from the AP.

Hochul said in a Wednesday X post in response to her election victory that she “will always believe in New York” because she knows “our best days are ahead.”

Hochul suggested at Politico’s New York Agenda: Albany Summit in March that Democrats have a “deep bench” of “highly qualified” governors who could make presidential bids in 2028.

“We are so damn lucky,” Hochul said at the summit. “We have the deepest bench I’ve seen in years of highly qualified individuals that have been battle tested. Maybe I have a bias toward governors, but they’re all my friends.”

Hochul has long been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, including during his second term. She also accused Trump’s Department of Homeland Security of “withholding” millions of dollars in counterterrorism funds for New York state in September.

The Empire State governor notably told Politico in an October interview that she felt “excited” about the prospect of a Democrat-led Congress attempting to stall Trump’s agenda via probes and hearings.

President Donald Trump said on Monday night that his administration’s mass deportation agenda has not put the same pressure on migrant workers as it has on people he described as murderers and drug dealers.

During a phone call with C-SPAN, Trump was asked whether law-abiding people who are paying taxes and have lived in the U.S. for a long time should be deported along with migrants who have committed serious offenses.

“We certainly haven’t put the same push on them as we have on the murderers or the drug dealers,” Trump said.

“Frankly, a big problem we had is the mental institutions being dumped into our country,” he added. “Some very dangerous people were released into our country, to put it mildly. So we have not put the same pressure, obviously. And, you know, we call them the worst of the worst. We haven’t put the same pressure on waitresses and on farm workers, etc. Not even close.”

TRUMP ADMITS IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT MAY HAVE BEEN TOO ‘TOUGH’ IN FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE MIDTERMS

Trump’s comments come after he floated the idea of his administration working with Democrats on a deal for some immigrants who have lived illegally in the U.S. for more than a decade after Republicans lost majorities in both chambers of Congress in last week’s midterm elections.

In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday, host Ross Douthat asked Trump whether he was open to working with Democrats on immigration as he enters the lame-duck final stretch of his presidency.

“I’d love to do something on immigration,” the president replied.

When asked whether immigration enforcement hurt Republicans in the midterms, Trump said he believed it both helped and hurt, praising his administration’s border enforcement while acknowledging criticism over deportations of people with jobs.

“But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs,” Trump said.

Trump said some Americans believe immigrants who entered the country illegally should be deported, while others believe longtime workers should be allowed to remain, particularly those working in landscaping or hotels and paying taxes.

“When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that’s working there as a maid, as a cleaner as a this as a that, as a waitress, a lot of good things, great jobs, and all of a sudden they’re being taken out of the country, it’s tough. It’s a tough thing,” Trump said, adding that people on the far-right want deportations regardless of whether the immigrant living in the country illegally is working.

WHITE HOUSE DOUBLES DOWN AFTER TRUMP ANGERS BASE BY FLOATING ILLEGAL ALIEN DEAL WITH DEMS

Trump signaled in the interview his willingness to “work a deal” for people who have been in the U.S. illegally for “10 and 15 years.” 

However, Trump said at a White House press briefing earlier on Monday that “there won’t be amnesty” and his policy “hasn’t changed.”

The president was asked during the phone call with C-SPAN if he expects Republicans to vote against the impeachment of Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.

The House could take up Rep. Thomas Massie’s, R-Ky., impeachment resolution against Hegseth as early as Tuesday.

Asked what his reaction would be if some Republicans voted for Hegseth’s impeachment, Trump said he would be “disappointed.”

HEGSETH FACES BIPARTISAN IMPEACHMENT THREAT AFTER IRAN WAR GETS BLAME FOR GOP MIDTERM SLAUGHTER

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Trump also said “it depends” when asked when to expect the war on Iran to end.

“Maybe we could knock it out fast or we could knock it out over a short, not a long period of time,” he said.

“Now it’s a question of I could do it quickly or not,” Trump continued. “The reason I’m doing it this way is because in speaking with Qatar, as you know, the Prime Minister was in the Oval Office today, in speaking to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, basically the neighbors who were attacked pretty violently, by the way. But in speaking to them, they’d rather do it this way rather than another hit, which would be approximately five times bigger than the first hit, which basically decimated them. So, I’d like to do it this way, too.”

Trump added that he believes Iran “would like to make a deal, and we’ll find out whether or not that’ll happen.”

FIRST ON FOX: A new analysis from a conservative AI safety group found that deep-red counties with large data centers or proposed projects shifted further toward Democrats in last week’s midterm elections than comparable counties without such projects.

Humans First’s analysis, obtained by Fox News Digital, examined public election returns and data-center project records in 1,540 counties across 16 states. The memo used several comparisons to measure what the group describes as a “data center penalty.” Across all counties examined, those hosting large data centers shifted an additional 2.2 percentage points toward Democrats compared with non-host counties in the same states. The pattern appeared in 14 of the 16 states and 25 of the 27 governor and Senate races examined.

Restricting the analysis to deep-red counties — those President Donald Trump won by at least 20 points in 2024 — produced a 2.1-point raw gap between counties hosting large data centers and comparable counties without projects.

Among deep-red counties with projects still in the proposal stage, the gap was 1.1 percentage points after accounting for past voting patterns, rural or urban status, population size, racial and ethnic makeup and recent voting trends.

TEA PARTY FOUNDER LAUNCHES NATIONWIDE ‘DATA CENTER REVOLT’ AGAINST AI DATA CENTER EXPANSION

The group identified 114 proposed large data center projects across 92 deep-red counties, potentially setting up more local fights.

The memo found that Republican vote totals fell an additional 1.1% in deep-red host counties compared with comparable counties without large data centers, while Democratic vote totals showed no significant change.

The memo cautioned that its findings show an association rather than proof that data centers caused voters to change their behavior. County-level results also cannot determine whether Republicans switched their votes or simply stayed home.

“Our analysis looked at how counties with data centers voted and how those counties moved to the left,” Humans First Chairwoman Amy Kremer told Fox News Digital.

“I think this happened for the reason I’ve been warning conservatives and Republicans about for some time: People engage politically when issues affect them personally. There’s nothing more personal than your pocketbook, your health care, your kids and family, your home and your community. A data center involves all of those things, which is why I believe these counties moved away from Republicans,” she continued.

Humans First’s September “Data Center Revolt” bus tour made 35 stops in 27 states, including 14 stops in the states covered by the analysis. Nine of those stops were in deep-red counties, all of which hosted a large data center project. Those nine counties shifted 2.2 points further toward Democrats after the analysis accounted for its controls, compared with a 0.75-point shift among deep-red host counties overall. The group said those same nine counties showed no comparable gap from 2020 to 2024.

The findings do not establish whether the group’s visits influenced voting behavior or whether those counties already had stronger opposition to data center development.

Separately, voters favored restrictions on data center development or rejected measures supporting such projects in 46 of 47 local data center ballot measures in 2026, according to Ballotpedia. The measures included different types of proposals, including restrictions on development and advisory questions.

Kremer said this is a local control issue, stressing that Republicans should focus on protecting property rights and ensuring people have control over how things affect their lives.

“Whether you’re talking about AI technology or the infrastructure needed to build AI data centers, the American people have not had a seat at the table,” Kremer said. “They haven’t had a say in how the technology affects them or how the data center buildout affects their communities. In many places across the country, developers and companies have gone in and cut deals behind closed doors, under a cloak of darkness, using nondisclosure agreements and shell companies. By the time people in the community find out about the project, it’s too late to stop it.”

“These projects affect the quality of life and how much money people have. They can increase the cost of electricity and water, while tax abatements are given to trillion-dollar companies — some of the wealthiest companies in the world. That is money coming out of the pockets of the American people,” she continued.

Kremer added, “When you talk about Iran and gas prices, tariffs and now the AI data center buildout, all of these costs are coming out of people’s pockets. That’s when people engage politically, and I think that’s what we saw last Tuesday.”

The concerns come amid a broader debate over how data centers should pay for the electricity and grid infrastructure they require. The Energy Department estimates data centers used 4.7% of U.S. electricity in 2024 and, in its reference case, could account for 11.8% by 2030. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has directed regional grid operators to address safeguards against shifting the costs of serving large electricity users onto other customers. Those developments do not establish that data centers caused higher household rates in the counties examined by Humans First.

Tax incentives also vary by state. The National Conference of State Legislatures reported that at least 38 states offer incentives specifically for data centers, including equipment-tax exemptions and, in some states, exemptions involving electricity or property taxes. The Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group, says such incentives are similar to those offered to other capital-intensive industries and argues that data centers generate jobs, investment and tax revenue.

Humans First does not support a nationwide or statewide moratorium on data centers, but Kremer said individual communities should be free to approve or reject projects.

DATA CENTERS FORGOT THE CONSUMER — AND THAT COULD COST AMERICA THE AI RACE

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“If a community comes together and votes for a moratorium, that is its prerogative. If a community wants a data center, that is its prerogative as well. It is all about local control,” she said.

Kremer said she learned that people engage more when it comes to issues that affect them personally, noting that data centers “encompass all of those issues.”

“Whether you’re talking about pocketbook issues, health care, kids and family, or your home and community, the data center battle is a physical manifestation of all those concerns,” she said. “When it comes to the economic impact on their communities, I think data centers absolutely played a role in the election.”

“I hope we can get on the right page and give local control back to communities. People should have a say in how they live and what goes into their communities. That is very personal, and I hope we can move in that direction,” Kremer added.

A Gaza-born member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has launched a primary challenge against Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., setting up a race against one of the Senate’s most vocal supporters of Israel.

In a post on X, Palestinian-American writer and businessman Ahmed Moor, 42, announced his campaign to unseat Fetterman in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary.

“I’m running to end the war in Iran and to promote the dignity agenda: free healthcare, free childcare, and affordable housing,” Moor wrote. “I’m calling for accountability for genocide, for ICE and for corruption. And finally, for the protection of our civil liberties in America.”

DSA-BACKED CANDIDATES ARE WINNING PRIMARIES AND THEIR VISION FOR AMERICA IS VERY DIFFERENT

Moor is part of a broader wave of DSA members seeking public office amid growing progressive dissatisfaction with moderate Democrats.

Fetterman has drawn ire from his party’s left wing for his staunch support of Israel in its war against Hamas, as well as his willingness to align with President Donald Trump on select policy issues.

FETTERMAN TROLLS THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA AS ISRAEL KILLS HAMAS TERRORISTS: ‘CRY HARDER’

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Moor moved to Pennsylvania as a child, earned degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, and worked in finance before embarking on a career in journalism.

Prior to launching his campaign, he lived in Jordan before returning to Philadelphia with his wife to raise their children.

On his campaign website, Moor sharply criticized U.S. foreign aid to Israel.

“A few years ago my birthplace was turned to rubble in a genocide funded by our tax dollars, with the support of politicians on both sides of the aisle who can’t find money for transit or removing asbestos from our schools,” the website states. “It’s clear the United States funds wars based on corruption and lies and has turned its back on its own people. We must make sure this never happens again.”

FETTERMAN WINS PRAISE FOR ‘GUTS’ AFTER GOING TOE-TO-TOE WITH JON STEWART OVER ISRAEL SUPPORT

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Fetterman has not yet announced whether he will seek re-election. Fox News Digital reached out to his office for comment.

The House of Representatives is barreling toward a vote on impeaching Secretary of War Pete Hegseth this week, and several GOP lawmakers think it could very well pass.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is triggering a vote on impeaching Hegseth by introducing a privileged resolution on Monday, a mechanism for forcing consideration of bills that House majority leaders otherwise would have ignored. A privileged resolution must be considered within two legislative days, putting the vote on Wednesday at the latest.

Massie read his resolution on the House floor on Monday, as is custom, which took over an hour.

It comes as fallout from the war in Iran, including high gas prices, is blamed as a key factor in Republicans‘ significant losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

HEGSETH FACES BIPARTISAN IMPEACHMENT THREAT AFTER IRAN WAR GETS BLAME FOR GOP MIDTERM SLAUGHTER

Massie told Fox News Digital last week that he would trigger the vote when Congress returned after the midterms if Hegseth did not first resign.

Hegseth, for his part, called the impeachment effort against him a “shame” that “won’t work” in a video posted to X on Friday.

HEGSETH DEMANDS $350B FOR MILITARY, FIRES BACK AT DEM IMPEACHMENT PUSH

But several House Republicans told Fox News Digital on Thursday that they believed Hegseth could very well be impeached. Sources said a combination of absences of Republican members who lost their elections and negative sentiment toward Hegseth’s conduct could be enough to tip it over the edge.

The majority of Republicans are still expected to oppose the move, however.

Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, a critic of the war, said he was not in favor of impeaching Hegseth.

“I think it’s an effort to scapegoat Pete Hegseth for Congress shirking their own duty and, frankly, the president taking action that, in my view, is unconstitutional — but it’s also not unprecedented,” Davidson told Fox News Digital.

“What would be unprecedented is to hold the Secretary of Defense accountable for a decision the president makes. Or frankly, it would have been unprecedented for the Secretary of Defense to kind of break ranks on something that is clearly not unprecedented in terms of what has become the standard operating procedure for administrations going back to the Korean War.”

Massie’s impeachment resolution includes eight articles having to do with the war in Iran, striking suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, U.S. strikes against Yemen, and the extradition of now-former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

GOP REP THOMAS MASSIE INTRODUCES 8 ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST WAR SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH

Notably, another impeachment article accuses Hegseth of suppressing free speech by retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., over a video in which Kelly urged troops to resist “unlawful orders.”

A privileged resolution notably carries two steps. Before a vote on the measure itself, leaders can call up a vote to “table” the bill or refer it to the relevant committee, which in both instances effectively kills it.

The last Cabinet secretary to be impeached was Biden administration Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whom Republicans accused of a dereliction of duty at the U.S.-Mexico border. It was quickly scuttled without a trial in the last Democrat-controlled Senate.

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It’s not immediately clear how House GOP leaders plan to deal with Massie’s resolution.

The White House on Monday morning wouldn’t rule out the administration working with Democrats on a “deal” for illegal immigrants who have been living in the U.S. for more than a decade as Republicans prepare to lose control of Congress in January.

President Donald Trump, in his first sit-down interview since sweeping GOP midterm losses, opened the door to the possibility of considering amnesty.

“The President never said the word amnesty,” a White House official insisted to Fox News Digital.

“We want Democrats to show their cards,” the official revealed.

TRUMP ADMITS IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT MAY HAVE BEEN TOO ‘TOUGH’ IN FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE MIDTERMS

They said, “There has never been a President stronger on immigration enforcement than President Trump.”

“Thanks to his efforts more than 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. and we have the most secure border in American history. Like the President has said, he’s willing to work with anyone to improve the lives of Americans and Make America Safe Again.”

In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday, host Ross Douthat asked Trump how he is open to working with Democrats on immigration as he enters a lame-duck final stretch of his presidency.

“I’d love to do something on immigration,” the president replied. “I think [immigration] both helped and hurt. I think I got an A+ for closing up the border. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out, but I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation or breaking of the law — that was that they came into the country illegally.”

Trump, however, maintained that there are people in the United States who want to see all illegal aliens deported.

FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITY SAYS IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT HAS CROSSED THE LINE

But, Trump said, “if they’re good people working in a landscaping company or working in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases paying taxes, and there’s a large group of people that think they should be allowed to stay.”

“When you go into a hotel and you have a woman that’s working there as a maid, as a cleaner as a this as a that, as a waitress, a lot of good things, great jobs, and all of a sudden they’re being taken out of the country, it’s tough. It’s a tough thing,” he said, adding that people who he called “far-right” want deportations regardless of whether the illegal alien is working.

FIRST ON FOX: DEMS’ AFFORDABILITY CRUSADE COLLIDES WITH EYE-POPPING PRICE TAG FOR SOCIALIST IMMIGRATION PLANS

While Trump didn’t say “amnesty,” as the White House noted, he signaled in the interview his willingness to “work a deal” for people who have been in the United States illegally for “10 and 15 years” who haven’t committed other crimes.

Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., a longtime proponent of giving legal status to illegal aliens, celebrated Trump’s comments on X.

“Well done, Mr. President! What you described on 60 Minutes is what the Dignity Act is all about,” she said in the post.

Salazar’s Dignity Act would offer legal status to people who have been in the United States continuously since 2020, provided they haven’t committed other crimes and pay a restitution fee and back taxes.

The White House wouldn’t clarify what such a deal could entail when asked Monday.

Notably, the interview was taped before Stephen Miller, a notorious immigration hawk, was selected to be Trump’s new chief of staff.

Immigration restrictionism has been Trump’s calling card since he first ran for president beginning in 2015. His comments in the interview that aired Sunday drew a sharp reaction from those favor immigration restriction.

TED CRUZ SAYS ‘BLUE TSUNAMI’ TOOK OVER TEXAS AFTER DEMOCRATS SWEPT STATEWIDE RACES

“To be clear, if President Trump struck an amnesty deal with the Democrat-controlled Congress, it would be a bigger betrayal than starting the foolish war in Iran,” commentator Steve Cortes said on X, adding a clip of Trump promising “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” during a campaign rally in 2024.

“This plan absolutely guarantees that Texas never again votes Republican,” said radio show host Anthony Cumia. “More states will turn permanently blue if illegals are given amnesty. Regan did the same this and California became a forever democrat state. Trump can do the same to Texas. Disgusting.”

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“Someone needs to tell Trump: Any amnesty deal with Democrats will destroy the Republican Party,” said X personality Kelly McCarty. “We voted for NO amnesty and mass deportations of ALL illegals. No compromises. No exceptions.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump administration’s war against Iran on Sunday, days after Vice President JD Vance blamed the conflict for Republicans’ devastating midterm losses, as the White House confronts an unresolved standoff with Tehran.

“I think the president took on something that other presidents have failed to do. Sometimes, when you do the right thing, you don’t know whether it’s popular or not, but it’s still the right thing to do. Presidents are elected to take on the hard things, sometimes difficult things, but necessary things,” Rubio said Sunday.

Vance made his argument in a post on X last week.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote last week. 

“But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there,” he added. 

VANCE REFUSES TO PUT A CLOCK ON IRAN CONFLICT AS KEY QUESTION KEEPS US FORCES ENGAGED

Vance cited an unnamed pollster in the X post who said voters who had abandoned the GOP wanted the administration to end the conflict, address inflation and the cost of living, put America first and change its relationship with Israel.

The vice president’s argument that the war was the primary driver of Republicans’ losses, however, is complicated by polling. The Fox News Voter Poll found that 89% of voters considered the cost of living a crucial or major factor in their congressional vote, compared with 74% who said the same about the war in Iran. The findings suggest broader economic frustrations were also a major concern among voters, although the two issues may overlap and the polling does not establish which ultimately drove Republican defections.

Fox News Digital contacted Vance’s office five times seeking clarification on whether ending the conflict would mean lifting the blockade, withdrawing American forces or securing new concessions from Tehran, but received no response.

The contrasting assessments come as Republicans begin looking ahead to 2028, with Trump naming Rubio as a possible presidential contender during an interview with CBS.

Some longtime Trump donors are reportedly expressing doubts about backing Vance in 2028, fearing his ties to the Trump administration and the GOP’s devastating midterm losses could hurt his presidential prospects, with some floating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans as alternatives, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, Trump and Vance are pursuing another diplomatic opening with Iran, with Qatar mediating talks over a possible agreement that could ease the U.S. blockade and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump met with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani Monday to discuss mediation efforts and potential terms for ending the conflict with Iran.

Rubio expressed skepticism Sunday that negotiations were nearing a breakthrough, arguing that Iran’s demands remained unrealistic. Vance has been personally involved in indirect talks with Iranian representatives through regional mediators in recent weeks, according to Axios.

“I’m not in a political office,” Rubio told reporters Sunday when asked about the midterm results. “As you know, I just don’t comment on domestic politics.”

TRUMP SAYS HE DOESN’T DISAGREE WITH VANCE THAT IRAN WAR FUELED GOP LOSSES

Trump initially projected that Operation Epic Fury, launched against Iran in February, would involve four to five weeks of combat operations. More than eight months later, the broader confrontation continues despite the end of major U.S. combat operations in April.

After a June Memorandum of Understanding with Iran failed to produce a lasting resolution, the Trump administration returned to economic and military pressure, with renewed limited strikes, continued maritime tensions and an unresolved standoff over Iranian missile capabilities and the flow of oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz.

Vance played a role in the administration’s negotiations with Iran, helping lead diplomatic efforts that produced the June agreement before it unraveled.

Trump even joked in June that Vance would take the blame if the Iran deal failed.

“If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” Trump said at the time.

The vice president has previously defended the administration’s military campaign, crediting U.S. forces with significantly weakening Iran’s conventional military and its ability to threaten commercial shipping.

“The VP has let it be known for a few months now that he is not in full agreement with the President on Iran. But [the] social media post is striking, if not shocking,” Ludovic Hood, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, told Fox News Digital.

Hood also questioned Vance’s emphasis on the war as the primary cause of Republicans’ losses, arguing that broader economic concerns played a significant role in voters’ frustration.

AFTER 47 YEARS OF CONFRONTING IRAN, DOES AMERICA HAVE A STRATEGY FOR ENDING THIS WAR?

Trump dismissed suggestions that Vance’s comments about Iran had strained their relationship on Sunday, defending Vance’s remarks while suggesting he should have gone a step further in expressing support for the administration’s actions.

“No, not at all,” Trump said when asked whether Vance’s comments had affected their relationship. “But a lot of people didn’t like his comments, but not me. He was right.”

Trump added that Vance “should have made one other statement,” arguing that the administration’s actions against Iran were worth repeating.

TRUMP’S IRAN GAMBLE DIVIDES GOP HAWKS AND ‘AMERICA FIRST’ CONSERVATIVES OVER WHAT VICTORY LOOKS LIKE

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also publicly defended the Iran campaign, calling it a “courageous and historic” effort even as Vance questions its political costs. Hegseth also faces questions about his future in the administration, although the president publicly insisted he intends to keep his Pentagon chief.

Beyond the political fallout, assessments differ over whether the administration has achieved its military objectives and what risks remain for the United States.

GOP CRACKS WIDEN OVER IRAN WAR AS VULNERABLE CANDIDATES BREAK WITH TRUMP, DEMAND ITS END

Retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, a veteran of four combat deployments and host of the “Daniel Davis Deep Dive” show on YouTube, offered a sharply critical assessment of the campaign’s results, arguing that the administration has failed to accomplish the objectives Trump outlined when the operation began.

On Feb. 28, Trump pledged to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and production facilities, eliminate its navy and prevent Tehran’s regional proxies from destabilizing the Middle East.

“Eight months and 9 days later, none of those objectives have been met,” Davis told Fox News Digital.

The White House has offered a starkly different assessment. In April, the administration declared that U.S. forces had achieved the military objectives of Operation Epic Fury, pointing to the destruction of Iranian military infrastructure and significant degradation of Tehran’s missile and naval capabilities.

Davis said that although American strikes inflicted significant damage on Iran’s conventional military, Tehran retains the ability to threaten U.S. forces and regional allies through missiles, drones and naval assets protected in underground facilities. He warned that renewed major combat operations could expose American forces and Gulf allies to further retaliation without eliminating those capabilities.

VANCE’S SCATHING IRAN WAR POSTMORTEM PUTS POTENTIAL 2028 GOP SHOWDOWN IN FOCUS: ‘EVERYONE KNOWS WHY’

“First, it should be clear: shooting the same targets, with the same missiles, is not going to produce a different outcome,” Davis said.

“Can’t put lipstick on this pig: it would be ugly and seen as an admission of defeat,” Davis said. “But that is still profoundly better for our interests than going back to combat ops that will only deepen, significantly, the cost of our failure.”

Hood, however, rejected the suggestion that the United States should abandon pressure on Tehran, arguing that Iran continues to pose a serious threat to regional stability and American interests.

“Trump seems to get that Iran, as currently governed, is a singularly dangerous threat to the region’s stability and ability to prosper; is, has long been, a source of international terrorism; and would be even more dangerous with nuclear weapons,” Hood said.

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Hood said the administration needs to more clearly explain its strategic objectives, including whether Washington is seeking significant concessions on Iran’s nuclear program or a political shift in Tehran.

“The administration’s messaging to the America people and to international partners needs improvement. What are our strategic objectives?” Hood said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment. 

CHANTILLY, Va. — Three days after Abdul El-Sayed won a historic election as America’s first Muslim senator, a driver navigating a black luxury GMC Yukon Denali SUV pulled into a parking space beside a side security entrance of an upscale Marriott conference center here in this suburb of Washington, D.C., at 7:39 p.m. on Friday.

A man jumped out of the front passenger seat and opened the rear door, from which El-Sayed emerged for an appearance at the Arab America Foundation’s “CONNECT Empowerment Summit,” hosted by the 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose leaders had supported his election.

As the man extended an arm to shield El-Sayed, the senator-elect dipped out of the SUV, slipping on a jacket as he climbed the steps toward the entrance. The Democratic Party’s newly minted rock star had arrived, in more ways than one.

ABDUL EL-SAYED DELIVERS MAJOR BLOW TO GOP IN MICHIGAN AFTER BRUISING SENATE RACE

The ensuing 45 minutes offered a window into some of the activists, organizations, political rhetoric and cultural forces surrounding the El-Sayed’s dramatic rise, buoyed by an increasingly powerful coalition that includes many disaffected Democrats, but also outright Islamists and communists in an unlikely alliance.

Inside, Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink, a far-left nonprofit, paced in the hallway in a fuchsia tunic over leggings and white boots.

CodePink is a pro-communist, pro-China nonprofit funded by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born, Shanghai-based tycoon whose financing of left-wing nonprofits has drawn congressional and prosecutorial scrutiny. CodePink’s other co-founder, Jodie Evans, is married to Singham.

Nearby, Benjamin’s husband and fellow CodePink activist, Tighe Barry, wore a traditional Chinese jacket under a khaki Mao-style cap emblazoned with a five-point star associated with communist iconography. He carried a backpack patterned with a keffiyeh pattern and watermelons, symbols adopted by pro-Palestinian activists.

Benjamin and Barry weren’t political outliers in El-Sayed’s orbit.

His political rise has been supported by prominent anti-Israel activists including Linda Sarsour and left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who has called Hamas “1,000 times better” than Israel, a remark he later described as intentionally provocative.

Friday night provided a firsthand view of another part of that coalition.

They were among activists and representatives of organizations from different ideological traditions that have converged around El-Sayed — part of what Fox News Digital has examined as a “red-green” network linking elements of the socialist and communist hard-left with Muslim and Arab advocacy organizations.

The gathering itself didn’t fit neatly into a fundamentalist religious mold, amid questions about Islamism, or political Islam, and the Muslim Brotherhood that have followed El-Sayed. He has denied being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, although his family reportedly has ties to the organization and he himself has written favorably about the organization’s leaders.

Women danced and sang with bare shoulders and flowing hair, underscoring the secular and openly cultural character of much of the celebration. A table for Jinba Village and School outside Hebron in the West Bank displayed a flyer reading, “End Settler Outposts: Make Palestinian Villages Safe. Email Congress.”

Another table offered keffiyehs with designs replacing the traditional fishbone pattern with the outlines of Palestinian territory.

Along the far corner of the ballroom, a collection of gifts for a fundraiser included a handcrafted wooden “silhouette of Palestine, painted in the iconic colors of the Palestinian flag” by artist Hasan Munem.

Opening bid: $100.

ABDUL EL-SAYED’S ALLEGED FAMILY TIES TO MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD SURFACE AFTER DENYING ANY LINK DURING NBC INTERVIEW

Benjamin eventually took a seat beside Hazami Barmada, a prominent Syrian American anti-Israel activist who has deployed political theater and demonstrations across Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., storming the offices of Palantir Technologies, Lockheed-Martin and PETA, the animal rights advocates, and confronting Biden and Trump administration officials to cut ties with Israel.

Barmada wore a keffiyeh over her hair like a turban.

Benjamin, Barry and Barmada declined to answer questions from Fox News Digital.

Their presence put figures from different wings of the political coalition around El-Sayed in the same room: activists from the socialist, pro-communist Left alongside Arab, Muslim and pro-Palestinian activists and organizations that supported his candidacy.

Fox News Digital has tracked the intersection of those movements as a “red-green” network — the “red” referring to socialist and communist organizations and “green” to Muslim and Arab political organizations. The groups don’t share a single ideology or formal organizational structure but have converged around causes including opposition to Israel and U.S. foreign policy.

Friday night, those relationships weren’t nodes on an organizational chart.

They were in the room.

Co-founders Warren David and Dr. Amal David started the Arab America Foundation as an educational and cultural organization dedicated to promoting Arab heritage and connecting and empowering Arab Americans nationwide.

Now they were waiting to greet the country’s first Muslim senator.

The foundation describes itself as nonpartisan, but political participation features prominently in its programming.

The next morning, the summit’s “Leading from the Front,” included Abbas Alawieh and Layla Elabed, co-chairs of the Uncommitted National Movement, which organized Democratic voters in 2024 to cast “uncommitted” ballots in protest of the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel and the war in Gaza. El-Sayed supported the Uncommitted effort.

Also on the roster was Anas Shallal, CEO of the Washington, D.C., restaurant and bookstore, Bus Boys and Poets, which has hosted events involving left-wing organizations, including groups in the Singham network such as CodePink, on issues ranging from Israel and the Trump administration and Israel to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The summit also included Arab American Institute founder James Zogby among dozens of artists, musicians and business, government and community leaders.

But Friday night, El-Sayed was the celebrity guest.

‘DESTROYING THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE’: EL-SAYED’S POLITICAL ORBIT COMPLICATES EFFORT TO MODERATE HIS IMAGE

Benjamin, Barry and Barmada rushed into one hallway before being directed back toward another as organizers and supporters tried to determine where El-Sayed would enter.

Supporters eventually gathered near a doorway beside displays depicting Israel and the Palestinian territories as a single state of Palestine.

At 7:51 p.m., El-Sayed finally appeared through a side door, beaming.

The ballroom erupted in zaghrouta, high-pitched celebratory ululations traditionally heard at Arab weddings.

In his khaki Mao-style cap, Barry filmed the arriving senator-elect on his phone, as El-Sayed passed Benjamin and Barmada, then then swung his camera toward Benjamin, who pumped her hands near her shoulders in celebration.

Supporters cheered as El-Sayed made his way onto the stage.

Before the senator-elect even began his remarks, another office entered the conversation: the presidency.

Emcee Ameera David, a journalist and daughter of the co-founders, told the audience that her seven-year-old Egyptian American son had awakened Wednesday morning after El-Sayed’s victory and asked her, “Mom, can he run for president?”

“Yeah!” someone shouted as the room exploded in cheers and applause.

“To which I happily replied, ‘Yes he can,'” David continued. “And you can, too.”

El-Sayed smiled.

REAGAN-ERA OFFICIAL WARNS ‘RED-GREEN ALLIANCE’ HAS SHARED GOAL OF ‘DESTROYING’ AMERICA

The presidential talk came just hours after El-Sayed had registered Habibi PAC with the Federal Election Commission, according to records, defining it as a leadership PAC separate from his principal campaign committee.

The committee gives the incoming senator a vehicle to raise money and make contributions to other candidates and political committees. The timing put the new committee into the backdrop of a celebration where some supporters were already discussing El-Sayed’s political future beyond the Senate.

The PAC’s name borrowed the Arabic term of endearment that El-Sayed had propelled into national political conversation during his election-night victory speech.

With a wry smile, El-Sayed addressed Vice President JD Vance as “JD, habibi,” noting that Vance would be called upon to swear him into the Senate in January.

In just three days, “Habibi” had gone from an election-night line to the name of a federal political committee.

Then came a more explicit description of the political “movement” surrounding El-Sayed from the chairman of the organization hosting him.

At 7:53 p.m., Arab America Foundation Chair Issam Andoni, a local tech entrepreneur whom the emcee had introduced as a “long time supporter of El-Sayed, stepped forward with a scarf over his shoulders designed with the keffiyeh fishbone pattern and the word “PALESTINE.”

Andoni denounced Trump and Republicans and lauded El-Sayed’s success over what he called the “Democrat Zionist.”

“But Habibi Abdul,” he said, to laughter and applause, “you destroyed them all.”

El-Sayed smiled quietly.

“You destroyed AIPAC twice,” Andoni continued, referring to the primary and the general election.

“He showed them a steel backbone,” he told the audience. “That steel backbone they never saw before. And that steel backbone is what created a movement behind him.”

Andoni predicted, “And I’m sure that movement, it’s going to grow and grow and grow. And it’s going to connect with other movements.”

“And with the sumud,” the Arabic word for “steadfastness,” “of our people in Gaza, West Bank and Lebanon, I’m sure we’ll see a free Palestine from the river to the sea.”

QUIET PART OUT LOUD: ANTI-ISRAEL MOBS WANT ONE STATE CALLED ‘PALESTINE,’ ERASING ISRAEL

“Palestine will be free,” a woman shouted.

Al-Sayed listened quietly, his hands clasped in front of him.

As the crowd erupted in applause and cheers, Andoni continued, “A free Palestine, free Palestine from the river to the sea. Free from occupation. Free from Zionists. And free from corruption. And free from apartheid.”

The phrase “from the river to the sea” is fiercely contested. Supporters describe it as a call for Palestinian “freedom,” while critics, including many Jewish organizations, interpret it as an anti-Semitic call for the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state from the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea.

The implications became less theoretical when Fox News Digital later asked people at the gathering what Palestinian freedom meant to them.

Abdullah Abualrub, Virginia state organizer for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, was manning the organization’s table at the summit.

Speaking explicitly in his personal capacity, Abualrub told Fox News Digital he supported a Palestinian right of return.

“I believe that all Palestinians should have a right to return to their country,” he said, describing his own family as part of the Palestinian diaspora.

Asked about Palestinians returning to territory within modern-day Israel and receiving equal political rights, Abualrub said the “dream is that everyone lives in peace” and that Jewish people “who are following the law” should be “free to live wherever they want.”

Experts told Fox News Digital that, under the rubric of a core set of principles, called “thawabet,” adopted by the Palestinian national movement decades ago, a broader political program includes a one-state solution “free from Zionists,” and the right of return to modern-day Israel for Palestinians displaced during the creation of the state of Israel and their descendants.

El-Sayed’s spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment on his position on a one-state solution with a “right of return” for Palestinians to Israel.

A short embrace followed Andoni’s introduction, and then El-Sayed stepped to the microphone.

“My name is Abdul-Rehman Mohammed El-Sayed,” he said to applause and laughter. “And I’m honored to be the next United States senator from the great state of Michigan,” the “capital of Arab America.”

He walked through stories that have become part of his public narrative: how his name contains sounds Americans struggle to pronounce, how his grandmother once told him each of his cousins possessed some quality superior to his and how he shortened Abdul-Rahman to Abdul at a time when singer Paula Abdul and basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made the name familiar to Americans.

Six minutes later, at 7:59 p.m., a woman, Rima Ayyash, rose from the front row and let out the high-pitched celebratory ululations called zaghrouta.

El-Sayed paused as the room reacted.

“I don’t know how one follows that up,” he said.

El-Sayed then moved from identity and domestic policy into foreign policy and Israel.

As he spoke about creating a society supportive of all, some of his backers began corralling a Fox News Digital reporter, blocking footage and repeatedly demanding that the credentialed reporter move away from the stage, where the other media was freely gathered.

One of them, Omar Kurdi, a featured speaker at the summit, had just whispered in the ear of Barmada, the anti-Israel activist wearing the kefiyyeh turban.

Kurdi, a singer and rehabilitation nonprofit executive from Cincinnati, Kurdi published a song, “I am Palestinian,” last October, accompanied by a music video incorporating anti-Israel protest footage and repeatedly using the refrain, “From the river to the sea, liberation is all I see.”

Andoni arrived and questioned why Fox News Digital was reporting on a “cultural” event that wasn’t “political.”

Finally, the foundation’s co-founders intervened and told them to stop harassing the Fox News Digital reporter.

JEWISH LEADERS IN MICHIGAN PREPARE TO WORK WITH ABDUL EL-SAYED DESPITE LINGERING CONCERNS

At the microphone, El-Sayed invoked “self-determination” and developed an argument about America’s role in the international system created after World War II.

“The beauty of this country is our ideals,” El-Sayed said.

“We led the effort in this country to build a rules-based international order,” he continued. “We built the United Nations and the World Health Organization and the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court so that we could uphold the ideals of democracy. We did that. And then we proceeded to be the chief violator of exactly those same ideals. To call our country to those ideals became an open question, how could you?”

El-Sayed’s attack on the “rules-based international order” echoed language used late last year by Singham, whose financial network has supported CodePink and other left-wing organizations.

Singham argued that the existing order was built on a false narrative of World War II and called for a “new world order” based on multilateralism advanced by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China.

“The international rules-based order was created by another lie,” Singham said.

“If we want to therefore have a new world order that is based on the multilateralism that President Xi and CPC and China have proposed, we have to undo the ideological damage that has been done by the narrative of World War II,” Singham had said.

El-Sayed turned specifically to Palestinians.

“I don’t know why we cannot call for equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination,” he said. “I don’t know why can’t we call for the idea that a Palestinian child should be able to grow up in the land of their forefathers without having to worry about a bomb paid for by our tax dollars dropping on them.”

“We don’t want our tax dollars spent abroad to do genocide, apartheid, and war,” El-Sayed said, repeating a talking point of protesters from the red-green alliance, like Benjamin, Barry and Barbada. “We believe in equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination.”

Andoni made his own priorities explicit in an interview with Fox News Digital after the speech.

Asked what he wanted El-Sayed to tackle first in the Senate, the foundation chairman didn’t hesitate.

“Cutting aid to Israel,” Andoni said. “Military aid especially.”

“That is from our perspective as a community probably number one,” he said.

Andoni acknowledged that El-Sayed himself had emphasized issues including “Medicare for all.”

“If it’s up to me,” Andoni said, cutting military aid to Israel “is what I will advise him.”

No mention was made of the fact that Prtesident Trump last week announced an end to the $4 billion in aid the U.S. currently provides to Israel.

Andoni also embraced the presidential speculation.

“I would love for that,” he told Fox News Digital, before questioning whether America was ready for an El-Sayed presidency.

‘TROJAN HORSES’ IN AMERICA: CONGRESS PROBES INFLUENCE NETWORKS TIED TO CHINA, IRAN AND CUBA

The CAIR presence offered another window into the political infrastructure around El-Sayed.

Abualrub’s table was filled with pocket-sized trifold guides explaining what to do if “Law Enforcement Approaches You.”

The first tip: “You have the right to remain silent.”

CAIR itself is a 501(c)(3) and does not endorse political candidates, a distinction Abualrub emphasized to Fox News Digital. But CAIR’s separate political advocacy arm, CAIR Action, endorsed El-Sayed, while its affiliated Unity and Justice Fund super PAC independently spent more than $445,000 supporting his Senate candidacy, according to federal campaign-finance records.

A Fox News Digital review separately found more than $100,000 in contributions to El-Sayed from current or former CAIR employees or leaders.

Asked what aligned CAIR with El-Sayed’s message, Abualrub said the organization wanted “more aid for the Palestinians.”

Speaking personally, he added that he wanted “an end to the genocide and our tax dollars going to funding the genocide.”

But not everyone at the summit viewed El-Sayed primarily through foreign policy.

Will Langhorne, a Washington resident and former professional race car driver, said there was “a lot of excitement” around El-Sayed but called presidential speculation premature.

Langhorne said El-Sayed’s message was about “inclusiveness and his care for Michigan and Michiganders” and issues such as health care and affordability.

“A lot of people want to point to foreign policy issues,” Langhorne said, “but that’s not really what was important to him and his message in connecting with the state of Michigan.”

Mohammed Al-Bidawi, an Egyptian American attendee, saw something different in the presidential speculation: representation.

“It’s interesting to see someone, his name is Abd al-Rahman, and people ask him to run for president in United States,” Al-Bidawi told Fox News Digital.

Even if El-Sayed never succeeded in such a campaign, he said, a Muslim and Arab American running for president would demonstrate that “we are equal.”

Another attendee, Hisham, who said he was from Palestine, urged patience.

“I think he should focus on being a senator for now,” he said. “Let him prove himself as a senator. And then he can go for a bigger” office.

The political rhetoric was repeatedly interspersed with cultural celebration.

In the front row, a few seat away from Benjamin and Barmada, popular Jordanian singer Hussam Allabad stood up with a wide smile and interrupted El-Sayed, recording himself in a selfie video as he led the crowd in a traditional Jordanian ahāzīj, rhythmic Arab folk chants built around call-and-response singing and synchronized clapping, a tradition commonly performed at weddings and other celebrations.

El-Sayed eventually brought his remarks back to the significance of his election and the conflict with Israel.

“Michigan proved that Arab America is America, too,” he said.

“We want an America where we stand with democracy against genocide,” El-Sayed continued. “We want an America where we uphold international law.”

“We want an America where our tax dollars are spent to invest in our fellow Americans rather than to buy bombs and tanks for other people’s countries.”

The Arab America Foundation then honored El-Sayed with its first “Pathbreaker Award.”

Then, about 40 minutes after his SUV first pulled up to the Marriott, the night’s themes converged in one final exchange.

At 8:20 p.m., as foundation board members took their final photographs with him, a supporter handed El-Sayed a baseball cap.

El-Sayed studied the words across its front and smiled widely.

“JD HABIBI.”

The phrase from his election-night victory speech had become political merchandise.

With the “JD HABIBI” cap on, El-Sayed walked off the stage and back through the side door, passing through a security chute created by volunteers to hold back the crowd.

Outside at the security entrance, Fox News Digital asked asked El-Sayed why he had created Habibi PAC and whether he was seeking higher office.

This time, he paused.

El-Sayed stared toward the camera and pointed to the “JD HABIBI” hat.

And that’s, when asked if he’s seeking higher office as president, he responded, “Nope, I want to serve my state as U.S. senator.”

Then he ducked into the waiting GMC Yukon Denali SUV.

His security detail paused long enough for him to complete the thought before shutting the door.

At 8:24 p.m., 45 minutes after arriving, the Yukon pulled away with El-Sayed inside.

Back in the ballroom, CodePink’s Benjamin danced to a live performance by Franco-Algerian singer Nadir Benmansour, weaving between dancers with her arms overhead.

Former Al Jazeera bureau chief Abderrahim Foukara posted a video of Benjamin dancing.

His headline captured the dual character of the evening: “Of protest and celebration.”

The political activism continued after the celebration ended.

Saturday night, the anti-Israel activist Barmada caused a disturbance with other activists at a Washington Capitals ice hockey game, unfurling an Israeli flag smeared with red paint resembling blood and the words: “ISRAEL KILLS.” She later posted a celebratory video of their antics.

“Get out of here!” hockey fans yelled.

And Sunday evening, Benjamin posted a carefully curated video on Instagram, headlined “A NEW DAWN IN CONGRESS” and featuring highlights from Friday night, including Barry’s footage of her hands raised in triumph as El-Sayed took the stage.

“There is hope,” she exclaimed, over the live music from the summit’s ballroom.

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Under intense pressure from the White House and conservative activists, Indiana Republicans resisted an effort to redraw the state’s congressional map to favor the GOP ahead of the midterms. Now, with Republicans reeling from major election losses, a state lawmaker who helped block the plan believes the opposition may have spared Indiana’s GOP delegation a political wipeout.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance pushed Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps mid-decade, but the strategy failed to deliver several anticipated pickups as Democrats flipped seats previously considered safely Republican.

Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, who helped lead opposition to the proposed redraw, told Fox News Digital that the plan could have devastated the state’s Republican congressional delegation.

“[H]ad we made a change to redistricting, we’d’ve ended up with something like 8-1 or 7-2 [favoring Democrats] — I really do believe that,” Bray said.

REDISTRICTING EFFORTS BLOW UP IN REPUBLICANS’ FACES AMID HISTORIC HOUSE LOSSES

Vance personally pressed Indiana Republicans to redraw their congressional districts, visiting Indianapolis twice and meeting privately with lawmakers, including Bray. Trump also advocated for a redraw and singled out Bray while warning Republican holdouts that they could face MAGA-backed primary challengers. Fox News Digital contacted the White House and the vice president’s office for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

North Carolina offered a prominent example of the risks Republican mapmakers faced as Democrats won districts the GOP had expected to hold.

Former North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Kings Mountain, helped engineer the state’s Republican-friendly redistricting strategy, only to lose his own congressional seat to Democratic political newcomer LaKesha Womack. Moore did not respond to a request for comment.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., who led House Republicans’ campaign arm, also lost his Fort Bragg-area seat to former West Virginia state Sen. Richard Ojeda. Democratic Rep. Don Davis, meanwhile, survived despite the addition of Republican-leaning areas such as Emerald Isle and Down East to his district.

Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper warned before the election that North Carolina Republicans risked spreading their voters too thin.

“They can’t spread too much thinner, or else they’ll be at risk of what folks call a dummymander, where you end up hurting yourself,” Cooper told Axios in April.

In Florida, Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Lois Frankel, whose district includes Mar-a-Lago, survived despite redistricting efforts intended to improve Republican prospects. Democrat Pia Dandiya also won a redrawn district near Lake Okeechobee considered a “Trump +10” seat.

In Texas, Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez also survived in districts along the U.S.-Mexico border that Republicans had sought to make more favorable to their candidates.

Those results suggest that Republican redistricting failed to produce several anticipated pickups. Whether the strategy actually cost the party seats, however, remains a separate question from whether a broader Democratic wave overwhelmed districts that had become more Republican on paper.

“Given how the newly proposed maps would have added even more Democratic voters in seemingly safe Republican districts, it is possible the redistricting, had it gone through, would backfire and actually would have given Democrats more seats,” University of Indianapolis political scientist Laura Merrifield Wilson told Fox News Digital.

Wilson noted that Democrats flipped only one of Indiana’s nine congressional districts.

“As it was, they did flip (Rep. Victoria Spartz’) IN-5 from red to blue and that was a district that was considered ‘solid Republican’ at the beginning of this election cycle,” Wilson said.

“Adding more Democratic voters to those Republican districts could have actually tipped the scales in favor of the Democratic candidates.”

Bray explained why he believed the rejected map would have put more Republican seats at risk.

“If you take the Democrat strongholds in the state of Indiana that are Marion County and obviously Northwest Indiana, and then you spread those out amongst all the congressional districts among the state, by definition you’re going to weaken these other congressional districts,” Bray said.

He added that redrawing district boundaries would also force Republican incumbents to campaign in unfamiliar territory, potentially weakening their existing fundraising and constituent networks.

Resisting the White House came with political consequences for Indiana Republicans. Wilson noted that most Republican state senators who opposed the redraw and subsequently faced primary challenges lost their races, with Sens. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, and Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, among the exceptions.

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“The redistricting debacle proved to be a waste of time, energy, and money,” she told Fox News Digital.

Bray said he believed resisting the redraw was worthwhile.

“There was an immense amount of political capital spent on both sides of this darn thing,” Bray said. “It was not a good idea to start, at least from my perspective.”

“Indiana didn’t want it,” he added. “I think the results would have been far worse had we done it. So it was worthwhile. Yes.”

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The election leaves Republicans confronting two possible explanations: Their aggressive redistricting may have spread GOP voters too thin, exposing previously safe seats, or the Democratic wave may simply have been too powerful for even Republican-friendly maps to withstand. For Indiana Republicans who resisted Trump’s demands, the results offer a measure of vindication, though the consequences of adopting the rejected map remain uncertain.

“You can get far too cute with redistricting if you want to, and some folks think that they have the means or the science to just draw maps and come up with a result that they can guarantee,” Bray said. “That is not the case.”

“We continue to hold elections for a reason. Because sometimes the results are not exactly what we expect.”

President Donald Trump has encouraged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to work with Democrats who have reached out about immigration reform, but the administration has not discussed changing its enforcement policies and remains opposed to amnesty, Mullin reportedly said Monday.

Mullin told reporters on the sidelines of a counter-drone conference in Maryland that “a lot of Democrats” have contacted him about working together on immigration legislation in the new Congress.

“I’ve let the president know that those calls are coming in, and the president has said, ‘Let’s start working with them and then let’s meet at some point,’” Mullin said.

WHITE HOUSE DOUBLES DOWN AFTER TRUMP ANGERS BASE BY FLOATING ILLEGAL ALIEN DEAL WITH DEMS

However, Mullin emphasized that he and Trump have not discussed changing the administration’s immigration enforcement policies.

“But has there been a conversation about changing the policy?” Mullin said of his discussions with Trump. “No, we haven’t had that conversation.”

“We’re never going to allow amnesty to happen,” Mullin added.

Mullin also suggested Congress could consider a pathway to permanent legal status for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides temporary protection from deportation and work authorization to eligible immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.

HOUSE GOP ERUPTS AT STEPHEN MILLER AS TRUMP ELEVATES HIM AFTER MIDTERM MASSACRE: ‘MEGALOMANIAC’

“If we want to have an immigration reform to where we can look at DACA and figure out a way that these individuals can become maybe legal permanent citizens or something like this, that’ll be up to Congress,” Mullin said.

Mullin’s comments come after Trump signaled openness to working with Democrats on immigration following the 2026 midterm elections , even as the president named Stephen Miller , the architect of his administration’s hardline immigration policies, as his new White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles.

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Mullin’s willingness to consider a legislative pathway for DACA recipients marks a shift in tone from the department’s messaging earlier this year. In a March post on X, DHS stressed that DACA “does not confer any form of legal status in this country” and warned that recipients could be arrested and deported, including for criminal conduct.

The post also included video of Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., questioning then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Durbin asked whether Noem was aware that DACA immigrants must undergo criminal background checks. Noem responded that the agency follows the law in its detention and deportation decisions.

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DHS said in the post that ICE arrested 264 DACA recipients nationwide between Jan. 20 and Sept. 28, 2025, and that more than 92% had been charged with or convicted of a crime in the United States. Mullin’s comments Monday marked his first public suggestion that DACA recipients could gain permanent legal status through congressional action.

DHS did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by publication time.

UFC CEO Dana White joined President Donald Trump at a White House press briefing on Monday, where Trump clarified that his recent suggestion to appoint the fight executive as his press secretary was merely a joke.

Trump made a surprise appearance at the briefing to address reports that he had reached out to White for the role following a difficult news cycle.

“We were having a very bad press day, and I said: ‘I don’t know why I thought of his name. ‘ He’s been my friend for a long time. I said: ‘You know, I think I’m going to get Dana White to be my new press secretary,'” Trump told reporters. “I said it to a group of the press and that was it. I was sort of kidding, and then they wrote the story as though I wasn’t kidding.”

TRUMP SAYS HE WAS ‘ONLY KIDDING’ ABOUT MAKING DANA WHITE PRESS SECRETARY

White then took the podium to address reporters and shut down any rumors of entering government service.

“I have zero political aspirations,” White said. “I was at a fight for Zuffa Boxing in London when he called me and told me that he had done this, and the last 24 hours of my life have been insane.”

When asked by a reporter to break down a hypothetical UFC cage match between Trump and former President Joe Biden, White praised Trump’s toughness while dismissing the match up.

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“He’s the toughest, most resilient human being that I’ve ever met in my entire life,” White said of Trump. “Many times during the last eight or 10 years, I have told him: ‘Why? Why do you keep doing this? ‘ But as tough and as resilient as I thought he was, after he got shot, he proved he is a one-of-one unique human being.”

Regarding the hypothetical fight, White added: “It would be very bad. Yeah, I think it would be very bad… I can’t believe you actually have questions for me.”

White added that he never explicitly told Trump “no” regarding the position.

Before stepping away, the UFC chief was also asked what advice he would give Trump regarding a potential posthumous pardon for Pete Rose, the legendary baseball player who died in 2024.

Rose was banned from MLB Hall of Fame eligibility due to betting on baseball games, including those involving his own team, the Cincinnati Reds. In 2025, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred removed Rose and 16 other deceased people from the permanently ineligible list.

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Trump reiterated during the briefing that he favors pardoning the hit king.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on Monday laid out an aggressive agenda for House Democrats as the party prepares to take control of the chamber following sweeping midterm election victories, declaring that Democrats will “not give a dime” toward funding the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.

The House minority leader made the remarks during a press conference, one week before Democrats are set to vote on whether Jeffries should remain in his leadership position.

“The American people clearly and decisively rejected MAGA extremism on Tuesday and voted for dramatic change,” Jeffries said.

“House Democrats have taken the position that we’re not going to give a dime to the administration’s violent mass deportation machine,” he added.

DEMS PIVOT FROM ‘AFFORDABILITY’ PITCH TO DHS PROBE THREATS AFTER MIDTERM WINS

Jeffries also criticized the use of taxpayer dollars to support what he called “un-American” policies under President Donald Trump.

“Taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not brutalize or kill American citizens, and violently target law-abiding immigrant communities and families, which is what has happened over the last two years,” Jeffries said.

TRUMP TELLS DHS CHIEF TO WORK WITH DEMOCRATS ON IMMIGRATION REFORM, BUT NO AMNESTY

He added that he hopes to secure one additional signature on a discharge petition that would bypass House leadership and force a floor vote on the American Dream and Promise Act, which would provide permanent legal status and a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

“Hopefully some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be willing to do that work, perhaps beginning with one additional signature that we need to force a vote on the Dream and Promise Act from a Republican,” he said.

Among other priorities, Jeffries said Democrats want to pass legislation banning members of the House and Senate from trading stocks, an effort aimed at restoring public trust in government.

He also voiced support for an impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his handling of the war in Iran and alleged constitutional violations.

“I’m a hard yes, as I’ve made clear, on the impeachment resolution. Pete Hegseth has abused his power, undermined America’s national security, and he’s the architect of the reckless and costly failed war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed gas prices on everyday Americans, made the country less safe,” Jeffries said.

“Iran is stronger now than they were before,” he argued.

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As the Democratic caucus leadership vote approaches next Wednesday, reporters asked Jeffries whether he was concerned about progressive members who have criticized him for not taking a more aggressive approach during his tenure as leader.

Jeffries said he plans to speak with every member of the caucus in an effort to retain his position.

“I’m going to work hard to talk to every single member about what we’ve been able to do together over the last two years, and what the opportunities are for us to do together in the next two years,” he said.