NationalWatch

FIRST ON FOX: In a bid to tackle the nation’s housing affordability crisis, the Trump administration has scrapped a controversial Obama-era mandate blamed for driving up property costs and stifling the affordable housing supply.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alongside the Department of Justice, jointly rescinded an Obama-era policy that allowed third parties to file accessibility-related complaints over original building design flaws indefinitely, putting subsequent building owners on the hook for millions of dollars years after a project is completed, even if they were not the original builders. 

According to internal agency data, the previous policy forced property owners to spend more than $112 million in accessibility retrofits over the last five years just to qualify for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) refinancing—costs that HUD says directly choked off affordable housing supply.

The rule eliminates the ability to hold current property owners indefinitely liable for architectural deviations committed by original builders decades in the past. Under the updated enforcement framework, the clock for filing Fair Housing Act design and construction challenges begins on the exact date a building receives its official certificate of occupancy. 

ONE UNEXPECTED PRICE SURGE MOST AMERICANS DON’T SEE IS RAISING THE STAKES FOR TRUMP BEFORE NOVEMBER

Individuals or advocacy groups now have a strict one-year deadline to file administrative complaints directly with HUD. For private civil lawsuits filed in federal court, the statute of limitations caps claims at two years from the completion of construction. 

Once those respective windows close, property owners are shielded from retroactive, building-wide liability for original architectural flaws, though individual tenants retain the right to seek reasonable modifications for their specific housing needs at any time under existing Fair Housing Act protections.

“[The Obama-era regulation] dramatically expanded the scope of the Fair Housing Act by declaring that deviations from HUD’s accessibility guidelines, at the point of initial construction, gave rise to strict liability against the builder in perpetuity,” the new guidance says. “That interpretation was egregiously wrong. It exceeded the Department’s statutory authority, failed to increase the supply of accessible housing for individuals with disabilities, and imposed an unwarranted and unduly prejudicial burden on American homebuilders.”

According to internal transaction data and industry reports provided to HUD, the financial toll of the previous policy extended far beyond standard compliance fees typically associated with federally-backed refinancing. For example, a single third-party housing inspection firm identified nearly $49 million in required accessibility fixes across almost 500 refinance deals since 2019—averaging over $100,000 in deficiencies per property.

Industry insiders and lenders also report that the Obama-era rules severely choked off financing, with one major affordable multifamily lender attributing more than $1 billion in lost HUD-insured loan volume over the last four years to the guidance, according to internal HUD data. Lenders told the agency that the ongoing uncertainty triggered recurring deal dropouts and discouraged prospective borrowers from pursuing FHA financing altogether.

NEWSOM TARGETS MAJOR AFFORDABILITY SQUEEZE IN ‘STRIKING’ CONVERGENCE WITH TRUMP

“For too long, unnecessary government policies have contributed to the skyrocketing cost of building, buying, and renting a home. Today’s action rescinds unnecessary and expensive liability created by legal theories that have no basis in law,” said HUD Secretary Scott Turner. “The Trump Administration is following the law as written by Congress and interpreted by the courts. We will continue to repeal and replace guidance that does not honor these lawful commitments while ensuring Americans can access affordable housing.”

At the heart of the administration’s rollback is a fundamental legal principle that federal agencies cannot rewrite laws passed by lawmakers, nor can they ignore rulings by federal judges. When Congress updated the Fair Housing Act in 1988, lawmakers built in a strict one-year deadline to file administrative complaints. HUD officials argue the 2013 Obama-era policy effectively ignored that congressional mandate by allowing property owners to be targeted decades after a project was completed.

The shift also aligns federal enforcement with appellate court rulings, including a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judges in that case ruled that the illegal act of failing to properly design a building ends when construction wraps up and an official certificate of occupancy is issued.

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“Congress wrote a clear statute of limitations into the Fair Housing Act. That limitation is part of the law, not a suggestion for sly bureaucrats to disregard,” said Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor. “We will not allow Obama-era guidance to rewrite the Fair Housing Act, expose American builders to indefinite legal liability, and make housing less affordable for hardworking American families.”

Republicans and Democrats are deploying increasingly aggressive tactics to shape the 2026 midterms — including efforts to influence rival primaries, obscure political spending and exploit election deadlines.

Both parties are accusing one another of using cynical tactics to influence voters and shape the field ahead of Election Day, even as operatives aligned with each of them employ similar strategies. Those maneuvers have included routing millions of dollars through deceptively named political committees to influence rival primaries and using filing deadlines in ways that gave favored successors a clearer path to the ballot.

Many of these schemes are being carried out in key races, meaning that control of Congress may come down to what many view as cheap tricks — a prospect that could serve to further erode public trust in government.

The tale of three Dans

Two separate individuals named Dan Sullivan are running for Senate in Alaska, and a third just endorsed one over the other.

ALASKA SENATE RACE’S ABSURD NAME PROBLEM GETS EVEN HARDER TO UNTANGLE

Republicans have argued that the confusing state of affairs in Alaska is the product of a Democratic ploy to disorient voters.

Incumbent GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is facing a challenge from teacher Dan J. Sullivan, whom Republicans have accused of running as a Republican solely to confuse voters to the benefit of Democrats. Alaska’s electoral system allows the top-four vote-getters in the state’s nonpartisan primary to advance to the ranked-choice general election.

Fox News Power Rankings rates the Alaska Senate race as a toss-up, meaning neither party currently has a clear advantage. If enough voters confuse Dan S. Sullivan with Dan J. Sullivan, it could be enough to give Democratic nominee Mary Peltola an edge.

Republicans point to the fact that Dan J. Sullivan worked with a Democratic-aligned consultant as evidence that he is part of a plot to siphon voters off of Dan S. Sullivan. Dan J. Sullivan, meanwhile, maintains that he is an actual Republican with legitimate grievances as to the incumbent senator’s representation of his state.

A third Dan Sullivan, the former mayor of Anchorage, recently waded into the Senate race to endorse Dan S. Sullivan.

Dan J. Sullivan is reportedly being investigated by the Justice Department and Alaska election officials in separate probes examining whether he sought to deliberately mislead voters. The investigation follows a failed Republican legal effort to remove him from the ballot.

Texas primary games 

The National Republican Senatorial Committee reportedly worked behind the scenes to encourage Rep. Jasmine Crockett to enter Texas’ Democratic Senate primary. Once she entered, other Republican actors also ran messaging that Democrats argued could help her with primary voters.

One source familiar with the process dubbed it an “AstroTurf recruitment process” when speaking with NOTUS in 2025.

The NRSC began its alleged campaign by releasing a poll showing Crockett, who was believed by some to be a weaker candidate in the general election than Texas state Rep. James Talarico, leading the field in a hypothetical Democratic primary. Prior to the NRSC’s poll, Crockett had not been included in most primary surveys.

That quickly changed and subsequent polls showed Crockett pulling in considerable support. The congresswoman ultimately cited the strong polling as part of her motivation in entering the race.

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The source who spoke to NOTUS claimed that the NRSC worked diligently to spread those polls in progressive digital spaces and drum up support for Crockett. Once she entered the race, conservative political committees ran ads ostensibly criticizing her liberal record, though critics argued this was merely an underhanded tactic to get more Democrats to support her by publicizing positions that are generally popular with the Democratic base.

Multiple Republicans also said publicly that they were concerned about her candidacy, statements that could entice liberal voters to throw their support behind her.

Even with Crockett defeated, tensions from the bruising primary have lingered, with some Black elected officials and activists pressing Talarico to do more to address concerns among voters who overwhelmingly backed Crockett.

In(D)ependents and money movers

A network of Democratic donors, dark-money groups and left-leaning super PACs has spent well over $10 million backing five independents in Republican-leaning areas.

Critics of the strategy see it as a way for liberals to sneak left-leaning lawmakers into Congress by eschewing the branding of the Democratic Party. Though the candidates identify themselves as independents, skeptics hold that they’ll vote like Democrats if elected, a charge many of them deny, stressing their independence.

In the Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota Senate races, for instance, the Democratic nominees withdrew from their races, which Republicans have pointed to as evidence that the party is using independent candidates as a backdoor to get liberals into Congress.

GOP SENATOR, EX-HOUSE DEM EMERGE FROM ALASKA’S ‘JUNGLE PRIMARY’ DESPITE FAR-LEFT MEDDLING

“Dan has taken small-dollar donations from Republicans, Independents, and Democrats from all 93 of Nebraska’s counties who are done being taken advantage of by D.C. lobbyists, corporate PACs, and party bosses,” a campaign spokesperson for Dan Osborn, the independent running in Nebraska, told Fox News Digital. “Ricketts has been running from his record all campaign and has resorted to lying about Dan because he’s scared.”

On the other side of the aisle, Republican political operatives have admitted to using deceptively named super PACs to boost far-left Democratic candidates in primary elections as part of a strategy to elevate easier-to-defeat opponents.

Conservative Americans PAC, a super PAC funded by the right-leaning dark money group American Prosperity Alliance, funneled millions of dollars into three ostensibly left-leaning committees called Lead Left PAC, Real Change PAC and California Blue PAC.

The seemingly liberal committees, in turn, spent large sums of money backing candidates in Democratic primaries widely believed to be weaker general election contenders than their opponents.

Conservative Americans PAC was able to do this undetected because the ostensibly liberal PACs were formed sufficiently late such that disclosures revealing the right-wing funding did not need to be released until after the primary elections were over. This means that, as the ads were rolling, voters had no way of knowing who was paying for them.

“Republicans are leveling the playing field after over a decade of Democrats meddling in our primaries, and with the Democrat Party in the midst of a civil war, Republicans would be stupid not to take advantage while pushing their candidates farther left,” a spokeswoman for Conservative Americans PAC said of the spending.

Phantom polling 

Some political polls that circulated widely this cycle were later revealed to have been fabricated.

Median Strategies, an organization recently revealed to have been run by a 21-year-old, released polls on the Los Angeles mayoral election as well as the Wisconsin and Nevada gubernatorial elections that circulated through the media ecosystem, drawing coverage from news outlets and even being touted by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

After members of the press began raising scrutiny, however, Median Strategies folded and admitted that its polls were fake to the Los Angeles Times.

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“Median Strategies was created as a short term social experiment to examine how purported polling information could enter and spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification,” the company said in an email to the Times.

The fake polling outfit pushed polls claiming that Bass was leading her DSA-aligned rival by a significant margin and that Wisconsin state lawmaker Francesca Hong, who ultimately lost her primary, had a commanding lead over other Democrats.

Paperwork workaround

Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana, suspended his re-election campaign just minutes before the filing deadline for candidates.

While this may seem puzzling on its own, Kurt Alme, Daines’ preferred successor, filed paperwork to run for Senate just minutes before the senator withdrew.

STEVE DAINES’ HANDPICKED SENATE SUCCESSOR KURT ALME VOWS TO KEEP MONTANA IN REPUBLICAN HANDS IN 2026

When a sitting member of Congress retires, top-tier candidates typically throw their hats into the ring to take advantage of the fact that there won’t be an incumbent to run against. Because Daines held off retiring to the last moment, and seemingly coordinated with Alme, he effectively cleared the field for him, as no high-profile Republicans filed to run in Montana’s Senate primary.

“They obviously did this to keep certain people out of these races,” former Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester said of the maneuver. “It wasn’t an accident.”

Daines wasn’t the only one to leverage filing deadlines in this manner.

Rep. Chuy Garcia, a Chicago-area Democrat, decided not to seek reelection, while his congressional chief of staff had gathered the signatures necessary to appear on the Democratic primary ballot. Once again, the maneuver effectively cleared the way for a lawmaker’s chosen successor.

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Garcia cited health problems when explaining his sudden decision to retire, though he called criticisms over how the situation looked “fair.”

Massachusetts is the latest battleground in the political fight between the left and the center for the future of the Democratic Party.

But in a flip of the script, progressives are supporting the longtime incumbent against a more moderate challenger as solidly blue Massachusetts holds primary elections on Tuesday.

The Senate nomination showdown between 80-year-old Sen. Ed Markey and 47-year-old Rep. Seth Moulton is also the latest faceoff in the Democratic Party’s push for generational change, which was fueled two years ago by then-81-year-old President Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race amid questions over his physical and mental stamina following a disastrous debate performance against Trump.

There’s a six-way scrum to succeed Moulton in the U.S. House, and four members of the state’s all-Democrat congressional delegation, including House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, are facing challenges from the left. And Bay State Republicans will choose a gubernatorial nominee to challenge Democratic Gov. Maura Healey.

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But taking center stage on Tuesday is the battle between Markey and Moulton.

Markey, who served 37 years in the House before winning election in the Senate in 2013, is backed by progressive champions Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who seven years ago teamed up with Markey to co-sponsor the Green New Deal.

The senator is vowing to keep fighting for a left-wing agenda that along with the Green New Deal includes Medicare for All, a Trans Bill of Rights, taxing billionaires, and slashing military spending.

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Moulton, a Marine Corps combat veteran, is backed by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Naval Academy graduate who piloted helicopters, and recently landed the endorsement of the Boston Globe, the state’s largest daily newspaper

Moulton has made generational change a centerpiece of his primary challenge,

“I served with some of the most amazing leaders in my life in the Marines, but at 23 years old, they don’t get to run for Congress,” Moulton said at last week’s final debate. “I think we should have upper age limits as well.”

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Markey responded, “I think everyone watching this debate can see that I’m more energized than I’ve ever been before and in my life.”

“Congressman Moulton has a hard time keeping up with me,” the senator added.

But Markey seemed unclear of the topic when asked whether he uses A.I. platforms like Claude or ChatGPT in his work. The senator answered that he uses “whatever is inside of my iPhone or my iPad — whatever comes up.”

The two rivals agree on many issues, including abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and allowing biological males to participate in female sports. But Moulton during the primary campaign was forced to apologize for his past remarks that he did not want his young daughters “getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.”

Markey was the clear polling and fundraising frontrunner heading into the primary election.

The winner will be considered the overwhelming favorite to win the general election against attorney John Deaton, the presumptive Republican Senate nominee.

Six candidates are facing off in the battle to succeed Moulton for the Democratic nomination in Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District, including former Andover Selectman Dan Koh, financial technology executive John Beccia and state Rep. Tram Nguyen.

Koh, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is showcasing endorsements from Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Micah Q. Jones, who is unopposed for the nomination.

THESE 12 MIDTERM RACES WILL DECIDE WHICH PARTY CONTROLS THE SENATE

Among the incumbents facing primary challenges from the left is Clark, who is the second-ranking Democrat in the House. So is longtime Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch, who is working to fend off a challenge from attorney Patrick Roath, who out-raised the incumbent.

In the race for the Republican nomination for governor, Army veteran, businessman, and former CEO Mike Minogue is facing off against Briani Shortsleeve, a Marine Corps veteran, businessman and chief administrator and a former acting general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Minogue has the backing of the Massachusetts GOP.

The winner will face an uphill climb in the general election against Healey in a state dominated by Democrats but where Republicans have had success in gubernatorial showdowns.

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Tuesday’s primary could potentially be the last under the current system.

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That’s because Massachusetts voters will decide during the general election on a ballot initiative that would get rid of the state’s current primary system and replace it with a single, all-party primary.

Under that system, the top two vote-getters would advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.

FIRST ON FOX: A multi-agency operation in Arizona’s Yuma Sector led to the arrest of 95 illegal alien truck drivers earlier this month, striking at the heart of human and drug smuggling operations at the U.S. southern border.

All 95 drivers had acquired state-issued commercial driver’s licenses; 76 from California, six from New York and the rest from a handful of other states, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The apprehensions continue to demonstrate the high volume of narcotics and human trafficking smuggling operations that are alive and well at the border — even as immigration numbers have plummeted in recent months.

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“We are committed to protecting our citizens from all international threats, whether that is from unlicensed or untrained drivers, or transnational criminal organizations engaged in human or drug trafficking,” Acting Chief Patrol Agent Dustin Caudle said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Since the end of 2024, border crossings have plummeted, going from over 144,000 encounters in December 2024 to just 33,000 in July.

Even so, CBP has reported several high-profile smuggling attempts that have sought to bring weapons, narcotics and humans across the U.S. border.

Earlier this year, CBP released reports on how it had prevented a car carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher from crossing the border, detected dozens of immigrants crammed into a semi-truck and even detained a boat off the coast of the Dominican Republic with the help of a Black Hawk helicopter.

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Trucking, in particular, has been a key way in which smugglers have sought to bring weapons and humans into the country.

According to CBP, the bust earlier this month, which took place between Aug. 10 and 14, also stopped two human-smuggling events, resulting in the arrest of four smugglers and 17 smuggled aliens. Additionally, agents seized 74 pounds of methamphetamine and 169 pounds of marijuana. In total, authorities arrested 143 suspects from 18 countries.

To prevent schemes like these, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is finalizing a rule to prevent unqualified drivers from obtaining CDLs.

If implemented, the rule would limit CDLs to H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 nonimmigrant status holders — types of visas with more stringent vetting requirements.

The rule would also prevent an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) as a way to prove eligibility, citing lax reporting and scrutiny on their approvals.

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“Moving forward, unqualified foreign drivers will be unable to get a license to operate an 80,000-pound big rig,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a press release about the rule.

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“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are putting the safety of the driving public first,” Duffy continued. “From enforcing English language standards to holding fraudulent carriers accountable, we will continue to attack this crisis on our roads head-on.”

The Clinton Foundation is hiring for positions in the personal offices of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — a paid “special projects associate” for his office and an unpaid intern for hers — and conservatives are having a field day with the titles.

“Love how it’s the same job but for Bill Clinton they couldn’t call it an ‘internship,’” wrote James Laverty, rapid response director for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

The jobs appear to have some overlapping administrative duties but are not the same. Hillary Clinton’s unpaid internship includes research, scheduling, briefing memos and event support, while Bill Clinton’s paid associate role requires a bachelor’s degree and includes executive support, communications and managing special projects.

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“Why, was there some sort of controversy involving Bill Clinton and an intern or something,” joked Michael Knowles.

“If Bill Clinton asks you to do a special project, say no,” said conservative commentator Steve Guest. He added “my gosh” in another X post reacting to the listing. 

Both listings also use the word “discretion.” Bill Clinton’s position calls for “using discretion in scheduling,” while Hillary Clinton’s internship requires a “high level of professionalism and discretion.”

MONICA LEWINSKY HAS ONE REQUEST FOR CRITICS NEARLY 30 YEARS AFTER WHITE HOUSE SCANDAL

“Where is Sgt. Hans Schultz when you need him? Hillary Clinton is seeking an intern ‘with a high level’ of ‘discretion’ to work for free. Applicants might want to Google this one,” wrote Jonathan Turley referencing the show “Hogan’s Heroes.”

Several of the posts referenced the scandal that erupted publicly in 1998 over Clinton’s sexual relationship with Lewinsky, who was a 22-year-old White House intern when the relationship began in 1995.

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Lewinsky later turned over a navy blue dress she said she wore during a 1997 sexual encounter with Clinton to Starr’s Office of Independent Counsel. FBI testing concluded Clinton was the source of DNA obtained from a semen stain on the dress.

“Bold of HilDawg to be in Monica Blue,” wrote Charles Correll III, speech writer for Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., referencing the color of Hillary’s shirt in the photo.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Clinton Foundation and Monica Lewinsky for comment.

The House of Representatives is back in town after not voting since July 23.

But the House is only back for less than a week. And the Senate doesn’t even return until Monday, September 14.

The first day of school, this is not.

House members descending on the Capitol this week – then abandoning Washington for Labor Day is kind of like the third and final preseason game in the NFL.

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Lots of fans show up for the first game of the NFL preseason. It’s usually a nice – if sweltering – August night. Not some bone-shivering chill in Cleveland with a foot of snow on the ground in mid-December. There’s anticipation. The first look at the new team. The first tailgate. First-string players and highly touted draft picks even play a series or two.

But by the third preseason game, few want to be there.

The die is cast for the roster spots. Players are cut. Even the most robust fans only show up for a quarter or two.

In the NFL, everyone is waiting for the regular season to begin in a few weeks.

That’s kind of where things are now in the House. Congress has tackled most of its business for the year. The highly-touted GOP “Reconciliation 3.0” likely falls by the wayside. Lawmakers even tucked into bed the usual autumn drama surrounding a possible government shutdown. The chances of a repeat following last year’s 43-day shutdown saga dissipated in early August when the Senate approved an interim, bipartisan bill which will fund the government through December 11. The House votes on that bill Tuesday.

Everyone on Capitol Hill is now waiting for the regular season to begin. That’s what awaits the body politic following the midterm elections in November.

And most members don’t even want to linger in Washington right now. As fast as they came to Washington, they wanted to skate out of town to campaign. That’s why attendance might be sparse over the next few days.

The House had 384 members present for one non-controversial measure Monday night. A second vote recorded 388 members present. Those attendance figures could slide if the House returns to Washington in mid-September – as the schedule dictates. Especially among those who either lost their primaries or are retiring. In fact, Fox is told that some members in both camps have even considered resigning early.

Imagine what that could do to the narrow Republican majority.

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So, will the House stick it out this week, go home and come back in a few weeks?

“Are we going to be here the entire period?” yours truly asked House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “We’re going to be here this week and then we’re going to come back in a couple weeks?”

“Well, it’s on the schedule,” Johnson replied.

That’s a schedule which the House Republican leadership etched out last December – on the heels of that epic government shutdown.

Who could have anticipated that government funding could work out so easily this time around.

So what’s on the agenda?

Republicans plan a vote on a resolution to get Democrats on the record of either supporting socialism or democracy. In other words, the GOP wants Democrats to put their voting cards where their policies are.

“They want to abolish things like the U.S. Supreme Court. The United States Senate,” said Rep. Jeff Crank R-Colo.

Republicans hope to compel Democrats to either accept or reject progressive, left-wing ideologies.

“We need to see where Democrats stand on this because the American people are rejecting it,” said Rep. Tom Tiffany R-Wis., on Fox.

“They’re going to try to distance themselves as much as they can,” said Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla. “But the fact is that’s where the Democratic Party is going. That’s where the energy of the Democratic Party is going.”

This is what’s described in Congress as a “gotcha” vote. Republicans will dare Democrats to vote no. And if they do, the GOP will deploy that vote against vulnerable Democrats in campaign ads this fall.

Some Democrats could vote to reject any relationship with socialism. In fact, the vote could give those Democrats a gift to say they’re opposed to socialists in the Democratic Party. But Republicans ensconced a measure in the resolution which could oblige Democrats to vote no.

The measure includes the SAVE America Act. That’s the hallmark of the GOP’s agenda. It requires proof of citizenship for voting. Most Democrats view the SAVE America Act as a poison pill. So Democrats could vote nay. And some Republicans will still say “gotcha” if they oppose it.

“The resolution elevates the so-called Save America Act, which is just the ‘suppress the vote act,’ said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries D-N.Y. “I’m not clear how many Democrats are actually going to support a resolution whose focus is on trying to rig the midterm election by elevating this voter suppression legislation that Donald Trump has been trying to jam down the throats of the American people for the last year.”

The House could also wrestle with a resolution to censure Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C. He admitted to inappropriate conduct around female aides and dropped his reelection bid. There could be an effort to expel Rep. Cory Mills R-Fla. He faces allegations of financial misconduct and alleged assault of a woman at his apartment last year. But Mills lost his primary.

Then there is Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio. The Ohio Republican faces allegations of spousal and child abuse. Republicans implored Miller to drop his reelection bid. But Miller doubled down, saying the allegations are false.

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Johnson says he supports Miller’s “reelection.” He contends the House shouldn’t take action until the Ethics Committee completes its inquiry.

“He has been a great Member of Congress,” said Johnson of Miller. “He has some personal issues he’s still working through.”

But it’s possible Democrats – and even some Republicans – could engineer a special resolution to expel or otherwise punish Miller. Johnson and the GOP leadership want nothing to do with that. So the solution? Get lawmakers off Capitol Hill and back into their districts. Fast.

Yes, it’s unclear what the Senate may address when it returns in a few weeks. But House Republicans are more concerned with clinging to their narrow majority in November. So recessing until after the election could prove to be the safest political tactic for Republicans.

Don’t be surprised if the House leaves Washington until November in the next few days.

Think it’s not possible? Get right out of town.

President Donald Trump took aim Monday at the growing backlash against data centers, warning that communities that shut the door on the facilities risk missing out on the jobs and economic gains of America’s AI boom.

“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign,” he added.

Trump has made energy dominance and U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence central pillars of his second term, placing data centers at the center of his push to maintain America’s edge over China.

“China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement,” Trump wrote, arguing that resistance to new facilities risks undercutting America’s edge in the global AI race.

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The data center boom has also emerged as a midterm flashpoint, as concerns over rising electricity costs, water use and rapid development collide with promises of jobs, investment and U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence.

That tension is already playing out across the country.

Trump has specifically criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s approach, calling the Lone Star State’s stance toward data centers a “mistake” and pointing to the economic investment the projects can bring to communities willing to host them.

Texas has cemented its status as a heavyweight in the industry, with Dallas ranking as the world’s No. 1 primary data center market in Cushman & Wakefield’s 2026 Global Data Center Market Comparison. But billions of dollars in new investment have also brought enormous electricity demands and questions over who should pay for the infrastructure needed to support the boom.

Abbott has moved to address those concerns, directing regulators to ensure data centers cover the infrastructure costs needed to serve them and calling on developers to add their own power generation rather than shift costs onto Texas residents.

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Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro recently imposed new requirements on large data center developments.

Other governors have taken a more restrictive stance. Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul imposed a one-year moratorium on new hyper-scale data centers as states grapple with concerns over electricity costs, grid reliability and the pace of development.

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Data centers house the servers and computing equipment that power artificial intelligence and cloud services, requiring vast amounts of electricity to operate and cool. Most Americans may never see the inside of one, but they rely on data centers constantly, often without realizing it.

The growing patchwork of state restrictions and requirements could complicate Trump’s push for rapid data center expansion as communities weigh America’s AI ambitions against concerns over electricity costs, water use and development.

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s top trade advisor will huddle with House Republicans on Wednesday as the commander in chief’s tariff strategy is quickly becoming a flashpoint on the campaign trail.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is attending the Republican Study Committee’s weekly lunch this week, a source familiar with planning told Fox News Digital.

Two additional sources told Fox News Digital they expect lawmakers to raise the issue of Trump’s trade war with Canada.

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It comes as tensions escalate between the U.S. and its northern ally.

Trump accused Ontario of ripping off American businesses in a post on Truth Social Sunday, claiming Canada wants “to be treated like a state, but they aren’t one.”

‘CAPTAIN CANADA’ FIREBRAND UNLOADS ON TRUMP WITH PROFANE ONE-LINER AS TRADE WAR ESCALATES

“They’ve been ripping us off for decades, and it’s going to stop,” Trump wrote.

The U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on a range of Canadian goods in late July, with the duties going into effect earlier this month. Canada responded with its own tariffs of up to 50% on U.S. imports.

TRUMP JUST EXPANDED HIS TARIFF PLAYBOOK WITH A POWERFUL TRADE WEAPON NO PRESIDENT HAS EVER USED

Trump also escalated tensions with the country this month by signing an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”

It’s not clear when the meeting between Greer and RSC was planned, nor is it clear if Fox News Digital’s sources expect questions or outright opposition to the trade war.

But Trump’s tariffs have been a political lightning rod for much of his second term.

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The House passed a bill in February aimed at reversing Trump’s earlier Canada tariffs, with six Republicans voting in support. Just one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, voted against it.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News.

The resignation remains pending and has not been accepted by the White House, the official said.

A source familiar with the matter told Fox News that Driscoll had raised concerns with the administration about the Army’s transformation and readiness, including his belief that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had hindered those efforts.

“Driscoll brought up concerns with the administration surrounding Army transformation and readiness and Hegseth’s blocking those efforts specifically by firing the Generals who were responsible,” the source said.

TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION GETS ANOTHER LIFELINE FROM SCOTUS AMID HEATED LEGAL FIGHT

Tensions reportedly intensified as Hegseth removed several senior Army leaders, including Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George.

Driscoll addressed George’s departure during an April 16 House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, recalling he was in North Carolina on vacation with his family and drove directly to the general’s home after learning that George had been asked to submit his resignation.

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“We walked right in, and we all gave him a hug,” Driscoll said. “There is no person that has more respect for General George and his 42 years of service, his Purple Heart, his wife, Patty, their grandkids, their kids. I adore them, and he was an amazing, transformational leader.”

He added, “The design of our system is that they get to pick the leaders that they want, and we execute on those orders.”

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Driscoll is expected to leave the Pentagon in the coming days, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Driscoll, a close ally of Vice President JD Vance, attended Yale Law School with Vance after both served in the military. 

As Army secretary, Driscoll has worked with Silicon Valley companies to expand the Army’s drone capabilities.

House Republicans are teeing up a pair of bills this week to put Democrats on the record about where they stand on their party’s socialist insurgency.

The House Rules Committee just advanced a resolution to condemn socialism during its Monday meeting, with no Democrats voting in favor of moving it forward. Democrats, in fact, criticized the resolution as a waste of time.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., called the bill “nonsense” and argued it did little to better the lives of Americans.

“So you’re concerned about rising gas, or are you concerned about grocery prices? You know, don’t worry. Republicans in Congress are passing another non-binding resolution condemning socialism,” McGovern said.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN AIMS TO PUT DEMOCRATS ON THE RECORD OVER DSA WITH RESOLUTION CONDEMNING SOCIALISM

Tensions erupted at one point as Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., clashed with Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., over the definition of socialism.

Neguse had attempted to press Steil on whether he would see President Donald Trump trying to take a “20% stake” in Kroger grocery stores as socialism, to which Steil replied he would “want to see the details.”

“Oh, you’d want to see the details,” Neguse yelled as the two men spoke over each other. “You said if the government owns grocery stores, that would be socialist. But if, of course, Donald Trump were to announce an equity stake in a grocery store, well, ‘I’d have to really see the details,’ because we all know the play.”

Steil said he would be open to seeing such a proposal if it had a national security imperative, but stated repeatedly that Neguse was posing a hypothetical.

At one point, Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chided Neguse for interrupting Steil.

Steil shot back at one point, “Some folks on your side of the aisle would like to have government-run grocery stores. I think that’s nuts.”

“And if the president of the United States announced that the United States government was taking an…equity stake in grocery stores?” Neguse pressed.

After more back-and-forth, Steil said, “I think there would need to be a national security rationale for the action. I don’t see any in your hypothetical. I don’t see a national security focus.”

Neguse called it a “helpful answer,” to which Steil quipped, “It’s a hypotherical. So we’re entering silly season.”

A House-wide test known as a “rule vote” on the resolution will take place on Tuesday afternoon, followed finally by a vote on the resolution itself on Tuesday evening, according to a provisional schedule obtained by Fox News Digital.

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It’s not uncommon for Democrats on the House Rules Committee to oppose GOP-led measures. But the move is especially stark as Republicans seize on the left’s inter-party civil war that has dominated the midterm election cycle.

Republicans are capitalizing on that civil war with another measure expected for a vote on Wednesday afternoon, according to that provisional schedule. That vote will be on a constitutional amendment to cap the number of Supreme Court justices at nine.

DEMOCRATIC SENATOR CLAIMS GOP ‘STOLE’ TWO SCOTUS SEATS IN 2016, 2020, CALLS FOR EXPANSION

Several top progressives, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., have called for expanding the Supreme Court to up to 13 seats.

House GOP leaders have opted to fast-track that legislation past the House Rules Committee. In exchange, however, it will need two-thirds of the chamber to pass as opposed to a simple majority.

CARVILLE UNLOADS ON DSA SOCIALISTS: ‘DON’T USE OUR GOD—- NAME’

“It’s time for the Democrats to pick a side. Stop playing the middle. Be proud of who you are. You were elected to lead, so lead. Have an opinion. We intend to put you on record,” House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., told Fox News Digital.

“Do you want to pack the Supreme Court or not? It’s really simple. It’s a yes or no vote. It’s no bigger than that. Two — do you believe in socialism? If you do, you should say it loud and say it proud. I personally don’t believe in socialism. I like the fact that we have a democracy, that we have a republic, that we have a free society. And I’m proud to put myself on record.”

Meanwhile the top Democrat, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., side-stepped a question on whether he supports the anti-socialism resolution on Monday.

“I haven’t taken a look at that resolution, although it’s my understanding that the resolution elevates the so-called SAVE America Act, which is just the ‘Suppress the Vote Act.’ And I’m not clear how many Democrats are actually gonna support a resolution whose focus is on trying to rig the midterm election by elevating this voter suppression legislation that Donald Trump has been trying to jam down the road to the American people for the last year,” he told reporters.

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In addition to condemning socialism, the resolution also hails Republican-led election security bills as “common-sense election integrity measures, including proof of citizenship, photo identification, and database checks.”

It calls for the “enforcement” of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which has passed the House but has not been taken up in the Senate.

Democrats have largely panned that legislation as attempts at voter suppression.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., said the bill was a bid to “silence political opponents.”

“Let’s scare people with yet another boogeyman and not do anything about it. Not really solve problems, just try to scare people,” Scanlon said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., pointed out that Democratic socialists were already in power in his own state and warned it could spread elsewhere.

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“I’ve seen firsthand the alarming rise of socialism…families in western New York have watched one-party rule in Albany pile on more taxes, more mandates, more government control, while hardworking taxpayers are left to foot the bill,” Langworthy said. “And now downstate, we’ve watched the socialist left move more from the activist fringe into positions of real, serious political power. And anyone thinks that these ideas are going to stay confined in New York City is sadly mistaken.”

As the AI boom drives an unprecedented hunt for electricity, two states are taking sharply different approaches to assuage fears that Big Tech’s massive energy needs will raise Americans’ utility bills.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s approach is to set statewide ground rules before large data centers connect to the grid. Under legislation she signed in July, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities must create a separate rate structure for large data centers and ensure that the costs of new substations, transmission lines or other grid upgrades built mainly for the data center, are not added to other customers’ bills.

The law also requires large data centers to commit to paying for at least 85% of the electricity capacity they request for a 10-year period, in case they scale back their power use or close, and it directs regulators to encourage data centers to bring clean generation or energy storage online, use power more efficiently and reduce their electricity demand during emergencies.

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Sherrill has paired those ratepayer protections with new disclosure and local-planning measures. A separate law she signed this week requires operators to report their energy and water use to the state twice a year. Sherrill’s administration says the reporting and new municipal guidance will give officials a clearer picture of data centers’ demands and help communities assess local impacts and negotiate with developers.

Meanwhile, Indiana is taking a different approach. Rather than impose statewide rules for every large data center, state regulators approved a deal negotiated by Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), the Fort Wayne-based utility serving customers in Indiana and Michigan, along with consumer advocates and major technology companies.

The deal grew out of a wave of huge planned projects in I&M’s service area. Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced an $11 billion data-center campus near New Carlisle, Indiana, in 2024, while Google announced a $2 billion project in Fort Wayne. I&M and state officials then had to determine who would cover the cost of the additional power and grid infrastructure needed to serve those projects.

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According to I&M, the 2025 agreement requires new large customers, including data centers, to make long-term financial commitments to pay for the electric service they request, even if their future demand falls short of expectations. With those commitments in place, I&M says it can turn the new demand into a benefit for existing customers. The utility is now asking regulators to cut base rates by $59 million in 2027, saying revenue from large customers, including data centers, makes the reduction possible.

If the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission approves the plan, I&M says an Indiana household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month would save about $100 a year. The utility is also proposing to freeze all rates on customers’ monthly bills for three years, with a decision expected in June 2027 and any savings beginning that summer.

Daniel Turner, executive director of the energy advocacy group Power The Future, said Indiana’s approach was better than New Jersey’s more prescriptive framework, but argued neither state had gone far enough to ensure the AI buildout adds power to the grid rather than simply consuming it.

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“Indiana’s approach is definitely the better of the two,” Turner told Fox News Digital. “At least Indiana is saying, ‘Hey, we don’t know where this is going, but we’re not going to put in all of the guardrails yet to stop progress from happening. Let’s work together and figure out what the solution is.’”

Turner said he would make new power generation part of the deal from the start. New Jersey’s law encourages data centers to bring clean generation or energy storage online, but Turner said facilities should be built alongside the generation needed to run them and add capacity to the broader grid.

“Every data center should be built in conjunction with the necessary power-generating facility to power it and give back to the grid,” he said.

Turner posited that data centers have become a political football, with officials too often choosing sweeping restrictions or open-ended delays instead of working with utilities, developers and local communities on plans that protect ratepayers while adding needed power.

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“The solutions to data centers are not complicated issues to solve,” he said. “They just require political will.”

The Trump administration has already sought to turn that argument into a national model. In March, the White House announced a Ratepayer Protection Pledge signed by major technology companies, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI, which the administration says commits the companies to cover the cost of additional electricity generation needed for AI data centers rather than pass it along to families.

Turner noted the stakes of the data-center debate extend well beyond local utility bills, arguing that the United States cannot afford to fall behind China in the race to build and control artificial intelligence.

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“When you tell Americans why we have to win the AI race, look at what China did with the Wuhan flu and how they tried to lie about that,” Turner said. “Now imagine they can do that with every single piece of intellectual property on every platform in real time. That alone should scare the crap out of Americans.”

The Supreme Court has again sided with the Trump administration, allowing construction on the White House ballroom project to continue while the case continues to be litigated in the lower courts.

The court split 5-4 in granting the emergency request. The decision replaces a temporary order Chief Justice John Roberts issued just hours before a lower-court ruling blocking the work was set to take effect. The underlying litigation will continue in the lower courts, but court documents indicate key parts of the project could be completed within months, potentially outpacing the legal process.

Roberts issued a strongly worded dissent from the latest order, declaring that construction of the ballroom is “likely unlawful” and warning that allowing the project to proceed risks infringing on Congress’ constitutional powers.

“The President ordered the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a new, privately funded state ballroom in its place,” Roberts wrote. “Construction of the ballroom has proceeded apace for the better part of a year.”

TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM FOES FACE ‘VERY TOUGH ARGUMENT’ AT SUPREME COURT, LEGAL EXPERTS SAY

“That construction is likely unlawful,” he wrote.

Roberts pointed to federal law that prohibits the construction of any “building or structure” on federal government parkland in Washington, D.C., without express authorization from Congress.

APPEALS COURT SAYS FEDERAL JUDGE MUST RECONSIDER BLOCKING WH BALLROOM, WEIGH NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS

The chief justice argued that the ballroom falls squarely within that restriction because it is being built on President’s Park, federal land that encompasses the White House and surrounding grounds.

“The ballroom is a building or structure being erected on federal park grounds—President’s Park—in the District of Columbia,” Roberts wrote. “Yet Congress has not passed any law resembling ‘express authority’ for the Executive’s construction of it.”

TRUMP SAYS WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM RULING JEOPARDIZES LIVES OF FUTURE PRESIDENTS, VOWS SUPREME COURT APPEAL

The Supreme Court’s decision allows construction to continue while the underlying legal challenge plays out, but it does not settle the ultimate question of whether the ballroom project is lawful.

The case remains in litigation in the lower courts, meaning Roberts’ assertion that the construction is “likely unlawful” represents his view in dissent rather than a final determination by the Supreme Court.

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Roberts also took issue with the court’s treatment of Alison Hoagland, who originally challenged the project, arguing that both the historic nature of the White House and her interest in its preservation deserved greater weight.

“The White House is not just any building, and—when it comes to historic preservation—Hoagland is not just any person,” Roberts wrote.

REPUBLICANS QUESTION TRUMP’S ‘PRIVATELY FUNDED’ BALLROOM AFTER REPORT POINTS TO TAXPAYER BURDEN

“In failing to appreciate as much, the Court misconceives the plaintiff’s injury, allowing the Executive’s likely infringement of the Legislature’s power of the purse and authority to regulate federal property in the District of Columbia to continue,” he wrote.

“Today’s decision is no victory for the separation of powers.”

Roberts closed his dissent by invoking former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and issuing a pointed warning about how decisions involving the White House are made.

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“Winston Churchill once remarked that ‘[w]e shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us,’” Roberts wrote.

“All the more reason to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

“I respectfully dissent,” he wrote.

In addition to Roberts, Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson also dissented.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Vice President JD Vance urged Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed during a rally on Monday to focus on substantive policy issues instead of attacking his wife.

“I actually think that the people of Michigan think it’s kind of weird when you talk about another guy’s wife,” Vance said at a metro Detroit rally organized by MAGA Inc., a super PAC aligned with the president.

“I think the people of Michigan would like you to talk about the public policy ideas …I think the people of Michigan would like you to talk about how you’re going to protect auto workers when you’re supporting every single policy that has undercut the wages and jobs of Michigan auto workers your entire life in public service.”

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“But whatever you want to talk about, Abdul, keep my wife’s name the hell out of your mouth because she’s way out of your league,” the vice president added.

Vance’s quip was in response to El-Sayed saying “do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no” after the vice president suggested that Sharia law would have been an alien concept to his grandfather. 

Critics said the post appeared to take aim at Usha Vance’s Indian heritage. El-Sayed later said his point was that Vance seemed to be suggesting some people are “more American” than others because their families have been in the country longer, noting that Vance’s own in-laws are immigrants.

“If you’re a rural White American living in Michigan, just remember El-Sayed believes you’re a racist,” conservative commentator Ryan Girdusky said in response to the Democratic hopeful’s statement.

SECOND LADY USHA VANCE FIRES BACK AT POINTED JAB FROM DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINEE ABDUL EL-SAYED

Earlier in his speech, Vance accused El-Sayed of undercutting his support for working people by taking liberal positions on immigration issues.

“We’re here to talk about protecting Michigan truck drivers, but also protecting the safety of every single person who drives on the road with a semi truck, which is all of us,” Vance said. “Here’s the crazy thing. Just a few years ago, Abdul El-Sayed said that we need to make sure that illegal aliens have driver’s licenses in this country. He would love to undercut the wages of American truckers.”

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In 2018, El-Sayed expressed support for allowing illegal immigrants to obtain standard driver’s licenses, though he did not specifically push for those in the country illegally to receive the commercial driver’s licenses necessary to operate long-haul trucks.

While Vance and El-Sayed differ in their approaches to immigration, the two both agree, in principle, that tariffs should be used to benefit American industry.

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The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.

The contradictions are piling up around New York City Democratic Socialists of America co-chair Gustavo Gordillo, whose claims about his working-class credentials — from being a “union electrician” to his housing and family story — have increasingly collided with public records and other evidence.

Gordillo has repeatedly invoked his family’s immigrant success story while explaining his support for socialism.

“My parents came here, they had nothing,” Gordillo told the New York Times in a profile piece earlier this month. “Their first jobs were in fast food and cleaning houses. They built success in this country. And they’re absolutely the exception.”

According to Gordillo, he advances the cause of socialism because he believes it can “build a world” where his parents’ success story is “not exceptional.”

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A 2021 obituary for Gordillo’s paternal grandfather, however, raises questions about the family history behind that account.

Manuel Gordillo, Gordillo’s grandfather, immigrated from Peru to the United States to practice medicine in 1958. After settling in the United States, Manuel met his future wife in St. Louis, and the couple later had Gordillo’s father, Gustavo.

The obituary also notes that Gordillo’s grandfather built a successful life as a psychiatrist in Ohio, at one point serving as the president of the Ohio Psychiatric Association, casting doubt on the socialist’s claim that his parents grew up in poverty.

“My dad, his first job in the United States was working at Wendy’s, my mom’s first job was a house cleaner, and they did make a living for themselves, and they had success,” Gordillo told Fox News in July.

Gordillo and the New York City Democratic Socialists of America did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.

The questions surrounding Gordillo’s account of his family history come after discrepancies emerged over how he has described his occupation and living arrangements.

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The 38-year-old socialist, for example, told the New York Times that he was renting a modest apartment in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn only for it to be revealed that he was actually living in a $1.4 million townhouse owned by his father in a trendier part of the borough.

“Not only did DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo’s parents buy him this rowhouse, they converted it from a two family and renovated it into a luxury single-family home for him,” New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino said on X. “Exactly the kind of ‘greed’ the DSA rails against on a daily basis, and reducing valuable housing inventory by one more unit, which is supposedly something the DSA cares very deeply about.”

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Also undercutting Gordillo’s working-class image is his continued self-identification as a “union electrician” despite the fact that he hasn’t been a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers since March, when he was fired for not showing up to his apprenticeship.

“After learning of Mr. Gordillo’s prolonged absence from and failure to participate in required work and classes, the trustees of the Joint Apprentice Training Committee terminated Mr. Gordillo from the program,” the IBEW said in a statement.

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Even with the IBEW publicly stating that Gordillo is not a member of their organization, the socialist leader still identifies himself as a “union electrician” on social media.

FIRST ON FOX: The Small Business Administration is bringing a celebrity panel to Washington next month to judge five entrepreneurs competing for a share of a $1 million prize pool, Fox News Digital has exclusively learned.

“As our nation marks its 250th anniversary, the SBA is celebrating America’s legacy of free enterprise through the Million Dollar Pitch Competition—a historic live event showcasing the essential contributions of America’s small businesses,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler told Fox News Digital.

Entrepreneurs from across the nation submitted their ideas earlier this year, leaving five finalists to participate in a live pitch competition in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18.

Rapper Nicki Minaj, entrepreneur and private equity fund manager Grant Cardone, co-founder of Airbnb and U.S. Chief Design Office Joe Gebbia will judge the final competition. Award-winning actor Dean Cain will host the event, Fox News Digital has exclusively learned.

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The competition is another example of the Trump administration’s efforts to spotlight American ingenuity and partner with the private sector to support innovation and small-business growth, Fox News Digital learned.

“Their participation brings invaluable real-world perspective as our five exceptional finalists compete for a share of $1 million in growth capital. I look forward to joining them next month as we recognize the innovators and job creators who power American strength,” Loeffler added.

The participants were evaluated based on categories of strengthening American competitiveness, examples of small businesses “punching above its weight,” economic impact and quality jobs and business fundamentals and execution readiness.

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The five finalists are defense technology company Compotech, Inc. in Brewer, ME, metalworking machinery manufacturer Winton Machine in Suwanee, GA, plastic mold manufacturing company Plas-Tech Tooling in Garner, IA, pressure vessel manufacturer Red River in Gillette, WY, and machinery manufacturing firm VetPowered LLC in San Diego, CA.

No finalist will go empty-handed with the first-place winner scoring $400,000, second place winning $250,000, third place gets $150,000 and fourth place will take home $125,000, leaving fifth place with $75,000.

The competition also echoes the format of Trump’s hit early-2000s reality show, “The Apprentice,” which put aspiring business leaders through a series of challenges for a chance to work for his company.

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The successful show aired for 14 seasons with Trump as host.

Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed shares nearly two dozen donors with former Republican congressional candidate Dan Bilzerian, whose campaign included antisemitic attacks against Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla.

El-Sayed and Bilzerian are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but both have criticized U.S. support for Israel and called on the United States to cease all aid to the Jewish state.

Bilzerian has supported the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, while El-Sayed has called for abolishing ICE. Bilzerian has called for lower taxes and less regulation, while El-Sayed has called for higher taxes on the wealthy and Medicare for All.

The two candidates’ shared donors have contributed more than $61,000 to their campaigns, according to FEC filings for both campaigns. The shared donors gave $23,144.12 to Bilzerian’s campaign and approximately $38,626.20 to El-Sayed’s campaign, the Washington Free Beacon first reported. 

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Bilzerian lost to Fine in the primary, and his campaign tactics and advertisements drew sharp criticism from Republican leaders. His attacks against Fine, who is Jewish, included a 2½-minute AI-generated campaign ad calling Fine a “fat Jew” as well as other antisemitic remarks.

“Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to the world today,” Bilzerian told Fox News Digital in response to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, El-Sayed, who has routinely accused Israel of committing “genocide” against the Palestinian people, has drawn criticism for his associations with social media influencer Hasan Piker, who said the terrorist group Hamas was “a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state,” referring to Israel.

Donors to both El-Sayed and Bilzerian include prominent critics of Israel, such as Georgia attorney Ibrahim Awad of Awad Law Firm. He contributed $12,651.88 through a joint fundraising committee supporting Bilzerian’s campaign on April 25, 2026. It is unclear how much of that contribution was attributed to Awad. Fox News Digital reached out to Awad for comment.

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A little more than a month earlier, Awad donated $7,000 to El-Sayed’s campaign.

Awad, whose mother was born in Gaza, has been a vocal critic of Israel and has accused the Jewish state of committing a Holocaust in Gaza that may be worse than the Holocaust during World War II.

“It’s a Holocaust,” Awad shared during an appearance on the “Sumud Podcast” hosted by Dr. Ed Hasan. “Like, it’s present day. There are so many ways that it’s even worse than [the] World War II Holocaust because it’s happening in real time right in front of us.”

Awad appeared on the podcast in August 2025, when he decried Zionism as a “toxic way of thinking.”

“That’s the poisonous sin, right? The toxicity of Zionism,” Awad said. “It’s all rooted in this supremacy. Racism is rooted in this supremacy. Slavery is rooted in this supremacy.”

He said he distinguishes Judaism from Zionism but argued that Palestinians should not be responsible for explaining that distinction.

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“The onus is on the oppressor,” Awad said. “I mean, about whether you’re coming in, and you’re saying, ‘Hey, Israel is a Jewish state,’ and that same Jewish state is coming in and spray-painting the walls with the Star of David, and then I have to now, as the victim whose home was stolen, say, ‘Oh no, it’s not that you’re a bad Jew. It’s that you’re just a Zionist settler.’

“Nonetheless, we take the high ground, and we distinguish, and we say, ‘No, this is Zionism, right? This is Jewish supremacy. That is antithetical to Judaism, right? But that’s what it is,'” Awad continued.

Awad also rejected the characterization of the Palestinian resistance as “terrorism.”

Meanwhile, Hussein “Sam” Mahrouq, a Texas resident and owner of Enterprises International, which is the parent company of AutoMax and Dollar Rent-A-Car, donated $3,500 to El-Sayed’s campaign from May 2025 to April 2026.

He also contributed more than $1,000 through a joint fundraising committee supporting Bilzerian. Mahrouq has donated to other candidates critical of Israel, including Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

He also donated $400,000 to American Priorities PAC, which was created this year to counter the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the New York Post reported.

Mahrouq shared during an appearance on the podcast “Bigger than Business” that he is the child of Palestinian refugees.

In a statement, Mahrouq did not directly answer Fox News Digital’s question about whether El-Sayed and Bilzerian’s stances on Israel factored into his decision to donate.

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“I have made contributions and donations to many different candidates, organizations, community initiatives and charitable projects over the years,” Mahrouq said. “A contribution should not be interpreted as an endorsement of every position taken by a candidate or organization.”

Muhi Khwaja, co-founder of the American Muslim Community Foundation, donated $625 to El-Sayed’s campaign and $26.68 to Bilzerian’s campaign.

Khwaja described a visit to Gaza in a November 2023 essay and advocated for building support for Palestinians beyond the Arab world.

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“The Israel-Hamas war has made one thing clear: The philanthropic world can no longer turn a blind eye to the collective punishment facing Palestinians,” Khwaja wrote. “As a student of philanthropy, I believe in the love of humankind. As a Muslim, I believe in compassion for all. My Jewish friends and colleagues believe in Tikkun olam — repairing the world. But Israel’s actions in Gaza are doing the opposite.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to El-Sayed’s campaign and Khwaja for comment. Awad was also contacted for comment.

Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed spent this past weekend trying to mend fences with Jewish Democrats in Michigan, but his Republican rival calls El-Sayed’s comments a “sham apology.”

El-Sayed, in an appearance Saturday before the Michigan Democrats’ Jewish Caucus, and in an answer to a question from Fox News Digital, apologized for comments he made after a March attack on a suburban Detroit synagogue. But he pushed back when asked to repudiate controversial comments from incendiary left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who is a strong supporter of his campaign.

A vocal critic of Israel who describes its military actions against Hamas in Gaza as “genocide,” El-Sayed is facing off against former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee in the Great Lakes battleground state, for a crucial open Senate seat the Democrats must hold in the midterm elections as they aim to win back control of the chamber.

El-Sayed’s narrow primary victory over more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in what was a divisive intraparty showdown was arguably the biggest victory to date for the left in its battle against the establishment for the ideological future of the Democratic Party. El-Sayed appeared this past weekend at the state party’s nominating convention in Lansing, Michigan in an effort to unify Democrats in the wake of the primary battle.

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Fox News Digital asked El-Sayed about a recent controversy stemming from comments he made in response to an attack on a Michigan synagogue, when federal investigators say a gunman inspired and radicalized by Hezbollah crashed into the place of worship seeking to kill as many Jewish people as he could. The alleged attacker was a Lebanese-born man who a week earlier had lost relatives in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.

“Hurt people, hurt people,” El-Sayed said in response to the attack. He was criticized by members of his own party, including Michigan Secretary of State Dana Nessel, who discussed the comments in a recent interview with The Atlantic, and declined to attend this past weekend’s convention partly over concerns of antisemitism in the Democratic Party.

El-Sayed told Fox News Digital his comments “might have been misconstrued to be justifying something I did not intend to justify,” but then offered an apology.

“To anybody who feels like my comments may have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention. We condemned that terrorist attack. We condemned it outright,” El-Sayed added. “What I was trying to do was offer context for why it happened, but it wasn’t the time for context and you don’t ever want to trample somebody’s pain.”

El-Sayed is an epidemiologist and former Wayne County Health Department director who, if elected in November, would make history as the nation’s first Muslim senator. He has argued against unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel, as have other progressive politicians. And El-Sayed has repeatedly declined to directly answer whether Israel has the right to exist.

He said his message to Jewish voters in Michigan is, “We may not agree on everything when it comes to foreign policy… I’m not going to stop fighting for Palestinian self-determination… but that does not mean that I will not stand up… for safety for all communities and I believe in the safety and dignity of Jewish kids like I believe in the safety and dignity of my own kids.”

Before taking questions from reporters, El-Sayed met in Lansing with the state’s Democratic Jewish Caucus.

“He just had a very good meeting with us,” Daniel Rivkin, a convention delegate and member of the caucus, told Fox News Digital, as he referred to El-Sayed. “We’re having real conversations.”

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But hours earlier, some Jewish leaders in Michigan went public with an open letter urging Jewish Democrats and independents in the state to sign their names in support of Rogers, who is making a second straight run for the Senate after falling just 20,000 votes short in 2024.

“Many of us have been fiercely supportive of Democratic candidates and principles. All of us have felt threatened and alienated by the politics and allies embraced by Abdul El-Sayed, which has included demonization of Jews, equivocation on terrorism, exclusion of Jewish Americans from public life, and expression of implacable hatred of the world’s only Jewish nation,” the letter stated.

Rogers, in a statement highlighting the letter, claimed that “Abdul El-Sayed fans the flames of antisemitism. We’re fighting to extinguish it.”

In an interview Monday morning on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” Rogers said, “We’ve had so many Democrat Jewish people here in the state of Michigan ring up our phone and say, “I can’t do this. I’m for you.”

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Referring to El-Sayed, Rogers said, “When someone says you might have been offended by what I said, that’s not an apology.”

And he claimed that El-Sayed “has a long history of antisemitic and inflammatory comments.”

But El-Sayed has repeatedly pushed back, saying, “My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to the safety of my own kids. We have a responsibility to take on antisemitism in all of its forms, wherever we see it.”

Making El-Sayed’s mission to make peace with Jewish Democrats and independents more difficult is the backing he receives from Piker.

Piker recently featured on his stream an image of state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District. Moss, who is Jewish, has said that people are sharing a fake audio clip of him claiming that his entire reason for running for Congress is to make sure that America continues to support Israel.

“If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone is going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews,” Piker warned.

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Piker, who endorsed El-Sayed for the Democratic nomination and appeared at some of the candidate’s campaign events including a primary night party in Detroit, has repeatedly stood by his numerous past comments critical of Israel over its ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

El-Sayed, who over the past week appeared to try and distance himself from Piker, responded to the firestorm by saying, “I want to be crystal clear, nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople.”

On Saturday, El-Sayed was peppered with questions from reporters about Piker.

“We’re in the state of Michigan. If you want to make this race about a streamer in California, I just think you’re missing the boat,” El-Sayed told reporters. “This is about affordability in Michigan. This is about seeing a doctor in Michigan. This is about Donald Trump’s disastrous policies in Michigan. That’s what I’m focused on right now.”

As the questions about Piker continued, El-Sayed repeatedly characterized him as “a streamer from California” who is irrelevant to his race in Michigan. “This is not a serious conversation.”

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Besides his numerous antisemitic comments, Piker is known for saying “America deserved 9/11,” praising Mao Zedong and Communist China, and arguing that capitalists should be murdered in the streets.

The Democrats’ discord over Israel comes as most GOP leaders continue to showcase their support for Israeli leaders. As the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit got underway Sunday evening in Las Vegas, El-Sayed and the far-left drew boos from the audience of high-powered GOP activists and donors.

Meanwhile, there’s no letup in the battle between the left and the center for the future of the Democratic Party.

Rahm Emanuel, a former ambassador, congressman, Chicago mayor and former White House chief of staff to then-President Barack Obama, took aim at the socialist push taking aim at the party’s establishment.

“The Democratic Party is not open to being taken over,” Emanuel, who’s seriously mulling a 2028 White House run, told Fox News’ Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”

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“I don’t consider the Democratic Socialists are part of the Democratic Party. About four weeks ago, they had a convention in Chicago. Separate party. They believe in defunding police, letting prisoners out of prison, opening borders, eliminating the Pentagon. If you’re so confident people want that, I’ll see you in November. Put it on the ballot. Let’s go. Run as a separate party,” Emanuel emphasized.

Democratic Party leaders, when asked about the party’s current ideological warfare, often point to Democrats as a “big tent” party.

But veteran Democratic strategist Julian Epstein criticizes such responses and jabs at his party for failing to call out the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

“They’ve taken cover behind the empty ‘Big Tent” lie as radical DSA members and allies, like Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed and Colorado’s Melat Kiros, triumph in Democratic primaries,” Epstein wrote in an opinion piece last week in the New York Post.

Epstein, who served as chief counsel for the Democratic minority on the House Judiciary Committee during the 1998 impeachment proceeds against then-President Bill Clinton and who later served on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, argued, “Moderates should unite and shed the Big Tent delusion — because they have nothing to lose but their chains.”

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With the House of Representatives back in session, a resolution “condemning socialism in all its forms” could see a vote later this week.

Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., introduced a measure Thursday condemning socialism in all its forms, telling Fox News Digital he wanted to use the vote to force moderate House Democrats to take a more public stance against the DSA.

Fox News’ James Cirrone contributed to this report

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FIRST ON FOX: A federal grand jury issued a subpoena to former FBI Director James Comey’s longtime friend and advisor on Monday as part of a new investigation into Comey allegedly leaking classified information to the media.

The subpoena targets former Comey adviser Daniel Richman and indicates that the Justice Department has launched a fresh investigation into the leak of classified information to the New York Times. The issue was also investigated under President Donald Trump’s first term, but was cut off when former President Joe Biden entered office.

The new investigation is in addition to the one centered on Comey’s alleged threats against Trump.

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

In central Washington, a farming town of roughly 8,100 people has become an unlikely showcase for America’s data-center boom.

Quincy, long known for potato fields, apple orchards and food-processing plants, has spent two decades attracting some of the world’s largest technology companies. Microsoft began building data centers there around 20 years ago, drawn by affordable land, the region’s cool climate and abundant hydropower from the Columbia River.

Now the town is becoming central to Microsoft’s response to a backlash against the facilities powering cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The company this year cited Quincy as proof that data centers can bring tangible benefits to the communities that host them, as residents elsewhere raise alarms over electricity prices, water use and limited local job creation.

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The economic gains are visible in Quincy.

KUOW reported that years of data-center tax revenue have helped support a state-of-the-art high school and hospital.

The city recently opened a new aquatic center, complete with a six-lane lap pool, lazy river and waterslides, and is planning a separate indoor sports complex.

Data centers are not an employment engine on their own. A single facility can operate with 50 employees or fewer, KUOW reported. But Quincy has enough facilities that the sector has become a meaningful employer in aggregate, while also supporting construction, service businesses and the city’s broader tax base.

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Microsoft says its new national approach will ask local utilities to set rates high enough to cover data-center energy use and grid upgrades without raising prices for residents. The company also says future facilities will use closed-loop cooling systems that recycle water rather than drawing from local supplies.

Quincy already has such a system. Microsoft and the city partnered on a $31 million water-reuse utility that treats and recirculates cooling water. The EPA says the project reduces the company’s reliance on potable groundwater and saves an estimated 138 million gallons of water a year.

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Still, Quincy is not without skeptics.

Former Mayor Patty Martin, according to KUOW, has warned that the town must look beyond its immediate economic gains and consider its long-term water and electricity needs, pointing to population growth, electric vehicles and changing snowpack as added pressures on the region.

Quincy’s boom shows what data centers can bring to a small town and the questions communities must answer before they arrive.

EXCLUSIVE – Newly unclassified Pentagon images show suspected drug-smuggling boats at sea, including vessels loaded with apparent narcotics.

The images come as the department warned traffickers that the U.S. will continue hunting down those who threaten Americans, nearly a year after the Trump administration began striking suspected drug-trafficking vessels.

“Nearly one year after the first strike, the message to narco-terrorists remains unchanged: if you traffic deadly illicit narcotics and threaten the American people, we hunt you down, we will find you, and we will kill you,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

The photos, dated Oct. 27, Oct. 29 and Dec. 4, 2025, show the boats speeding through open water under U.S. military surveillance.

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Wilson said Operation Southern Spear has disrupted trafficking networks, forced traffickers to adapt their methods and removed “dangerous narcoterrorists.”

US MILITARY CONDUCTS MORE DEADLY STRIKES AGAINST VESSELS OF ALLEGED ‘NARCO-TERRORISTS’

“Operation Southern Spear has disrupted trafficking networks, forced trafficker adaptations, removed dangerous narcoterrorists, and demonstrated that the United States will use every lawful tool available to defend our Homeland and protect our communities,” Wilson said.

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital the operation has carried out 67 strikes, including the first strike on Sept. 2, 2025.

US KILLS TWO ‘NARCO-TERRORISTS’ IN STRIKE 2 MONTHS SINCE LAST ANNOUNCED ANTI-‘NARCO-TRAFFICKING’ ATTACK

One of the most recent strikes came Aug. 25, when U.S. Southern Command said four alleged drug smugglers were killed aboard a fast boat operating along known trafficking routes in the Caribbean.

“Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking,” SOUTHCOM wrote in a post on X, saying the operation was carried out by Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere under the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan.

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“Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere continues executing precise, lethal operations against the cartels,” Donovan said in a statement quoted in the post. “We will hunt, disrupt, and defeat these narco-terrorist networks.”

“SOUTHCOM is resolved to neutralizing cartel terror and violence throughout the region and into the U.S. homeland,” he added.

US MILITARY CONDUCTS STRIKE ON ANOTHER VESSEL CARRYING ALLEGED NARCO-TRAFFICKERS, KILLING 2

Days before the Caribbean strike, the U.S. military said two people were killed in a strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific. That was the first reported strike in more than two months. A video posted to X showed what appeared to be a moving boat before a flash filled the screen.

Since the first strike last September, the Trump administration has targeted suspected cartel vessels in the Atlantic and Pacific that it says were carrying narcotics.

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Trump has described the fight as an “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has argued the attacks are necessary to stop drugs from reaching American communities and fueling fatal overdoses.

The administration is also pursuing agreements with allied nations that could extend its campaign onto land in multiple Latin American countries.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama this month that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to conduct joint operations against criminal groups on their soil, though Guatemala denied an agreement had been reached. Ecuador began similar missions with the U.S. in March.

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Reuters, The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Eric Mack contributed to this report.