NationalWatch

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next month in the case challenging President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, in what is likely to be one of the most highly anticipated cases to be reviewed by the high court since Trump took office.

The justices said Thursday that they would hear arguments on the consolidated cases on May 15, roughly four weeks from now.

The Trump administration in March asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow a narrow version of the president’s executive order ending birthright citizenship to proceed. Trump signed the order on his first day in office and was immediately met with a flurry of lawsuits across the country.

The administration’s appeal concerns three nationwide injunctions brought in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state.

TRUMP ADMIN APPEALS RULING BLOCKING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor attend the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

All three states had issued nationwide injunctions blocking the birthright citizenship ban from taking force – a move that lawyers for the Trump administration argued in their Supreme Court filing was overly broad.

Acting U.S. Solicitor General Sarah Harris asked the justices to limit the scope of the rulings to cover only individuals directly impacted by the relevant courts. 

“These cases – which involve challenges to the President’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order concerning birthright citizenship – raise important constitutional questions with major ramifications for securing the border,” Harris wrote in their appeal. 

To date, no court has sided with the Trump administration’s executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship, though multiple district courts have blocked it from taking effect. 

NINTH CIRCUIT REJECTS TRUMP’S BID TO REINSTATE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER

Supreme Court justices attend the State of the Union address by President Joe Biden at the Capitol on March 7, 2024. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

Implementation of Trump’s executive order was initially set for Feb. 19. The policy would have affected hundreds of thousands of children born in the U.S. each year.

The order sought to reinterpret the 14th Amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Under the Trump administration’s proposed interpretation – later blocked by federal courts – children born to illegal immigrants or to those who were here legally but on temporary non-immigrant visas, are not citizens by birthright.

More than 22 U.S. states and immigrants’ rights groups quickly sued the Trump administration to block the change to birthright citizenship, arguing in court filings that the executive order is both unconstitutional and “unprecedented.”

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The states have also argued that the 14th Amendment does, in fact, guarantee citizenship to persons born on U.S. soil and naturalized in the U.S.

The U.S. is one of roughly 30 countries where birthright citizenship applies.

Several more congressional Democrats have made statements or issued requests to leadership to travel to El Salvador in hopes of bringing imprisoned deportee and accused MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to Maryland.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., remained in the Central American country as of Thursday morning, after Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa rejected his entreaties to contact or free the alleged gang member on Wednesday.

A representative for Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday that the freshman lawmaker would be taking a trip to El Salvador to essentially aid Van Hollen’s efforts.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be home in Maryland right now,” Ansari said in a separate statement. “His illegal abduction and the subsequent complete dismissal of the Supreme Court ruling is deeply disturbing. Our rights shouldn’t be revoked to propagate Trump’s authoritarian agenda. This is a constitutional crisis.”

DOJ INDICATES TRUMP ADMIN NOT OBLIGATED TO RETURN MAN DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR, PUSHING BACK ON JUDICIARY

From left, Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Robert Garcia and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (Getty Images)

“He’s already said that he’s ready and willing to illegally deport ‘home-growns’ and American citizens. If this can happen to Mr. Garcia, it can happen to any of us. My parents fled an authoritarian regime in Iran where people ‘disappeared’ – I refuse to sit back and watch it happen here, too. That’s why I plan to join my colleagues in traveling to El Salvador to visit Mr. Garcia and make sure Trump’s war on our Constitution and due process stops here.”

Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Robert Garcia, D-Calif., also wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., requesting a former CODEL (congressional delegation) authorization to visit Tecoluca, El Salvador, where the infamous El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) is located.

“Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national legally living and working in Maryland, was subject to a 2019 withholding order from an immigration judge prohibiting his removal to El Salvador,” Frost and Garcia wrote.

“A Congressional delegation would allow Committee Members to conduct a welfare check on Mr. Abrego Garcia, as well as others held at CECOT.”

Additionally, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is reportedly planning to travel to CECOT, according to reports from Politico and Axios. His office did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry.

NOT A MARYLAND MAN: GOP BLASTS DEMOCRAT SENATOR FIGHTING FOR RETURN OF SALVADORAN NATIONAL

Fox News Digital reached out to Comer’s office for comment, and whether other lawmakers had contacted him seeking CODEL authorization.

“Squad” member Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., also wrote to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., demanding her own CODEL to El Salvador, “given that the Administration’s use of CECOT for illegal and unconstitutional deportations is rife with ‘administrative errors.’”

While not party to the letter to Comer, Ansari tweeted Monday that “we need answers now” from either government.

She said she is ready to join Van Hollen – and Frost and Garcia if they go – to “demand” the man’s release.

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR: ‘END OF THE STORY’

Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., also suggested to Axios that travel to El Salvador may be necessary.

“We have to do similar kinds of things for the others who are victims of this dystopian attack on our Constitutional rights. This president is dangerous and we can’t let this go,” she said.

Meanwhile, at least two Republicans have also traveled to CECOT, albeit for different reasons.

Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., tweeted a photo from the prison, saying he just finished a tour and that many inmates were “extremely violent” recent U.S.-deportees.

“I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland,” Moore said.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., appeared to comment on Van Hollen’s trip in his own post from the prison, writing:

“It is unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are urging the release of more foreign criminals back into our country.”

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Homeland Security released new documents this week that it says definitively prove Abrego Garcia, who is imprisoned at CECOT after his deportation from the U.S., is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, which his lawyers deny.

Abrego Garcia also allegedly has a record of being a “violent” repeat wife beater, according to records filed in a Prince George’s County, Maryland, district court by his wife.

Fox News Digital reached out to Booker, Frost, Balint, Ramirez and Garcia for further comment.

Democrats are now defending elite universities like Harvard and Columbia from threats to their federal funding and tax-exempt status for allegedly violating public policy despite once championing the same legal precedent now being used against them.

The left championed the 1983 Bob Jones University v. United States ruling, which upheld the IRS’ decision to revoke tax benefits from a religious college that banned interracial dating. At the time, Democrats agreed with the federal government’s argument that no institution engaging in discrimination should receive public funds, even on religious grounds. 

Now, as the Trump administration cites that very precedent in urging the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status over claims the university is tolerating antisemitism and campus unrest, the left is accusing the administration of violating free speech laws to target ideological opponents.

‘SAFER WITHOUT HIM’: COLUMBIA STUDENT CLAIMS CLASSMATE ARRESTED BY ICE ‘HATES AMERICA’

Democrats are defending elite universities like Harvard and Columbia from threats to their federal funding and tax-exempt status. (Reuters/Nicholas Pfosi)

“The Bob Jones case is a very strong precedent in the government’s corner on this,” Joe Bishop-Henchman, vice president of tax policy and litigation at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“The Bob Jones precedent makes it a hard case for Harvard to win. It’d be a lot easier if that case wasn’t there, because I think they’ll have to argue that they’re being singled out, that this is politics,” he said. “If the administration can argue that it’s a violation of public policy, then the Bob Jones precedent follows.”

Today, Bob Jones University, a Christian liberal arts college in Greenville, South Carolina, has a student body of more than 2,700. In 1983, it had policies banning interracial dating and marriage among students and expelled students who violated that policy. The IRS said that because of those racially discriminatory policies, the school did not qualify for tax-exempt status.

TRUMP ADMIN ASKS IRS TO REVOKE HARVARD’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS

The Trump administration announced it was freezing over $2 billion in grants and contracts after Harvard University said it would not comply with federal demands regarding antisemitism. (AP Images)

The school argued that revoking its tax-exempt status violated its religious freedom and that it was being punished for adhering to sincerely held beliefs. However, the government countered that it should not subsidize organizations—through tax breaks—that defy established public policy, particularly laws against racial discrimination.

The Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in favor of the federal government in the landmark Reagan-era case. The justices determined the IRS was allowed to deny tax-exempt status to schools that practice racial discrimination since it was against public policy. Even though the school claimed religious freedom, fighting racial discrimination was a “compelling government interest.”

“That is the letter of what Bob Jones said, but maybe it shouldn’t just be one university,” Henchman said. 

A drone view shows anti-Israel protestors voluntarily packing up their encampment in the Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 14, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

The high court held that the institutions failed to provide the “beneficial and stabilizing influences in community life” required to receive special tax status supported by taxpayers, according to the judicial archive Oyez. Because of their bans on interracial relationships, the schools could not meet that standard.

The justices concluded that racial discrimination in education conflicted with a “fundamental national public policy.” While acknowledging the schools’ religious beliefs, the Court found that the government may limit religious liberties when it is necessary to serve an “overriding governmental interest,” in this case, prohibiting racial discrimination. As the court noted, “not all burdens on religion are unconstitutional.”

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As such, the Trump administration argues that Harvard’s handling of antisemitism on campus should disqualify the university from keeping its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The IRS is expected to make a final decision soon, according to a report from CNN, which first broke the story.

A move by a top Democratic Party official to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to primary-challenge some older Democrats in blue districts is further igniting intra-party tensions that have rocked the party since President Donald Trump’s convincing election last November.

The reverberations started instantly after Leaders We Deserve, a political organization led by recently elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chair David Hogg, announced on Wednesday that it will spend $20 million to help elect younger Democrats. The effort includes supporting primary challengers to House Democrats in safe seats that Hogg argues “are asleep at the wheel.”

The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the horrific shooting seven years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in south Florida, to spend money against fellow Democrats is seen as an unprecedented action by a DNC official.

FIRST ON FOX: REPUBLICAN PARTY SHOWCASES MASSIVE HAUL

Democratic National Committee vice chair David Hogg is causing a stir in the party with his efforts to primary incumbents he believes are insufficiently progressive. (Reuters/Emily Elconin)

“There are strong opinions on both sides,” a DNC voting member told Fox News Digital.

The voting member, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely, said that “behind the scenes, people are expressing their strong opinions towards each other. There’s certainly not a consensus.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S FAVORABLE RATINGS DROP TO HISTORIC LOWS

DNC chair Ken Martin, who along with Hogg and other party officials, were elected to their positions at the beginning of February, praised Hogg in a statement but also spotlighted the DNC’s longstanding position of staying neutral in primaries.

“David Hogg is a passionate advocate and we are grateful for his service to the Democratic Party, whether it be in his role as a DNC Vice Chair or in an outside capacity,” Martin said in his statement.

Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin speaks after winning the vote at the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, on Feb. 1, 2025.  (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

But Martin added, “In order to ensure we are as effective as possible at electing Democrats to office, it is the DNC’s longstanding position that primary voters — not the national party — determine their Democratic candidates for the general election.”

The move by Hogg comes as the party’s base is angry, and very energized, in fighting back against Trump’s sweeping and controversial moves, since returning to the White House three months ago, in upending the federal government and longstanding national policies. That anger is directed not only at Trump and Republicans, but also at Democrats many in the party’s base feel haven’t been effective or vocal enough in pushing back against the president.

CASH DASH: BERNIE SANDERS, AOC, AND OTHER LEADERS ON THE LEFT LEADING FIGHT AGAINST TRUMP SEE SURGE IN FUNDRAISING 

The energy has been evident at town halls this winter and early spring held by both Democratic and Republican members of Congress. And progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have drawn very large crowds to their “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies across the country over the past six weeks.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., right, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., acknowledge the cheering crowd during a “Fighting Oligarchy” event in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and other politicians who are leading the fight against Trump — including Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut — have seen a surge in their fundraising over the past three months.

Another leader on the left who has been among those vocal in their resistance to the Trump administration, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview that “we have to have a whole rebrand of the Democratic Party with a coherent platform and a future-oriented platform, and many leaders need to do that, new leaders, not the old guard. And I hope to be part of that.”

Khanna, who was interviewed on Tuesday, ahead of Hogg’s news, added that “we need Democrats speaking out, not just on the economy. We need them speaking out on civil liberties, on the rights of immigrants and on the rights of universities.”

While Democrats are increasingly energized to resist Trump, a slew of national polls earlier this year indicated the favorability ratings of the Democratic Party sinking to all-time lows.

Hogg, in a series of social media posts, pointed to one of those polls as he explained his move.

“The party has hit an all-time low approval rating of 27%,” Hogg wrote on X.

And he argued that “too many elected leaders in the Democratic Party are either unwilling or unable to meet the moment and are asleep at the wheel while Trump is demolishing the economy, challenging the foundations of our democracy, and creating new existential crises for our country by the day.”

Pointing to Democrats whom his group may target, Hogg said “through all of this, some incumbents will rise to the challenge and emerge stronger. Others will demonstrate why they should be replaced. Either way, we all win. Especially when we are not challenging frontline Democratic incumbents — we all want the House back.”

A Democratic Party operative who works on campaigns and who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News Digital that “this is unusual, but we do need some better Democrats in office and there’s been a push to have a new generation come in and replace the 70- and-80-year-olds who have been in elective positions and shown that they’re not up to the fight.”

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DNC vice chair David Hogg is critical of incumbent Democrats he sees as ‘asleep at the wheel’ in their opposition to President Donald Trump. (AP/IMAGN)

Chris Moyer, a Democratic strategist and communicator who is a veteran of presidential and statewide campaigns, noted the timing of Hogg’s move.

“It’s all about how you break through, and the old ways of doing things have not worked. And this is an inflection point,” Moyer said. “So it’s understandable that there’s a desire to get some new blood into important roles and take the party in a more effective direction.”

But a DNC voting member who was granted anonymity to speak more freely said that “because we are so close to winning the [House] majority, having that money spent picking up seats to win the majority is probably a better use of the funds.”

The Trump administration on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to review a lower court order that threatened to hold officials in contempt over March 15 deportation flights – the latest flashpoint in a wave of immigration disputes playing out in federal courts nationwide.

The emergency request came hours after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said he found probable cause that administration officials had violated court directives to return those flights.

In his ruling, Boasberg threatened criminal contempt charges and directed the administration to submit additional declarations by April 23 explaining why such proceedings should not move forward.

Boasberg said that if officials fail to submit the declarations, the court will consider holding further hearings and potentially refer the matter for prosecution.

WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS?

The Trump administration is appealing an order from Judge James E. Boasberg that could lead to administration officials being found in contempt. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Trump administration filed its appeal with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday night.

The Trump administration’s brief appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court does not include any new details, as the facts of the case have already been heard by the district and appellate court. 

The appellate court last month ruled 2-1 to uphold Boasberg’s temporary restraining order.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled 5-4 last month that the Trump administration could resume its deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act, so long as individuals subject to removal under the law were given due process protections, and the opportunity to pursue habeas relief – or the ability to have their case heard by a U.S. court prior to their removal.

Boasberg said Wednesday that the court found that the Trump administration had demonstrated a “willful disregard” for his March 15 emergency order, which temporarily halted all deportation flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 statute providing for such deportations during “a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion” by a foreign nation.

“The Court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt,” Boasberg said Wednesday.

Boasberg said he will give government officials the opportunity to propose “other methods” of coming into compliance, which he will evaluate.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TELLS FEDERAL JUDGE IT MIGHT INVOKE STATE SECRETS ACT ON HIGH-PROFILE DEPORTATION CASE

Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Public Security Héctor Villatoro, pointing, accompanies Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Boasberg had scolded the Trump administration, including Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign, for failing to comply with repeated requests for information from the court about the individuals deported on the flights – and who in the administration knew about the restraining order handed down, and when. 

The lack of information provided had sparked frustration from Boasberg, who described their compliance last month in a blistering order as “woefully insufficient.”

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The Trump administration, for its part, had argued in an earlier emergency appeal that Boasberg’s actions amounted to a “massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens,” whom they alleged “pose threats to the American people.”

“If you really believed everything you did that day was legal and would survive a court challenge, you would not have operated the way that you did,” Boasberg told Ensign earlier this month.

A community of LGBTQ+ Christians began Holy Week with a proclamation of “righteous rage and holy hope” at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Monday. 

Fox News Digital asked attendees at the Collective of Queer Christian Leaders event how “woman” should be defined in 2025. While some spoke about gender fluidity, spirituality and inclusivity, activists called for politicians to focus less on pronouns and more on delivering for Americans. 

“While the right is interested in litigating biology, I’m interested in litigating humanity,” the Rev. Don Abram, the founder of Pride in the Pews, told Nicholas Ballasy of Fox News Digital. Abram pivoted from the question to saying God is in everyone, and all people are “deserving of rights, protections, resources and safety,” regardless of identity. 

The pastor and member of Pride in the Pews, which is a Black LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said conservatives focusing on gender ideology is a distraction from the issues Americans care most about, like whether Medicaid will be cut or how tariffs will affect the economy. 

BONDI ANNOUNCES LAWSUIT AGAINST MAINE FOR REFUSING TO BAN TRANS ATHLETES FROM GIRLS’ SPORTS

A community of LGBTQ+ Christians began Holy Week with a proclamation of “righteous rage and holy hope” at the U.S. Capitol. Fox News Digital asked  event attendees to define “woman” in 2025. (Fox News Digital)

“I think the conversation on gender and who identifies, how they identify, it’s just a scapegoat for them to not focus on the real issues and the real problems that are affecting all of us,” Abram said. 

WHITE HOUSE PLANS ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ HOLY WEEK AS TRUMP HONORS EASTER WITH ‘THE OBSERVANCE IT DESERVES’

Guthrie Graves, an ordained Baptist deacon, said Americans might disagree on the fluidity of sex and gender, but “what we can all agree on is nobody should fear for their safety, or fear losing their job or face violence on the street.” He said a foundation of human rights should predicate debates about “human sexuality and gender.”

Other attendees, who answered the question more literally, said definitions of sexuality and gender are not so rigid. 

“From a faith perspective, we are all children of God, and if someone identifies as transgender and claims that as their identity, then who is anyone else to argue with that?” Jan Lawrence, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network, an LGBTQ+ justice organization within the United Methodist Church, told Fox News Digital. 

U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., the first transgender member of Congress, walks through the U.S. Capitol before the start of the 119th Congress in Washington Jan. 3, 2025.  (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress in November. Debates over which bathroom McBride was permitted to use dominated her first few weeks on the job after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., advocated for a ban on transgender women using the women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol. 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson later announced the U.S. House would institute a bathroom ban, stating all single-sex bathrooms were reserved for individuals of that biological sex. Johnson noted that every member of Congress has an office with a private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol. 

“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” McBride said in a statement in November. 

President Donald Trump, on his first day back in the Oval Office, issued an executive order establishing only two sexes, male and female. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington April 16, 2025.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a lawsuit against Maine Wednesday for allowing transgender women to continue playing women’s sports. Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills has refused to comply with Trump’s executive order restricting biological men from playing in girls and women’s sports. 

Nearly two months ago, Trump and Mills sparred during a bipartisan meeting of governors at the White House during which Trump promised Mills he’d “see you in court.”

Last year, President Joe Biden proclaimed March 31, which fell on Easter Sunday, Transgender Day of Visibility to show “transgender and nonbinary Americans that we see them, they belong and they should be treated with dignity and respect.” 

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This year, Trump’s new White House Faith Office has announced a robust Holy Week schedule to celebrate Easter. 

FIRST ON FOX: A top House Republican is leading a formal rebuke of the Biden administration’s gun control policies on Thursday.

House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams, R-Texas, is introducing a resolution slamming the Democrat former president while lauding the current White House “as they work to protect Second Amendment freedoms by reviewing and eliminating any of the Biden administration’s infringements on [Americans’] constitutional freedoms.”

The resolution is backed by at least 14 of Williams’ fellow House Republicans.

NRA LEGISLATIVE EXPERT SAYS GUN RIGHTS COULD SEE ‘MOST MONUMENTAL’ WIN IN CONGRESS SINCE 2005

The new House resolution praises President Donald Trump while rebuking former President Joe Biden. (Associated Press)

“For too long, the Biden administration and radical leftists went to extreme lengths to criminalize law-abiding gun owners, jeopardizing the Second Amendment,” he told Fox News Digital of the legislation.

“My resolution reaffirms congressional support for the Second Amendment and commends President Trump’s actions to protect American gun owners by dismantling Biden’s infringements on our constitutional freedoms.”

Shortly after Attorney General Pam Bondi was sworn in, President Donald Trump ordered her to begin a 30-day review to find any “ongoing infringements” of the Second Amendment by the federal government.

House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams is leading the resolution. (Getty Images)

Just over a month later, Bondi commissioned a new Second Amendment task force to “combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach,” she said last week.

The DOJ this month also repealed a Biden-era “zero tolerance” policy by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives, revoking licenses from firearm dealers who “willfully” violate existing rules. Gun rights groups, however, argued the rule places an undue burden on firearm dealers for making unintended clerical errors.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS BIDEN ADMIN ‘GHOST GUN’ REGULATION

The GOP resolution “disapproves of the Biden administration’s gun-control agenda and hostility toward the lawful gun industry,” according to legislative text obtained by Fox News Digital.

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It also “supports President Trump’s actions to repeal harmful policies imposed by the Biden administration on law-abiding gunowners (sic); and commends President Trump’s commitment to upholding the Constitution and defending the constitutional right to bear arms.”

The resolution, which is also backed by the National Rifle Association, is being introduced to coincide with Second Amendment Day on Thursday.

FIRST ON FOX: One of the top defense contractors in the United States, which has a history of pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), is facing heat over a massive government contract that critics say should be a prime target for Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts. 

The Air Force’s Sentinel program, a massive intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) project serving as the successor to the Minuteman III program ensuring the future viability of the land-based leg of America’s nuclear triad, has been mired in controversy and slowdowns as Northrop Grumman was awarded the development contract and the endeavor has gone from a $96 billion program to at least $141 billion in recent years. 

The Pentagon ordered Northrop Grumman to pause development earlier this year due to “evolving launch facility requirements”, Defense One reported. Air & Space Forces Magazine reported last year that the intercontinental ballistic missile program survived a Pentagon review, but it was found that the cost overrun jumped from 37% to 81%.

Northrop Grumman, which had not previously designed an ICBM, was awarded a $13 billion contract in September 2020 for full-scale development of the program to replace the Minuteman III, and the Pentagon has estimated that the total cost of developing its new ICBM program could cost up to $264 billion over the next few decades, Bloomberg reported.

BILL MAHER CALLS OUT ELON MUSK, DOGE FOR NOT TAKING ‘CHAINSAW’ TO DEFENSE SPENDING

Northrop Grumman has attempted to distance itself from DEI after promoting it for years. (Getty)

The awarding of the contract was controversial in its own right, after Boeing dropped out of the bidding, claiming that the process was rigged against it, Responsible Statecraft reported. 

“The massive expansion of costs for Northrop Grumman’s Minuteman III program is the case example for why poorly-scoped, blank check programs are a bad idea,” a senior Republican Congressional official who works on defense policy told Fox News Digital. 

“This is bad for national security, bad for taxpayers, and Republicans will fix this mess that Biden’s team created,” the official added.

Questions have also been raised by some in recent years about whether the Sentinel program is even necessary, including at a Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group press conference last year, when former Democratic Congressman John Tierney said that Sentinel “does not add to our security” and could “actually make us less safe.”

DOGE INITIAL FINDINGS ON DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DEI SPENDING COULD SAVE $80M, AGENCY SAYS

The U.S. flag flies near the U.S. Air Force’s B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber “Spirit of Georgia” at the Northrop Grumman Corp. facility at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. (Getty)

“When will the blank checks to cover spiraling costs end?” Tierney said. “The Sentinel ICBM program is just the latest in a long list of Pentagon programs that are over budget, behind schedule and of questionable utility.”

Tierney added that he believes the “only value” of recent ICBM development is “to the defense contractors who line their fat pockets with large cost overruns at the expense of our taxpayers.”

“It has got to stop,” he said. 

An Air Force spokesperson told Fox News Digital that it is taking “deliberate” steps to ensure that the Sentinel program is running as cost-efficiently as possible while enhancing oversight at the same time. “We continue to advance the engineering design and maturity of the program with Northrop Grumman, working closely with the company to drive down costs and improve schedule performance,” the spokesperson added.

The Air Force also pointed to a previous comment from Gen. David Allvin, Air Force chief of staff, during a symposium in March that stressed the importance of the Sentinel program.

“We own two-thirds of the triad and three-fourths of the nuclear command and control of communications,” Allvin said. “We own the nuclear deterrence. So more Air Force means more nuclear deterrence…We have to have the most reliable, the most safe, the most effective nuclear deterrent. That means sentinel, yes…I believe we need more nuclear deterrence for our nation. It’s a solemn responsibility. It’s not an option.”

Amid the cost overruns and headaches from the ICBM program, Northrop Grumman adopted and promoted an agenda focused on DEI in recent years and was one of several defense contractors that have attempted to scrub their websites of DEI in the wake of the Trump administration’s pledge to rid the government of the ideology. 

Northrop Grumman’s 2023 annual report mentions DEI as “vital to our culture and our company’s success. Our ability to leverage the power of our diverse workforce enhances employee engagement and enables us to innovate, perform and deliver on quality, which results in value for our shareholders, customers, and employees.”

The report also touted its minority hiring practices and stated that 25% of its employees are female, 37% people of color, 18% veterans and 8% people with disabilities. 

Elon Musk’s Tesla showroom locations have faced repeated protests over his role in DOGE. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

“Diversity Has a Home at Northrop Grumman,” a YouTube video from ClearanceJobs says in a post that features Northrop Grumman employees discussing the diversity of the company. 

“Northrop’s Sentinel Program is a DOGE poster child,” a person close to the Trump administration told Fox News Digital. “Not only did they practice DEI, the program is ineffective, delayed, and wasting billions of taxpayer money. Musk would have a field day.”

DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts have affected essentially every area of government, including the Defense Department, which recently announced that over $580 million worth of contracts have been canceled as Democrats continue to blast the efforts and make the case that DOGE cuts are detrimental to the country.  

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes, billions of dollars spent on pricey consulting firms, grants and NGO‘s—the self-serving bureaucrats in Washington DC have found a million different ways to rip-off the American taxpayer,” special advisor to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake told Fox News Digital. 

“I’m working very closely with DOGE at the agency President Trump asked me to oversee. Our DOGE team is not political, they are practical. They know that it’s not practical for the U.S. government to continue spending the way it has been. Our country won’t survive unless we cut back right now, and the hard-working men and women across this country support that.”

Kari Lake, former U.S. Republican Senate candidate for Arizona, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Northrop Grumman touted recent progress in the program.

“We continue to make substantial progress on the Sentinel Weapon System,” the spokesperson said. “On March 6, we completed the missile’s stage one static fire test, the latest of many test events that validate the rocket motor’s performance and digital design. We continue to mature the design and reduce risk as we prepare for production and deployment of this essential national security capability.”

Regarding DEI, the spokesperson said, “We have reviewed our policies and processes and continue to take the steps necessary to ensure compliance with the orders for the work entrusted to us. Northrop Grumman is committed to our customers’ missions, delivering technologies they need to deter threats, prevail in conflicts, and strengthen national security. Underpinned by our values, we hire, promote, and pay based on merit and performance resulting in the best team to deliver for our customers.”

FIRST ON FOX: The Republican National Committee (RNC) is quickly coming out of the gate when it comes to fundraising.

The RNC reports hauling in $56.1 million during the January-March first quarter of 2025 fundraising as the national party committee builds resources for next year’s midterm elections, when it will defend its majorities in the House and the Senate.

The RNC, which shared its figures first with Fox News on Thursday, said the haul was a record for the first quarter of a non-election year.

CASH DASH: HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN ARM TOUTS ‘UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM’

Republican National Committee Chair Mike Whatley (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

“The RNC is working hand-in-glove with President Trump and the White House to replicate his historic success in 2024,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley said in a statement.

POLL POSITION: WHERE TRUMP STANDS WITH AMERICANS 11 WEEKS INTO SECOND TOUR OF DUTY IN WHITE HOUSE

And looking ahead to next year’s midterms, Whatley said that “we’re building up our war chest to expand Republican majorities in 2026 and ensure the President has all the tools he needs to Make America Great Again. I couldn’t be more excited to keep up what we’ve been doing with Vice President Vance as our finance chair.”

As Fox News reported last month, Vance was named the RNC’s finance chair. Vance, who is seen as the front-runner for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination in the race to succeed the term-limited Trump, is the first sitting vice president to serve as the finance chair of a national party committee.

Vice President JD Vance (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Vance, in a statement, highlighted that “the RNC has already accomplished great work in its mission to build upon President Trump’s historic victory this past November.”

WERE THIS MONTH’S ELECTIONS IN WISCONSIN AND FLORIDA A CRYSTAL BALL FOR THINGS TO COME IN NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERMS?

“Republicans have an incredible opportunity looking to 2026, where we can continue on our strong momentum, further grow our majorities and advance President Trump’s America First agenda,” the vice president added. “I’m honored to help spearhead this effort and look forward to the work that lies ahead.”

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey Jr.)

The rival Democratic National Committee had yet to announce its first-quarter fundraising figures at the time this story was posted.

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The DNC had raised $24.3 million through the end of February, compared to $35.2 hauled in by the RNC.

A critical Kentucky seat in the U.S. Senate will soon have a new face after former GOP leader Mitch McConnell announced his retirement in February, and Republican hopefuls appear to be gearing up for what will be a challenging primary.

Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s first Black attorney general and 2024 gubernatorial candidate, still remains the only declared Republican candidate so far after he announced his intention to run for the vacant seat just days after McConnell’s retirement address.

With first quarter fundraising numbers being released on Tuesday, another possible candidate has been seemingly busy building a war chest behind the scenes.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN ARM TOUTS ‘UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM’ WITH RECORD FUNDRAISING HAUL

Republican Rep. Andy Barr, R-Kentucky, who has hinted at a possible run though has not officially stepped into the race, posted a sizable $2.26 million raised since January, with approximately $5.35 million in cash on hand through various Political Action Committees.

Amanda Milward, a spokesperson for the Barr campaign, spoke with Fox News Digital after the numbers were posted on Tuesday. 

Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr, left, is considering joining the contest against Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron to replace outgoing Sen. Mitch McConnell. (Reuters)

“Andy Barr is humbled by the outpouring of support from Kentuckians and donors across the country for his strong America First leadership,” Milward explained. “As Andy considers running for the U.S. Senate, it is clear that Kentucky Republicans want leaders who will not only stand with President Trump, but who also have the drive and resources to win. We cannot afford to lose another statewide race.”

Cameron posted $507,656 in campaign contributions and $455,395 cash on hand after expenditures. 

VP VANCE BLASTS MCCONNELL’S VOTE AGAINST TRUMP PENTAGON NOMINEE: ‘POLITICAL PETTINESS’

“From every corner of Kentucky to supporters across the country, folks are rallying behind our campaign because they’re ready for a true America First fighter—someone who will stand up for our values and advance President Trump’s agenda in the U.S. Senate,” Cameron told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “We’re pressing forward, the path to victory is clear, and we’re not looking back.”

Former Senate Leader Mitch McConnell was elected to the coveted seat in 1985, making him the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history. 

Former GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell announced his retirement in February. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

However, McConnell’s endorsement may not carry the weight it did some years ago, given the tumultuous relationship between the Kentucky senator and President Donald Trump. Sources close to the race told Fox News Digital that a McConnell endorsement would actually do more harm than good and that the endorsement from President Trump is the key to the ticket. 

While President Trump has not yet endorsed a candidate, he has made comments about both Cameron and Barr in the past. 

Last week at the White House, the president made a nod to Barr’s attendance during a press conference, telling the likely candidate “good luck with everything, I hear good things.”

GOP SENATOR REVEALS WHY TRUMP’S ‘COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT’ WILL BE CRUCIAL FOR HIS MIDTERM RACE

Notably, a Trump endorsement for Cameron would not be the first, as the 45th and 47th president endorsed Cameron for governor in October 2023. Following Cameron’s loss to Democrat Andy Beshear, Trump blamed ties with McConnell as the reason for the defeat.

“Daniel Cameron lost because he couldn’t alleviate the stench of Mitch McConnell,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “I told him early that’s a big burden to overcome. McConnell and Romney are Kryptonite for Republican Candidates. I moved him up 25 Points, but the McConnell relationship was ‘too much to bear.”

Both President Donald Trump, left, and Sen. Mitch McConnell endorsed Daniel Cameron for governor of Kentucky, but the two Republican titans have a contentious relationship. (AP Photo; Reuters)

To shake things up even more, a third possible candidate is eyeing a possible run for the hotly contested seat.

Wealthy businessman Nate Morris, CEO of Morris Industries and former CEO of Rubicon Investments, has also been in the mix of possible names in the primary. 

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Morris has already targeted ties to McConnell as a possible weakness for a potential victor, posting on X that “the last thing Kentucky needs is another puppet for Mitch McConnell.”

Who the sitting president plans to support remains unclear, though it seems his endorsement in the race may be one of the more substantial in the upcoming midterm election. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Nate Morris for comment but did not receive a response.

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

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Wednesday during his trip to El Salvador that he “won’t rest” until Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a suspected MS-13 member who was deported to a mega prison in his home country, is brought back to the United States.

Van Hollen has described the man as “wrongfully abducted” and traveled to El Salvador in an attempt to discuss efforts to bring the man back to Maryland, where he was living illegally. 

The senator was able to speak with Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay, but was not able to make contact with Abrego Garcia in person or via phone.

“I’ve been in El Salvador all day fighting for the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said in a caption to a video posted on X on Wednesday night. “The Trump Admin can lie all they want, but the Court said they failed to show he was part of MS-13. This is about bringing home a man they ADMIT should’ve never been abducted. I won’t rest until then.”

BLUE STATE SENATOR FLIES TO EL SALVADOR TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, ONLY TO BE DENIED 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday with the intention of visiting alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living illegally in Maryland before he was deported to a mega prison. (Getty Images)

Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador comes two days after an El Salvadoran illegal alien was convicted of raping and murdering Rachel Morin, a Maryland mom of five, on a trail in Bel Air.

Morin’s mother, Patty, said Van Hollen has never reached out to her about her daughter’s violent murder in Maryland, yet he is prioritizing bringing a deported man back to the state.

Van Hollen did release the following statement on his official Senate website shortly after Morin’s killer was convicted, writing that the “verdict brings a measure of justice that [Rachel’s family] so deserve[s].”

Patty Morin (left) said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., has barely acknowledged the murder of her daughter Rachel Morin (right). (Dillon Mullan/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images | Fox News / Hannity)

“While the conviction of Rachel Morin’s killer will not return Rachel to her family where she rightfully belongs, this verdict brings a measure of justice that they so deserve. I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who brought her killer into custody and for our legal process for delivering this justice. 

“As I have said in the past, the American people deserve meaningful action to reform our broken immigration system, improve public safety, and strengthen our border security. We can do this while also supporting our immigrant communities and respecting the rights of individuals who are here legally – I am committed to doing both, and I will continue pressing my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move forward on this issue.”

TOM HOMAN ‘DISGUSTED’ BY DEM SENATOR’S TRIP TO BRING HOME ALLEGED MS-13 GANG MEMBER

During an appearance at a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Patty Morin called out Van Hollen for his visit to El Salvador.

“And to have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge or barely acknowledge my daughter, and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grand baby without a grandmother, so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen,” she said. “Why does that person have more rights than I do for my daughter? For my grandchildren?”

While he did not address Patty Morin directly, Van Hollen said in a video posted to X later Wednesday evening that he cares “about every victim of crime.”

He also said that America has a court system to make sure criminals are held accountable and “that people who have not committed crimes, or not been convicted of crimes, are not disappeared out of the United States and sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, like Abrego Garcia.”

“This is simply about letting him have his day in court. We use the courts to make sure that we don’t convict people who are not guilty, and that we convict those who are,” he said, in part.

‘MARYLAND MAN’ KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA EXPOSED IN POLICE RECORDS AS ‘VIOLENT’ REPEAT WIFE BEATER

Abrego Garcia is at the center of a controversial debate after he was deported to El Salvador’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) for his alleged gang affiliation, which his attorneys have denied. 

The Department of Homeland Security shared an interview sheet with Fox News from Prince George’s County police’s Gang Unit MS-13 Intelligence Squad that identified Abrego Garcia as an active member of MS-13’s “Westerns” clique in 2019, according to a “past proven and reliable source.” The source said he held the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker of “Chele.”

He was marked eligible for deportation in 2019 after he claimed that he illegally entered the U.S. near McAllen, Texas, on or about March 25, 2012, after he “walked across the desert for many days,” according to a 2019 DHS interview document shared with Fox News.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) for his alleged affiliation with the MS-13 gang. He was marked eligible for deportation in 2019. (U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland via AP)

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Van Hollen is not the only Democrat lawmaker seeking to visit Abrego Garcia in El Salvador with the goal of bringing him back to the U.S. after the Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s decision ordering his return. 

The court required the “government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” 

The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.”

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo, Greg Wehner and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

In a video message about the Federal Aviation Administration doing “drone-detection testing” in New Jersey, Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy indicated that the Trump administration is committed to “radical transparency,” juxtaposing that approach with what he referred to as the Biden administration’s “drone fiasco.”

The FAA noted in a post on its website last week that the testing is slated to occur “in Cape May, New Jersey, between April 14-25.”

“The FAA will operate several large drones and more than 100 commercial off-the-shelf drones during the two-week period. Testing will take place over the water and near the Cape May Ferry Terminal during the daytime on weekdays only. The public should not fly recreational drones near this area during the test period,” the post stated.

KEY TRUMP AGENCY FACING ‘UNPRECEDENTED BACKLOG’ INHERITED FROM BIDEN ADMIN

Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy discusses drone-detection testing in New Jersey (@SecDuffy on X)

In a video message shared on social media this week, Duffy explained that the testing is being performed “to ensure we can properly detect drones in our airspace and make sure they don’t interfere with aircraft navigation systems.”

Many Americans were concerned by a spate of sightings in the skies last year.

A joint Department of Homeland Security, FBI, FAA, and Department of Defense statement in December addressed the issue, declaring that “we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.”

CUTTING-EDGE DRONE TECH MAPS LAND AND WATER WITH LASER ACCURACY

Shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered what she described as a statement from Trump, explaining that the drones over the Garden State were cleared by the FAA to fly “for research and various other reasons,” and that many drones had been flown by hobbyists. 

“This was not the enemy,” she concluded, describing the remarks as “a statement from the president … “

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SHARES UPDATE ON DRONES SEEN FLYING OVER NEW JERSEY

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The FAA’s post last week noted, “The agency has been testing drone detection technologies at airports over the last few years and is expanding testing to off-airport locations. These tests will help determine the effectiveness of these technologies and whether they might interfere with FAA or aircraft navigation systems.” 

A third high-level Pentagon staffer has been placed on administrative leave in two days as part of a probe into media leaks.

Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg, was escorted out of the building on Wednesday, following Dan Caldwell, senior advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Darin Selnick, deputy chief of staff to Hegseth. 

“We can confirm that Mr. Carroll has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation. We have nothing additional to provide at this time,” a defense official told Fox News Digital. 

Carroll did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

PENTAGON DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF IS SECOND HEGSETH ADVISOR REMOVED AMID DOD LEAK PROBE

Three of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s top DOD staffers are on leave over leaks. (Reuters/Yves Herman)

Last month, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced it would launch a probe into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information” and might employ the use of polygraphs to determine the source of the leaks. 

“The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,” DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in a memo. “This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.”

GENERAL WHO HELPED TRUMP DECIMATE ISIS TERRORISTS IN FIRST TERM CONFIRMED AS JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN

He wrote that “information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure” would be referred for criminal prosecution. 

Carroll, a Marine Corps reservist, most recently worked at defense contractor Anduril, which develops autonomous weapons systems. Both Selnick and Caldwell worked at Concerned Veterans for America, an advocacy group once led by Hegseth.

Pentagon officials Dan Caldwell, left, and Darin Selnick are being investigated amid the probe. (Concerned Veterans for America | Department of Defense)

A probe into leaks at the Pentagon came after reporting about the Pentagon reportedly planning to brief Elon Musk on a potential war with China. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

The Pentagon has not provided specifics about what the three officials are accused of leaking. An official told Politico that the leak concerned Panama Canal plans and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon and a second aircraft carrier being deployed to the Red Sea. 

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The DOD followed the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice in announcing it would use polygraphs to root out alleged leakers. But the DOD memo came after President Donald Trump pushed back on a New York Times report that Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk would be briefed on “war plans” with China during a visit to the Pentagon. Trump said he would not show such plans “to anybody.”

FIRST ON FOX: Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen drew wide rebuke for his sudden trip to El Salvador, during which he hopes to bring back deported Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Garcia is currently imprisoned in the Central American country – and President Nayib Bukele indicated it would be “preposterous” to try to send him back to the U.S.

Van Hollen made waves Wednesday morning when he posted a selfie-video before flying to San Salvador, and calling the goal of his “mission” to let both countries’ governments know he won’t stop fighting until Garcia returns to Maryland.

Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in the Old Line State’s delegation, slammed Van Hollen and contrasted the situation with Rachel Morin – who was murdered by an illegal immigrant found guilty Monday in Bel Air.

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR: ‘END OF THE STORY’

“The most striking… double standard, is that Rachel Morin, who was a constituent of mine, was brutally murdered by an illegal alien from El Salvador,” Harris said.

“And Chris Van Hollen is not spending much time on that issue, but he’s taking time to go to El Salvador to bring back a citizen of El Salvador to the United States who had entered the country illegally and which an immigration court… found evidence that he was an MS-13 gang member.”

Van Hollen did release a print statement after Morin’s killer was convicted, saying he was grateful to law enforcement and calling for “meaningful action” to reform “our broken immigration system.”

“We can do this while also supporting our immigrant communities and respecting the rights of individuals who are here legally – I am committed to doing both, and I will continue pressing my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move forward on this issue,” Van Hollen said.

DOJ INDICATES TRUMP ADMIN NOT OBLIGATED TO RETURN MAN DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR, PUSHING BACK ON JUDICIARY

White House communications director Steven Cheung mocked Van Hollen “and his bedwetting friends” for showing “more concern and sympathy for an illegal MS-13 gang member than victims of horrific migrant crimes.”

Van Hollen previously had a mixed voting record on the illegal immigration issue.

He voted against the Laken Riley Act in January and publicly objected to the first Trump administration deporting two Salvadoran men in 2017 who were scholastic soccer stars.

“Shame on President Trump for tearing apart hardworking immigrant families. We should be focused on MS-13, not scholarship winners,” he said.

Harris said efforts to “repatriate” Garcia to Maryland are also factually misguided.

“This gentleman has already been repatriated – back to El Salvador; the country of his citizenship. That is where he belongs.”

“Rachel Morin, in fact, was a Maryland woman; This gentleman is not a Maryland man,” he said, in reference to how Garcia has been described in the press. “We should probably worry about our own citizens before we worry about citizens of other countries.”

Garcia, left, and Van Hollen, right (Getty Images)

Harris also lamented expending taxpayer funds for the trip, “to bring a citizen of a foreign country who entered America illegally back into the United States.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., took criticisms a step further, suggesting Van Hollen may be “flirting with treason” and saying Garcia is already “home, in El Salvador.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also cited Morin’s murder in their rebuke of Van Hollen, claiming he has done more to bring “a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland” than he has to advocate for victims of gang violence.

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Van Hollen’s stance did receive one prominent Maryland defender, with Gov. Wes Moore telling Fox News Digital, “We can be pro-public safety and pro-Constitution at the same time.”

“We support Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s efforts to check on his health and safety and bring peace of mind to Kilmar’s family in Maryland – his wife, their 5-year-old child, and his two stepchildren, all who are U.S. citizens.”

“Despite a unanimous Supreme Court decision, Trump is refusing to return Kilmar and is now even threatening to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Van Hollen for comment but did not hear back.

The mother of a Maryland woman who an illegal immigrant from El Salvador raped and murdered in 2023 appeared at the White House Wednesday, after a jury convicted her daughter’s murderer on Monday. 

Patty Morin’s appearance comes as her senator, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, visited El Salvador on Wednesday to check on a Maryland resident the Trump administration’s Justice Department deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration claims that the Maryland resident and El Salvador native, Abrego Garcia, has ties to the MS-13 gang. 

“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother…so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen?” Morin told reporters Wednesday at the White House. “Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t, I don’t understand this.”

 Patty Morin (L), mother of Rachel Morin, speaks as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt looks on during a daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 16, 2025 in Washington, DC.  (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

A jury in the Harford County Circuit court found Victor Martinez-Hernandez, originally from El Salvador guilty on all counts of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense and kidnapping.

Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. However, following Martinez-Hernandez’s conviction, Van Hollen issued a statement vowing to bolster border security while also “supporting our immigrant communities.” 

“While the conviction of Rachel Morin’s killer will not return Rachel to her family where she rightfully belongs, this verdict brings a measure of justice that they so deserve,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who brought her killer into custody and for our legal process for delivering this justice.” 

Martinez-Hernandez attacked Rachel Morin, 37, in August 2023 on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, a trail Patty Morin said the family had walked for 25 years as Maryland residents. 

DEMOCRATS PRIORITIZING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OVER CITIZENS IS ‘MIND-BOGGLING,’ WHITE HOUSE SAYS

A jury convicted Victor Martinez-Hernandez on Monday for savagely raping and murdering mother of five Rachel Morin in Maryland Aug. 5, 2023.  (Tulsa Police Department/ Facebook)

“When she went on that trail that day, she was not planning on dying. She wasn’t planning on walking to her death,” Patty Morin told reporters. “She was planning on going to the grocery store with her girls afterwards. Victor Martinez, he waited for her. He waited for her to come closer. He saw her. He saw that there was nobody around, he attacked her. He dragged her 150 feet, blood gushing from her head.”

Patty Morin shared with the press the horrific details of her daughter’s murder, including how Martinez-Hernandez raped and strangled her daughter after crushing her skull like an “eggshell.” 

Patty Morin said photos of the brutal attack show that not “one inch” of her daughter’s body remained free from injury. These photos have since been sealed because they are so graphic, she said. 

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“You could see where the blood ran down around her as he was raping her, and then he threw her down, and raped her some more, and then he strangled her because he didn’t want her to be able to live to tell the story,” Patty Morin said. 

Patty Morin also shared that Martinez-Hernandez did not appear to express any remorse in the courtroom for his actions. 

“These are the kind of criminals President Trump wants to remove from our country,” Patty Morin said. “These are the kind of criminals that we need to remove from our country. We are American citizens. Why should we allow people like this, violent criminals that have no conscience at all to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters?”

Patty Morin also urged the press to not sanitize their news coverage of her daughter’s death. 

“Please tell the truth,” she said. “Tell how violent it really is. This is about protecting our children. It’s more than just politics or votes or anything, it’s about national security.”

Meanwhile, Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador Wednesday in an attempt to meet with Garcia. The Trump administration’s Justice Department admitted that it deported Garcia in an “administrative error.” 

BLUE STATE SENATOR FLIES TO EL SALVADOR TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, ONLY TO BE DENIED

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland visited El Salvador on Wednesday on behalf of El Salvador native, Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration has accused Garcia of having ties to the MS-13 gang.  (Getty)

Additionally, the Supreme Court upheld Thursday a lower court’s order that “requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”

While Van Hollen met with El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay during his trip, he was not permitted to visit Garcia at the prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT). However, Van Hollen told reporters he would continue to try to meet with him in the future. 

“I am going to keep pressing,” Van Hollen said. “I will keep pressing in my remaining time here, and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary.”

Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

A now-deported illegal alien accused of being an MS-13 gang member that was living illegally in Maryland has a record of being a “violent” repeat wife beater, according to court records filed in a Prince George’s County, Maryland, district court by his wife.

Fox News obtained the written domestic violence allegations filed in court against 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez, in 2021.

In the filing, written in Vasquez’s own handwriting, she alleges Abrego Garcia repeatedly beat her, writing: “At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me.”

Vasquez alleged that Abrego Garcia punched and scratched her on her eye, leaving her bleeding. He also allegedly threw her laptop on the floor.

WE DON’T WANT KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA BACK, SAYS AG PAM BONDI 

As Democrats and media outlets clamor for the return of Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to a maximum-security prison in his home country, publicly available domestic violence court records cast doubt on the media narrative about his innocence. (Alex Peña/Getty Images; Fox News)

She wrote that on another day, Abrego Garcia got angry again, started yelling, and ripped her shirt and shorts off before grabbing her arm and leaving marks.

Vasquez recalled two times in 2020 that Abrego Garcia hit her.

“In November 2020, he hit me with his work boot,” she wrote. “In August 2020, he hit me in the eye leaving a purple eye.”

Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released court documents regarding Abrego Garcia, which cast further doubt on the Democrats’ narrative about his innocence.

DHS released new documents this week, which it says definitively proves Abrego Garcia, who was deported to the El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) last month, is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang.

According to a Prince George’s County Police Department interview sheet shared with Fox News by DHS, local police discovered Abrego Garcia during a murder investigation. Police found him loitering in a Home Depot parking lot with other known MS-13 gang members in possession of illicit drugs in 2019.

LIBERAL SENATOR SAYS HE IS FLYING TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, OTHER DEMS PLANNING TRIPS

Justice Department attorneys on Friday said they are unaware of Maryland immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts after he was deported to a Salvadoran prison last month. (Fox News)

The police department’s Gang Unit MS-13 Intelligence Squad conducted an interview with Abrego Garcia and contacted a “past proven and reliable source” who identified him as an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns” clique, with the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker of “Chele.”

The news comes as Democrats clamor for the return of Abrego Garcia, who they say was “wrongly deported” to a maximum-security prison in his home country as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal migrant crime. 

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision ordering the Trump administration to arrange Abrego Garcia’s return. The court required the “government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” 

The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.” 

KRISTI NOEM CRITICIZES ‘LIBERAL LEFT’ FOR TURNING ACCUSED GANG MEMBER INTO ‘MEDIA DARLING’

In this undated photo provided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, a man identified by Jennifer Vasquez Sura as her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is led by force by guards through the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland via AP)

This has caused outrage among Democrats, many of whom have begun referring to him as a “Maryland man” who was wrongly deported. Some have even suggested he was kidnapped by the Trump administration.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador as part of the Trump Administration’s government-funded kidnapping rampage,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., posted on X. “He is rotting away in a foreign prison where his life is in danger. We need to go there now to make sure he’s okay.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., flew to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia in prison and work to secure his release. His trip has been criticized by many, including the mother of Rachel Morrin, a 39-year-old Maryland mother who was raped and murdered by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant in 2023. 

“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grandbaby without a grandmother so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen. Why does that person have more rights than I do, or my daughter, or my grandchildren? I don’t understand this,” she said. 

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR ‘END OF THE STORY’

According to a Prince George’s County, Maryland, Police Department interview sheet shared with Fox News by DHS, police discovered Abrego Garcia during a murder investigation. Police found him loitering in a Home Depot parking lot with other known MS-13 gang members in possession of illicit drugs in 2019.  (Prince George’s County Police Department)

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security doubled down, saying Abrego Garcia has a “history of violence and was not the upstanding ‘Maryland Man’ the media has portrayed him as.”

DHS shared court filings in which Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he “punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt.”

And a 2019 DHS interview document shared with Fox News shows Abrego Garcia admitted to being in the U.S. illegally and claimed to have “walked across the desert for many days entering illegally into the United States near McAllen, Texas on or about March 25, 2012.” 

As a result, Abrego Garcia was marked as eligible for deportation in 2019. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

Through it all, the Trump administration continues to maintain it was right to deport Abrego Garcia to CECOT.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)

A federal immigration court in Baltimore further determined Abrego Garcia was not eligible for release because he “failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that his release from custody would not pose a danger to others, as the evidence shows that he is a verified member of MS-13.”

The court held that “the fact that a ‘past, proven, and reliable source of infonnation [sic]’ verified the Respondent’s gang membership, rank, and gang name is sufficient to support that the Respondent is a gang member” and that Abrego had “failed to present evidence to rebut that assertion.”

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not a ‘Maryland Man’—he is an MS-13 gang member involved in human trafficking who entered the United States illegally,” DHS posted on X. “His deportation to El Salvador was always going to be the end result.”

DHS bashed Van Hollen for advocating Abrego Garcia’s release, saying the senator “has done more to bring a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland than he has to help keep his American constituents safe or advocate for the victims of these vicious gangs like MS-13.”

“While Sen. Van Hollen and the mainstream media peddle a sob story about a brutal MS-13 gang member, Secretary Noem stands with the victims of illegal alien crime,” said DHS. “We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted some more details about his arrest, saying, in addition to being apprehended with other MS-13 members, he was found with “rolls of cash and drugs” and “wearing what is effectively MS-13’s uniform.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Speaking with Fox News on Monday, McLaughlin said Abrego Garcia is “exactly where he belongs, home in El Salvador.”

“The media would love for you to believe that this is some media darling, that he is just some Maryland father, but Osama bin Laden was also a father, and yet he wasn’t a good guy, and they are actually both terrorists,” she added. “He should be in this El Salvador prison, prison for terrorists, and I hope he will remain there.”

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem canceled $2.7 million in DHS grants to Harvard University on Wednesday.

In a statement, Noem announced the cancelation of two grants for the university, and declared the elite Massachusetts Ivy League institution “unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.” 

The university has been ordered to submit records by April 30, or risk losing its certification to enroll international students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).

“With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory,” Noem said in the statement. “America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”

TRUMP ADMIN ASKS IRS TO REVOKE HARVARD’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS

The canceled grants include an $800,303 “Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention” award, which DHS says classified conservatives as far-right extremists, and a $1,934,902 “Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement” grant, which funded public health messaging that Noem’s office described as ideologically skewed.

The move follows President Donald Trump‘s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard and ask for the IRS to revoke its tax-exempt status. 

People walk through a gate as they exit Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images)

The IRS is currently reviewing the university’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation, according to sources within the Department of Justice (DOJ). A final decision has not yet been made.

In a social media post, Trump criticized Harvard’s leadership and faculty, writing, “Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders.’” He continued, “Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”

STEFANIK SHREDS HARVARD OVER ‘COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE’ AFTER ALLOWING CLAUDINE GAY TO REMAIN PRESIDENT

The DHS action comes amid a broader federal crackdown on campus antisemitism following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. 

In the months since, Harvard has faced criticism over antisemitic rhetoric and protests involving students and faculty. Noem’s letter references “foreign visa-holding rioters” and calls for Harvard to provide documentation of their conduct.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, April 9, in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard is one of the wealthiest institutions in the world. DHS emphasized that the university can afford to fund its own programs and should not rely on taxpayer money if it is not meeting federal standards for student conduct and institutional accountability.

Harvard has not yet publicly responded to the termination of the grants or the DHS demand for records.

The Department of Education is also scrutinizing the university. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon recently launched a review of more than $255.6 million in federal contracts and nearly $9 billion in grants involving Harvard and its affiliates.

Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy,” McMahon said.

This move comes shortly after similar action was taken against Columbia University, as the federal government steps up enforcement on institutions it says are failing to meet civil rights and national security obligations.

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Noem’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump participated in a Wednesday evening prayer service and dinner as part of a series of Holy Week events ahead of Easter Sunday this weekend.

Faith leaders of various Christian denominations were present and listened to the president address them about the importance of faith, both in governing and in people’s personal lives. Trump also took the moment to tout his recent accomplishments in-line with Christian beliefs, and slammed efforts to move the country away from its Christian foundation. 

“This is really — I hope — going to be one of the great Easters ever, because we have something going that I don’t think this country has seen in 100 years. And as we gather with family and friends, we’ll not forget the true source of our joy and our strength: America has put our trust in God,” Trump said during his address to attendees. “It will always be ‘In God We Trust.’ We will never change that.”

INSIDE DONALD TRUMP’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, IN HIS OWN WORDS: ‘I WAS SAVED’

“You know there’s a movement to change it,” Trump continued. “It won’t happen. We won’t let that happen. Can you imagine a movement to change that?”

President Donald Trump attends an Easter prayer service and dinner in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Pool via AP)

Trump also slammed former administrations for failing to stand up for persecuted Christians around the globe, reassuring the crowd of faith leaders in attendance that things would be different under his administration.  

“We had nobody fighting for our Christians in other parts of the world, that were being so incredibly destroyed, killed, injured, hurt. But they died, so many died. You wouldn’t think that could happen in this time — in this modern time,” Trump said. 

Trump also remarked about the anti-Christian bias exhibited in the U.S., pointing out to those in attendance that he established a Justice Department task force to root it out. Trump also touted his creation of the White House Faith Office, which replaced the former White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

TECH COMPANY REVERSES POLICY AFTER CHRISTIAN GROUP SUES FOR RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION 

“You don’t hear about that very much, but there is anti-Christian bias,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump greets Rev. Franklin Graham during an Easter prayer service and dinner in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Pool via AP)

Trump will continue his Holy Week celebrations with another prayer service tomorrow, on Holy Thursday, which will again include various faith leaders from different Christian denominations and members of the president’s staff. The event will include Christian hymns sung by musicians associated with Liberty University, a private Christian university in Virginia. 

The White House is also reportedly hosting a Passover event Thursday afternoon, to celebrate the Jewish holiday that began April 12 and ends April 20. 

“With God’s help we can overcome every challenge, triumph over every evil, and restore the spirit of faith in the United States for generations to come,” Trump concluded. “We have a very simple slogan: ‘Make America Great Again,’ and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

TRUMP CHAMPIONS JESUS’ ‘MIRACULOUS RESURRECTION’ IN PALM SUNDAY MESSAGE VOWING TO ‘DEFEND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH’

President Donald Trump speaks at an Easter prayer service and dinner in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Pool via AP)

In addition to faith leaders, Patty Morin, whose daughter’s death at the hands of an illegal immigrant in 2023 was a major point of contention during the last election, was also present at the Wednesday dinner service. She attended following an emotional press briefing earlier in the day at the White House during which she told her daughter’s story. 

“Her daughter’s looking down on Patty today,” Trump noted during the event, adding she’s “been through hell.” 

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Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-Third top DOD staffer Collin Carroll on administrative leave

-New bipartisan tax proposal could give your family more money

-Grassley, Johnson press DOJ IG to respond on whether ‘untasked’ undercover agents were present on Jan. 6

Boasberg V. Trump

A federal judge said Wednesday that he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for failing to return two planes deporting migrants to El Salvador last month, a major update that comes as tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary have reached a fever pitch.

In a 48-page order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that the court had determined that the Trump administration had demonstrated a “willful disregard” for his March 15 emergency order, which temporarily halted all deportation flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, to allow the court to better consider the merits of the case. 

Boasberg had also ordered all planes bound for El Salvador to be “immediately” returned to U.S. soil — which did not happen. Hundreds of migrants arrived in El Salvador later that evening, where the individuals were detained in a sprawling, maximum-security Salvadorian prison…Read more

White House

DUFFY ON DRONES: Duffy contrasts Biden-era ‘drone fiasco’ with Trump admin’s ‘radical transparency’ after FAA announces testing

World Stage

ECONOMIC PRIORITIES: JD Vance gears up to talk economic priorities during trips to Italy, India

SEWAGE CRISIS: EPA chief takes on Mexican ‘sewage crisis’ flowing into US waters where Navy SEALs train

TRUMP VS COURTS: Bondi defiant, says Abrego Garcia will stay in El Salvador ‘end of the story’

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025.  (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Capitol Hill

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: Elise Stefanik considering bid for NY gov

HEATING UP: Kentucky senate race heats up as signs point to Andy Barr joining the field

CARTEL CRACKDOWN: Inside House Republicans’ new task force to battle criminal Mexican cartels

Rep. Dan Crenshaw is pressing leaders to create a new select committee on Mexican drug cartels (AP/Getty/ Pfc. Dominic Atlas)

TERROR ‘DETERRENCE’: Bipartisan senators push tougher penalties for foreign-backed crimes on US soil

‘KICK CORPORATE A–‘: Senate Republican DOGE leader Joni Ernst faces first Democratic challenger in 2026 race

RESISTING TRUMP: Bernie Sanders, AOC and other anti-Trump progressives haul in big bucks for 2026 midterms

TARGETING VANCE: Dem rising star eyes Vance as key long-term threat: ‘Needs to be defeated’

Across America

MUSK-PROOF’: Colorado Dems move to divert $4M in taxpayer dollars to fight Trump admin in court

‘FORK IN THE ROAD’: HUD reveals how many staffers packed their bags and took deferred resignation offer

Scott Turner appears before the Senate ahead of his confirmation vote to serve as HUD secretary.  (Getty Images)

MIAMI ICE: ICE partnership will build ‘public trust,’ vice mayor of town with large Venezuelan community says

MARKET MANIPULATION?: Longtime Trump foe Letitia James reviewing possible insider trading over president’s tariff pause

‘APPALLING AND DISTURBING’: Illegal immigrant arrested for incest with teenager, released by Va. jail captured by ICE

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

The Department of Homeland Security has released court records it says definitively prove Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a member of the infamous MS-13 gang. This comes as Democrats clamor for the return of Abrego Garcia, who they say was “wrongly deported” to a maximum-security prison in his home country as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal migrant crime. 

According to a Prince George’s County, Maryland, Police Department interview sheet shared with Fox News by DHS, local police discovered Abrego Garcia during a murder investigation. Police found him loitering in a Home Depot parking lot with other known MS-13 gang members in possession of illicit drugs in 2019. 

Prince George’s County Gang Unit MS-13 Intelligence Squad conducted an interview with Abrego Garcia and contacted a “past proven and reliable source” who identified him as an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns” clique, with the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker of “Chele.”

Additionally, publicly available court records filed against Abrego Garcia cast further doubt on the Democrats’ narrative about his innocence.

WE DON’T WANT KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA BACK, SAYS AG PAM BONDI 

As Democrats and media outlets clamor for the return of Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to a maximum-security prison in his home country, publicly available domestic violence court records cast doubt on the media narrative about his innocence. (Alex Peña/Getty Images; Fox News)

Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to a controversial mega prison, the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, in March along with several hundred other alleged gang members living in the U.S. Though he was deported for being an alleged MS-13 gang member, his attorneys maintain he was living in the U.S. legally and does not have any gang ties.

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision ordering the Trump administration to arrange Abrego Garcia’s return. The court required the “government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” 

The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.” 

This has caused outrage among Democrats, many of whom have begun referring to him as a “Maryland man” who was wrongly deported. Some have even suggested he was kidnapped by the Trump administration.

LIBERAL SENATOR SAYS HE IS FLYING TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, OTHER DEMS PLANNING TRIPS

Justice Department attorneys on Friday said they are unaware of Maryland immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts after he was deported to a Salvadoran prison last month. (Fox News)

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador as part of the Trump Administration’s government-funded kidnapping rampage,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., posted on X. “He is rotting away in a foreign prison where his life is in danger. We need to go there now to make sure he’s okay.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., flew to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia in prison and work to secure his release. His trip has been criticized by many, including the mother of Rachel Morrin, a 39-year-old Maryland mother who was raped and murdered by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant in 2023. 

“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grandbaby without a grandmother so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen. Why does that person have more rights than I do, or my daughter, or my grandchildren? I don’t understand this,” she said. 

Through it all, the Trump administration continues to maintain it was right to deport Abrego Garcia to CECOT.

KRISTI NOEM CRITICIZES ‘LIBERAL LEFT’ FOR TURNING ACCUSED GANG MEMBER INTO ‘MEDIA DARLING’

In this undated photo provided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, a man identified by Jennifer Vasquez Sura as her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is led by force by guards through the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland via AP)

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security doubled down, saying Abrego Garcia has a “history of violence and was not the upstanding ‘Maryland Man’ the media has portrayed him as.”

DHS shared court filings in which Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he “punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt.”

And a 2019 DHS interview document shared with Fox News shows Abrego Garcia admitted to being in the U.S. illegally and claimed to have “walked across the desert for many days entering illegally into the United States near McAllen, Texas on or about March 25, 2012.” 

As a result, Abrego Garcia was marked as eligible for deportation in 2019. 

A federal immigration court in Baltimore further determined Abrego Garcia was not eligible for release because he “failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that his release from custody would not pose a danger to others, as the evidence shows that he is a verified member of MS-13.”

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR ‘END OF THE STORY’

According to a Prince George’s County, Maryland, Police Department interview sheet shared with Fox News by DHS, police discovered Abrego Garcia during a murder investigation. Police found him loitering in a Home Depot parking lot with other known MS-13 gang members in possession of illicit drugs in 2019.  (Prince George’s County Police Department)

The court held that “the fact that a ‘past, proven, and reliable source of infonnation [sic]’ verified the Respondent’s gang membership, rank, and gang name is sufficient to support that the Respondent is a gang member” and that Abrego had “failed to present evidence to rebut that assertion.”

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not a ‘Maryland Man’—he is an MS-13 gang member involved in human trafficking who entered the United States illegally,” DHS posted on X. “His deportation to El Salvador was always going to be the end result.”

DHS bashed Van Hollen for advocating Abrego Garcia’s release, saying the senator “has done more to bring a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland than he has to help keep his American constituents safe or advocate for the victims of these vicious gangs like MS-13.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“While Sen. Van Hollen and the mainstream media peddle a sob story about a brutal MS-13 gang member, Secretary Noem stands with the victims of illegal alien crime,” said DHS. “We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted some more details about his arrest, saying, in addition to being apprehended with other MS-13 members, he was found with “rolls of cash and drugs” and “wearing what is effectively MS-13’s uniform.”

Speaking with Fox News on Monday, McLaughlin said Abrego Garcia is “exactly where he belongs, home in El Salvador.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

“The media would love for you to believe that this is some media darling, that he is just some Maryland father, but Osama bin Laden was also a father, and yet he wasn’t a good guy, and they are actually both terrorists,” she added. “He should be in this El Salvador prison, prison for terrorists, and I hope he will remain there.”