NationalWatch

Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro joined a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration Thursday challenging new conditions on federal family planning grants, including requirements aimed at ensuring taxpayer resources do not support elective abortion and promoting “life-affirming” services.

Shapiro announced the lawsuit by accusing the Trump administration of making it harder for low-income Pennsylvanians to access what he called “lifesaving reproductive care and family planning services,” specifically pointing to cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

But the 63-page complaint also challenges abortion-related provisions in the Trump administration‘s new requirements for Title X grants, including a directive that recipients “maintain strict separation from prohibited activities” and contribute to broader U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) efforts to “safeguard life-affirming, lawful, and ethical program delivery.”

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACROSS MIDWEST AT RISK DUE TO LACK OF FEDERAL FUNDS AFTER 3 FACILITIES CLOSE IN MICHIGAN

Live Action blasted Shapiro’s characterization in a statement to Fox News Digital, accusing him of fighting to keep taxpayer dollars flowing to Planned Parenthood.

“Governor Shapiro is calling Planned Parenthood’s services ‘lifesaving care’ while fighting to keep taxpayer dollars flowing to the nation’s largest abortion chain,” Noah Brandt, vice president of communications and government affairs at Live Action, said. “There is nothing lifesaving about abortion.”

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Brandt said women deserve access to cancer screenings, prenatal care and other medical services, but argued that does not require taxpayers to subsidize Planned Parenthood.

“Governor Shapiro should stop hiding the abortion industry behind euphemisms and be honest about what he is defending: the killing of our youngest children,” Brandt added.

Title X funding is already prohibited from being used for abortion. Shapiro’s lawsuit challenges the Trump administration’s additional conditions aimed at “life-affirming” program delivery.

The administration’s new funding terms state that HHS will prioritize programs that uphold federal abortion-funding protections and “do not use taxpayer resources to promote or support elective abortion.”

COALITION OF 25 STATES SUES TRUMP ADMIN OVER MEDICAID WORK RULE DESIGNED TO PREVENT FRAUD

Recipients are also expected to maintain “strict separation” from prohibited activities, according to language reproduced in the lawsuit.

The states argue the rules could cost providers Title X funding even when abortions are performed outside the federally funded program.

Pennsylvania received $12,729,659 in Title X family planning funding in fiscal 2026, according to the complaint.

SUPREME COURT KEEPS BROADER ACCESS TO ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE IN PLACE WHILE LEGAL FIGHT CONTINUES

Shapiro’s administration has backed Medicaid coverage for abortion, increased reimbursement rates for abortion services and joined legal efforts seeking expanded access to mifepristone.

The filing marks Shapiro’s second lawsuit against the Trump administration in as many days.

On Wednesday, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender joined a coalition challenging new federal requirements for mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterms.

SUPREME COURT KEEPS BROADER ACCESS TO ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE IN PLACE WHILE LEGAL FIGHT CONTINUES

Neither Shapiro’s office nor the White House responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

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The lawsuit, led by New York, Maryland and Massachusetts, and joined by more than 20 mostly blue states and governors, asks a federal court in Maryland to block the administration from applying the challenged conditions to Title X applicants and grantees.

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

A highly radioactive material used to treat cancer is back on U.S. soil after American officials removed it from Guatemala over concerns it could be stolen and used to create a “dirty bomb.”

The cobalt-60 source had been housed inside a disused medical radiation device before U.S. and Guatemalan teams removed the radioactive component and transported it to secure storage in the United States.

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced the operation Thursday, saying it was part of a broader effort to prevent dangerous radioactive materials from falling into the hands of terrorists and other adversaries.

The operation began in May, when specialists from the NNSA’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico worked with a facility in Guatemala to remove part of a U.S.-origin teletherapy machine containing cobalt-60.

Guatemalan officials assisted with transportation, logistics and physical security.

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Cobalt-60 is used in medical devices to treat cancer, but the NNSA said highly radioactive sources can pose a security threat if stolen. The agency said the material removed from Guatemala could have been used to create a radiological weapon, commonly known as a “dirty bomb.”

The removal comes as the Trump administration emphasizes preventing terrorists from obtaining chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons. The administration’s 2026 Counterterrorism Strategy identifies preventing terrorists from acquiring such weapons as a critical U.S. national security responsibility.

“Our mission is simple: protect American citizens, secure our borders, and ensure our adversaries never get their hands on materials that could harm our country,” Matthew Napoli, deputy administrator for the NNSA’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, said.

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“This successful removal is a massive win for homeland security and demonstrates our positive relationship with the Guatemalan government. NNSA will do whatever it takes to defend America and keep our communities safe,” Napoli added.

Guatemala’s National Centre of Radioactive Wastes and Ministry of Energy and Mines provided transportation, logistical and physical security support during the operation, according to the NNSA.

“Thanks to our collaboration with NNSA and DTRA in removing high-risk radioactive material from our facility, we were able to eliminate the danger it posed to our community and country,” Mayra Villatoro, head of the Unit of Technical Laboratories at Guatemala’s Ministry of Energy and Mines, said.

After the NNSA securely packaged the cobalt-60 component, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) provided secure transportation back to the U.S.

“The successful repatriation of the cobalt-60 source is a product of vital U.S. Government interagency cooperation,” Robert Bridges, DTRA program manager of Nuclear Transportation & Disposition, said. “We are proud to work with NNSA to take meaningful action in their mission to eliminate radiological risk and keep America safe.”

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The operation is part of the NNSA Office of Radiological Security’s work with foreign governments and other partners to remove high-activity radioactive material and strengthen protections around radioactive sources.

Marine One’s crew made repeated but unsuccessful attempts to notify Reagan National Airport that President Donald Trump’s helicopter was preparing to depart on Aug. 4 before it flew near a commercial passenger jet, according to a preliminary federal report released Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report said the crew’s first call to Reagan National’s helicopter-control frequency before departing from the Ellipse was not received. A second transmission was “broken and completely unreadable.”

After failing to reach the tower, the Marine One crew tried to relay the required three-minute notification through the helicopter facility at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, but that effort was unsuccessful as well, according to the report.

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The missed warning meant Reagan National controllers did not receive notice that would have required them to stop departures before the presidential helicopter lifted off.

Instead, Envoy Air Flight 3742, an Embraer E-170 bound for Pensacola, Florida, was cleared to take off from Runway 1 as Trump departed the White House aboard Marine One for a planned trip to Los Angeles.

The passenger jet was beginning its initial climb as Marine One departed the Ellipse, about 2 miles north of the airport, the NTSB said.

The FAA’s preliminary estimate found the aircraft came within about 0.82 nautical miles of one another laterally and roughly 700 feet vertically. No one was injured, neither aircraft was damaged, and both flights continued without further incident.

FAA PROBES JFK NEAR MISS AFTER ANOTHER RECENT CLOSE CALL FUELS SCRUTINY OF AIR TRAFFIC SAFETY

The Envoy flight crew said the jet’s traffic-collision system announced, “Traffic, Traffic,” as the aircraft climbed and accelerated after takeoff. The pilots did not visually spot Marine One, but said the helicopter appeared to the right and below their aircraft on the cockpit display.

The system did not issue a resolution advisory, a more urgent instruction telling pilots to climb or descend to avoid another aircraft, according to the NTSB report.

PILOTS ACCIDENTALLY BROADCAST ‘MEOWING’ OVER REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT FREQUENCY

Marine One was eventually able to contact the tower after climbing high enough to establish reliable communications. Controllers then issued a traffic advisory, and the helicopter crew immediately reported having the Envoy jet in sight, the report said.

The newly released report also shows the communications concern had been raised just days earlier.

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On July 30, Marine Helicopter Squadron One, known as HMX-1, met with Reagan National tower staff to discuss operations in the area. During that meeting, HMX-1 told controllers that communications had been “spotty,” the NTSB said.

Controllers had also raised concerns that HMX-1 crews had not always provided the required three-minute warning before takeoff. The two sides agreed that helicopter crews would use backup methods to reach the tower, including relaying the notification through another aircraft, if direct radio communication failed.

NTSB REPORT DETAILS HOW CONTROLLER DECISION AND TECH FAILURES LED TO DEADLY RUNWAY COLLISION

That is what Marine One’s crew attempted on Aug. 4, but the message still did not get through.

FAA technicians later determined there was not adequate line-of-sight coverage between the radio transmitter-receiver site and the Ellipse, where Marine One was temporarily operating during construction at the White House. 

The FAA subsequently moved the radios used for the airport’s helicopter-control frequency from a nearby residential neighborhood to the top of Reagan National’s control tower, according to the report.

FAA INVESTIGATES AFTER INCOMING PLANE EXECUTES GO-AROUND DUE TO AIRCRAFT LEAVING FROM INTERSECTING RUNWAY

The agency later conducted radio checks with two HMX-1 aircraft operating near the Ellipse and reported no deficiencies after the equipment was moved.

The FAA and NTSB began reviewing the incident earlier this month and previously characterized the event as a “momentary loss of separation.”

“Based on our preliminary safety review, there was momentary loss of separation, after which the aircraft continued to move away from one another,” the FAA previously told Fox News Digital. “The air traffic controller was in contact with both the commercial pilot and Marine One pilot during the loss of separation.”

While the aircraft were estimated to be less than 1.5 nautical miles apart horizontally, the NTSB said the preliminary estimate of 700 feet of vertical separation met the applicable FAA standard. In the relevant Class B airspace, the standard requires either 1.5 nautical miles of lateral separation or 500 feet of vertical separation.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO CAPTURES TENSE MOMENT TWO PLANES NEARLY COLLIDED AT BOSTON LOGAN AIRPORT

The NTSB said it is continuing to review surveillance data to calculate and confirm the closest point between the two aircraft.

The White House previously said Trump was never in danger.

“Marine One flights are piloted by some of the best aviators in the world, and at no point was the president in harm’s way,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital.

The NTSB told Fox News Digital its preliminary report “is intended to present the factual information developed to date” and does not contain “analysis, conclusions, or findings related to probable cause.”

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“The investigation remains ongoing, and we are not providing additional comment beyond the information contained in the preliminary report,” the agency said, adding that any safety recommendations would be publicly announced, and further findings would be released through its public docket and final report process.

Fox News Digital’s Robert McGreevy contributed to this report.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani repeatedly declined to distance himself from embattled New York City Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) co-chair Gustavo Gordillo, after being pressed on allegations that the DSA leader failed to pay thousands in rent on a Crown Heights apartment while his family spent a reported $1.4 million renovating the NYC townhouse where he lives—a contrast critics say is difficult to square with the anti-landlord, rent-abolitionist socialist housing agenda he helps champion.

Mamdani said Sunday that people working for a “more affordable life” and a “fairer life” for New Yorkers “should be welcomed into this work.” When asked again Monday whether Gordillo should step down and whether he condemned allegations that Gordillo lied about his employment, the mayor said he welcomed anyone committed to making New York “a city that everyone can belong to.” Meanwhile, asked directly whether he condemned Gordillo’s alleged actions and lying, Mamdani ended the exchange: “Thank you very much.”

Gordillo, an Ivy League graduate who as a NYC-DSA co-chair met weekly with Mamdani and his campaign manager as the group coordinated fundraising, field and communications efforts, later served on Mamdani’s Economic Development & Workforce Development transition committee, according to public reporting. 

He is named in a pending Brooklyn Housing Court case, in which a former landlord alleges Gordillo failed to pay $5,000 in rent on a $2,500-a-month Crown Heights apartment, while his family’s townhouse was undergoing its $1.4 million in renovations, according to the New York Post. Gordillo’s family reportedly bought the Bed-Stuy townhouse in 2019 for $935,000, while Gordillo’s father has said it is for Gordillo and his brother to live in.

SOCIALIST BIGWIG BLASTS THE WEALTHY WHILE LIVING IN $1.4M BROOKLYN BROWNSTONE WITH EYEBROW-RAISING BACKSTORY

“The Democratic Socialists of America have become the Double Standards of America — demanding transparency, fairness, and accountability from everyone else while ignoring serious questions about one of their own,” Rev. Kevin McCall, a Brooklyn pastor who also assists tenants in New York City Housing Authority complexes, told the New York Post.

“The allegations surrounding NYC chapter co-chair Gustavo Gordillo raise troubling questions about whether he misled working-class New Yorkers about where he lived, how he obtained housing, and his labor credentials. DSA leaders and elected officials must answer these questions publicly and call for Gordillo’s resignation,” the Reverend added.

NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI STRUGGLES TO DEFINE ‘WORKING CLASS’

Neither Mamdani’s office, the NYC-DSA nor Gordillo, responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. The housing case involving Gordillo remains pending and no judgment has been issued.

Questions about Gordillo’s working-class credentials were also central to Monday’s exchange between Mamdani and reporters about Gordillo. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers told the New York Post that its Joint Apprentice Training Committee terminated Gordillo’s electrician apprenticeship in March after a “prolonged absence from and failure to participate in required work and classes.”

FRUSTRATED BLUE-COLLAR UNION BOSSES RIP SOCIALIST POLITICIANS, WARN OF LABOR EXODUS FROM DEM PARTY

The New York Post reported that Gordillo later sought and received approval for a $95,000 annual salary from NYC-DSA without disclosing the termination to members. The outlet also reported that the Bed-Stuy renovation used nonunion contractors and was hit with a city stop-work order over permit issues—prompting further criticism of a DSA leader who has cast himself as a union electrician and advocate for working people.

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A source close to the union, according to the New York Post, said Gordillo “didn’t have a strong work record to begin with” and took the job “just for show,” while hogging “a slot from someone who probably really needed the opportunity.”

Fox News Digital’s Robert Schmad contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump took to social media ahead of the latest round of Republican primary elections to emphasize, “My Endorsements are stronger than ever….There has never been anything close!”

The numbers back up the president’s assertions that despite some setbacks, he remains the ultimate kingmaker in GOP nomination showdowns.

According to a Fox News Trump Primary Endorsement Tracker, the president is batting a thousand in Senate primaries so far this cycle, with all 24 of his endorsed candidates winning their contests.

In House races, Trump has a nearly perfect record, with 214 of the 218 candidates he endorsed winning their primaries.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

In gubernatorial showdowns, Trump-backed candidates have suffered a handful of high-profile defeats, but overall, 16 of the 21 contenders for governor the president has endorsed have captured the party’s nomination.

This week, Trump-backed candidates scored statewide victories in two very competitive contests.

Trump-endorsed Sen. Darline Graham of South Carolina, who was recently appointed to fill the remaining months of her late brother Sen. Lindsey Graham‘s current term, edged conservative Rep. Ralph Norman in a runoff to win the GOP Senate nomination for November’s election. Graham will face the Democratic nominee in November in the race for the final months of her late brother’s Senate term.

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In Oklahoma, former state budget secretary and former state Sen. Mike Mazzei captured the GOP gubernatorial nomination by just 2,000 votes over rival Gentner Drummond, the state attorney general.

“I supported and ENDORSED two so-called ‘underdogs’ yesterday, one from South Carolina, and the other from Oklahoma, and they BOTH WON,” the president posted on social media Wednesday, following Tuesday’s primaries.

The president pulled out all the stops to help push Graham, whose stumble over international affairs during a debate last week grabbed national attention, over the finish line.

Trump headlined a rally for Graham on Friday in Myrtle Beach, where he pledged federal funding for a long proposed new interstate highway in South Carolina. He also held a tele rally for her on the eve of the primary. And MAGA Inc, the top Trump-aligned super PAC, dished out nearly $900,000 to support Graham’s campaign.

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But the Trump endorsement hasn’t proven to be a sure bet this cycle in South Carolina.

Trump backed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette for the GOP gubernatorial nomination — in the race to succeed the term-limited McMaster — ahead of the state’s early June primary.

Evette was the top vote-getter in the primary but lost the ensuing runoff election against South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson in a landslide. And Trump, ever hungry for a victory, endorsed Wilson in addition to Evette days before the runoff.

It’s undeniable that Trump has dramatically reshaped the GOP since his first White House victory a decade ago, with the populist MAGA and America First wings gaining prominence over more traditional fiscal and social conservatives.

And the president’s grip over party politics remains extremely firm.

But he has had some setbacks, with five of his gubernatorial picks in Republican primaries this year going down to defeat. Besides South Carolina’s Evette, that list includes Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa, who lost nominating contests this spring. And two weeks ago, Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and Minnesota businessman and “My Pillow” founder and former CEO Mike Lindell fell short.

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Meanwhile, two House incumbents endorsed by the president also lost their bids for renomination this month: Reps. Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Cory Mills of Florida, who was facing multiple controversies.

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“The Republican Party is Trump’s party, and there’s no question that an endorsement from the president provides a tremendous boost in a Republican primary. But it doesn’t necessarily mean the candidate’s going to win,” veteran GOP strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News Digital.

Williams said that “the president still has a firm grip on the party, even in places where a candidate he backed loses a nomination.” But he noted that “if there are underlying issues with a candidacy, those can pose problems that even an endorsement can’t overcome.”

The Treasury Department announced sanctions against three far-left international networks as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on politically motivated violence.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control took action against Autistici Inventati, an Italy-based nonprofit; Palestine Action, a U.K.-based organization which it designated a terrorist group; and Masar Badil, a Spain-based group that allegedly operates as a front for the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, already sanctioned by the U.S.

“Far-left extremists, their fronts and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”

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Over the past year, Treasury Department officials have leveraged the powerful Office of Foreign Assets Control to investigate far-left nonprofits and activists, including Marxist influencer Hasan Piker and CodePink co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Cuba. Piker, Benjamin and Evans have denied any wrongdoing, and they haven’t been charged with any crimes.

The latest move comes amid wider coordinated interagency efforts against far-left groups. Yesterday, the State Department issued a report saying that Autistici Inventati provided services to overseas terrorist groups and violent far-left agitators, causing chaos in American cities, according to a memo obtained by Fox News Digital.

The memo also revealed Portland-based Rose City Antifa, known for participating in riots and property destruction, is one of the U.S. groups that relied on Autistici Inventati tools and services.

Earlier this summer, Spanish authorities arrested wealthy far-left financier Fergie Cox, the estranged heir of the Cox cable TV empire, for extradition to the U.S. as part of a Justice Department investigation into his alleged funding of organizations, including Palestine Action. Cox has denied any wrongdoing and is fighting extradition.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned two officials of Masar Badil.

The sanctions block the groups’ access to any property or property interests located in the U.S. or controlled by U.S. citizens.

The sanctions also freeze any bank accounts these organizations might have in the U.S. and prevent American citizens from conducting financial transactions with the groups.

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Last year, the U.K. government sanctioned Palestine Action, criminalizing any U.K. involvement or support for the group.

Founded in 2020, Palestine Action is known for aggressive campaigns against defense companies it believes is supporting Israel. Palestine Action has reportedly broken into facilities, occupied factories and destroyed equipment. U.K. government officials said the group caused more than $1.3 million in damages to an Elbit Systems facility.

Huda Ammori, Palestine Action co-founder, denounced the sanctions in a message on the X social media platform.

“As a Palestinian and Iraqi, the fact the country which destroyed both my homelands is calling me a terrorist, is beyond hypocritical,” she said. “Trump is the antithesis to everything Palestine Action stands for.”

As for Masar Badil, the Treasury Department said the organization serves as a front for the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which the U.S. and Canada sanctioned in 2024 after Treasury said it serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

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The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was designated a foreign terrorist organization after decades of international terrorist attacks, including airline hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s that killed more than 20 Americans.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine received its foreign terrorist organization designation alongside Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 1997.

“Organizations like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups,” Bradley Smith, then-Treasury acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in an October 2024 statement. “The United States, together with Canada and our like-minded partners, will continue to disrupt those who seek to finance the PFLP, Hamas and other terrorist organizations.”

Samidoun’s internal coordinator, Charlotte Kates, rushed to X to defend Palestine Action and Masar Badil shortly after Treasury announced the sanctions.

“The U.S.’ latest sanctions and designations are targeting Palestine Action and the @MasarBadil, attempting once again to bring the upsurge for Palestine to an end through criminalization and state terror,” Kates posted. “The fact is: designations can’t stop a resistance or a revolution.”

Masar Badil executive committee member Khaled Barakat told Fox News Digital in a statement that U.S. sanctions are part of Washington’s broader campaign against Palestinians, accusing the U.S. of working with Israel to suppress pro-Palestinian activism and criminalize those who organize or speak out in support of the Palestinian cause.

“The Trump administration is the primary perpetrator of terror in the world, along with its closest friend and co-conspirator, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Zionist regime,” Barakat said. “Rest assured, these sanctions will not quiet the voice of the Palestinian people, and our work and our movement will not be suppressed by state terror. The world knows it to be true: no sanctions will succeed in shoring up a declining empire. Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.”

In a new report, “Building a Transnational Movement Around Armed Resistance Advocacy,” published Wednesday by researchers at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, the authors said Masar Badil was directly involved in unrest on some campuses following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and has repeatedly made efforts to physically mobilize to protest Israel and U.S. involvement.

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In addition to Palestine Action and Masar Badil, the Treasury Department sanctioned Autistici Inventati, saying the group provides services such as website hosting on foreign servers, encrypted email accounts and digital infrastructure to violent left-wing extremist groups, including sanctioned terrorist organizations such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which was also designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997.

Lara Burns, a former FBI special agent who is now the head of terrorism research at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, detailed why the organizations sanctioned by the Treasury Department pose a dangerous threat.

“These networks are driving concepts that terror activities — that murder — are acts of legitimate resistance that are somehow justified, and that is a scary concept,” Burns told Fox News Digital. “The broader this message is and the farther this message reaches, the more normalized it becomes. And so, as these groups have been allowed to operate both here in the United States and abroad, the message has become louder.”

Organizations will operate under the cover of charity or activism to mask their true and potentially violent intentions, Burns said.

She noted that if nonprofit organizations “are driving pro-terror agendas under that cover, then the federal government needs to take action against them.” The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Burns said, has stealthily shifted from full-blown terrorist attacks to influence operations under the guise of activism, prisoner campaigns and transnational support networks.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Palestine Action and Autistici Inventati, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Kates and Ammori, but didn’t receive responses.

After raging against a key tool in President Donald Trump’s economic arsenal, Senate Democrats quietly green-lit the authority before they left Washington, D.C.

Democrats have bashed Trump’s use of tariffs since they were first floated during his campaign in 2024, and have taken every chance to challenge and push back against duties imposed on other countries throughout his second term.

But nearly the entire Senate Democratic caucus voted in favor of giving Trump limited tariff authority in exchange for bone-crushing sanctions against Russia. Only nine Democrats, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., ultimately voted against the package.

PUTIN, RUSSIA PUT ON NOTICE AS SENATE TAKES CRUCIAL STEP TO GRIND DOWN THE KREMLIN’S WAR MACHINE

Now, Trump has ignited a trade war with Canada, introducing 50% tariffs against the country on roughly $20 billion worth of goods, which has reignited the debate on the campaign trail and as Democrats seek to flip the Senate and corral his authority.

Some warned that giving congressional approval would allow the administration to abuse the power.

“It gives Donald Trump massive new tariff authority that he can use to threaten our trading partners and raise prices on the American people,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said on the Senate floor. “I believe senators will come to deeply regret voting to give Donald Trump this tariff authority.”

Though not directly connected to the authority granted in the sanctions package, which directly deals with countries buying oil from Russia, Trump’s move to enter into a fight with one of America’s top trade partners is what he warned of: giving the White House congressional leeway.

TRUMP ALLIES PUSH TO ARM PRESIDENT WITH NEW TARIFF WEAPON TO PUNISH COUNTRIES ‘RIPPING OFF’ AMERICA

The tariff authority baked into the sanctions package would allow Trump to issue levies of up to 500% on Russian imports and tariffs of up to 100% on the top five countries buying Russian energy, like China and India.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who, alongside the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, pushed the package for nearly two years, told Fox News Digital that if Trump strays outside the legal confines built into the package, the courts will block him as they did with his sweeping tariffs unveiled on “Liberation Day” last year.

“If Donald Trump wants to break this law, he will be restrained by the courts, just as when he broke the law on tariffs previously,” Blumenthal said. “We can’t do any more than be explicit in limiting his authority to the top five purchasers, and only those countries, by the terms, specific in the legislation.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who went on to vote against the package, told reporters last month that Trump “has shown what he will do with broad tariff authority.”

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“Heck, he’s shown what he’ll do even if he doesn’t have authority,” she said.

And Paul, who has been one of the lone Republicans to consistently oppose Trump’s use of tariffs, introduced an amendment alongside Wyden to strip them from the broader package, warning that the duties were nothing more than an additional tax on the American people.

“Do not let sympathy for Ukraine blind you to the reality of tariffs,” Paul said.

One Senate Democrat, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., received guarantees from U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that the tariffs baked into the sanctions package would just be limited to the top five energy trading partners with the Kremlin.

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He told Fox News Digital that the concern was that Trump could broadly bend the rules in the package and impose duties as he pleased, which is why he sought guardrails and commitments from the administration.

“It was important to hold [Vladimir] Putin accountable. He is a war criminal,” Warnock said. “His aggression towards Ukraine has national security implications for us. But at the same time, it was important to put some guardrails on this president. And I think I made considerable progress in making sure that that happens.”

The fuel most Americans rarely think about is becoming a new hurdle for President Donald Trump’s push to make housing more affordable, as the Iran war raises costs for construction sites.

With the midterm elections approaching, the diesel surge underscores the political tension facing Trump and congressional Republicans as they promise to bring down housing costs while war-driven energy prices add new pressure to home construction.

Builders are already wrestling with expensive financing, labor, materials and costs tied to regulations and permitting that Republicans have pledged to reduce. Because diesel powers the trucks and heavy equipment used throughout the construction process, higher prices can make it harder to deliver the lower-priced homes needed to ease America’s affordability crunch.

AMERICA’S HOUSING MARKET COULD RUN OUT OF SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN HOMES

Jim Tobin, president and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), told Fox News Digital that diesel is “critical to construction.”

“Diesel, which our workers use when they’re hauling materials on trucks and moving dirt on sites, has seen a spike, and that has really put a little bit of pressure on home building in the short term here.”

Unlike gasoline, which is felt most directly by motorists, diesel powers the trucks hauling lumber, concrete, appliances and other supplies to construction sites, as well as the heavy equipment that prepares lots and builds new homes.

The national average price of on-highway diesel climbed to $5.65 a gallon this week, up nearly $2.00 from a year ago, according to data compiled by the Energy Information Administration. Diesel’s year-over-year increase has been far sharper than gasoline’s, with the national average for regular gas at about $4.09 a gallon.

The added pressure comes as Trump has made housing affordability a key part of his second-term agenda. In March, he signed an executive order directing federal agencies to reduce regulatory barriers that raise construction and homeownership costs, with an emphasis on speeding permitting and expanding supply.

THE SURPRISING HIDDEN COST QUIETLY ADDING NEARLY $132K TO NEW HOME PRICES REVEALED

But even as the administration targets regulatory costs, builders say other expenses can quickly offset those savings.

Tobin said the industry has so far seen only a modest impact from tariffs on construction inputs. But he has begun hearing from manufacturers announcing price increases, particularly those tied to steel and aluminum costs. Diesel adds another layer of pressure by raising the cost of both getting materials to a job site and completing the work once they arrive.

The issue is especially significant in fast-growing states across the South and Southwest, where an influx of residents, businesses and capital has fueled demand for new housing.

“States that find themselves ahead of the curve are planning those two critical components, infrastructure and housing, together,” Tobin said. “They’re going to be better prepared for growth in the future.”

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Builders are also grappling with a persistent shortage of construction workers. Tobin said the industry is roughly 250,000 workers short, raising labor costs and contributing to project delays.

More homes are needed to ease price pressures, but each increase in the cost of labor, land, materials, financing or fuel makes that task harder. Diesel may not appear on a buyer’s closing documents, but its cost can still be felt long before they get the keys.

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

A judge in Minnesota sentenced two men to prison on Wednesday for running a massive pandemic fraud campaign.

Ahmed Ghedi was sentenced to over five years in prison, and Abdihakim Ahmed was sentenced to four and a half years. Prosecutors say the pair helped run the fraudulent child nutrition site Feeding Our Future, which claimed to be giving food to thousands of children each day in the Twin Cities area.

The pair received $7.3 million in COVID relief funds meant to help support the program. Instead, they used the money to buy a car and property, as well as share the cash with a Feeding Our Future employee.

EXCLUSIVE: FBI ADDS ALLEGED COVID FRAUDSTER ACCUSED OF TAKING $5M FROM KIDS’ MEAL PROGRAM TO MOST WANTED LIST

The judge also ordered the men to pay restitution, with Ahmed to pay $2,242,590 and Ghedi $2,862,451.

Their sentencing comes months after the mastermind behind the Feeding Our Future scam, Amee Bock, was sentenced to nearly 42 years in prison in May.

Bock ran the Feeding Our Future organization and was convicted of orchestrating $250 million in pandemic relief fraud.

Prosecutors told the court the nonprofit functioned as a “cash pipeline,” relying on a web of fake distribution sites, fabricated lists of children and kickbacks.

MINNESOTA MAN MARKS FBI’S FIRST ARREST FROM DOJ’S ‘MOST WANTED FRAUDSTERS’ LIST

During sentencing, Bock told the federal court, “I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone.”

MINNESOTA FRAUD REPORT ACCUSES STATE AG OF ‘INCOMPETENCE, WILLFUL BLINDNESS OR WORSE’

The sprawling investigation has led to the convictions of dozens of people, many hailing from the state’s large Somali community.

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The Feeding Our Future scheme spurred the Trump administration’s surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter, which led to violent protests and multiple fatal federal officer-involved shootings.

Fox News’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is subpoenaing a doctor allegedly behind a sprawling birth tourism scheme based in Florida.

It comes as Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, is setting his sights on a new target after his crackdown on the Smithsonian Institution made headlines and thrust fresh scrutiny onto its teaching of American history.

Gill’s task force on investigating institutional abuses, which is part of the House Oversight Committee, is now gearing up for a hearing on the practice of birth tourism — something the White House sounded the alarm on just this month.

As part of the hearing, Comer sent a subpoena to Dr. Wladimir Lorentz of Have My Baby in Miami, a South Florida business that’s aimed at helping foreigners give birth in the United States. The hearing is expected to take place Sept. 1.

Comer accused Lorentz of refusing to voluntarily appear via his attorney, and in a letter sent with the subpoena on Tuesday, Comer said Lorentz’s attorney argued he could not speak with the committee due to a pending criminal probe being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

“As the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of a company doing business as ‘Have My Baby in Miami,’ your knowledge regarding the company’s marketing practices and direct observations relevant to the birth tourism industry is vital to the immediate investigation,” Comer’s subpoena letter read.

SEN ERIC SCHMITT SEEKS TO END BIRTH TOURISM, REVOKE CITIZENSHIP FOR BABIES OF FOREIGN DIPLOMATS

“Furthermore, given the national security concerns raised by birth tourism, delaying the hearing or deferring your testimony to some unknown date in the (potentially far) future would be an extraordinary action that would curtail the Committee’s ability to glean valuable information that will inform its oversight and further its legislative goals.”

Meanwhile, Gill echoed Comer’s concerns over national security.

BIRTH TOURISM FIGHT SHIFTS TO US ‘TROPICAL MATERNITY WARD’ WITH HISTORY OF CHINESE EXPLOITATION

“A growing industry is openly marketing American citizenship to foreign nationals who travel here for the express purpose of giving birth on U.S. soil. This abuse of our immigration system also raises serious national security concerns, particularly given the number of birth tourists traveling from adversarial nations like China and Russia,” the House GOP firebrand said.

His panel’s Sept. 1 hearing is also expected to feature testimony from Dr. Steve Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies. The medical director and owner of a company called International Maternity Services, Dr. Julio César Novoa, was also invited.

TEXAS GOV ABBOTT SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER CRACKING DOWN ON ‘BIRTH TOURISM,’ SAYS US CITIZENSHIP NOT FOR SALE

Gill’s new task force, which was founded this year, has largely focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts across various sectors of American life.

He’s held hearings on whether the Smithsonian’s teaching of U.S. history involved overly ideological and political leanings, and whether DEI plays a role in running the American Bar Association (ABA).

Birth tourism is the colloquial term for the general practice of foreign nationals coming to the U.S. on temporary visas for the purpose of having a child who then automatically becomes an American citizen.

President Donald Trump targeted birth tourism in a recent executive order after the Supreme Court struck down his efforts to curb birthright citizenship writ large. He also signed an order banning specific categories, such as children born to foreign government workers, from automatically getting U.S. citizenship.

Have My Baby in Miami is just one company that appears to make it more accessible for foreigners to give birth in the U.S. Its website and social media pages appeared to be disabled as of Thursday.

But a YouTube page that appears to be associated with the business states, “Many people have questions about how to have a child in the United States, and we can help clarify how to deliver in Miami, how to live in the United States during your pregnancy, how to have a baby in the United States, how much it costs to deliver in the United States and how to go through pregnancy in the United States.”

“Children who are born in the United States, with rare exceptions, have US citizenship,” the summary states.

An October 2025 article by Local 10 in Florida appears to have obtained information from the now-deleted pages, including that the company reportedly touted that it helped deliver 2,000 babies.

It’s not yet clear if Lorentz will appear. But defying a congressional subpoena could risk criminal charges.

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Fox News Digital reached out to his lawyer for comment.

Florida is becoming the first state to impose sweeping new limits on how welfare cash can be spent, blocking recipients from using cash-assistance benefits loaded onto EBT cards for purchases like tattoos, theme park tickets, video games, vaping products and other items not generally considered “basic needs” under a plan the Trump administration is urging other states to emulate.

Florida’s cash-assistance program, known as Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA), is funded through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or TANF. It is separate from SNAP, the food-assistance program, though families may receive both types of benefits through separate balances on the same EBT card.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) determined Florida’s updated TANF plan to be complete Thursday in a letter sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis and obtained by Fox News Digital. The letter praised the Sunshine State governor for putting “common-sense restrictions” on what it calls inappropriate, luxury and non-essential purchases.

MICHIGAN LAWMAKER MOVES TO SHUT DOWN ‘GUARDRAIL-FREE’ CASH HANDOUT PROGRAM FOR NEW MOTHERS

“Taxpayer-funded assistance should help families put food on the table, keep the lights on, purchase clothing, provide for their children and overcome barriers on the path toward independence,” DeSantis said in announcing the policy. “We will continue supporting Floridians who genuinely need assistance, while working to improve accountability and transparency so that these programs operate as intended.”

Florida had already barred EBT cards from being used or accepted for alcohol purchases and transactions at adult-entertainment establishments, casinos, and commercial bingo locations several years ago, but the updated plan moves beyond those merchant and location-based restrictions by imposing item-level limits at otherwise eligible retailers, including on purchases for tattoos and other body piercings, entertainment services and products like theme park admission and video games, intoxicants like vapes and other nicotine products, and pornography products.

SEE IT: SNAP ADVOCATE DEFENDS TAXPAYER-FUNDED COCA-COLA IN FIERY EXCHANGE WITH GOP LAWMAKER ON WASTE

The governor’s press release announcing the change also cites “Psychic and fortune-telling services” among those purchases that will be prohibited.

Florida’s separate Healthy SNAP initiative, launched in April, barred recipients from using food benefits on soda, energy drinks, candy and ultra-processed prepared desserts. The new action from the Sunshine State, with backing from the Trump administration, applies those same food limits to Florida’s cash-assistance program, which is funded through TANF, while adding restrictions on non-food purchases deemed non-essential.

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ACF Assistant Secretary Alex J. Adams told Fox News Digital the administration sees TANF as temporary help for families in need, not an unrestricted cash benefit.

“When people come to us for those basic needs, we will give them short-term assistance for those needs, but not for superfluous purchases,” he said.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SEE WELFARE FRAUD AS COMMON, STILL MOSTLY FAVOR PROTECTING BENEFITS OVER CRACKDOWNS

Florida distributes its welfare benefits through EBT cards to help eligible families cover basics such as food, clothing, housing, utilities, household goods and personal-care items. The governor’s office says the average participating household receives roughly $250 a month, and Adams stressed that the policy does not reduce anyone’s benefit amount.

“No one loses any of their benefit,” Adams said. “What this is saying is, if an individual or a family is going to come to the government to cover their basic needs, it is the government’s expectation that they be used for those basic needs.”

The restrictions will be phased in as Florida works with its EBT vendor and participating retailers to block prohibited purchases. Under the final plan, recipients will be allowed to withdraw TCA cash only at SNAP-authorized retailers and financial institutions that accept EBT cards.

Adams told Fox News Digital the administration hopes Florida becomes a model for other states. He said 27 states lack EBT location restrictions beyond those required by federal law and that most states do not impose item-level TANF purchase limits.

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“While Florida is the first state, hopefully it’s not the last state,” Adams told Fox News Digital, adding that ACF plans to highlight Florida’s approach as “a best practice” for other states.

A Maryland court blocked Democrats from adding a congressional redistricting initiative to the November ballot on Wednesday.

The Democrat-backed effort would have allowed Maryland residents to vote on an amendment to the state constitution to let lawmakers redraw district maps ahead of the 2028 elections.

The amendment would have removed the requirement that congressional districts be compact and follow “natural boundaries.” Democrats already control seven of Maryland’s eight congressional districts.

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

The lone Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., represents the district situated the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and the change would allow Democrats to reshape his district.

County Circuit Court Judge Robert Thompson ruled that Democrats had violated state deadlines for adding ballot measures. Earlier this year, Maryland Democrats passed a law requiring the Maryland secretary of state to certify ballot summaries by July 1, but the amendment was submitted after that date.

EXCLUSIVE: OVERSIGHT PROJECT SUES TO BLOCK MARYLAND DEMOCRATS’ REDISTRICTING MEASURE BACKED BY GOV MOORE

The Maryland Senate Republican Caucus released a statement praising the ruling on Wednesday.

“The case has never been about preventing Marylanders from having a voice, it’s been about ensuring that before voters are asked to amend the constitution, the state first complies with the constitution and the election procedures established by law,” the statement read, according to Fox 5 DC.

REDISTRICTING WAR INTENSIFIES AS GOP SUFFERS SETBACKS IN TWO STATES

The Maryland ruling is the latest development in a nationwide battle over redistricting that first started in Texas.

Republicans and Democrats are vying for any and every advantage leading into the 2026 midterm elections.

A similar effort by Democrats was struck down in Virginia earlier this year by the state supreme court. Texas successfully redrew its maps in favor of Republicans, while California did the same in favor of Democrats.

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Redistricting battles remain ongoing in Georgia and elsewhere.

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed described Americans as “desperate to feel something” and lamented that “we’re just all living it alone here” while reflecting on the community he experienced during extended childhood stays in Egypt during a podcast episode last year — remarks uncovered after the candidate recently declared that he “hates” one of his home state’s most iconic destinations.

During a late-October 2025 podcast interview, after getting asked what Americans could gain from life “back home,” El-Sayed had a one-word answer: “Community.”

“I think the hardest part about American life right now is that we’ve been, like, deeply atomized,” El-Sayed said, arguing that the connections offered through phones and social media are “not community.” In Egypt and other societies with far more constant human interaction, he said, “you’re constantly enveloped in other people’s humanity.”

UNEARTHED EL-SAYED ESSAY DRAWS EXPLOSIVE TRUMP-BIN LADEN PARALLEL: ‘RECRUITED, RADICALIZED AND REASSURED’

“It’s like a beautiful thing,” El-Sayed said. “And I wish we had more of that.”

The podcast remarks are not the first time El-Sayed has offered pointed criticism of American society and institutions.

During a 2019 University of Michigan School of Public Health commencement address, while discussing racial and economic disparities in Detroit, he said residents had been “directly and purposely marginalized by every level of government” in “a city and a state and a country that has baked racism into its foundation.” Later in the speech, while discussing the Flint water crisis and the country’s political climate, El-Sayed said he had watched American politics “revert to a strain of white supremacy and racism I never thought we’d go back to.”

The comments stand in tension with the Michigan-centered image El-Sayed has presented at times, at one point describing himself as the quintessential “Michigan man.” In recently resurfaced recordings, however, he said he “hates” Mackinac Island, questioned elements of football culture by linking its ethos to historical narratives of slavery and oppression, and argued Americans should find another way to celebrate the Fourth of July in a video sharing four reasons “why fireworks suck.” In a 2021 Substack post El-Sayed also said “toxic masculinity” was “at the heart of America’s most popular sport.”

MICHIGAN DEM SENATE NOMINEE COMES UNDER FIRE OVER RESURFACED BLOG POST LINKING FOOTBALL TO ‘TOXIC MASCULINITY’

His campaign has pushed back on the resurfaced material, telling CNN that cherry-picked comments from old podcasts do not reflect his beliefs today and noting that El-Sayed played football and has publicly celebrated the Fourth of July.

During the October 2025 podcast interview, El-Sayed recounted how his parents would “ship me off to Egypt in the summers” so he would know his father’s language and culture, sometimes spending roughly four months with his working-class extended family in the one-bedroom apartment where his father grew up.

He told the hosts those experiences taught him something about “the human condition” that he believes can be harder to encounter in American life.

“I think in American life sometimes we’re not so privy to the lives other people lead,” El-Sayed said, adding that in societies like Egypt, “the humanity of it all, like the carnal nature of it all, hits you.” He called the experience “euphoric” and said exposure to other people’s lives “softens or should soften your heart” to their experiences.

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El-Sayed later pointed to weddings “back home” as a “celebration of humanity,” contrasting people spending hours together with social media, which he described as an attempt to recreate that experience through “some huge corporation that’s monetizing your eyeballs and your eardrums.” He said that type of human connection “can’t” be replaced and called it “the best of living.”

“I think that, like, the essence of our country is that we actually do come together and build things collectively,” El-Sayed said, arguing Americans have been “oscillating between that instinct and the instinct to chase money,” blaming the pursuit of wealth by a small number of people for problems ranging from the American healthcare system to U.S. military spending abroad.

“And, like, at some point I’d rather live in community where people have the basic things they need than be in a country where a few people get to be billionaires and the rest of us get to suffer.”

Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand flatly stated that he would not want to have former President Joe Biden or former Vice President Kamala Harris campaign for him.

When Politico’s Jonathan Martin asked Sand if he would want Biden to campaign for him, the candidate said, “No. Can he even do that right now? I’m sorry.”

“No thanks,” Sand said after Martin asked about Harris. “Let’s move on. We need some new leadership.”

TRUMP-ENDORSED FEENSTRA CONCEDES TO MAHA-BACKED LAHN IN GOP GOVERNOR PRIMARY UPSET

“You don’t think Harris should run in 2028?” Martin asked.

“Nope,” he replied.

When Al Sharpton asked Harris in April if she will run again in 2028, she said “I might” and noted that she was “thinking about it.”

OBAMA ENDORSES DEMOCRATIC IOWA STATE REP RUNNING FOR US SENATE AGAINST TRUMP-BACKED HOUSE REPUBLICAN

Biden, who was already the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, dropped his re-election bid in 2024 in the wake of a widely-panned debate performance and endorsed Harris, who went on to lose the general election to then-former President Donald Trump.

Sand, the Iowa auditor of state, is running against Trump-backed Republican Zach Lahn in the state’s 2026 gubernatorial race.

President Donald Trump declared in a part of a Truth Social post last month, “It is my Great Honor to endorse America First Patriot, Zach Lahn, a tremendous Candidate running to be the next Governor of the Wonderful State of Iowa, a place I love and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024!”

IOWA GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL ZACH LAHN TELLS ‘RUTHLESS’ DEMOCRATS ARE HIDING THEIR BAD POLICIES

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Current Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, announced last year that she would not seek re-election.

Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones is drawing fire over two disputes involving the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda — a civil rights investigation into a rural sheriff’s traffic-stop practices amid his cooperation with ICE. and a legal challenge involving federal access to commercial driver records.

Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore told Fox News Digital that the two disputes reflect what he characterized as a broader unwillingness by Virginia’s Democratic leadership to cooperate with President Donald Trump. His criticism came as Jones announced a probe into Greene County Sheriff Steve Smith.

“That’s just this whole administration’s modus operandi, to put it bluntly, they are so mad at Trump, they want to make sure they don’t want to cooperate with Trump in any area whatsoever, and they want make it unsafe for Virginians,” Kilgore, R-Gate City, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

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The criticism comes as Jones’ Office of Civil Rights notified Smith that it launched an investigation into allegations involving the Greene County Sheriff’s Office’s traffic-stop practices and cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“I applaud the Greene County sheriff for working with ICE to make that we don’t have illegals on our roads, illegals out here committing crimes and things of that nature, unlike our attorney general, who’s the chief law enforcement officer of our state out here picking fights with sheriffs over illegal immigrants,” Kilgore said.

The dispute comes amid a broader shift in Virginia’s immigration enforcement policy under Spanberger

On her first day in office, Spanberger — who endorsed Jones — rescinded former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s order encouraging ICE cooperation. She later signed a law on April 22 sponsored by Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, restricting state and local participation in federal civil immigration enforcement.

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“[My office] has reviewed allegations that GCSO may be conducting traffic stops in violation of state law and the Constitution,” Jones’ Office of Civil Rights wrote to Smith while demanding records concerning immigration enforcement policies, training materials and interagency agreements.

Smith’s deputies have participated in several operations with ICE — notable for a small, rural county located along major transportation routes.

A June operation near the intersection of U.S. 29 and U.S. 33 resulted in 49 people being detained by ICE. U.S. 29 connects Washington, D.C., with Charlottesville and points south, while U.S. 33 connects Richmond with western Virginia.

A Honduran man identified by DHS as an MS-13 gang member was among 26 people arrested during another operation in nearby Ruckersville in May.

“Tell me what kind of message that’s sending to the citizens of Virginia — that it’s more important for me to protect illegal folks who are here illegally than to protect our citizens here,” Kilgore said.

Smith had previously defended his operations in comments to Charlottesville media, saying his deputies apply reasonable suspicion — “the same as we do for all vehicles” — as the standard for initiating traffic stops.

Local activists accused deputies of profiling, while Smith said speeding, failure to maintain a lane and running red lights most often prompt traffic stops.

“Oh, look, the Virginia AG is going after a cop for doing actual cop things,” former Del. Nick Freitas added in a statement.

Fox News Digital reached out to Jones, Spanberger and ICE for comment.

Smith declined to comment to Fox News Digital, citing his retention of counsel, but previously told the Piedmont Journal-Recorder that he will “continue to assist ICE with their operations” after discussing the new law with Del. Karen Hamilton, R-Stanardsville.

State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, the Democrats’ 2009 gubernatorial nominee whose district neighbors Greene County, said he was “disappointed” by the situation.

“Certainly we all want people who come into this country to come in legally, but the people that are here are for the most part here to fill a need and that’s work,” he told CVilleRightNow.

Former Del. Kim Taylor, R-Petersburg, who received a politically motivated death threat during the 2025 election, referenced graphic text messages Jones sent to another former lawmaker imagining the murder of former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah. The “two bullets” scandal nearly torpedoed Jones’ campaign.

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Taylor told Fox News Digital that she considers Jones’ actions hypocritical given his past messages.

“For an attorney general who once talked about putting ‘two bullets’ in a political opponent to now lecture law enforcement is hypocrisy at its worst,” she said.

Alongside his investigation into Smith, Jones joined a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s demand for a bulk transfer of commercial-driver records covering roughly 17 million drivers as the U.S. Department of Transportation cracks down on drivers who cannot meet English-language requirements or illegal immigrant truckers accused of causing deadly wrecks.

Jones celebrated U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, a George W. Bush appointee, temporarily blocking the bulk transfer of the records, calling it an “important win for protecting the privacy of millions of commercial drivers.”

An ICE spokesperson confirmed the Ruckersville operation near US-29, including the arrests of 49 illegal immigrants.

“All of the illegal aliens were transported to ICE facilities for further processing and will receive due process. They will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings,” the spokesperson said.
  
“Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest illegal aliens across the country. When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities,” they added.

Kilgore, whose southwestern Virginia district includes mountainous stretches of U.S. 58 and lies near Interstate 81, told Fox News Digital that the suit is “just another way that they try to stick their thumb in the administration’s eye.”

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“Once again, we’re siding with illegals or foreigners who are here driving 18-wheelers… who could harm our citizens because they’re not qualified,” Kilgore said.

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“I don’t understand why the Democrats are so, so against these activities [that] make sure that our highways are safe.”

Fox News Digital’s Hannah Brennan contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: A State Department memo reveals that an international technology collective, now under a U.S. global terrorism designation, provided services to overseas terrorist groups and violent far-left agitators causing chaos in American cities, according to a copy obtained by Fox News Digital.

“Far-left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader West,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Today, the United States sanctioned Autistici/Inventati – a major far-left tech collective whose services are used by the most active and violent Antifa cells in the United States and across the world.”

Autistici/Inventati, called the A/I Collective by the State Department, is an Italy-based group that builds highly sophisticated digital infrastructure used by violent left-wing organizations in the United States and Europe, along with Islamic terrorists, according to the State Department. The collective’s services include encrypted chats and email, web hosting, secure video conferencing and streaming and anonymity shields, according to the memo.

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“These tools are specifically designed to support the operations of far-left terrorist networks, built to enable them to organize, recruit, communicate, disseminate propaganda, share target information and tactics, and carry out violent attacks – all while remaining anonymous, untraceable, and beyond the reach of the law,” says the State Department’s memo.

A/I Collective has officially been deemed a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The designation bars Americans and U.S. financial institutions from doing business with the group and freezes any assets it has under U.S. jurisdiction. Violators can face civil or criminal penalties.

The memo identifies Portland-based Rose City Antifa, known for its violent rioting and destruction, as one of the U.S. groups that relied on A/I Collective tools and services.

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Rose City Antifa is listed in the memo alongside a media organization that the State Department says uses A/I Collective tools to disseminate information to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is proliferating inside the United States, Hamas, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hezbollah and others.

The memo also accuses the militant abortion-rights group “Jane’s Revenge” — which declared “open season” on pro-life organizations and threatened escalating attacks after the leaked Supreme Court draft signaling Roe v. Wade would be overturned — of using the collective’s services.

The State Department memo says the collective provides its services exclusively to left-wing extremists, screening users for ideological alignment before allowing them access to its tools.

The collective claims to host roughly 16,000 mailboxes, 1,500 websites, 5,500 mailing lists and 10,000 “blogs” on a custom-built platform. The State Department says militants frequently use those services to disseminate target information, tactical manuals and techniques and communiqués about recent attacks.

RUBIO’S CALL TO COMBAT GLOBAL FUNDERS OF FAR-LEFT TERRORISM COULD PUT SINGHAM IN CROSSHAIRS

The memo stressed that while the infrastructure is overseas, it supports domestic far-left groups that for years have wreaked havoc in the United States, mostly under the label of Antifa, or antifascism.

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“There will be no refuge for violent extremists who wage war on our civilization and plot to undermine law and order, destroy critical infrastructure, assault political opponents, or conspire to conceal their crimes from authorities,” Rubio said. “We will use all the tools and authorities at our disposal to fight terrorism and protect our way of life from terrorist coercion.”

The memo cites several examples of violent or terrorist activity that the State Department says was facilitated through A/I Collective technology.

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The memo identifies a far-left extremist media group that describes itself as a “tool” for militants worldwide to share “essential information” to be “acted upon.” According to State, the group relies on A/I Collective services to publish official communiqués and calls to action for U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations.

The memo says Rose City Antifa relied on A/I Collective tools and services to organize and incite violent and criminal acts, including disseminating an online flyer urging supporters to use laser pointers against U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopters.

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“All you need is a laser. Leave home – they can see where the laser is coming from,” the flyer said. “Go to a park, a field, or some other public place, and once the clock strikes 9 unleash your beam at the cop copter. Mask up. Coordinate with friends to throw a laser party!”

“Let’s take back the night together!” it continued. “It won’t take many of us to ground the helicopters!”

The memo says at least one man answered the call to action. Federal records show he later pleaded guilty to aiming a laser at a CBP helicopter, forcing the aircraft to abort its planned landing.

The memo says Rose City Antifa also used A/I Collective tools to disseminate personal information about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel and calls for targeted attacks against ICE agents “in their homes” and in public.

“Jane’s Revenge” used A/I Collective tools to “publish official communiqués and claims of responsibility for violent and criminal acts and to incite copycat attacks,” according to the State Department.

Notably, Jane’s Revenge claimed responsibility for the May 2022 firebombing of a crisis pregnancy center in Madison, Wisconsin. The following day, a cryptic message appeared on a blog affiliated with the group.

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“This was only a warning. We demand the disbanding of all anti-choice establishments, fake clinics, and violent anti-choice groups within the next thirty days,” the message said. “This is not a mere ‘difference of opinion’ as some have framed it. We are literally fighting for our lives. We will not sit still while we are killed and forced into servitude. We have run thin on patience and mercy for those who seek to strip us of what little autonomy we have left.”

In the following months, several more posts appeared claiming responsibility for vandalism of pregnancy centers across the country, including smashed glass windows and doors and graffiti. The State Department memo says that four members of the group were later federally charged for “‘conspiracy against rights’ through threats of force and intimidation.”

The memo also refers to far-left extremists in Atlanta using A/I Collective tools and services in a violent attempt to “prevent the construction of a law enforcement training center.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also weighed in.

“Far-left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” he said. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”

Abroad, the memo says far-left extremists in France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands used A/I Collective tools to claim responsibility for attacks on rail systems this year and to disseminate instructions for making improvised incendiary devices intended to disrupt railways.

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Anarchists who claimed responsibility for sabotaging infrastructure supporting the Transalpine Pipeline, a major crude-oil artery into Central Europe, also used A/I Collective tools, according to the memo. The State Department says the same was true of the far-left Vulkangruppe, which has targeted German infrastructure since 2011 and claimed responsibility for a January attack that knocked out power to roughly 45,000 Berlin households.

In 2025, President Donald Trump declared Antifa to be a terrorist organization.

Fox News Digital reached out to A/I Collective, Rose City Antifa and Jane’s Revenge.

An armed man arrested Aug. 2 at President Donald Trump‘s California golf course allegedly had first lady Melania Trump’s schedule and detailed information about U.S. Secret Service (USSS) personnel, according to reports.

Jeanine John Taele, 38, had more than 200 pages of writings that included schedules for the first lady and members of the president’s USSS detail, The Associated Press reported, citing information revealed during a Los Angeles County court hearing Wednesday.

The New York Post reported that prosecutors said Taele had seven notebooks containing 208 pages of drawings and sketches of Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, lists of USSS schedules, details about individual security personnel and copies of Melania Trump‘s schedule.

MAN ARRESTED AT TRUMP GOLF COURSE AHEAD OF PRESIDENT’S VISIT ALLEGEDLY HAD WEAPONS CACHE

The writings also included detailed lists about surviving “off the grid,” according to the AP.

Los Angeles County Judge John Lonergan Jr. called the allegations “alarming” during Wednesday’s hearing.

“This case itself is alarming in this day and age with the violence that is creeping into our everyday lives, especially with our partisanship in the political environment” ahead of the midterms, Lonergan said, according to the AP.

The judge suspended criminal proceedings after a pretrial evaluation indicated Taele was not mentally fit to stand trial and sent the case to a mental health court, the AP reported.

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Taele was arrested earlier this month after plainclothes federal agents spotted him walking the grounds of the golf club, taking photographs and videos and appearing to monitor security-planning activities ahead of Trump’s visit, Fox News Digital previously reported.

Deputies who detained Taele allegedly found a 16-round magazine loaded with hollow-point ammunition in his pants pocket, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities searched his vehicle and recovered a loaded pistol with a round in the chamber and another magazine containing hollow-point ammunition.

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Taele claimed he worked for the State Department and was at the golf course for a security detail.

Investigators later searched Taele’s Downey home and recovered an illegally modified AR-platform rifle, a .45-caliber pistol, body armor, high-capacity magazines, bulk ammunition, radio signal devices and multiple notebooks containing what authorities described at the time as “concerning statements.”

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, USSS and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have been investigating the case.

SECRET SERVICE MISSED ‘MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES’ TO PREVENT TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: WATCHDOG

Taele, a Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, will remain jailed until a Sept. 9 hearing at Hollywood Mental Health Court, according to the AP.

Taele’s public defender, A.J. Bayne, cautioned against drawing conclusions about his client’s motives.

“He’s a veteran, he served our country, and I don’t know enough right now, but he has a family that loves him, that has huge support for him,” Bayne told the AP, adding that “people assume too much” about Taele’s motives.

The USSS previously told Fox News Digital that it does not comment on specific protective intelligence matters, but “thoroughly investigates any information or activity that may reasonably be perceived as a protective intelligence concern or indicate a potential threat or directed interest toward any individual under Secret Service protection.”

VIRGINIA MAN ACQUITTED BY INSANITY IN KILLING FLEES US DURING 48-HOUR MENTAL HOSPITAL PASS

Trump addressed the arrest earlier this month.

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“Well, the only thing I get a little solace from is, they say only consequential presidents. And I am definitely consequential,” Trump said during an appearance on “Fox News @ Night.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the Office of the First Lady for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price and Landon Mion contributed to this reporting.

Los Angeles’ Democratic mayoral candidates were torched by residents after a debate night in America’s second-most populous city that one voter described as “disgraceful.”

Besides being home to Hollywood, Los Angeles is one of America’s most economically important cities. The city, however, has struggled with recent fires, rising living costs, homelessness and outmigration. Those problems have fueled a particularly contentious mayoral race this year, which included a surprisingly competitive but ultimately unsuccessful bid by Republican Spencer Pratt.

With Pratt out of the race, Democrats Karen Bass, the incumbent, and Nithya Raman, a democratic socialist city council member, are locked in a competitive and bitter runoff for Los Angeles mayor. During last week’s debate, Bass and Raman traded personal attacks and insults, leaving some voters frustrated over what solutions the candidates could offer.

After the debate, voter Stacey Segarra Bohlinger told Fox News Digital she believes Bass and Raman are “both bad” and said, “I wish they could both lose.”

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Bohlinger, who until July served as a committee member on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, said that although she was initially “a huge champion” for Raman, “I don’t see substantive differences between the two of them.”

Bohlinger said Raman “reneged on a lot of the initial campaign promises she made” and also criticized the councilwoman’s approach to homelessness, which she described as “a very capitalist approach to what she thinks solving the issue of homelessness is.”

Regarding criticism of Bass, Bohlinger said, “I also agree with a lot of what said about the city not being in a good place right now.”

“She responded really terribly to the Palisades fires. She did not respond well to the Lineage fires,” she said, concluding, “I don’t have much good to say about either of them.”

Asked about her top issue, Bohlinger said the Los Angeles government “has a long sort of history of immense corruption.”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION YANKS FUNDING FROM LA HOMELESS AGENCY AMID EXPLOSIVE FRAUD PROBE: ‘NECESSARY STEP’

“If you look up, you know, recent Los Angeles officials who have conviction records for corruption, it’s a really long list. So, I think along with the housing affordability issue [is] accessibility, transparency, more accountability, less corruption,” she said, adding, “We have a lot of sort of political dynasties in the city, and I think that’s a real fly in the ointment. I don’t think much is going to change until the corruption is dealt with.”

Meanwhile, Wayne Spindler, an Encino resident and regular City Hall critic, told Fox News Digital that “a lot of people… are upset.”

“They don’t like either one of them. And a lot of them are going to walk out of this [debate] and not vote,” he said.

Based on the debate, Spindler predicted the election is “going to be close” because “there was not a lot of enthusiasm.”

He said he will be voting for Raman, saying, “What I tell people is you got to go for one of the two.”

“You can’t write in Spencer [Pratt]. Spencer would have been the dream come true. That would have been amazing,” he said.

Another debate attendee, Gregory Wright, a committee member on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, told Fox News Digital, “For me, it’s more important that Democrats win whatever part of the Democratic spectrum they’re in.”

“I am in favor of visionary ideas for the future,” he said, adding, “I think socialism is the right direction for the entire world.”

After the debate, Fox News Digital contacted the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council, which co-hosted the event, for comment. Council President Howard Katchen clarified that “the comments by Stacey Segarra Bohlinger and Gregory Wright are their opinions as individuals and do not represent the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council.”

Katchen reiterated that the two spoke as individuals and that their comments did not represent the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council. He called the debate a “success as determined by over 400 attendees, over 700 virtual viewers, NPR LAist live broadcast to what I was told over 500,000 listeners and covered by local, state, national and international media outlets.” He also clarified that “Neighborhood Councils don’t endorse candidates for elected office.”

Joey Tuccio, an animal rights advocate who previously supported Pratt publicly, told Fox News Digital he was outraged after the debate. Referring to his work helping animals and people on Skid Row, he said, “We are doing their job.”

EXCLUSIVE: LA ICE DIRECTOR REVEALS OFFICERS FOLLOWED HOME, HARASSED AS POLICE FAIL TO HELP IN SANCTUARY CITY

“We’ve been catering Skid Row for years for free. We’ve got no support from the city. We have rescued over 150 animals. My rescue partner rescued a seven-year-old child that was being sex trafficked by his father. And Karen’s office just said that they are avoiding us because we are ‘haters,’” he said. “I think that is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard in my life, and it’s disgraceful.”

He said that, for now, “I’m going to be not supporting either of them.”

Asked what he is looking for in a candidate, Tuccio said, “We want people that will enforce laws.”

“Specifically on Skid Row, every day, every time we go, we see somebody overdosing, we see dogs that are abandoned, we see children without their parents, and we see good people living on the streets that are so scared,” he said, adding, “It is lawless, and it’s not getting better.”

“People are being robbed there, people are being attacked, people are getting murdered,” he continued. “There’s people hanging themselves… people dying and rotting before anybody finds them. And from the animal side, there are animals that are left there for days and days starving to death. But then we get calls from caseworkers because they can’t get the support of the city.”

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“So, we need people to actually take the reins of this and stop pretending that everything is rainbows and unicorns because it’s not, and we have to have people that don’t ignore the problems.”

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Fox News Digital contacted the Bass and Raman campaigns for comment.

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Monday that he would not defend the Green New Deal when confronted with his past support for the progressive climate proposal, a notable shift from years of publicly embracing it by name.

“Look, I’m not going to defend the Green New Deal,” El-Sayed told Watters after the host confronted him over his past support for the proposal. When Watters reiterated that El-Sayed was on record supporting it, El-Sayed redirected the discussion toward lowering energy costs and creating Michigan jobs by prioritizing renewables.

Michigan, which Trump won in 2024 but lost in 2020, is shaping up to have one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, with the likely narrow results in the state potentially determining control of Congress. Critics charge that El-Sayed is downplaying some of his past beliefs and scrubbing his online footprint to appear more moderate, and therefore more palatable, to Michigan voters.

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Though El-Sayed declined to defend the Green New Deal in front of a national audience, he previously hasn’t been so shy.

A Fox News Digital review of El-Sayed’s deleted social media posts, preserved via the Internet Archive, uncovered dozens of examples of the Michigan Senate hopeful defending the Green New Deal by name.

“Rather than announcing the next iteration of this or that car at [the North American International Auto Show 2019], I’d love to see automakers announce that they support the #GreenNewDeal,” El-Sayed wrote in January of that year.

On the primary campaign trail, Rep. Haley Stevens criticized El-Sayed over his past support for the Green New Deal on the grounds that it could lead to job losses in the automobile manufacturing industry.

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“The struggle for the Green New Deal uplifts the struggle for racial justice,” El-Sayed wrote in April 2019.

The Green New Deal is a 2019 progressive policy framework floated by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., that seeks to gradually transition the United States’ electrical grid away from fossil fuels. Their plan has become synonymous with the left-wing faction of the Democratic Party, leading many Democrats running in competitive races to distance themselves from it.

In another post, from September 2019, El-Sayed wrote, “I believe in a Green New Deal” five times in all caps. He also suggested that the Green New Deal is essential to preserve freedom of speech because there can be no First Amendment “without the freedom to breathe the breath you have to take to speak in the first place.”

“The #GreenNewDeal doesn’t center polar bears or glaciers, it centers those children forced to breath (sic.) in corporate pollution in their communities,” El-Sayed wrote. “I stand with the Green New Deal because it stands for those kids.”

WATCH: SURFACED VIDEOS OF DEM SENATE CANDIDATE BACKING ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ CONTRADICT RECENT DENIALS

CNN previously reported that El-Sayed scrubbed large swathes of his commentary from the internet prior to announcing his run for Senate. The deletions appear to have been selective, as he still has some posts up from before he launched his campaign.

In his since-deleted social media posts, El-Sayed endorsed the “defund the police” movement, argued cities spent too much policing poverty and described police departments as “standing armies we deploy against our own people.” In a separate YouTube video that was later hidden, he floated replacing the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms with a constitutional right to healthcare and called Border Patrol agents “white supremacists” while blaming American policies for migration from struggling nations.

Though El-Sayed regularly mentioned the Green New Deal on X prior to running for Senate, he has not posted the phrase even once since announcing his candidacy, a review found. 

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

On Wednesday, representatives of President Donald Trump filed a brief in the New York Court of Appeals, arguing the court should throw out his liability finding in a $464 million civil fraud case that centered on Trump’s real estate valuations.

The appeal argues the case had several legal flaws that should have prevented it from being heard in the first place.

“This case should have never been brought, and the judgment cannot stand,” the appeal states. “This case is extremely unusual; it involves not only reams of improper statements targeting President Trump, his family, and his businesses, but also a decision to apply [New York law] against those targets in a completely unprecedented and unlawful way.”

The appeal is the latest instance of President Donald Trump pushing back against what he has characterized as politically charged lawfare that he endured between his two administrations. It also gives Trump a renewed opportunity to push back against some of the penalties that still apply to him from that verdict.

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In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, alleging 200 instances of fraud. Specifically, her office alleged that Trump had routinely overvalued properties in New York City to secure favorable loans or insurance rates in violation of New York Executive Law § 63(12). The provision instructs the attorney general to prosecute cases of repeated fraudulent or illegal acts.

The law defines fraud as “any device, scheme or artifice to defraud and any deception, misrepresentation, concealment, suppression, false pretense, false promise or unconscionable contractual provision.”

Trump was found liable in 2023.

As a result, Trump was required to pay $355 million plus interest in damages and was banned from serving as an officer or director of any New York company for two years. 

He was also banned from applying for loans from any New York bank or financial institution for three years. Although an intermediate appeals court later vacated the monetary award, Trump’s lawyers argue the underlying liability finding and the remaining restrictions should also be overturned.

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The appeal filed Wednesday argues against the verdict along five key lines.

The document argues that Attorney General James lacked the authority to bring the case, noting that the case involves private commercial transactions rather than harm to the public. It also contends that Trump’s valuations reflected subjective estimates that lenders independently evaluated rather than fraudulent misrepresentations.

“The only supposed ‘victims’ here are a handful of ultrasophisticated banks and insurers that have never claimed to be injured, were eager to do business with President Trump and his family, and made over $100 million from these transactions,” the appeal states.

The appeal further argues that the prosecution’s premise of overvaluation is based on the misguided idea that real estate has one objective value and that deviations from that value must be fraud.

“Under that breathtakingly broad theory, NYAG can second-guess any business transaction in this State on almost any imagined grounds,” the filing states.

And, on the penalties, the appeal argues that the $450 million disgorgement is excessive, unlawful and even unconstitutional.

Finally, the appeal argues that the politically charged nature of the case, on its own, should have been enough to halt its consideration.

“NYAG cannot point to a single Section 63(12) enforcement action against similarly situated developers (or any other type of defendant) based on practices comparable to those alleged here,” the filing states.

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“Ms. James repeatedly called President Trump a ‘criminal’; promised to ‘investigate President Trump and his business transactions,’ ‘review … Trump-related real estate transactions,’ and ‘take on … his business in New York’; and threatened President Trump’s ‘family’ and ‘anyone in his orbit,” the document states.

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James’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.