NationalWatch

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., cautioned Republicans to be “very careful what you pray for” amid a Trump-backed effort by Republican South Carolina state lawmakers to redraw the state’s map — an effort that would target Clyburn, the lone Democratic member of the state’s U.S. House of Representatives.

Deemed a “kingmaker” within the Democratic Party, Clyburn’s endorsement of then–presidential candidate Joe Biden during the 2020 election was widely credited with helping Biden win the presidency. He has been in Congress for more than 30 years, but now faces uncertainty as the South Carolina legislature voted Wednesday to consider redrawing the state’s congressional lines.

However, in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Clyburn said he believed he would win his seat for an 18th term, adding that if Republicans are successful with their redistricting effort in South Carolina, there are “possibilities of at least three Democrats” being elected to Congress in the state.

“I don’t know why people think I could not get re-elected if they redistrict South Carolina,” Clyburn said. “I have a district that’s about 45% African American. I have no idea what the number will be after the legislature finishes, but whatever that number is, I will be running on my record and America’s promise.”

GOP GOVERNOR NOMINEE PUSHES REDISTRICTING TO OUST STATE’S LONE HOUSE DEM

Clyburn took to X on Thursday, accusing Republicans of trying to “break” his district after the state House voted Wednesday to consider redrawing the state’s congressional map.

“Republicans in the South Carolina state legislature began the process of extending their session to allow for the redrawing of the state’s congressional map — with one goal in mind: eliminating the state’s only Democratic House district that is occupied by a Democrat,” Clyburn posted on X.

“This fight is bigger than one district,” Clyburn continued. “It’s about whether our democracy belongs to the people, or to politicians who change the rules when they don’t like the results.”

A Clyburn spokesperson pointed to the congressman’s X posts when reached for additional comment. 

The South Carolina legislature vote came in response to the Supreme Court ruling last month in Louisiana v. Callais, which determined in a 6-3 decision that the state’s push to create a second majority-Black district was unconstitutional. The ruling set stricter criteria for establishing a district based on constituents’ racial makeup, creating an opportunity for states to reexamine minority-majority districts first established under the Voting Rights Act.

“This decision threatens to send our country deeper into the thicket of never-ending redistricting fights, with repeated aggressive map redraws, protracted legal battles, and relentless partisan tugs-of-war, all of which are destined to result in more regressive court decisions,” Clyburn said of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“This court seems hellbent on redeeming the post-Reconstruction America that neutered the 1875 Civil Rights Act and other legislative and judicial actions that drastically limited Black participation and achievement, and eliminated African American political representation in multiple Southern states,” Clyburn continued.

Following Clyburn’s rallying call to Democrats, a South Carolina House subcommittee on Friday voted 3-2 to advance legislation that would push back the state’s June 9 primary election by two months. The goal is to give the legislature more time to pass its redrawn map, which would give Republicans a 7-0 advantage in the House. However, even if the primary election is pushed back, the effort has been deemed a difficult process and will likely confuse voters, state Election Commission Executive Director Conway Belangia told The State.

The South Carolina Election Commission noted that more than 6,000 absentee ballots have already been mailed out to military service members and overseas voters ahead of the June primary, and more than 200 ballots have already been mailed back.

BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES

The state House Judiciary Committee held its own hearing centered on the state’s redistricting push. During the hearing, Belangia estimated that it would cost between $2.2 million and $2.5 million to move the state’s primary to August.

House members suggested allocating $2 million in the state’s budget next year to cover the expected litigation costs from a legal fight over the map.

Fox News Digital reached out to South Carolina’s Senate Majority Conference for further comment.

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South Carolina Republicans’ push to redraw the state’s map is the latest move by GOP-led states to revise congressional districts in an effort to maintain the party’s majority following the midterm elections.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., first suggested weeks ago that South Carolina lawmakers consider targeting Clyburn’s district, responding to Virginia Democrats’ successful push to pass a ballot measure redrawing that state’s congressional map, which resulted in a 10-1 advantage for Democrats. However, the Virginia Supreme Court overruled the state’s map on Friday, causing major uproar from Democrats.

President Donald Trump called out the “piece of garbage” peace proposal from Iran on Monday from the Oval Office, saying only “stupid people” in Iran are questioning his resolve in guaranteeing Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.

The latest Iranian proposal reneged on a past vow to give up enriched uranium, according to Trump.

“They come back, and they want to negotiate, and they give us a stupid — it’s a stupid proposal and nobody would take it,” Trump said. “Although Obama would have taken it, Biden would have taken it.”

Trump said Iranian officials had previously agreed to allow the removal of enriched nuclear material from a site he described as “obliterated” by U.S. strikes, but then omitted that commitment from the written proposal sent to Washington.

IRAN REVEALS 10-POINT PLAN FOR PEACE WITH THE US – HERE’S WHAT’S IN IT

“They said you’re going to have to take it: We were going to go with them,” Trump said. “But they changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper.

“When they sent us this document that we waited four days for, that should have taken 10 minutes to do: Look, very simple, we get that, they guarantee no nuclear weapons for a very long period of time and a couple of other minor things, but they just can’t get there,” he continued. “So they agree with us, and then they take it back.”

Trump said the U.S. would not accept any arrangement that leaves Iran with a path to a nuclear weapon.

TRUMP REAFFIRMS HARD LINE ON IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: ‘WILL NOT ALLOW ANY ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM’

“The plan is very simple. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “And they didn’t want to go that far.”

“If you can believe it, how stupid. Are they stupid people?” Trump asked. “They didn’t want to believe it. They think that, well, I’ll get tired of this, or I’ll get bored, or I’ll have some pressure. But there’s no pressure. There’s no pressure at all.”

The ceasefire with Iran was in serious jeopardy after the latest offer, Trump warned.

‘NOT OUR ROLE’: LAWMAKERS CAUTIOUS OVER MIDDLE EAST PEACE, NOT READY FOR REGIME CHANGE

“It’s unbelievably weak,” Trump said. “After reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it. “I’m not going to waste my time reading it.”

“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living,'” he added.

“It was just unacceptable,” Trump said when asked about the weekend proposal. “I have the best plan ever. And Iran has been defeated militarily. Totally.”

TRUMP’S NEXT MOVE ON THE ELECTION’S BIGGEST LOSER

Trump said his position remains unchanged: “Iran can not have a nuclear weapon. They’re very dangerous. They’re very volatile.”

Some Iranian officials want a deal, but hard-liners are blocking an agreement, according to Trump.

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“In Iran, they have the moderates – they’re dying to make a deal – and then you have the lunatics,” Trump said. “And I guess they’re a little bit afraid of the lunatics.”

A senior U.S. intelligence official described a close-range encounter with fast-moving, “super-hot” unidentified objects that came within roughly 10 feet of a helicopter during an aerial search, according to newly released Pentagon UFO files.

The account is detailed in an FBI Form 302 interview report, which documents interactions between federal agents and witnesses, and is part of a broader tranche of previously classified unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) records made public Friday as part of the Trump administration’s push to declassify government files on them. 

The objects were detected as “super-hot” on infrared systems and traveled roughly 20 miles at speeds the helicopter could not match, according to the report, before abruptly changing direction and accelerating away.

UFO EXPERT WARNS MYSTERY CRAFT ARE OUTMANEUVERING US MILITARY IN RESTRICTED AIRSPACE

The release has drawn significant attention, as it includes previously unseen reports involving military personnel, sensor data and firsthand accounts from government officials — though many of the incidents remain unexplained.

The official was among multiple federal and state personnel involved in an aerial search after earlier sightings of unexplained lights, according to the report. The object was detected as “super-hot” on infrared systems, indicating it emitted a strong heat signature detectable by thermal imaging equipment. 

The report does not offer an explanation for the source of that heat, and was observed traveling roughly 20 miles at a speed too fast for the helicopter to match. 

The report does not identify the specific military facility or location of the encounter, and it is unclear from the document whether the helicopter involved was operated by U.S. military personnel or a partner agency. 

The FBI summary describes a joint operation involving federal and state personnel, but does not provide additional detail about the units involved.

At one point, one of the objects reportedly came within roughly 10 feet of the helicopter before abruptly changing direction. Observers, including the intelligence official and helicopter crew, also reported the object splitting into multiple lights, followed by additional orbs appearing in sequence and forming repeated patterns across the sky.

Witnesses described groups of four or five glowing objects flaring into view and then disappearing, a cycle that continued for roughly 30 minutes.

Pilots involved in the search indicated they were recording, but many of the sightings occurred above the helicopter and outside the camera’s field of view.

The documents are part of a sweeping public release of UAP files that has drawn intense interest and skepticism.

Officials and analysts say that while some incidents were treated as credible and investigated using military assets, the material does not offer definitive explanations for what the objects are.

While many of the newly released files contain brief or heavily redacted accounts, the FBI interview stands out for its detailed timeline, multiple trained observers and the use of infrared systems, night-vision equipment and aircraft during an active search operation.

The report also includes a first-hand account from a senior intelligence official, which is uncommon among the largely anecdotal or historical records in the broader release.

Skeptics say many UAP sightings can be attributed to misidentified aircraft, drones, atmospheric phenomena or sensor artifacts, particularly in complex environments where infrared and night-vision systems can distort how objects appear.

Physicist and former director of the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office Sean Kirkpatrick said he didn’t find anything “unexpected” in the files.

“There’s nothing unexpected in their release. And without any analysis or context, [it] will only serve to fuel more speculation, conspiracy and armchair pseudoscience, particularly from the playhouse politics theater company,” he said, according to the Scientific American. 

TRUMP ADMIN RELEASES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FILES DOCUMENTING UFOS, ‘EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE’

The release also comes amid growing concern inside the Pentagon over unexplained aerial activity near sensitive military installations, including suspected foreign surveillance operations and unauthorized drone incursions linked to China and Russia.

Defense officials repeatedly warned in recent years that some incidents initially categorized as UAP could ultimately involve foreign intelligence collection platforms, advanced drones or other surveillance systems operating near U.S. military sites.

The issue drew renewed attention after a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon crossed the continental United States in 2023 before being shot down by the U.S. military, exposing gaps in detection and monitoring around sensitive defense infrastructure.

Lawmakers and defense officials also have raised alarms about repeated drone incursions near military bases, training ranges and nuclear facilities, warning that some unidentified aerial activity may reflect increasingly sophisticated foreign surveillance efforts rather than extraterrestrial phenomena.

“The latest UAP videos, photos, and original source documents from across the entire United States government are all in one place — no clearance required,” the White House said in a statement announcing the release.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the records had “long fueled justified speculation” and argued “it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” while cautioning that many of the documents contain unresolved incidents rather than confirmed explanations.

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Other files released by the Department of War include reports of a “football-shaped” object observed over the East China Sea, erratic lights tracked over Iraq and Syria, and Apollo-era astronaut communications describing strange objects and bright fragments visible near the moon.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for more details. 

FIRST ON FOX: The Georgia Senate is ramping up its investigation into alleged campaign finance violations tied to Stacey Abrams’ voter outreach group, with a top lawmaker vowing to “follow the facts wherever they lead” as subpoenas have been issued to Abrams and other key figures.

The Senate Special Committee on Investigations announced Monday that Abrams, along with New Georgia Project leaders Lauren Groh-Wargo and Nsé Ufot, must appear before lawmakers at the State Capitol at 10 a.m. on Friday.

“This committee has a responsibility to follow the facts wherever they lead,” said Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal, the committee’s vice chairman. “Georgia law requires transparency and accountability in our elections.”

The subpoenas stem from findings by the Georgia State Ethics Commission that the New Georgia Project and its affiliated Action Fund violated campaign finance laws during the 2018 election cycle.

STACEY ABRAMS-FOUNDED VOTER ACTIVIST GROUP HIT WITH MASS LAYOFFS AFTER RECORD-BREAKING ETHICS FINE

The groups admitted to 16 violations earlier this year and agreed to pay a $300,000 fine, the largest campaign finance penalty in Georgia history.

New Georgia Project shut down and dissolved in 2025 following mounting financial and legal troubles.

The Republican lawmakers explain in the press release that the goal of the probe is to figure out who was involved in the decision-making behind the violations, along with specifics on how the funds were managed and who was aware of the activity.

WHITE HOUSE UNLEASHES ON STACEY ABRAMS IN LATEST CLASH OVER TRUMP’S ELECTION ORDER

“The people of Georgia deserve to know who was involved, what decisions were made and how millions of dollars flowed through organizations that admitted to violating our campaign finance laws,” Dolezal said.

Georgia’s Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said in the release, “No one is above the law in Georgia.” 

He added: “When organizations secretly spend millions to influence elections while evading disclosure requirements, it undermines confidence in our democratic process. The Senate will continue pursuing the truth and ensuring accountability, regardless of political party or influence.”

The lawmakers say that additional hearings and witness testimony are expected in the coming weeks.

Fox News Digital reached out to Abrams for comment.

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Abrams, the two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia, ruled out another run for governor earlier this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Trump.

Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

No one would have predicted it.

But you could have made a lot of money if you did.

With uncharacteristic dispatch, the United States Senate unanimously voted to ban senators and staff from playing in the prediction markets.

“This is a national security risk,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “The very possibility that a member’s vote could be influenced by a bet is reason enough to slam the door shut.”

SENATE QUIETLY BANS LAWMAKERS FROM BETTING ON PREDICTION MARKETS

You can’t predict the future. But now in the Senate, you can’t even bet on it.

Especially real world events.

Like if the stock market might crash. The fate of the economy. War. Terrorism.

Or who would wear what gown at the Met Gala.

SEN DAVE MCCORMICK: PREDICTION MARKETS ARE BOOMING. WASHINGTON MUST CATCH UP

The biggest concern on Capitol Hill is potential wagering on the fate of legislation. Or the confirmation of nominees. There’s bipartisan concern that speculation in the prediction markets could tilt political outcomes.

“Engaging in any way in a prediction market or trying to place bets where we might have inside information deteriorates the confidence that our constituents have in us,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio.

Moreno pushed to change the rules for senators. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., amended Moreno’s proposal to include Senate aides.

This only applies to the Senate. For now. The House is playing catch up.

“Any place where your role in Congress has a potential for individual benefit, I think needs to be tightly controlled,” said Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., when asked about prospects for a similar measure in the House.

Keep in mind that under the Constitution, the House and Senate can make their own rules.

The Senate’s maneuver comes just weeks after the Feds busted a U.S. special forces solider who had access to classified information – and then bet on the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Mark Moran placed a wager that he would run for office. Moran later made money on his own proposition after he jumped into the race.

“Our constituents have to know that our only guiding light is what’s best for our state. What’s best for the people of our states. And what’s best for the United States of America,” said Moreno.

“We must never allow Congress to turn into a casino,” said Schumer. “Just the possibility that Members could have their votes influence because of betting is a reason enough to prohibit members from meddling in the prediction markets.”

But Schumer wants prediction market prohibitions extended to the executive branch. The New York Democrat argues that the Trump Administration “shows such a troubling affinity to corruption and self-dealing.”

SENATE PASSES MEASURE BANNING LAWMAKERS FROM PREDICTION BETS

This brings us to something else from which many Congressional Democrats want to exclude the executive branch: trading stocks.

But here’s the problem. Congress has paid lip service to imposing its own ban for lawmakers and aides to stock trades. But neither the House nor Senate ever implemented an across-the-board prohibition.

It’s a stalled issue. And has been so for years.

“Send me a bill that bans insider trading by Members of Congress and I will sign it tomorrow,” instructed former President Obama during his State of the Union speech in January 2012.

“Let’s also ensure that Members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” proclaimed President Trump during his State of the Union message in February.

Well, it’s nearly mid-2026 and Congress still isn’t all the way there.

Late Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and former Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., were the most ardent advocates of a Congressional stock trading ban – dating back to 2006. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, made hundreds of stock trades in 1999 and 2000. That caught Baird’s attention.

“If there is a way to make a profit on that, somebody has probably already figured out a way to do it,” said Baird, “And it’s not illegal.”

Congress finally passed the STOCK Act in 2012. It stands for “Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge.” There was concern that lawmakers are privy to financial, economic and political intelligence. Therefore, they could buy or sell stocks on information which bordered on “insider trading.”

But the STOCK Act didn’t prohibit lawmakers from playing on Wall Street. It just required additional financial disclosures about when lawmakers and aides traded stocks.

TRUMP TAKES JAB AT PELOSI BY NAME OVER HISTORY OF CONTROVERSIAL STOCK TRADING

President Obama’s 2012 entreaty certainly helped goad lawmakers into approving the STOCK Act a few days later. But it wasn’t a ban on “insider trading” as the former president suggested. This just entailed additional transparency.

The stalemate over stock trades baffles some lawmakers.

“I don’t know why it’s been such a challenge in the House,” said Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va. “I think any Member saying that they should be able to trade stocks is flat out wrong. I think it degrades trust in the institution. Even for those members who are not trading on inside information.”

House Administration Committee Chairman Brian Steil, R-Wis., has a bill to curb stock trades by lawmakers.

“If you want a day trade, go to Wall Street. Come to Washington to lead this country,” said Steil.

But that bill is marooned. It partly goes back to the Democrats’ push to extend any Congressional stock trading ban to the executive branch. That’s something many Republicans are reluctant to do.

“There is zero justification and rationale for allowing a president of any party or a vice president of any party, to be able to engage in stock trading while they have the awesome power of the presidency, vice presidency and executive branch in their hands,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., believes the stock trade issue is evolving. She doubts that voters will put up with market activity by her colleagues much longer.

“We know there are many colleagues who do still trade stocks. I think the American public is much more informed on this topic now. And this is very unpopular. So I do think the tide is changing and it will become untenable for any member to to be supportive of  it,” said Ansari. “I think more people have more information. So what a Member of Congress was able to get away with even five years ago just is not possible today.”

Like many things when it comes to ethics in politics, it’s not necessarily impropriety. But the perception of impropriety. The public holds Congress in low esteem to start with. Many voters believe the “ruling class” has special access to information which enables them to game the system for their own economic benefit. That distrust may fester as long as Congress fails to police its own.

While we can’t predict the future, people can certainly shape it. Congress has a lot of tools at its disposal to contour that future. The question is if lawmakers are bending those fortunes in their direction.

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So will Congress approve a stock trading ban? The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

In other words, don’t bet on it.

Embattled Soros-backed prosecutor Steve Descano is facing scrutiny again, this time for dismissing a Justice Department probe into allegations that he gave favorable deals to illegal immigrants, calling it one of President Donald Trump’s “partisan attacks.”

Jennifer Harrison, head of the Victim Rights Reform Council, responded to Fairfax County, Virginia, Commonwealth’s Attorney Descano’s claim by writing on X, “Hey scumbag… This has NOTHING to do with President Trump and it’s not going to be the fundraising tool you thought it would – no Soros blood money for you today.”

The DOJ opened a “pattern or practice” civil rights investigation into Descano last week, examining whether his office violated federal law by weighing “immigration consequences” in charging decisions and plea deals, amid an ongoing spate of violent crime in Fairfax County involving illegal immigrants.

Victim Rights Reform Council requested that the DOJ launch an investigation on behalf of Cheryl Minter, whose daughter, Stephanie Minter, was fatally stabbed at a bus stop earlier this year, allegedly by Abdul Jalloh, a 32-year-old illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone.

DOJ OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO SOROS-BACKED DA ACCUSED OF SHIELDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CONSEQUENCES

Descano responded to the DOJ investigation through spokeswoman Laura Birnbaum, who wrote in a statement that “this investigation is the latest example of the Trump administration’s own ‘pattern or practice’ of misusing the Justice Department to launch partisan attacks.”

Birnbaum said the “DOJ’s letter announcing the investigation distorts the office’s policy,” which she said has “been in place publicly for over five years – and happened to arrive just a week before Commonwealth’s Attorney Descano is set to testify before Congress.”

Descano, whose entry into political office was propelled by a massive $627,653 donation from the Soros family’s Justice and Public Safety PAC, is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement on Thursday.

The hearing is titled “Fairfax County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies.” County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid will also testify, along with Minter, former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, and Virginians for Safe Communities President Sean Kennedy.

SOROS-BACKED DA’S LAX ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION POLICIES LED TO ‘PREVENTABLE’ BUS STOP STABBING MURDER: COMPLAINT

Birnbaum insisted, “Our office’s policies are fair, legal, and reflect the values of Fairfax County.”

She said Descano’s office “will not be distracted from our mission of keeping this community safe and holding individuals accountable when they commit crimes.”

In response, Harrison said the civil rights investigation was initiated after a request from a victim’s loved one.

“Hey scumbag – Cheryl Minter, mother of Stephanie filed the complaint that initiated the investigation. I know bc I filed it on her behalf,” wrote Harrison.

She continued, “We are also well aware that your deadly and disastrous policies were in place for quite some time – if not Cheryl’s daughter Stephanie would still be alive which is why we filed the complaint and asked for this investigation.”

DEM GOVERNOR UNDER FIRE AFTER ILLEGAL ALIEN ALLEGEDLY STABS WOMAN TO DEATH AT BUS STOP: ‘HEINOUS’

In another X post, Harrison called the victim’s mother “an amazing, brave woman,” writing, “We cannot bring Stephanie back but we can make sure this does not keep happening in her honor.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Descano’s office for comment.

In a press release following Minter’s death, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that Descano’s office had been warned about Jalloh and the danger he posed to the public ahead of Minter’s death.

Last week, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the investigation into Descano would zero in on his plea bargaining, charging decisions and sentencing policies.

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“Under my leadership, the Civil Rights Division will not allow local prosecutors to pick and choose winners based on their immigration status,” said Dhillon, adding, “This investigation will uncover whether this prosecutor is putting the community at risk in offering sweetheart deals to illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to the DOJ and White House for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno and Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is eyeing oil-rich Venezuela as a potential 51st state as officials continue to court oil companies for investments in the South American country following the U.S. intervention that removed President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Trump said in a phone call with Fox News that he is motivated by the estimated $40 trillion value of oil in Venezuela, adding that he is popular with the country’s citizens.

“Venezuela loves Trump,” Trump said.

After U.S. military officials captured Maduro in January, whom the Justice Department indicted on narco-terrorism charges, Trump said the United States would “run” the country during its transitional period and work with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

US CAPTURE OF MADURO THROWS SPOTLIGHT ON VENEZUELA’S MASSIVE OIL RESERVES

In January, Trump pledged to have the U.S. oil industry “up and and running” again in Venezuela. Major energy companies like Exxon and Conoco were expelled from the country nearly 20 years ago when former President Hugo Chavez nationalized the oil industry, leaving Chevron as the only U.S. major oil company with investments in Venezuela.

For months, Cabinet officials and White House energy advisors have held meetings with top oil executives from major companies, urging them to invest in Venezuela.

With the Trump administration now managing Venezuela’s oil sector, exports in April reached more than 1 million barrels per day, the highest level since 2018.

“As the President has said, relations between Venezuela and the United States have been extraordinary. Oil is starting to flow, and large amounts of money, unseen for many years, will soon be helping the great people of Venezuela,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Only President Trump can be credited for the revitalization of this newfound partnership – and the best is yet to come!”

The spokesperson did not provide details about what Trump’s plan to make Venezuela a part of the United States would look like.

Trump’s interest in Venezuela’s oil has been known since Maduro’s ousting. He has argued that securing Venezuela’s oil supplies would help stabilize the country’s economy, a step he deems crucial to establishing a stable democracy.

TRUMP’S VENEZUELA STRIKE SPARKS CONSTITUTIONAL CLASH AS MADURO IS HAULED INTO US

But in March, Trump posted on Truth Social suggesting that Venezuela would instead become a state.

“Good things are happening to Venezuela lately! I wonder what this magic is all about? STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?” Trump posted.

For Trump to annex Venezuela and make it a state, it would require congressional approval and consent from Venezuela, which Rodriguez said would never happen.

“That would never have been considered, because if there is one thing we Venezuelan men and women have, it is that we love our independence process, we love our heroes and heroines of independence,” Rodriguez told reporters on Monday when asked about Trump’s eyes on Venezuela.

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Venezuela is just the latest country Trump has threatened to annex, with the list including Greenland, Canada, Cuba and Panama.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the State Department for further comment.

ELLSWORTH, MAINE — Graham Platner says he still wouldn’t support Sen. Chuck Schumer as Senate Democratic leader going forward, even after holding what he described as a “perfectly cordial conversation” with the top Democrat in the chamber.

Platner, an oyster farmer and Army and Marine veteran who served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, will face off in this year’s midterm elections in blue-leaning Maine against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins. The high-profile and competitive 2026 race is one of a handful across the country that will likely determine whether Republicans keep control of their slim Senate majority.

Platner, a first-time candidate, who is backed by progressive champions Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee after his rival for the nomination, two-term Gov. Janet Mills, ended her campaign two weeks ago after trailing Platner in polling and fundraising.

Mills was supported by Schumer, who recruited the governor to enter the race.

SCHUMER’S ‘NUMBER 1 TARGET’ SAYS VOTERS WILL SEE HER DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGER AS TOO EXTREME

But Platner said what could have been a difficult conversation was anything but when he had a chance to speak with Schumer on the phone after Mills ended her bid.

“It was not awkward at all. He called to congratulate me on a good race, and nothing brings people together like agreeing that Susan Collins shouldn’t be in the U.S. Senate. So we had a perfectly cordial conversation.”

Platner said that “at this point, it very much feels that the Democratic Party will support us in our continued endeavor.” But he added, “We’re going to keep doing what we’ve done up here, because it’s obviously what’s working.”

Platner is one of a small but growing number of progressive Senate candidates who say that, if elected in November, they won’t support Schumer as the Senate’s Democratic leader. Platner added that the topic of his lack of support for the Democratic leader didn’t come up in his conversation with Schumer.

Platner advocates an economically populist agenda as he takes aim at corporate influences and advocates for the working class as he runs for the Senate.

In an interview in Maine with Fox News Digital last week, Collins was asked if she believes Platner is too far to the left and extreme for voters in her northern New England state.

SIX MONTHS TILL MIDTERMS: THE TEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S MAJORITY

“I believe that will be the conclusion of Maine voters. But, obviously, I don’t take anything for granted,” the senator, who is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate, answered.

But Platner charges that it’s Collins who is too “radical.”

“My response is that, trying to bring down costs for working Mainers, trying to make sure that our communities don’t get emptied out because housing has become unaffordable for young people, trying to create a system in which we are not seeing our healthcare system utilized as a way of just screwing working people all for the benefit of a healthcare insurance CEO, I don’t think that’s radical at all,” Platner said. “I think in fact that what most Mainers agree is what we have to be doing.”

And he charged, “What’s radical is somebody like Susan Collins, who, for decades now, has made sure that we pass policies that are going to help corporations and billionaires to the detriment of working people, supporting over and over and over again, illegal and insane foreign wars. She voted to send me to Iraq, and now she continues to vote to support the war in Iran,” Platner said. “I’m sorry that I think is much more radical to the people of Maine than having a healthcare system that doesn’t collapse before our eyes.”

It’s been less than two weeks since Platner became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, and Republicans didn’t waste any time in taking aim at him.

A Republican group supporting Collins is already blasting Platner in a new ad over controversial comments he made over a decade ago on Reddit about women and rape and a well-publicized tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol.

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Among the comments is one from 2013, which Platner later deleted, that people concerned about rape should not “get so f—ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.”

Platner apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after they made headlines last fall soon after he launched his Senate campaign. And Platner has said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007 while drinking with fellow Marines stationed in Croatia. He said he covered up the tattoo with a new design after learning last year that it resembled a Nazi symbol.

The candidate said he’s not concerned about the attack ad, which is likely just a taste of things to come.

“The Democratic establishment tried to use all those attacks against me and failed miserably,” Platner said as he referred to a spot from the Mills campaign before she dropped out of the race. “Now the Republican establishment is going to try to use the exact same attacks, and that will also fail miserably.”

Platner insisted that “the people of Maine understand exactly what this is. They’re not happy to see millions of dollars poured into negative TV ads in a state that, quite frankly, could use million dollars of investment in lots of other things instead of just negative television. And I don’t think it’s going to work, because it hasn’t up until this point.”

And pointing to the Republican attack ad, he said, “We knew it was coming the whole time. Look, man, I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Somebody wants to say… mean things about me on television, I’m pretty sure I can handle it.”

Platner has also faced scrutiny for more recent Reddit posts, including one from five years ago where he described himself as a “communist” and “socialist.”

“You should read the comments in context. It’s very clear I’m joking,” he told Fox News Digital when asked about them. “It’s called s—posting. It’s when you argue with people on the internet and try to bother them. So, yeah, no, it’s very obviously not true.”

Platner was interviewed minutes after casting an early voting ballot in Maine’s primary and then holding an event near a gas station to showcase his newly released energy plan, which he says will help reduce people’s bills.

His proposal includes eliminating the national gas and diesel tax, a freeze on electricity rate increases and a fund for clean energy projects.

Platner said his energy plan is “very central” to his campaign. “I think energy costs right now are one of the things that are most damaging working families in this state. It is, in my opinion, essentially an existential crisis that we face.”

Democrats are spotlighting the cost of living as they overperform in special elections, which they hope is a prelude to winning back control of Congress in the midterms.

Republicans — as the party currently in power in Washington, D.C. — were already up against traditional political headwinds that typically lead to a loss of congressional seats. Add to that the challenging climate fueled by persistent inflation, rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

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Asked how she can overcome the blame pointed at Republicans over the high cost of living, Collins told Fox News Digital last week that she’s championed the low-income heating assistance program, which “helps low-income families and seniors stay warm during the cold winter months. I just recently made sure the final tranche of money was released because there is a lot of need in the state of Maine, and the cost of living is high here.”

Collins, who was interviewed at a food bank that expanded with federal funding the senator helped obtain, also emphasized her opposition to cuts “in food stamp benefits and in other programs that designed for low-income families because I know how important they are.”

FIRST ON FOX: House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., introduced a legislative package on Monday designed to improve transparency and security in campaign finance as a major Democratic payment processor faces scrutiny over foreign donations.

Steil’s package includes two bills: The Campaign Finance Transparency Act and the Preventing Foreign Influence in American Elections Act, Fox News Digital learned. The first piece of legislation would impose a suite of new transparency regulations on organizations that process political donations, such as ActBlue, while the second proposed law seeks to prevent foreign nationals from funding election-related activities through means other than campaign contributions. 

A spokesman for Steil confirmed to Fox News Digital that they plan to expedite consideration of these bills through the administration committee. 

“My investigation into ActBlue has demonstrated that the current campaign finance laws weren’t drafted for the modern era we live in,” the congressman told Fox News Digital. “The major gaps we’ve uncovered are being exploited by fraudsters and foreign nationals to make illegal political donations. For example, right now an individual could make a fraudulent donation online in someone else’s name and avoid getting caught. That’s an unacceptable vulnerability that bad actors are taking advantage of.”

DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT ACTBLUE ROCKED BY ALLEGATIONS IT MISLED CONGRESS ABOUT FOREIGN DONATIONS

ActBlue is under increased scrutiny from congressional Republicans after the New York Times in April reported, citing leaked internal memos, that the payment processor’s lawyers warned that it may have misled Congress regarding its efforts to stop foreign nationals from donating to American politicians.

“It can be alleged that ActBlue accepted and/or facilitated the acceptance of foreign-national contributions into American elections,” one memo reportedly stated. “In addition, because ActBlue’s staff was aware that its system was not as robust as necessary, it could be alleged that these violations were ‘knowing and willful,’ a standard that both increases the penalties the F.E.C. might seek and gives the Justice Department jurisdiction for a potential criminal investigation.”

Fox News Digital has not independently confirmed the content of the ActBlue legal memos. ActBlue has denied breaking any laws, saying that its statements to Congress were rigorously reviewed by lawyers before being submitted, and characterized Republican inquiries as partisan in nature. 

WinRed, the conservative equivalent to ActBlue, would also be covered by the laws if they pass. An Associated Press investigation in May 2025 found that Trump’s campaign reports listed citizenship as “verified” for two of more than 200 donors living abroad who contributed to him, many through WinRed.

WinRed and ActBlue did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday.

ACTBLUE SUES TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON, ALLEGING POLITICAL RETALIATION OVER DEMOCRATS’ FUNDRAISING

Republicans have long argued that making donations with gift cards allows individuals to more easily conceal their identities while making illegal contributions. ActBlue’s lawyers also claimed, according to the memos viewed by the Times, that the payment processor sometimes failed to collect verification documents from donors residing in foreign countries to ensure they could legally make contributions.

Steil’s Campaign Finance Transparency Act will, among other things, prohibit political donations made using gift cards, require the name on a credit or debit card to match that of a prospective campaign donor and mandates the verification of citizenship or permanent resident status for donors without an American mailing address.

ActBlue, according to a letter it sent to Congress in April, no longer processes donations originating from outside the United States. The processor previously prompted foreign donors to input their passport number when making donations using credit or debit cards, per the letter.

STATE CONSERVATIVES DEMAND ACTION ON NONCITIZEN VOTING: ‘TIME FOR CONGRESS TO LISTEN’

Conservatives have also, in recent years, argued that foreign nationals are influencing American elections in ways beyond traditional campaign contributions.

Steil’s Preventing Foreign Influence in American Elections Act seeks to stop foreign donors from funding election-related activities such as ballot harvesting, voter registration initiatives and the commissioning of polls. The law would also bar foreign nationals from helping to pay for the administration of state or local elections.

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ActBlue is fighting back against its conservative critics. The platform, for instance, sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is investigating it, on May 1, alleging that he is abusing his office by engaging in a politically motivated legal action against it.

The district judge handling the case recently wrote that “the court is tentatively of the opinion” that ActBlue will “likely to prevail on some, if not all, elements” of the first part of their legal complaint, which accuses Paxton of violating ActBlue’s First Amendment rights by allegedly targeting it for engaging in constitutionally protected political activity.

Alabama’s top law enforcement officer filed a Supreme Court challenge aimed at overturning a prior ruling that limited Republicans in decennial redistricting, after a recent Louisiana case raised questions about how the court previously ruled there.

Louisiana’s “Callais” ruling struck down the state’s map, including districts centered on New Orleans and a narrow majority-minority corridor from Baton Rouge. Alabama leaders said the decision conflicts with or calls into question Supreme Court precedent affecting their state by requiring racial factors to be considered when drawing congressional districts.

“Now they have a framework for Alabama to directly defend what the legislature did both in 2021 and 2023,” said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, telling Fox News Digital he was “thrilled” to see where the court came down on “Callais” at the end of April.

“And that is, drawing maps based on historical redistricting principles that now I think Callais makes clear were constitutional exercises of that authority,” Marshall said, highlighting SCOTUS’ analysis that race should not predominate when drawing congressional districts.

SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WAGE REDISTRICTING WAR

“And then unlike Louisiana, which was able to get direct relief through that decision, we now have to be removed from the injunction [against Alabama’s prior map] by the three-judge panel in order to either go back to the map that is being challenged or give the legislature the authority to draw a new map.”

A previous Supreme Court ruling, Allen v. Milligan, invalidated Alabama’s prior redistricting effort, with critics saying the decision wrongly weighted racial factors in creating what became a second Democratic-favored district in the ruby-red state.

If Alabama is able to get out from under Milligan, it could have national implications for Democrats’ attempts to gain enough seats in the slim GOP-majority U.S. House this fall, as Montgomery’s so-called Livingston map, originally struck down in the 2023 case, would see new life.

Marshall, who is also running to succeed retiring Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., this fall, said urgency before the court is important with the May 19 primary approaching.

 “Because the lower court’s injunction cannot stand in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, we have asked the court to lift the injunction. Alabama deserves the right to use its own maps, just like every other state.” 

The AG said he is working separately from state lawmakers, who are in special session through Friday to address the legislative side of the fight, and that his office is “singularly focused” on getting legal relief from the Supreme Court.

GOP SPEAKER CLAPS BACK AFTER BOOKER STUMPS AGAINST BID TO ERADICATE RED STATE’S LONE DEMOCRAT-HELD DISTRICT

He also said that, regarding race, the Alabama of the 2020s is not the Alabama of the 1960s and that there are few, if any, barriers to minority suffrage in the Yellowhammer State.

“You saw some of that sentiment from Justice Kavanaugh in a concurrence in the [Milligan] case that Alabama had there a few years ago, saying there’s a point in time in which we have to acknowledge that circumstances have changed,” he said, as the prior case forced Alabama to draw a second district where Black voters have a meaningful opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.

For Democratic critics like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who descended on Alabama to push back — as he did at a counter-redistricting forum in Birmingham with the city’s Mayor Randall Woodfin and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Jones — Marshall suggested they get their own house in order up north.

“[They’re] arguing for proportional representation, which is basically what they are saying, they make that same argument in Maine, in Rhode Island, in New Hampshire — where you don’t see a single congressional member there from the Republican Party.”

Underlining that New England states have large blocs of “unaffiliated” or independent voters, gerrymander critics often point to the region because those who are Republican essentially have no voice in Washington.

Maine is considered the most moderate of the states, with an estimated Republican bloc of about 30%, while Vermont’s more vague registration system resulted in about the same percentage of vote share going to President Donald Trump in 2024.

VIRGINIA CONGRESSMAN SAYS SPANBERGER WANTS TO ‘TURN US INTO NEW ENGLAND’

Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts all have between 10% and 40% Republican vote share, presuming a bloc of the “unaffiliated” group votes at times for Republican candidates. Those states have more than 40% of their people registered unaffiliated or similar.

Fox News Digital reached out to Booker earlier this week on similar criticism but did not receive a response.

Marshall said his work is not necessarily in concert with the legislature, but the two are on similar tracks.

“While we’ll obviously watch what the legislature is doing, our job is to secure the relief from the [2023 redistricting] injunction as quickly as possible.”

“And the other thing, not only are we working on the state congressional map, but it’s also, we have a state Senate district [map] likewise that was subject to redrawing based upon a [Voting Rights Act] Section 2 challenge,” he said.

His office is also involved in the New Orleans-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge the state’s senatorial map while seeking Supreme Court review on the congressional front.

While Marshall spoke to Fox News Digital before the Supreme Court of Virginia struck down the Democratic-led redistricting map there, he called Richmond’s move “clearly [done] for hyper-political reasons that kept none of the traditional principles in mind.”

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Alabama’s redistricting efforts have aimed to follow the letter and spirit of the law, and the attorney general said he hopes to have a real chance of receiving favorable corrective action from the nation’s highest court and remedying a fight the Yellowhammer State previously lost.

Secretary of State Wes Allen indicated the May 19 primary will go on as expected, meaning Marshall’s motions may come just in time to give Republicans another incremental advantage in a nationally relevant electoral landscape.

Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is facing social media backlash after saying during an interview he would support his underage son if he wanted to transition his gender identity. 

“Maryland Governor Wes Moore says he would let his son go through gender mutilation as a minor if he wanted to,” RNC Research posted to X on May 7, accompanied by footage of the clip.

Moore, a prominent Democratic governor who has repeatedly clashed with Trump, has signed measures positioning Maryland as a haven for transgender rights and gender-transition care. He was asked a hypothetical question regarding his own son during a discussion on a podcast with American businessman Patrick Bet-David last week. 

“Your son comes in saying he wants to transition, what do you do,” Bet-David asked Moore on his “PBD Podcast.” 

HOSPITALS WARNED THEY MUST PROTECT CHILDREN FROM CHEMICAL AND SURGICAL MUTILATION: HHS AGENCY MEMO

“If this is a journey that he wants to go down, um I want him to always be comfortable in his own skin,” Moore responded, saying his son would always have his “undying love.” 

Bet-David pressed Moore on the question, asking whether he would still support his son if he were a minor. Moore said he would. 

“I want him to feel safe in his own skin, safe in his own decision-making, but also know that, at 14 years old, I want to be involved inside of that process as well,” said Moore. “I’m not going to condemn him nor castigate him, I’m not going to kick him out of the house. I’m not going to do anything that’s going to hurt him, but I just want to make sure that I’m involved.”

However, Moore — a father of two children under 18 — said it would be “deeply unfair” to allow a child to go on puberty blockers, indicating he would not permit his own son to do so.

Social media commenters unleashed on Moore for appearing to support minors making life-altering decisions.

“That’s not empathy. That’s insanity. As a parent, you are called to guide your children toward the right decisions, not to affirm life-altering destructive ones. This speaks to Gov Wes Moore sacrificing his own child on the altar of woke transgenderism,” wrote Maryland Freedom Caucus vice chair Kathy Szelgia on X.

PARENTS MUST STAY ALERT AS PUBLIC SCHOOLS HIDE LIFE-ALTERING DECISIONS FROM FAMILIES

“There is a 0% chance he believes this. But this is how insane the Democrat party is,” said Outkick founder Clay Travis.

“This is the man trusted to run Maryland.  Just thought you should know where he stands,” write the account Blue Lives Matter.

“INSANE: Maryland Governor Wes Moore says he would let his 12-year-old son go through gender mutilation as a minor if he wanted to,” conservative commentator Steve Guest posted in response. 

“A child who can’t smoke, buy alcohol, vote and whose frontal lobe doesn’t fully develop till their mid 20’s is suddenly capable of rationally electing to permanently mutilate their body for the rest of their life,” wrote an X user. “Wes Moore has no business being an elected official.”

DETRANSITIONER CHLOE COLE SHARES COMPLICATIONS AFTER GENDER PROCEDURES: ‘I AM GRIEVING’

“Good to know that you wouldn’t kick him out of the house, disown him, or hurt him. Next Question: Would the administration of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones be hurting him,” asked another user.

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The administration has taken a very strong stance against gender mutilation and puberty blockers following an executive order last year.

In December, the Department of Health and Human Services rolled out a series of policy updates and regulatory actions that would effectively defund hospitals that provide gender transition procedures,

Fox News Digital reached out to the Office of Governor Wes Moore and the White House for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has introduced a resolution aimed at reversing the two impeachments of President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives in a move he says will rectify a situation where Democrats used “knowingly false” claims in a partisan attempt to destroy the president’s reputation. 

The resolution, H.Res.1211, referred to the House Judiciary Committee, declares that both of Donald Trump’s impeachments, approved by the House in 2019 and 2021, should be formally “expunged as if such Article had never passed the full House of Representatives.”

“The fact is that the Constitution doesn’t spell out what to do when you’ve wrongfully indicted somebody, an impeachment is basically an indictment and it’s an indictment that you can’t really be acquitted from, if you are impeached by the House, famously where do you where do you go to get your reputation back is the question,” Issa told Fox News Digital.

“And that’s sort of a problem that we’re dealing with, which is that the President was wrongfully accused, the evidence is now out that there was withheld information and false information, but where do we go to unring this bell? And the answer is we go back to Congress and we go to the House floor and we have a vote.”

GREGG JARRETT: LONG-HIDDEN DOCUMENTS REVEAL FIRST TRUMP IMPEACHMENT WAS A TOTAL FRAUD

“More importantly,” Issa explained, is that he hopes his process will “make sure that the facts and the reality that there was misconduct in the process gets a hearing” because that’s “really where this becomes a big deal is that we really have to make our case in front of Congress and in front of the American people.” 

The resolution makes the case that the 2019 impeachment was based on unreliable and politically biased information, pointing to newly declassified material that it says undermines the credibility of the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint triggered the inquiry. 

It contends the whistleblower lacked firsthand knowledge, was assisted by other officials with alleged political bias, and that House investigators mishandled or misrepresented evidence while denying Trump the opportunity to confront his accusers.

LAWYER OF WHISTLEBLOWER IN TRUMP IMPEACHMENT CASE SUES ADMINISTRATION OVER REVOKED SECURITY CLEARANCE

In a press release earlier this year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced the declassification of documents she says revealed a “coordinated effort” within the intelligence community “to manufacture a conspiracy that was used as the basis to impeach President Trump in 2019.”

Issa says the Democrats “broke every House rule” in their impeachment quests and a source close to Issa’s office told Fox News Digital that prominent Democrats have admitted in private that information revealed since the impeachments “reflects so poorly on the House” and “represents an example of what’s gone wrong in the Capitol and in Washington.”

The resolution argues that the 2021 impeachment was rushed and procedurally flawed, noting that the House moved from introduction to passage in two days and did not conduct a full evidentiary process. While lawmakers held a brief committee hearing with constitutional experts, the measure advanced without fact witnesses or extended investigation, which the resolution says denied Trump basic due process.

“They impeached him for essentially an insurrection, a true high crime, and it’s false,” Issa said.

WHITE HOUSE TORCHES DEMOCRATS’ JAN 6 ‘GASLIGHTING’ CLAIMS IN ANNIVERSARY TAKEDOWN

Previous attempts have been made to reverse the impeachments, including resolutions in 2022 and 2023, but never received hearings, markups, or floor votes, and died at the end of the 118th Congress. 

Issa told Fox News Digital that the previous resolutions were not written as strongly as this one and “didn’t have what we have” which is “the compelling case to say the misconduct of the accusation is now what we’re going to have on trial rather than the President because he was impeached with information that the very people who brought it knew was wrong.”

Additionally, Issa’s effort has the backing of one of the top Republicans in Congress, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan.

“Democrats weaponized impeachment against President Trump with politically motivated charges,” Jordan told Fox News Digital. “We applaud Chairman Issa for leading the fight to expunge this sham from the record.” 

The effort also has strong support from other House Republicans, including a list of over 20 cosponsors that includes: Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., Russell Fry, R-S.C., Mark Alford, R-Mo., Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., David J. Taylor, R-Ohio, Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., Rick Allen, R-Ga., Rich McCormick, R-Ga., Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, Mary Miller, R-Ill., Mike Collins, R-Ga., Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., Tracey Mann, R-Kan., Tim Walberg, R-Mich., John Rose, R-Tenn., Joe Wilson, R-S.C., David Rouzer, R-N.C., Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., and Ronny Jackson, R-Texas.

Issa’s resolution reignites a constitutional argument as to whether the House can retroactively nullify an impeachment it has already adopted. Supporters contend that because the Constitution gives the House the “sole Power of Impeachment,” it also has authority over its own records and can vote to expunge prior actions.

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Critics, including some legal scholars, argue that while the House can express disapproval or annotate its records, it cannot erase the historical fact of an impeachment or undo the constitutional process once it has occurred, making such efforts largely symbolic. 

“Our goal is to show that it’s false and it was maliciously false and as a result it should no longer stand as as a legitimate accusation to then be played upon when people are saying, ‘No Kings,’” Issa said.

“When you’ve been falsely accused, whether it’s days, weeks, months or years later, somebody should be just as interested in printing that retraction on the front page as they were in putting the original charge on the front page,” Issa explained. “And that’s what we’re trying to achieve, is to have the legitimate retraction receive at least some semblance of the same attention as the false accusations did.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

The partisan battle over midterm elections is heating up in Washington, D.C., with accusations flying that both sides are trying to rig the outcome in November. 

Republicans are trying to hold on to their majority in both chambers, while Democrats are trying to pounce on sluggish legislating, infighting and rising costs in their quest to take over the House, Senate or both. 

And President Donald Trump is already accusing Democrats of election interference months before Election Day. 

SCHUMER, DEMS LAUNCH ‘FREE AND FAIR’ ELECTIONS TASK FORCE AS TRUMP’S SAVE AMERICA ACT STUMBLES

“The Democrats are totally unhinged, and we will not allow them to threaten the integrity of our Elections,” Trump said on Truth Social.  

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats recently launched a “free and fair elections task force” that would recruit the likes of former Attorney General Eric Holder and Marc Elias, who Trump charged was “a terrible lawyer with a horrible track record.” 

“Palestinian Chuck Schumer is hiring Eric Holder, famous for handing guns to Mexican cartels under the Barack Hussein Obama administration, as part of a Democrat-led ‘Election Integrity Group’ that will no doubt try to suppress Republican voters, and interfere in our Elections,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Schumer and Senate Democrats debuted the elections task force as Republicans struggle to move forward on voter ID and citizenship verification legislation, and on the heels of the Supreme Court’s redistricting decision that is expected to further crank up the redistricting arms race across the country.

REPUBLICANS FAIL TO ATTACH SAVE AMERICA ACT TO PARTY-LINE FUNDING PACKAGE

“Donald Trump and the Republicans realize that if the election were held fairly, that the likelihood is that they would lose, and we would win, that we would take back the House, take back the Senate,” Schumer said.

“So they are doing all kinds of nefarious things, some of them legal, some of them not so legal, to try and overturn a fair result in an election,” he continued.

Schumer described the task force’s mission as seeking out “election threats,” including actions at the administrative level by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), attacks on the First Amendment, foreign threats and militarization of law enforcement at the polls.

Trump countered that in the 2024 election cycle, Republicans mounted an “Election Integrity Army in every single State to preserve the sanctity of each legal vote.”

“We will be doing the same again in 2026, but it will be much bigger and stronger,” Trump said. “All Americans should have their voices be heard by casting a vote. Be assured this Election will be fair!”

Its inception is in response to what Democrats say is a “comprehensive effort” by Trump and his administration to undermine the upcoming election, particularly through efforts to pass the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.

TWO DOZEN HOUSE REPUBLICANS GO TO WAR WITH SENATE GOP OVER SAVE AMERICA ACT

Trump has strongly pushed Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act, which would create federal voter ID laws, require proof of citizenship to register to vote and share information on voter rolls with DHS. Democrats say the legislation would disenfranchise millions of Americans.

But Republicans aren’t unified behind the legislation. The SAVE America Act, or a version of it pushed by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., failed last month when four Republicans joined Democrats to kill it.

He has also called on Republicans to nationalize elections, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin didn’t rule out sending federal immigration agents to polling places in the fall during his confirmation hearing earlier this year.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier this year pushed back against whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would head to the polls come November, and said “that’s not something I’ve ever heard the president consider.” 

“I haven’t heard the president discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations,” Leavitt said. 

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It’s part of what Democrats charge is a concerted effort to tip the scales in the upcoming elections.

“Donald Trump doesn’t think he did too much in 2020 to steal the election,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said. “He thinks he did too little, and so that’s why you are seeing, already, a comprehensive effort to try to rig and steal the fall election.”

Alabama’s Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation Friday that would demand the governor call special primary elections for impacted U.S. House districts if the Supreme Court allows the state to utilize district lines its legislature approved in 2023 but has been blocked from using.

The governor also signed similar legislation pertaining to state Senate districts approved in 2021.

“With this special session successfully behind us, Alabama now stands ready to quickly act, should the courts issue favorable rulings in our ongoing redistricting cases,” Ivey said in a statement. “I thank the Legislature for answering my call to address the issue in fast order. I am grateful to Speaker Ledbetter and Pro Tem Gudger for their strong leadership and focus this week. Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best.”

GOP SPEAKER CLAPS BACK AFTER BOOKER STUMPS AGAINST BID TO ERADICATE RED STATE’S DEMOCRAT-HELD DISTRICTS

A federal court on Friday denied an emergency motion for a stay in the congressional redistricting case.

“Quite simply, we do not have the authority to issue an order that upends Alabama’s status quo, especially in the middle of an election, while our injunction establishing that status quo is well under review in the nation’s highest court,” the order declared.

SEN TOMMY TUBERVILLE, MORGAN MURPHY: REPUBLICANS MUST WIN THE MAP WAR ONCE AND FOR ALL

The state is pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to take action to allow it to utilize the 2023 congressional map.

“I will continue to fight for Alabama to be able to use the congressional map the people’s elected representatives enacted,” state Attorney General Steve Marshall said Friday.

TRUMP CRITICIZES 2 SUPREME COURT JUSTICES BY NAME OVER TARIFF RULING

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“Alabama drew a map based on lawful policy goals, not race, and the Supreme Court’s recent ruling vindicates that approach. We were punished for doing the right thing, and we are asking the Court to correct that now,” the official noted.

Conservative House Republicans are escalating a fight over government surveillance as Congress reopens debate this week on a controversial warrantless spying program.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus are pledging to hold firm on adding a permanent ban on central bank digital currency (CBDC) to any legislation that reauthorizes Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). But the proposal faces widespread opposition from Senate Democrats and is viewed as dead on arrival in the upper chamber.

The cross-chamber standoff threatens to complicate Congress’ ability to meet a mid-June deadline to renew the spy law, which the Trump administration argues is a critical national security tool. 

“If the Senate thinks they’re going to keep rolling over us, it’s just not going to happen,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said at a news conference in late April, referring to the Senate’s opposition to including a CBDC ban in a FISA renewal bill.

SPEAKER JOHNSON ONE STEP CLOSER TO RENEWING CONTROVERSIAL SPY PROGRAM AFTER CONSERVATIVES FALL IN LINE

Both chambers in April approved a 45-day FISA extension to allow for more time for negotiations. House GOP privacy hawks objected to the short-term measure, citing its omission of a CBDC ban. 

“CBDC can still make it across the finish line. Let’s just push on,” the Texas Republican added. “The Senate will respond to the people if they push hard enough. I’m positive on it.”

GOP privacy hawks argue a CBDC ban is a critical privacy guardrail against the Federal Reserve issuing a digital currency that could be used to surveil and potentially cut access to Americans’ financial transactions.

“They don’t want the government monitoring their bank accounts, telling them what they can buy, when they can buy it and when they’re not allowed to buy,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., said at a news conference, referring to his constituents’ concerns about a government-issued digital token.

The group has repeatedly sought to add a CBDC ban to various legislation over the past year, but has not yet been able to get a permanent ban on President Donald Trump’s desk.

During his confirmation hearing, Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh said he would not issue a CBDC during his term, calling the proposal a “bad policy choice.”

HOUSE GOP SLAMMED BY CONSERVATIVES FOR JOINING DEMS ON CONTROVERSIAL ‘KILL SWITCH’ AMENDMENT

The push to ban CBDCs is part of a broader effort by conservative Republicans to ramp up their fight against government surveillance. 

“Americans don’t want Big Brother in their cars, their bank accounts, or their homes,” a spokesperson for the conservative House Freedom Caucus told Fox News Digital. “The gloves are coming off before FISA expires on June 12.”

Roy, the HFC’s policy chief, is pushing to repeal a Biden-era provision requiring a federal agency to draft a rule mandating impaired driver technology in new cars that could shut off vehicles if drunk driving is detected. The federal government has not yet moved forward with drafting the “kill switch” regulation.

“Do you really want to put that kind of data collection mandated inside every car? At what point is there just literally no privacy at all anywhere?” Roy said during a hearing in late April in support of adding a “kill switch” repeal amendment to FISA extension legislation.

GOP privacy hawks have also advocated for language that would add a judicial warrant requirement to the FISA renewal bill. While the law targets foreigners overseas using U.S. platforms, their communications with Americans can also be swept up and reviewed.

Privacy advocates in the Democratic Party have also long pushed for a warrant requirement to gather information on Americans.

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The Trump administration initially sought a clean 18-month extension of the spy law, but quickly ran into problems with a mix of conservative and progressive privacy hawks.

“We’re not going to pass something that’s a long-term, clean reauthorization,” Roy said. “I think that’s been taken off the table. We’ve demonstrated that, and we’re going to get reforms.”

President Donald Trump issued a lengthy lament for two of his Supreme Court justices’ $159 billion ruling against tariffs and likely “ruling against us on Birthright Citizenship” and showing “so little respect to our country, and its people.”

“I don’t want loyalty, but I do want and expect it for our Country,” Trump’s 545-word Truth Social post read Sunday night, showing his disappointment in Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. “Yes, I have another way of doing Tariffs, but it is far slower, and more laborious than what was just determined, in a close decision, to be ‘illegal’ or ‘unconstitutional,’ with three powerful, and highly accurate, dissents! Well, maybe Neil, and Amy, just had a really bad day, but our Country can only handle so many decisions of that magnitude before it breaks down, and cracks!!!”

“Sometimes decisions have to be allowed to use Good, Strong, Common Sense as a guide.”

TRUMP SAYS SUPREME COURT RULING AGAINST BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER WOULD BENEFIT CHINA

“A negative ruling on Birthright Citizenship, on top of the recent Supreme Court Tariff catastrophe, is not Economically sustainable for the United States of America!”

The birthright citizenship ruling remains pending before the Supreme Court, with a decision expected before the end of June or in early July. Trump has sought to end the practice of “birth tourism,” where foreign nationals have put their family’s stake in automatic U.S. citizenship of their children born while in the U.S.

“I choose people to help our Country, not to hurt it,” Trump’s post read, “and now, based on what I witnessed recently by being the first President in History to attend a Supreme Court session (Which fact was not even recognized or acknowledged, out of respect for the position of President, by the Court — Something which did not go unnoticed by the Fake News Media!), they will be ruling against us on Birthright Citizenship, making us the only Country in the World that practices this unsustainable, unsafe, and incredibly costly DISASTER.”

JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS: WE’RE NOT ‘POLITICAL ACTORS,’ NOT AN ‘ACCURATE UNDERSTANDING’ OF US

The Supreme Court delivered a 6-3 decision against Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) use of tariffs for national security and trade in late February. Gorsuch, Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts ruled with liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Only Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented against the constitutionality of using IEEPA to levy tariffs on foreign goods and countries amid multiple wars.

“I ‘Love’ Justice Neil Gorsuch! He’s a really smart and good man, but he voted against me, and our Country, on Tariffs, a devastating move,” Trump’s post began. “How do I reconcile this? So bad, and hurtful to our Country. I have, likewise, always liked and respected Amy Coney Barrett, but the same thing with her.

SUPREME COURT KILLS TRUMP’S ‘LIBERATION DAY’ TARIFFS — BUT 4 OTHER LAWS COULD RESURRECT THEM

“They were appointed by me, and yet have hurt our Country so badly! I do not believe they meant to do so, but their decision on Tariffs cost the United States 159 Billion Dollars that we have to pay back to enemies, and people, companies, and Countries, that have been ripping us off for years. It’s hardly believable!”

Trump added he was fine with the ruling if they had just not left the door open for companies to come back to ask for the tariffs money back, something the ruling did not expressly allow, but ultimately has forced the Trump administration to respond to.

“They could have solved that situation with a ‘tiny’ sentence, ‘Any money paid by others to the United States does not have to be paid back,'” Trump wrote. “Why wouldn’t they have done so?

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS WARNS AGAINST PERSONAL ATTACKS ON JUDGES AS ‘DANGEROUS’ AFTER TRUMP COURT TIRADE

“With certain Republican Nominated Justices that we have on the Supreme Court, the Democrats don’t really need to ‘PACK THE COURT‘ any longer. In fact, I should be the one wanting to PACK THE COURT!”

Trump suggested some of the conservative justices should follow the liberal justices’ political interpretations of the law on behalf of the people and ideology they represent.

“I’m working so hard to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and then people that I appointed have shown so little respect to our Country, and its people,” he continued. “What is the reason for this? They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to ‘almost’ the highest position in the land, that is, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.”

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“Democrat Justices always remain true to the people that honored them for that very special Nomination. They don’t waver, no matter how good or bad a case may be, but Republican Justices often go out of their way to oppose me, because they want to show how ‘independent’ or, ‘above it all,’ they are.”

Beef prices aren’t easing anytime soon and economists warn the pressure could last for years.

That’s because the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to its smallest size in 75 years, after years of drought, rising feed costs and an aging ranching workforce forced producers to scale back.

“The biggest thing has been drought,” Eric Belasco, head of the agricultural economics department at Montana State University, told Fox News Digital.

Years of dry weather have wiped out grasslands across the West and Plains, leaving ranchers without enough feed or water to sustain their herds. Many have been forced to sell cattle early, including breeding cows needed to produce the next generation of calves, making it harder to rebuild.

Drought quickly makes it harder and more expensive for ranchers to raise cattle.

As conditions worsen, hay production falls, feed gets more expensive and herd sizes shrink, according to data from the Kansas City Federal Reserve.

IN TEXAS CATTLE COUNTRY, ONE RANCHER WELCOMES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON DECADES OF THIN MARGINS

But even when conditions improve, rebuilding the herd takes time.

“The fact of the matter is there’s really nothing anybody can do to change this very quickly,” said Derrell Peel, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University. “We’re in a tight supply situation that took several years to develop, and it’ll take several years to get out of it.”

Peel, who specializes in livestock marketing, said it takes roughly two years to bring cattle to market, and several more years to rebuild herds, leaving little room for short-term relief.

TRUMP’S BEEF IMPORT PLAN IGNORES KEY ISSUE SQUEEZING AMERICAN CATTLE RANCHERS

And the supply crunch is only part of the story.

The U.S. beef industry is also highly concentrated, with four major companies—Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef—processing about 85% of the nation’s grain-fed cattle.

That dominance has drawn scrutiny from regulators, including a Department of Justice investigation into potential antitrust issues and pricing practices in the meatpacking industry.

Critics argue that level of consolidation gives meatpackers significant influence over prices, while industry groups say the market remains competitive.

Higher prices haven’t scared off consumers.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, the average price of beef climbed from about $8.70 per pound in March 2025 to $10.08 a year later, an increase of roughly 16%.

Even so, demand has held up. In 2025, shoppers spent more than $45 billion on beef, buying more than 6.2 billion pounds, according to data from Beef Research, a contractor for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

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Spending jumped about 12% from a year earlier, while the amount of beef sold rose more than 4%—a sign consumers aren’t just paying more, they’re buying more.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Sunday suggested Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., may have violated his oath with comments he made to a news outlet following a classified briefing.

Kelly told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation that it is “shocking how deep we have gone into these magazines” when asked if the Pentagon has updated lawmakers on the Iran war’s impact on U.S. weapons stockpiles. 

The senator told Brennan the Tomahawks, Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3), Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) rounds and Patriot rounds used to defend the U.S. have been hit hard, adding that it will take years to replenish those stockpiles, which could affect a hypothetical U.S. conflict with China.

In response, Hegseth questioned if Kelly, a former Navy pilot, violated his oath and said the Pentagon’s legal counsel will review his comments.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS PENTAGON FROM DEMOTING MARK KELLY OVER CONTROVERSIAL MILITARY VIDEO

“‘Captain’ Mark Kelly strikes again,” Hegseth wrote on X.

“Now he’s blabbing on TV (falsely & dumbly) about a *CLASSIFIED* Pentagon briefing he received,” he continued. “Did he violate his oath… again? @DeptofWar legal counsel will review.”

This comes amid a months-long dispute between Hegseth and Kelly over the senator’s participation in a video with some of his Democrat colleagues in Congress urging U.S. military members to ignore “illegal” orders.

The DOJ had opened an investigation into the video posted online featuring six Democratic lawmakers calling on troops and members of the intelligence community to defy illegal orders from the federal government. The lawmakers all served in the military or at intelligence agencies.

In addition to Kelly, the other lawmakers in the video were Sens. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, as well as Reps. Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Jason Crow of Colorado.

GRAND JURY REJECTS DOJ EFFORT TO INDICT DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS WHO URGED MILITARY TO DEFY ILLEGAL ORDERS

“This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens,” the lawmakers said in the video. “Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats coming to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.”

Grand jurors declined to sign off on charges against the lawmakers in February.

In November, the Pentagon launched an investigation into Kelly, pointing to a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the secretary for possible court-martial or other punishment.

Hegseth has censured Kelly and has attempted to retroactively demote him from his retired rank of captain over his participation in the video, which affirms that refusing unlawful orders is a standard part of military protocol.

But a federal court ruling blocked the Pentagon from demoting the lawmaker over the video. The court also found the Pentagon likely violated Kelly’s First Amendment rights, and those of “millions of military retirees,” when it formally censured him on Jan. 5.

Hegseth subsequently appealed that ruling.

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Last week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments and appeared largely skeptical of Hegseth’s attempt to punish Kelly for the video.

“I will not back down from this fight,” Kelly said after the hearing.

President Donald Trump had accused the lawmakers of being “traitors” who engaged in “sedition at the highest level” and “should be in jail” after the video was posted last fall. He even suggested they should be executed over the video, although he later attempted to walk that comment back.

Slotkin, who previously worked at the CIA and Pentagon, was targeted with a bomb threat just days after the clip and Trump’s subsequent statements suggesting the Democrats be executed.

Fox News Digital reached out to Kelly for comment.

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that five prisoners from Poland and Moldova were released from detention in Belarus and Russia following diplomatic efforts involving the U.S., marking a rare breakthrough in negotiations with the two countries.

The release includes Polish journalist and activist Andrzej Poczobut, whose case has drawn international attention and concern from European leaders, and signals a potential opening for limited cooperation between Washington and Minsk, even as tensions with Russia remain high and broader disputes persist.

“We just secured the release of three Polish and two Moldovan prisoners from Belarusian and Russian detention,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Thanks to my Special Presidential Envoy, John Coale, we were able to push hard to make this release happen.

“My friend, President Karol Nawrocki of Poland, met with me last September and asked me to help secure Andrzej Poczobut from Belarusian prison,” he continued. “Today, Poczobut is free due to our efforts. The United States delivers for our Allies and Friends.

SECRETARY OF STATE RUBIO HAILS RELEASE OF US PRISONER IN BELARUS AS CONTROVERSY HANGS OVER NATION’S ELECTION

“Thank you to President Aleksandr Lukashenko for his cooperation and friendship. So nice!” Trump added.

Poczobut, a correspondent for the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and a prominent member of Belarus’ Polish minority, had been serving an eight-year sentence in a case widely criticized as politically motivated.

He was arrested in 2021 after reporting on pro-democracy protests in Belarus, drawing international condemnation. Poczobut was later awarded the Sakharov Prize, the European Union’s top human rights honor.

POLISH CONSERVATIVE KAROL NAWROCKI WINS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TO SUCCEED DUDA

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski described Poczobut as both a symbol of the fight for freedom in Belarus and an example of Poland’s commitment to securing the return of its citizens.

The exchange was part of a broader series of prisoner releases negotiated with U.S. involvement, reflecting a recent thaw in relations between Washington and Minsk under Trump.

A spokesperson for Poland’s Foreign Ministry said the deal involved a multi-country arrangement, with three individuals transferred from Belarus to Poland in exchange for three sent in the opposite direction, alongside others released through separate agreements.

AMERICAN AMONG 3 DETAINEES RELEASED FROM BELARUS

Those freed included Grzegorz Gawel, a Roman Catholic friar from the Carmelite order in Krakow, as well as a Belarusian national who had worked with Polish intelligence services, according to Polish officials, who did not publicly identify the individual.

Earlier this year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko authorized the release of 250 political prisoners under an agreement with Washington that led to a partial easing of U.S. sanctions.

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Belarus, a longtime ally of Russia, has remained largely isolated from the West for years. Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than three decades, has faced repeated sanctions over human rights abuses and for allowing Russian forces to use Belarusian territory during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Virginia Democrats’ redistricting push was meant to lock in an advantage. Instead, it’s unraveling after a costly court defeat—triggering a growing blame game inside the party.

The high-stakes effort to redraw congressional maps, backed by tens of millions of dollars and significant political capital, briefly delivered a narrow on-paper win. But in a 4–3 ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the maps, citing legal deficiencies, and forced a redraw—wiping out those gains.

Democrats are left arguing over whether party leaders ignored legal warnings and pushed a strategy that was always at risk of collapsing.

DAVID MARCUS: VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS STEP ON A $70M RAKE AND NOW THEY’RE CRYING

In hindsight, critics say the outcome was avoidable. Republicans had urged an earlier court review before votes were cast and money spent, a step they argued could have clarified the maps’ legality. 

Democrats pressed ahead anyway, betting the strategy would hold.

“Violating the Virginia Constitution and bypassing the rule of law to further one’s own political power is wrong,” Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., said in a statement to The Hill. “Had [Democratic Gov.] Abigail Spanberger and the rest of Virginia’s Democrats succeeded, they would have caused irreparable harm to our democracy and disenfranchised millions of Virginians.”

Allies of Spanberger say legal concerns were raised early and not fully heeded, pointing to state lawmakers for pushing forward. Lawmakers and other Democrats counter that litigation was inevitable and the maps were defensible.

DEMS WHO RAN ON AFFORDABILITY NOW FACE BACKLASH AS COSTS CLIMB IN NY, VIRGINIA

The dispute reflects a broader divide within the party over how aggressively to pursue redistricting. Some Democrats argue such efforts are necessary to counter Republican-led maps nationwide.

“I feel like the system is fundamentally broken, but let’s be clear. Republicans began the redistricting arms race,” Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., told Fox News Digital in an earlier interview. “And so Democrats are left with no choice but to level the playing field for the sake of democracy.”

“Look, in a perfect world, we wouldn’t have political gerrymandering,” Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Texas, added. “But because we don’t live in that world, we’ve got to fight fire with fire.”

Others, however, are more blunt in assigning blame.

“I put this all on Democrats,” Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, said, arguing the party failed to respond forcefully to earlier GOP redistricting efforts and is now facing the consequences.

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The fallout is landing at a difficult moment.

A federal raid on May 6 on the office of a powerful state senator has added to a sense of instability, while former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder has suggested the turmoil could give Spanberger an opening to reset and impose discipline on a still-fractured political operation.

The episode underscores the growing role of courts in redistricting fights—and the risks of pushing legal boundaries in a high-stakes environment, with potential implications for control of Virginia’s congressional delegation.

In retrospect, even with the narrow 4–3 decision, it’s a steep price: roughly $70 million and much of Spanberger’s political capital spent on a campaign that won the battle but lost the war.

Democrats are left to sort out not just what went wrong—but who’s responsible.

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.