NationalWatch

A sweeping veterans package supporters describe as the largest expansion of veterans’ health care and benefits in more than a decade is expected to return to the House floor when lawmakers come back from the July recess, but backers warn the legislation could once again become collateral damage in the Republican standoff over the SAVE America Act.

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act rolls roughly 60 veterans bills into a package that would dramatically expand veterans’ health care and benefits. At its core, the legislation would cement veterans’ access to community care outside the VA while increasing benefits for combat-wounded veterans, caregivers and Gold Star families, expanding mental health services and enacting dozens of additional reforms.

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., told Fox News Digital he intends to bring the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act back for a vote as soon as the House reconvenes next week.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES DERAIL GOP AGENDA IN SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWDOWN

The legislation was held up last month after a group of House Republicans joined Democrats to defeat a procedural vote, stopping the House from taking up the bill.

“I’m feeling good as long as my members stay with us on the rule,” Bost said. “Right now, there’s some politics being played, not about this bill, but just in general.”

The bill became entangled in a broader House Republican fight over the SAVE America Act, legislation championed by President Donald Trump that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

On June 30, the House voted on H. Res. 1398, the procedural rule governing floor consideration of several bills, including the National Defense Authorization Act and the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. The rule failed after 14 Republicans joined Democrats in opposition, preventing the House from taking up the veterans package and bringing floor business to a standstill. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., claimed to have voted against the rules vote in protest against House leadership’s handling of the SAVE America Act. As a result, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson sent the members home early.

Bost accused the holdouts of effectively putting veterans legislation on hold.

‘IT’S A MESS’: GOP TURNS ON HOUSE CONSERVATIVES AS VOTER ID BLOCKADE STALLS TRUMP’S AGENDA

“They’re holding all bills hostage,” Bost said. “They’re not voting for any rule. Any bill that has to pass a rule before it comes to the floor—which this bill does because of its size—can’t move.”

Although Bost said he supports the SAVE America Act and has voted for it three times, he argued the Senate’s failure to act should not stop the House from advancing unrelated legislation.

“I agree with that bill,” Bost said. “But the Senate still has to do their work. We don’t stop our work because the Senate isn’t doing it.”

With 23 legislative days left in the Congressional session, Concerned Veterans for America Strategic Director John Byrnes, a supporter of the bill, said time is of the essence.

“There are lots and lots of things that have to get done,” Byrnes told Fox News Digital. “There’s also the National Defense Authorization Act, which is a must pass every year, so these things eat up time. There’s requirements to have debate on these, which eat up session time.”

Byrnes argued that every procedural delay pushes other legislation further down the calendar.

“This bill will save lives in 2027,” Byrnes said. “If we lose veterans because they could have had faster, better access to health care, we’re never going to get those veterans back.”

TRUMP’S SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWS SIGNS OF LIFE IN THE SENATE DESPITE REPUBLICAN REVOLT

But Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who also voted no on the procedural vote, told Fox News Digital that he has concerns about how the bill is financed.

“I appreciate what the chairman’s trying to do in some respects, but there’s a few issues,” Roy said.

Among them, Roy pointed to provisions offsetting new spending through changes affecting other veterans.

“You’re taxing certain veterans to provide some sort of benefits and changes to other veterans,” Roy said. “There are concerns about some of the pay-fors.”

Veterans of Foreign Wars has also taken issue with Section 108 of the bill, warning that it would codify changes to future disability ratings for tinnitus and sleep apnea to help finance other veterans priorities.

But Bost said this is inaccurate.

“No veteran is going to have their benefits reduced,” Bost said. “If you’re receiving a benefit right now, that’s not going to be reduced at all.”

Roy, who previously served two years on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said he supported a lot of what the bill was seeking to accomplish; but said other pieces of legislation are priorities, too.

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“There is a block of us for whom border security, the SAVE Act and demonstrating our leadership on major issues is critical,” Roy said. “Some of these other bills may or may not get hung up based on a desire of many in the conference to see movement on other things.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Luna’s office and the White House for comment.

Avi Loeb, the Harvard astronomer who was chosen last month by the White House to lead a UFO advisory council, believes he was brought on because federal officials are “baffled” by the many unidentified objects the U.S. military has captured over the past several decades.

Loeb, known for arguing that alien spacecraft may have already reached Earth, said his newly-formed team of more than a dozen scientists is combing through four batches of public UFO sighting disclosures released by the Trump administration in recent months.

His mission began in early June when an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) visited his home and asked him to form a group of experts to make sense of UFOs — now referred to by the U.S. government as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). This is an umbrella term that accounts for objects seen zipping underwater and in space.

“The U.S. government had me at hello,” Loeb told Fox News Digital in an interview on Saturday. “The fact that they are reaching out to scientists like myself indicates, in my mind, that they are baffled by what they are seeing, and they think that maybe it’s not human-made.”

NASA CHIEF CONFIRMS AGENCY HAS UNEXPLAINED UFO IMAGERY: ‘WE DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS’

Loeb’s council will report its findings to the UAP Governing Board, a recently-established body under the direction of ODNI.

According to the council’s website, Loeb and his colleagues will only be reviewing already-declassified materials on UAPs.

However, Loeb told Fox News Digital that he has asked the Pentagon and other agencies for 50 videos, images and other documents related to known UAP incidents. Those materials haven’t been given to him yet, with the custodian agencies citing national security concerns.

“It’s not so much the targets that are the issue. It’s that the sensors that were used were for national security purposes. The U.S. government doesn’t want to reveal to adversarial nations the kind of sensors being used. So that’s the main obstacle right now,” Loeb said.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON DARES GOVERNMENT TO ‘JUST SHOW THE ALIEN,’ AS DISCLOSURE FERVOR CONTINUES TO GROW

Loeb’s goal is to figure out whether UAPs that have been captured by the U.S. military originate from other nations or if they don’t come from humans at all.

“In the second case, if it’s not human-made, then that’s the biggest discovery ever made by science, and the U.S. government has the privilege of ushering in this new realization that we have a neighbor visiting us,” Loeb said.

Loeb sought to temper expectations, saying that many of the phenomena they are studying could turn out to be mundane. Often, he said, the strange-looking objects people see in the sky are merely space junk or broken satellites.

“Unless they maneuver in ways that cannot be explained by gravity, you should assume that they are space junk,” Loeb said.

DECLASSIFIED APOLLO MISSION UFO FILES CHALLENGE LONG-RUNNING MOON LANDING CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Nonetheless, he praised the White House for its push for transparency on this issue. In February, President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon and other agencies to declassify files related to aliens and UAPs because of “tremendous interest.”

One of the most important aims of Loeb’s council is to recommend better sensors so that the government can capture UAPs with more confidence in the future.

“If we are dealing with drones of some unusual qualities that the Chinese are using, it’s good for the U.S. to have better sensors that can help it identify those. Right now, they are reported as orbs. They may not be drones, but I’m saying that at the very least, we will help national security,” Loeb said.

Loeb’s remarks come after the Department of War on Friday released the fourth and latest batch of UAP materials to the public. Loeb commented on one of the most sensational releases from the first batch, which were photos from the Apollo 12 mission on the Moon in 1969.

One of the photos have five “unidentified phenomena,” but Loeb said federal authorities have now officially concluded that those blue flashes are most likely cosmic rays.

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Until 2020, Loeb headed up Harvard University’s astronomy department, where he studied black holes, the formation of the universe’s first stars and extraterrestrial life.

In 2017, when scientists discovered a remnant of a Pluto-like world in the Solar System, Loeb disputed those findings, arguing that the object was possibly a light sail from an alien civilization.

After this claim earned him widespread respect in the UFO community, Loeb founded the Galileo Project at Harvard to search for artifacts from extraterrestrial civilizations.

A Trump-appointed federal judge on Friday reluctantly dismissed the Jan. 6 prosecution of four Proud Boys members, saying the law left him no authority to block the Justice Department’s request.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice against Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola after a federal appeals court had already vacated their convictions.

In a seven-page opinion, Kelly said longstanding separation-of-powers principles leave charging decisions to the executive branch, meaning he could not require the Justice Department to maintain a prosecution it had decided to drop.

DOJ SEEKS TO VACATE JAN 6 CONVICTIONS IN SWEEPING MOVE TIED TO TRUMP ORDER

“Because the decisions to issue the Executive Order and to abandon this prosecution—even after the Government secured convictions for serious crimes relating to the attack on the Capitol on January 6—are solely the Executive’s, no one should mistake the Court’s granting of the Government’s motion for its agreement with those decisions,” Kelly wrote.

Pezzola, who was convicted of assaulting police, robbery and destroying government property, was found guilty of stealing a Capitol Police riot shield before using it to smash a Capitol window, creating what prosecutors said was the first breach point through which hundreds of rioters entered the building. He was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted on multiple other felony counts.

Meanwhile, Nordean, Biggs and Rehl were convicted of seditious conspiracy and several other felonies related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, including conspiracy to obstruct Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election, obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and destruction of government property.

FORMER INDIANA REP STEPHEN BUYER RECEIVES FULL PARDON FROM TRUMP FOR 2023 INSIDER TRADING CONVICTION

The Justice Department first moved in April to vacate the convictions and dismiss the case against the four men, arguing that doing so was “in the interests of justice” in light of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order commuting their sentences and issuing full pardons to former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio and hundreds of other Jan. 6 defendants. The D.C. Circuit had already erased the men’s convictions before returning the case to Kelly’s courtroom to consider the Justice Department’s request to dismiss the indictment.

“There is little mystery about why the Government is moving to dismiss this case, or whether dismissal is in fact what the Executive seeks,” Kelly wrote. “President Trump’s views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6—whether those views are based on fact or fiction—are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them.”

Kelly cited longstanding precedent holding that charging decisions belong to the executive branch and that judges cannot reject a dismissal simply because they disagree with the government’s reasoning.

LEGAL WAR ON TRUMP’S AGENDA GAINS FIREPOWER AS FEDERAL LAWYERS DEFECT TO DEMOCRATS

And because the convictions had already been vacated and prosecutors have broad authority to decide whether to pursue criminal charges, Kelly said he lacked the power to force the Justice Department to continue the prosecution.

“Indeed, it is hard to see how any course other than granting the motion in full could make practical sense. Denying the motion would not somehow revive the convictions that the Court of Appeals vacated,” Kelly wrote. “Nor would denying it mean a retrial would follow, because the Court lacks the authority to compel the Executive to pursue a prosecution, full stop—but especially when an executive order explicitly requires that the Government seek dismissal with prejudice.”

But Kelly sharply rebuked the actions of the Jan. 6 rioters, calling it an attack on the people, Congress, and the “Constitution’s mechanism to facilitate the peaceful transfer of power.”

“Moving forward, if this Nation’s experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people—no matter their partisan preferences—will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,” Kelly wrote.

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Tarrio, who was also pardoned for criminal charges stemming from his role in the Jan. 6 riots, celebrated Kelly’s dismissal on X.

“We took the worst they threw at us the raids, the solitary, the lies and we stood tall,” Tarrio wrote. “Trump dropped the pardons and now the rest is crumbling. Justice is SERVED! Proud Boys don’t lose. We WIN. This is OUR victory. THANK YOU PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP and all of you that fought for us!”

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argues that climate projections represent a range of possible outcomes — not certainties — and warned against labeling those who disagree with them as “science deniers.”

“When someone looks at 2050 or 2100 and they say ‘This is exactly what the sea level is going to be. This is what the temperature is going to be,’ it doesn’t acknowledge correctly that there really is a range from the optimistic to the pessimistic,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head told Fox News Digital.

Zeldin’s comments at the Great American State Fair on Thursday come as he was asked what climate predictions made during under President Joe Biden’s administration he believes have been disproven by new evidence.

BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK

Rather than take a the layup on the former president by citing a specific prediction, he argued that climate projections, especially those decades in the future, should be interpreted as evolving estimates that need to be regularly updated as new data emerges.

“Relying on present day facts rather than bad assumptions from the past is incredibly important,” Zeldin insisted.

“Every day that goes by we learn what the reality is at that point in the future, and we’re able to compare it to what the predictions are,” he added.

Zeldin emphasized the importance of hearing out newer perspectives on climate change, alluding to the idea that using both long-term forecasts and current real-world data can more accurately estimate the present implications and impacts of climate change.

BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK

He argued that people who disagree with these climate projections, which could possibly reflect outdated research or data, should not automatically be labeled “science deniers.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea that if someone disagrees with someone else’s prediction of exactly what the temperature’s gonna be in the year 2100, that all of a sudden that person is just automatically some science denier,” Zeldin said.

“Hear them out,” he advised. “Maybe they have an opinion on some other study that they looked on, or other studies they looked on, because there really is a range of predictions, especially when you look further in the future.”

BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK

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The Trump administration has moved to revisit several climate-related regulations, including efforts to reconsider the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, which serves as the legal basis for many federal greenhouse gas regulations, as well as other greenhouse gas emissions rules.

Since taking over the EPA, Zeldin has spearheaded re-evaluating the agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding and is revisiting a number of climate-related regulations adopted under previous Democratic administrations.

Graham Platner’s Senate campaign repeatedly ignored warnings from its own vetting team that he needed a more robust background check, a source familiar with the early stages of the campaign told Fox News Digital.

An in-depth vetting process could have saved Democrats a massive headache in one of the most important Senate races of the 2026 cycle, something that has led many on the left to blame Dan Moraff and Morris Katz — the political staffers behind Platner’s meteoric rise — for not doing their due diligence before putting him forward.

The source confirmed to Fox News Digital that the vetting process was largely handled by Moraff and Katz, who limited investigators to a three-day review of Platner.

PLATNER’S THREE-DAY VETTING JOB COMES BACK TO HAUNT DEMS AS RAPE ALLEGATION ROCKS SENATE BID

The firm that vetted Platner repeatedly reached out to the campaign, warning them that additional vetting was required as the initial review had turned up several concerning pieces of information that could lead to more serious issues — warnings that were ignored by Platner’s staff, according to the source familiar with the early stages of the campaign.

During the vetting process, campaign staff didn’t allow the individuals investigating Platner to interview him, the source told Fox News Digital. In addition to the vetting process identifying Platner’s Reddit posts, which the Wall Street Journal previously reported, it also turned up information that cast doubt on Platner’s blue-collar image, the source added.

ACTIVISTS BEHIND GRAHAM PLATNER’S RISE ADMIT VETTING PROCESS DIDN’T BRING UP NAZI-LINKED TATTOO

“The firm sent us a thing and it had some of the posts, but it didn’t have all of them,” Moraff told the Wall Street Journal in June of the vetting process, referencing Platner’s now-deleted Reddit posts.

Many of the scandals that went on to rock the Platner campaign — such as his DUI, his relatively affluent upbringing and Nazi-linked tattoo — were discoverable via public information and later reported by the press.

Platner suspended his senatorial campaign on Wednesday after an ex-girlfriend accused him of raping her. His withdrawal followed a string of scandals stemming from controversial posts he made on his deleted Reddit account, a Nazi-linked tattoo he acquired during his time in the armed forces and his alleged mistreatment of women.

He filed the paperwork necessary to officially withdraw from the election on Friday.

MILLIONS IN DEM AD MONEY VANISHED FROM PLATNER RACE DAYS BEFORE RAPE ALLEGATION DOOMED SENATE BID

“That’s odd … no one asks for, like, three days’ worth of research,” an individual familiar with candidate vetting told Fox News Digital. “It’s not unusual to have to rush an initial triage research product,” the source said, explaining that truncated background checks like that are almost always followed by “​​a comprehensive doc or a more thorough doc.”

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Platner’s campaign defended its decision to commission an abridged vetting process on the grounds that they didn’t have the financial resources to afford a more complete investigation at the outset. The campaign paid just over $6,000 for its vetting, compared to the tens of thousands of dollars usually required for a full background check of a political candidate.

Platner, however, very quickly became one of the strongest Democratic fundraisers in the nation, bringing in over $16 million in contributions between July 2025 and June 2026, raising questions as to why his campaign didn’t seek out a complete vetting once it had the resources to do so.

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Democrats in Maine are holding a nominating convention to replace Platner ahead of the July 13 statutory deadline to remove him from the ballot. Party delegates will vote to choose the Democratic nominee for the November general election.

The Platner campaign, Moraff and Katz did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Friday.

A bipartisan housing bill became law Saturday at midnight after President Donald Trump declined to sign it, capping a weeks-long saga over whether the president would veto the measure amid frustrations with Congress over his stalled agenda.

Trump refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — legislation aimed at expanding the nation’s housing stock and lowering costs — in an attempt to pressure Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, despite the housing bill clearing both chambers with overwhelming majorities.

“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, which is polling at 97% with the Republican Party, and very high with the non-politician Dumocrats,” he declared on Truth Social Friday morning. 

The Trump-backed election measure, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and impose voter ID requirements, has struggled to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. 

Meanwhile, the House has not passed a version of the bill that includes the president’s proposed crackdown on mail-in voting and banning men from women’s sports.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVES DERAIL GOP AGENDA IN SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWDOWN

Under the U.S. Constitution, Trump had 10 days, not including Sundays, to sign or veto the housing measure after the House formally transmitted the legislation to the White House in late June. The president ultimately chose neither option, allowing the measure to become law without his signature.

Though Trump declined to veto the legislation, he sharply criticized elements of the bill and argued it should not have been a legislative priority in recent weeks.

“It’s so unimportant … compared to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in late June. “I think the SAVE America Act is exactly what it says. It’s saving America from crooked elections.”

Trump went on to call the housing bill “a yawn,” adding, “compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”

It would have taken a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a veto — a margin the House and Senate exceeded when they passed the legislation. However, it remains unclear whether so many Republicans would have defied the president had he vetoed the bill.

Trump also appeared to criticize the bill over a provision restricting Wall Street investors from purchasing single-family homes — a policy he first proposed during his January State of the Union address and later urged Congress to pass. Trump previously argued the investor ban would give individual homebuyers a leg up against private equity firms in the housing market.

“I don’t want to hurt people that own houses, too,” Trump later told reporters, appearing to reference the provision. “These people, for the first time in their lives, they have valuable houses. They’ve become rich. I don’t want to hurt them either. What you want to do is what’s good for everyone, get the interest rates down.”

The law also aims to boost housing supply by streamlining federal environmental reviews, loosening rules around the construction of factory-built homes, and incentivizing local governments to modify their zoning laws to allow more housing, among roughly 60 provisions.

Trump’s souring on the legislation created headaches for Republicans, who touted the bill as an affordability win as voters grapple with high housing costs.

“It’s irresponsible to postpone signing the Housing bill due to the SAVE Act,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a retiring lawmaker who lost re-election to a Trump-backed challenger, wrote on social media. “We need to start delivering relief to people for the high cost of housing ASAP!!”

WARREN TELLS TRUMP TO ‘SIGN THE DAMN BILL’ AS BIPARTISAN HOUSING PACKAGE REMAINS STALLED IN WASHINGTON

Trump abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation at the U.S. Capitol in June with GOP leaders. The stage had already been set, with at least one senior Republican arriving unaware the president had called off the event shortly before it was scheduled to begin.

The president then declared he would not sign the legislation until Congress passed the SAVE America Act, despite Senate GOP leaders insisting the votes do not exist to advance the measure.

Trump has also expressed frustration with the Republican-controlled Senate for declining to weaken the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the upper chamber.

“GET SMART REPUBLICANS, IF YOU DON’T, YOU WON’T BE IN OFFICE FOR LONG!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

Before Trump came out against the bill, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “one of the most significant pieces of housing affordability legislation in American history” and said it included an array of policies “long championed” by Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump political operative James Blair touted the legislation for including the president’s Wall Street investor ban, which he referred to as a “signature commitment.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has argued that Republicans will still promote the landmark housing bill ahead of November.

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“We’ll still celebrate it, but he’s trying to make a point, and I think he’s making it very effectively,” the speaker recently told reporters, referring to Trump. “And the fact that you all ask me every three steps down the hallway illustrates that he has achieved the desired objective, and that is to make SAVE America the number one thing, because if we don’t get that right, everybody’s concerned about what happens next.”

Crews began draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Friday as the Trump administration launched another round of repairs following the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.

The latest repairs come after problems emerged shortly after the initial restoration project was completed last month, which President Donald Trump largely blamed on vandals.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department oversees the National Park Service (NPS), told conservative podcaster Katie Miller this week that the latest round of work had been planned and that crews also needed to remove debris left behind after the July Fourth fireworks celebration on the National Mall.

BURGUM CLASHES WITH CNN HOST, BLASTS MEDIA FOR QUESTIONING VANDALISM OF LINCOLN MEMORIAL REFLECTING POOL

“Drain the water, clean up the fireworks stuff,” Burgum said. “Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again.”

Trump ordered the restoration project earlier this year as part of his effort to refurbish the landmark ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The project was later beset by an algae bloom, and sections of the new blue coating began peeling from the bottom of the pool.

FORMER US OLYMPIAN DAVID HEARN PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN REFLECTING POOL VANDALISM CASE

Trump declared victory over the algae last Sunday, sharing photos on Truth Social showing the Reflecting Pool and its reflection appearing clear and blue.

Court records previously indicated the National Park Service planned to drain the pool again after the July Fourth celebrations to repair damage authorities attributed to vandalism.

According to court documents, U.S. Park Police responded to a report of damage at the Reflecting Pool on June 9. Investigators said caulk had been spread over foam sealant that had been cut with a “sharp knife or razor,” the newly applied surface coating had been damaged, and approximately 70 fence post caps had been thrown into the pool.

JIM ACOSTA CLAIMS DONALD TRUMP VANITY PROJECTS LOOK LIKE ‘END DAYS OF SADDAM HUSSEIN’

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty Thursday to damaging the recently renovated Reflecting Pool.

Hearn was indicted last week on a felony destruction of property charge following his arrest on charges related to a June 19 incident at the pool. He has denied damaging the Reflecting Pool, saying he stopped during a bike ride and touched a loose piece of the peeling blue coating “to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen.”

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At least three other people have also been charged with misdemeanors on allegations they removed pieces of the Reflecting Pool’s coating, according to online court records. All three pleaded not guilty during their initial court appearances Wednesday.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo, Ryan Canfield, Eric Mack and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The CEO of a popular U.S. gaming brand on Thursday was appointed to a high-level Federal Reserve task force despite ongoing fury over her company’s recent firing of 1,600 workers while being approved to hire thousands of foreign visa workers.

Asha Sharma, who heads Microsoft’s Xbox division, announced the layoffs earlier this week. Microsoft said that it will lay off 4,800 people in total, while it had been approved earlier this year to hire 2,273 foreign H-1B visa employees, according to data from U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS).

At the height of the wrath over the layoffs this week, the Federal Reserve moved forward with appointing Sharma to a newly-created advisory role within the central bank.

FURY ERUPTS AS US BRAND FIRES 1,600 EMPLOYEES AFTER SECURING THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN WORKER VISAS

Sharma will serve on a task force on “Productivity and Jobs” alongside Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen and Stanford University economics professor Charles I. Jones.

“The Federal Reserve’s commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor,” said new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh in a statement on the appointments.

“Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers’ means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon,” he continued. “I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution.”

Many of the same critics who raged at Sharma, Xbox and Microsoft over the perceived replacement of American employees with foreign visa workers continued their tirades after the announcement.

Microsoft said that 740 of this year’s visas were to hire employees already in the U.S. from other companies, while the other 1,533 were renewals of existing visas. 

TRUMP TAPS ACTING LABOR SECRETARY KEITH SONDERLING FOR PERMANENT ROLE PENDING SENATE CONFIRMATION

“It’s like asking El Chapo to lead the DEA,” one person said online.

Another critic said the Federal Reserve is trying to “incentivize” mass layoff of American workers in favor of foreign ones with their hiring of the XBOX executive.

“The Federal Reserve needs help firing Americans,” another person quipped.

A fourth person called the move “totally unexplainable”

FTC CHIEF ACCUSES DEMOCRATS OF ‘TRYING TO PROTECT THE FRAUDSTERS’ BY WITHHOLDING DATA FROM TRUMP ADMIN

Some have claimed a racial component to the importation of H-1B visa workers, the vast majority of whom come from India. Sharma has Indian heritage but was born in Wisconsin.

“Reminder that she had zero gaming experience when she was promoted to run Xbox, and she has zero finance or economic experience now that she’s promoted to advise the Federal Reserve, said one X user. “Her one function is to purge white Americans and replace them with Indian cheap foreign labor.”

The Federal Reserve did not return Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. 

Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday a large-scale investigation into H-1B visa fraud.

“Today, I’m proud to announce that the federal Department of Labor has started dozens of subpoenas and investigations into foreign fraudsters who are trying to take advantage of the H-1B visa program,” he said during a press conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it.”

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In response to a request for comment, Microsoft directed Fox News Digital to a post on X by a company spokesperson.

“The H-1B figures being referenced are Microsoft-wide visa renewals and new hire applications. They are not specific to XBOX and represent a small percentage of Microsoft’s overall workforce. And the majority of roles impacted were not American roles,” Frank Shaw said on X, adding that XBOX is the largest employer of American workers in the gaming industry. 

President Donald Trump on Friday warned Iran that the United States would “decimate and destroy” the country if Tehran carried out an assassination attempt against him.

“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president said he had already directed the U.S. military to be prepared to retaliate if Iran carried out an assassination attempt against him.

ISRAEL SHARES INTELLIGENCE WARNING IRAN PLOTTED NEW ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST TRUMP: REPORT

“Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran – PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!” Trump said.

Trump’s comments came one day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli intelligence recently shared information with U.S. officials indicating Iran was considering a new plot to assassinate the president.

Earlier this week, Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, that he remains Iran’s top target.

TRUMP SAYS HE’S IRAN’S ‘NO. 1’ TARGET AS RENEWED CONFLICT RAISES ASSASSINATION FEARS

“I’m No. 1 on the kill list for Iran,” the president said.

Earlier Friday, Trump also told the New York Post he had left standing instructions to strike Iran if an assassination attempt against him succeeded.

“I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with,” Trump said. “… The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”

TRUMP SAYS HE LEFT INSTRUCTIONS TO ‘BOMB’ IRAN ‘AT LEVELS’ NEVER SEEN IF HE IS ASSASSINATED

Trump also dismissed reports that Israeli intelligence had uncovered a new Iranian assassination plot against him.

“No, no, Israel came up with nothing,” Trump told the newspaper. “I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.”

The New York Times reported that following Trump’s trip to Turkey, the U.S. Secret Service recommended he travel aboard the older Air Force One rather than the newly retrofitted Boeing 747 donated by Qatar as a security precaution amid renewed hostilities with Iran.

The White House has not said whether the aircraft change was related to specific security concerns, but said the new Air Force One is equipped with advanced security features.

“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung previously told Fox News Digital. “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”

Iran has sought Trump’s assassination since he ordered the 2020 military strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

This week, mourners repeatedly called for Trump’s death during the funeral for Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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The comments also come as a U.S.-Iran ceasefire has unraveled in recent days.

Iran attacked commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz this week, prompting renewed U.S. military action, including a new round of strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure tied to maritime operations and other military sites.

Trump has since declared the ceasefire “over” and warned of further action if Iran continues its attacks.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the U.S. Secret Service for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

The Department of Justice sued Maryland over its sanctuary policies, accusing the state of engaging in an “active and deliberate effort” to obstruct federal immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Maryland federal court, comes after the U.S. attorney general in February 2025 ordered the DOJ’s civil division to identify state and local policies that provide sanctuary to illegal migrants. Since then, 20 other lawsuits have been brought, including against Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois and New York.

The DOJ’s suit against Maryland argues that the state’s Community Trust Act, passed this year, “jeopardizes the public safety for all Americans” by purposely thwarting immigration-related arrests and deportations.

“Federal immigration officers merely enforce the laws that our Nation’s elected representatives in Congress passed, reflecting the will of We the People,” Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement. “Today’s suit proves that this Department will never stand for such lawless action from blue state leaders.”

EXCLUSIVE: DHS BLASTS SANCTUARY LEADERS AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ACCUSED OF BAT ATTACK FREED FROM JAIL

The lawsuit also said that Maryland’s law violates the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which says state laws must be compliant with federal law.

DOJ lawyers argued that the Community Trust Act has led to local authorities not cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other immigration officers.

They pointed to an incident on May 29, 2026, when a warden of a Worcester County Jail told a detention and deportation officer that as a result of the Community Trust Act, his facility “would no longer honor ICE detainers, release individuals to ICE custody, or notify ICE when individuals are in custody and ready for release.”

“The facility denied a scheduled ICE pickup that morning and did not release the individual in question to ICE custody,” DOJ lawyers wrote.

DOJ ESCALATES BLUE-STATE ICE STANDOFF AFTER STATES REFUSE KEY FEDERAL REQUEST

The text of the law says Maryland correctional facilities may not transfer individuals into federal custody without a “valid judicial warrant.”

The DOJ argued that immigration law allows arrests through administrative warrants, not just through warrants signed by a judge.

Most local law enforcement officers in Maryland agree with the federal government’s assessment of the Community Trust Act.

WATCH: ANGEL MOM TURNS TABLES ON SANCTUARY POLITICIANS WITH BASIC QUESTION ABOUT THEIR PRIORITIES

In late May, 17 of Maryland’s 24 sheriffs sued the state, saying the law “interferes with the ability of sheriffs and local detention centers to coordinate with [ICE] regarding individuals in custody who may pose threats to public safety.”

The sheriffs claimed in a statement that Gov. Wes Moore, who was named in the lawsuit, told them during a phone call that he “was aware of the unintended public safety consequences this legislation could have on our communities.”

Moore did not sign the Community Trust Act, but under Maryland law, a bill approved by both chambers becomes law if the governor does not sign or veto it within 10 days.

Moore’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital that this phone call took place and that Moore “explained his rationale for letting the bill go into law without his signature.”

Moore previously said that despite the implementation challenges, the Community Trust Act keeps “local law enforcement focused on the work that has helped drive Maryland’s historic reductions in violent crime.”

A representative from Moore’s office also told Fox News Digital that the Community Trust Act allows local authorities to coordinate with federal immigration officers “when it comes to people convicted of serious crimes.”

Moore’s office declined to comment on the DOJ lawsuit but offered a statement attacking President Donald Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement.

“Maryland will work with the federal government when that coordination makes our people safer – but we will not let Donald Trump’s untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable ICE agents deputize our law enforcement officers to do immigration work,” the statement read.

The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown — who was named in both the federal lawsuit and the complaint filed by the collection of sheriffs — declined to comment.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) condemned Maryland’s so-called sanctuary policies and claimed that seven of the 10 safest cities cooperate with ICE.

“When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities,” DHS said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

DHS also said ICE officers “are held to the highest professional standard and officers regularly receive ongoing training.”

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DHS offered the names of five illegal migrants who were arrested in Maryland by ICE agents on suspicion of crimes such as homicide, sexual assault, incest, and drug trafficking. The agency did not specify when the men were arrested or their current statuses.

A senior official in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration planned to meet with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations before the State Department reportedly intervened, and the meeting was canceled.

Commissioner Ana María Archila, leader of the Mamdani administration’s Office of International Affairs, was scheduled to meet with Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, Tuesday, the City Journal first reported.

A U.S. official familiar with the matter confirmed to Fox News Digital that the meeting had been scheduled. 

TRUMP SAYS HE’S IRAN’S ‘NO. 1’ TARGET AS RENEWED CONFLICT RAISES ASSASSINATION FEARS

The reported intervention marks the second known instance in recent weeks in which the Trump administration has stepped in over the Mamdani administration’s contacts with foreign leaders, highlighting growing federal scrutiny of New York City’s international outreach under its new socialist mayor. 

The Office for International Affairs coordinates closely with the State Department on many diplomatic matters because of New York City’s role as host to the United Nations. 

Once the State Department became aware of the planned meeting, it was called off and State Department officials met with Mamdani officials to clarify acceptable conduct, a State Department official told the City Journal.

The Iranian mission declined to comment on the meeting to Fox News Digital. “That meeting did not take place, it will not take place and I did not know about it until there was a press inquiry regarding it,” Mamdani said during a press conference on Friday. 

Pressed on whether he supported such a meeting, he added: “I’ve said that that meeting will not be taking place. Thank you all very much.”

A State Department official told Fox News Digital in a statement: “We appreciate the mayor understanding the value of diplomacy, and for his decision to cancel this meeting. It is unconscionable that a New York City official would even consider meeting with the Iranian Ambassador to the U.N., a man who consistently works to undermine U.S. interests and whitewash his regime’s crimes against the United States, our allies, and Iran’s own citizens.”

Trump has repeatedly said he is “No. 1” on Iran’s “kill list,” and Israel recently shared intelligence with the U.S. president about an Iranian plot to assassinate him, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The reported Iran meeting would mark the second known instance in recent weeks in which the Trump administration intervened over the Mamdani administration’s contacts with foreign officials.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN CEASEFIRE IS ‘OVER’ AFTER IRANIAN ATTACKS TRIGGER MASSIVE US RESPONSE

In June, the Washington Post reported that a planned meeting between Mamdani and Colombian President Gustavo Petro was scrapped after State Department objections. Fox News Digital has asked the State Department to confirm that account.

Archila, the official who planned to meet with the Iranian representative, served as the co-director of New York’s progressive Working Families party prior to her appointment as commissioner. She had no prior diplomatic experience before taking the role, and in 2022 ran for lieutenant governor of New York.

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Archila made headlines in 2018 when she confronted former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., outside a Senate elevator after he announced he would vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

She identified herself as a sexual assault victim and asked him why he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh after hearing the account of Christine Blasey Ford, who claimed Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. Kavanaugh denied the allegation.

EXCLUSIVE: The Interior and Commerce Departments are scrapping a sweeping Endangered Species Act (ESA) rule that officials say past administrations “weaponized” to block energy production, logging, infrastructure projects and private citizens’ land use.

Officials pointed to several ESA-listed species they say triggered undue or burdensome restrictions by treating habitat modification as potential “harm” to protected species, purportedly expanding the ESA’s “harm” provision.

“For years, federal agencies abused the ESA to obstruct lawful land use and burden American families and businesses,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox News Digital.

“That approach turned routine activity into a regulatory trap, drove up costs that impacted people’s lives, and expanded federal authority beyond what Congress intended.”

BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK

On Friday, the Interior and Commerce Departments announced they are rescinding the ‘outdated’ regulatory definition of ‘harm’ and returning the Endangered Species Act’s interpretation to its original intent to end years of federal overreach.

The administration is relying in part on the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, which overturned “Chevron deference” and held that courts must use independent judgment when interpreting federal statutes rather than deferring to an agency’s preferred reading of ambiguous law.

The rule change therefore aims to align regulations with the “single best” meaning of a statute rather than letting it be “contort[ed] to fit a political agenda,” officials said.

LEGAL WAR ON TRUMP’S AGENDA GAINS FIREPOWER AS FEDERAL LAWYERS DEFECT TO DEMOCRATS

Officials pointed to the dunes sagebrush lizard, which the Biden administration listed as endangered in 2024, as an example of what they view as speculative habitat-based restrictions.

Officials argued the change led to unnecessary restrictions on energy projects in Texas’ lucrative Permian Basin, most recently depicted in the acclaimed Billy Bob Thornton series “Landman.”

Under Section 9 of the ESA, it is unlawful to “take” endangered wildlife, a term Congress defined to include actions such as harming, harassing, wounding or killing protected species.

TRUMP’S ENERGY INITIATIVES MAY FINALLY EXTRACT AMERICA FROM MIDEAST CHAOS

Federal materials tied the species’ decline to surface-disturbing activities, including energy development and sand mining, which officials and industry representatives say can trigger costly permitting and compliance burdens.

Officials also cited the lesser prairie-chicken, a grassland bird whose federal protections have drawn opposition from farmers, ranchers and energy developers across New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.

The fight over habitat-based “harm” dates back decades, including the northern spotted owl, whose 1990 ESA listing fueled a long-running battle over timber harvesting in the Pacific Northwest and was blamed for job losses.

A 2021 study in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management estimated the owl’s ESA listing reduced timber employment by roughly 16,000 to 32,000 jobs in the Pacific Northwest and northern California.

Timber interests and landowners challenged the federal definition, arguing that “harm” should cover direct injury to wildlife, not habitat modification that indirectly affects a species.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Clinton Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in 1995, upholding a definition of “harm” that included significant habitat modification when it actually kills or injures protected wildlife.

Officials say the change is designed to narrow the regulation after Loper Bright and prevent agencies from using habitat-based theories to block lawful activity far beyond what Congress authorized.

The agencies argued the previously broadened definition of “harm” became an unlawful intrusion on private property rights.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added that fishermen in particular have been burdened by the regulation for “too long.”

Returning the ESA to its original purpose protects both the environment and economic development, Lutnick said.

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“This administration is committed to protecting wildlife using Gold Standard Science, the law and the tools Congress actually gave us,” added U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik. “We can protect species and respect communities at the same time.”

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Administration officials stressed that core ESA protections remain in place, including prohibitions on directly injuring or killing protected wildlife.

The administration said the change is intended to reduce permitting and compliance costs while providing greater legal clarity for landowners, energy producers and developers, advancing President Donald Trump’s vision of domestic energy dominance and a regulatory state that works for, not against, the average American.

Graham Platner’s political collapse did more than derail a scandal-plagued Senate campaign in Maine. It also completed Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s public transformation from a Bernie Sanders-backed progressive populist to one of the left’s most aggressive internal critics.

Fetterman was among the first prominent Democrats to call out Platner’s mounting controversies, even as many party leaders continued backing the scandal-plagued candidate until a former girlfriend publicly accused Platner of rape, an allegation he denies. The accusation prompted the remaining pillars of Democratic support to collapse.

By Wednesday night, Fetterman laid into his onetime political ally Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in an interview with Fox News’ Charles Hurt on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

“The trash took itself out,” Fetterman said of Platner’s withdrawal, as Hurt asked who should be held most responsible for the Platner chaos.

KINGMAKER MAMDANI CALLS ON PLATNER TO ‘DROP OUT OF THE RACE’ AFTER RAPE ALLEGATION

“Absolutely, Bernie Sanders needs to apologize to the voters of Maine and to everyone that donated to that train wreck of a campaign,” Fetterman said.

Sanders ultimately called on Platner to end his candidacy after the allegation surfaced, but Fetterman argued the Vermont progressive owed voters an apology for helping elevate him in the first place.

“More than anyone, he pushed ‘P. Hustle’ into the election. And now he keeps pushing these Communists and these kinds of awful, anti-American people.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Sanders, Fetterman and Platner’s campaign for comment.

JOHN FETTERMAN’S FALL FROM HERO TO HERETIC EXPOSES DEMOCRATS’ HARD LEFT TURN

The comments cap a remarkable political evolution for Fetterman, who recently acknowledged he is more popular with some Republicans than his own party.

“For some strange [reason], I am more popular with Republicans, which is confusing because I vote in the 90-[percentile] Dem-line,” Fetterman told NewsNation in March, adding that he supports Israel and President Donald Trump’s “Operation: Epic Fury” against Iran.

Chris Borick, a professor at Lehigh University and former president of the Pennsylvania Political Science Association, called Fetterman’s change in relationship with Sanders and the Democrats’ progressive wing “dramatic.”

“As someone that follows Pennsylvania politics, I can’t find anything even close in comparison to the shifts that we’ve seen in Fetterman’s positions on an array of matters over a short period of time,” Borick said. “We’ve seen people switch parties, like Arlen Specter… but in terms of a quick departure on the most significant levels, Fetterman’s changes are without precedent in the state.”

Fetterman’s break with the left has not been limited to Sanders-world. In Pennsylvania, his increasingly independent posture has also put distance between him and parts of the state Democratic establishment, including breaking some partisan norms.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, who served in the Pennsylvania Senate while Fetterman was lieutenant governor and presided over the chamber, said the Democrat had “political differences” with him but was typically “gracious and respectful.”

He spoke of an interaction on the Harrisburg Senate floor when Fetterman learned Mastriano accrued a record number of ballot signatures to qualify to run for governor against then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

“Senator Fetterman came down from the rostrum, congratulated me, and said, ‘Doug, 30,000. That’s really impressive. Great job.’ It wasn’t something he had to do,” Mastriano told Fox News Digital.

“I can’t speak for Sen. Fetterman’s political evolution — that’s something only he can explain. But I do respect anyone who is willing to speak their mind, think independently, and put what they believe to be America’s interests first, even when doing so may not be popular within their own party,” said Mastriano, who said Fetterman appears to be “put[ting] Pennsylvania ahead of politics.”

Fetterman recently upstaged his home state’s Democratic standard-bearer, Gov. Josh Shapiro, by teaming up with Republican Sen. David McCormick to help secure a booth on the National Mall for the Great American State Fair after the governor’s office said there was too little time and too little vendor interest to assemble one.

Shapiro’s predecessor, Gov. Tom Wolf, with whom Fetterman served as lieutenant governor during Wolf’s second term, also appeared to have no love lost for his party’s new maverick.

“I have thoughts, but I don’t have to share them anymore,” Wolf, who has largely retired from public life, said in March of Fetterman’s job performance.

When the two were in office in Harrisburg, Fetterman was closely aligned with Sanders and rode a wave of progressive populism to the lieutenant governor’s office — which is a separate primary-ballot line from the governorship.

Sam Chen, a Pennsylvania political analyst and chief strategist at the Allentown-based Liddell Group, told Fox News Digital that Fetterman’s evolution from Sanders ally to critic is a significant one while questioning whether the Democratic Party’s political environment helped cause the break.

“Fetterman was really helped by Sanders — even in Fetterman’s first Senate run … and then against who we really thought was probably the frontrunner in Conor Lamb.”

“Sanders really helped put Fetterman on the map and helped get him over the top,” Chen said, calling the senator’s recent condemnation of Sanders his “biggest break” with the progressive wing.

However, Chen questioned whether Fetterman’s break with Sanders over Platner was less about policy than about judgment, character and candidate quality.

“I wonder if Fetterman would have had this position if Platner had all his policy views that he has now but there was no Totenkopf tattoo or allegations from women.”

During his 2018 lieutenant governor campaign, Fetterman touted Sanders’ endorsement as proof of his progressive bona fides, describing the Vermont senator as one of the few national politicians who had the “little guy’s” back. Fetterman was then still mayor of postindustrial Braddock, a working-class suburb outside Pittsburgh, but his populist profile was already drawing national attention.

Sanders in turn came to Pennsylvania to endorse Fetterman: “What John’s campaign is about … is that we are going to transform this country and create a government that works for all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors,” he said, according to PBS’ Philadelphia affiliate.

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Since his election to the Senate, Pennsylvania Democratic groups, including the Monroe County Democratic Party in the Poconos, have branded him a “traitor,” while Punchbowl described his current political standing as “tenuous” and reported that no member of the Keystone State’s House delegation would confirm support for a 2028 reelection bid.

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“Squad” member Rep. Summer Lee, who represents Fetterman’s hometown and is more ideologically aligned with Sanders, told the outlet the increasingly isolated senator would run “at his own peril.”

Chen said Fetterman’s progressive “bona fides” remain, noting he still is reliably liberal on LGBTQ rights, marijuana and abortion — adding that as mayor or lieutenant governor, foreign policy positions were a nonfactor. Still, he argued, the fight over Platner shows how far Fetterman has moved from the progressive coalition that launched him into national politics.

A federal appeals court upheld a controversial Illinois gun control law that largely bans assault weapons.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit decision issued on Thursday slapped down a district court decision that declared the ban unconstitutional.

“Among other things, the Act criminalizes the manufacture, sale, delivery, purchase, and possession of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. A grandfather clause permits preexisting lawful owners of the regulated items to continue possessing them,” the Thursday decision noted.

US JUDGE TOSSES ILLINOIS’ BAN ON SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS, GOVERNOR PLEDGES SWIFT APPEAL

“For reasons that follow, we focus on the Act’s application to AR-15s and thirty-round rifle magazines. The Act’s restrictions on these items, we hold, are consistent with the principles that underpin our Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation. Whether to adopt them is thus a decision reposed in our elected representatives, and we reverse,” the decision declared.

Chief Judge Michael Brennan dissented from the panel’s decision.

“Our Nation’s enduring traditions forbid governments from prohibiting firearms commonly owned for self-defense. Because the people have overwhelmingly chosen the AR-15 rifle and its magazine as their weapon of choice, they are protected by the Second Amendment,” Brennan wrote.

“Illinois’s ban goes too far and should be enjoined as unconstitutional. I respectfully dissent,” he noted.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat who signed the controversial law in early 2023, hailed the court’s decision.

DOJ TARGETS SPANBERGER, NEWSOM GUN LAWS WITH TWIN LAWSUITS AFTER SCOTUS AFFIRMS SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

“BREAKING: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Protect IL Communities Act. Illinois will continue banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines capable of inflicting mass casualties. A victory in the fight to end gun violence that helps keep our communities safe,” the governor said in a Thursday post on X.

State Attorney General Kwame Raoul also celebrated the decision.

“This is a win that enhances public safety in Illinois. We have seen the damage that assault weapons and large-capacity magazines can inflict, and these weapons of war have no place in our communities,” he said in a Thursday statement. “My office has successfully defended the state’s prohibition on these weapons in both state and federal court, and I am immensely proud of the hardworking attorneys in my office who have worked diligently to preserve this critical public safety measure.”

INSIDE TRUMP’S UNPRECEDENTED BATTLE PLAN TO EXPAND SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS THROUGH JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

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The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) was displeased by the decision.

“NSSF is a plaintiff in this case and plans on filing a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court,” the group noted in a statement on Thursday.

FIRST ON FOX: Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers made a $10 million drug bust on Monday during an inspection of a commercial tractor trailer transporting cabbage at the Pharr Port of Entry, a bridge near the southernmost part of Texas.

A canine inspection and nonintrusive imaging scan led officers to a hidden load inside the trailer, CBP said. A physical search uncovered 477 packages containing 1,173 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $10,787,500.

“This interception is a powerful reminder that our CBP officers are on duty 24/7, employing every resource to detect and deter those who attempt to exploit our borders,” Carlos Rodriguez, Port Director for the Hidalgo Port of Entry, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

CBP seized the narcotics and commercial truck. 

COCAINE WORTH OVER $1.1M SEIZED FROM ‘EMPTY’ TRUCK AT TEXAS BORDER

The haul continues to illustrate the smuggling threat faced by the country even amid historic investments in border security and record-breaking staffing levels at CBP.

Republicans in Congress have flooded the agency with cash through President Donald Trump’s signature Big Beautiful Bill as well as recent efforts to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the administration. The two bills included $64 billion and $26 billion for CBP, respectively. A large portion of the second bill is set aside for agency manpower.

SENATE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL IMMIGRATION FUNDING PLAN WITH $140 BILLION PRICE TAG AS GOP AIMS TO SPEND LESS

Earlier this year, CBP announced it had broken staffing records, reaching 21,471 officers — the most in the agency’s 102-year history.

At the same time, since the end of 2024, border crossings have fallen dramatically, going from over 144,000 encounters in December 2024 to just 13,500 in May — a 90% reduction.

Despite the heavy investments, CBP and other federal agencies remain engaged in intercepting more organized smuggling operations that threaten to bring drugs, weapons and people illegally into the country.

BORDER AGENTS UNCOVER $3.7M IN COCAINE MASQUERADING AS A CUCUMBER DELIVERY

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In April, for example, CBP announced it had prevented a car carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, 16 AK rifles, 24 rifle magazines, 16 rifle stocks, 20 pistol grips, and other weapon parts from crossing the border.

“The threat of illicit narcotics is constant, but so is our vigilance,” Rodriguez said.

The Trump administration released its fourth tranche of declassified unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) records Friday, including newly released military infrared videos and additional details about a 2015 unidentified object reported near the nation’s primary nuclear weapons assembly facility.

Officials said the latest release is part of the administration’s effort to expand public access to UAP records while protecting information that could reveal sensitive military capabilities, eyewitness identities or national security operations.

Among the newly released files is an 18-second infrared video submitted by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in 2025 showing an object officials described as resembling a six-pointed star.

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

The footage, captured by an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform over the Yellow Sea, shows the sensor tracking what the government described as an “area of contrast” while cautioning that the video’s description should not be interpreted as an official conclusion about the object’s identity or significance.

The latest release also includes a newly declassified Department of Energy report detailing a 2015 incident involving an unidentified object over the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas — the nation’s primary facility for assembling, maintaining and dismantling nuclear weapons. Portions of the report previously had been released in a more heavily redacted form, but Friday’s tranche includes additional details and imagery.

The release also includes a 1-minute, 46-second infrared video submitted by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in 2024 that shows a military sensor tracking an elongated area of contrast. As the sensor zooms in, the object appears as a line of several points moving across the field of view before becoming less distinct as it recedes into the distance. Officials cautioned that the video’s description should not be interpreted as an official conclusion about the object’s identity or significance.

Another newly released Navy “Range Fouler Debrief” — a standardized report used to document unauthorized intrusions into military training airspace — describes a military operator observing a “quite small” object with a metallic appearance and reflective underside that continued traveling in a constant direction. The report cautions that the descriptions reflect the observer’s impressions at the time and are not definitive assessments of the object’s characteristics.

PENTAGON FILES REVEAL AGENTS’ REPORTS OF ‘ORBS LAUNCHING ORBS’ NEAR SENSITIVE US SECURITY SITE

The release also features additional infrared videos submitted by U.S. Central Command, the Air Force and Indo-Pacific Command. One 2024 video shows what appears to be an elongated area of contrast that later resembles a line of multiple bright points as the military sensor tracks it. Another 2023 video captures two areas of contrast crossing the sensor’s field of view in opposite directions.

In at least one case, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office included technical context alongside the footage, noting that apparent flickering in a 2019 Air Force infrared video could result from the sensor’s automatic contrast adjustments when tracking an object whose temperature closely matched its background.

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Congress established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office in 2022 to investigate reports of unidentified objects across air, sea, space and other domains, with a focus on determining whether incidents could pose flight safety or national security risks. The office is tasked with assessing whether sightings can be attributed to foreign adversaries, classified U.S. programs or conventional explanations before labeling them unresolved.

The latest release is the fourth tranche in a series that is part of President Donald Trump‘s directive to expand public access to UAP records, adding that redactions were limited to protecting eyewitness identities, sensitive military locations and unrelated government facilities.

Graham Platner the embattled Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, on Friday publicly released the letter formally withdrawing from the U.S. Senate race, thanking supporters before signing off with, “F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.”

Platner posted the July 10 letter on X after submitting it to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections.

“I write to formally withdraw my candidacy for United States Senate,” Platner wrote.

THE DOZEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S BALANCE OF POWER

The letter thanked the 156,084 Mainers who voted for him in last month’s Democratic primary and argued they had backed “a new kind of politics” focused on issues including Medicare for All, stronger unions and limiting the influence of billionaires in politics.

“My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine,” Platner wrote. “As such, please consider this notice as my official withdrawal from consideration for this office.”

Platner concluded the letter by writing, “F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.”

The letter comes two days after Platner announced he was suspending his campaign amid mounting controversies and allegations of sexual misconduct that he has repeatedly denied, and a chorus of calls from top Democrats in Maine, the nation’s capital, and across the country to drop out of the race immediately.

It also came three days before a crucial 5 p.m. Monday deadline. Missing it would have prevented Maine Democrats from replacing Platner with a new nominee on the general election ballot.

A populist Democrat who was backed last September by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders, Platner was challenging longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a high-profile, combustible and expensive race in Maine, which is one of a handful that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in November’s midterm elections.

“For the movement to continue, it can’t be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said on Wednesday in a video posted to social media.

The end of his campaign came a month after Platner won a landslide victory in Maine’s June 9 Democratic Senate primary, but just days after an explosive report contained an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated.

Maine resident Jenny Racicot told CNN “by dictionary definition” Platner “raped” her. She also said over the course of three interviews with Politico that Platner forced her to have sex five years ago against her will, a claim that he denied.

Platner this week was hit with a second explosive allegation of sexual misconduct. In a report published by The Washington Post, Platner was accused of removing condoms during sex with his ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield after she explicitly directed him to wear them.

Fifield had previously accused Platner in a New York Times report of physical misconduct during their relationship, saying that he sometimes grabbed her hard enough to leave marks on her body and that one time he twisted her arm around her back, pushed her into a bedroom and held the door shut until she “calmed down.”

The Platner campaign responded that Fifield’s latest allegations were “categorically false and politically motivated,” pointing to her previous work for the conservative Heritage Foundation.

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Addressing the multiple allegations in his video announcement, a visibly angry Platner charged, “This is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It is not real.”

The Marine Corps combat veteran and oyster farmer became the all-but-certain party nominee in the spring after two-term Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and the party establishment, suspended her bid after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling.

But as he moved towards capturing the nomination, Platner was forced to play defense amid multiple controversies that muddied the final days of his primary campaign and overshadowed his victory.

Past inflammatory online comments made on a now-deleted Reddit account came back to haunt him at the same time he was reeling from revelations of a now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol. Then reports that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married came right before allegations from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes.

Platner repeatedly called the allegations of violence untrue.

The mounting controversy drew plenty of attention, gave Republicans more ammunition to use against him and triggered some Democrats in the nation’s capital to question whether Platner was damaged goods.

But the allegations didn’t stop him from riding a populist wave to capture the nomination in a landslide.

SCANDAL-PLAGUED PLATNER CAPTURES DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINATION DESPITE MOUNTING CONTROVERSIES

Platner, who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his three tours in the war in Iraq with the Marines and one tour with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after some of them made headlines after he launched his Senate campaign.

In his primary night victory speech last month, Platner emphasized that he was a changed man.

“If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,” Platner told the crowd. “And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it.”

After the latest allegations went viral last week, a growing chorus of Democrats called on Platner to quit the race, from establishment figures like Schumer to progressives among his biggest backers, including Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, Calif., who campaigned with Platner in Maine in June.

The Maine Democratic Party announced earlier this week that officials were working “around the clock” to determine a replacement process, but claimed Platner’s team was trying “to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.”

Platner’s team, responding, said they had reached out to the party but denied they were trying to put any “finger on the scale.”

A day later, the state party announced it would hold a nominating convention, which Fox News Digital confirmed would likely consist of 600 voting delegates, to choose a new Senate nominee.

That didn’t appear to sit well with Platner, who in his video said, “What comes next needs to come from the people. Needs to come from the people of Maine. Needs to come from the voters who on June 9….said no to this kind of politics. Voted for a politics that would actually represent them. Vote against the political system. Against the donor class. Against the entrenched forces.”

Platner, who ran an outsider campaign, said that if he had continued his bid, he’d lose the ability to raise money and access crucial voter data, essential elements to any campaign.

“Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all the things that we need to run a campaign,” he charged.

Since Wednesday’s announcement, a slew of Democrats have jumped into the race to succeed Platner as the party’s Senate nominee.

The list includes three gubernatorial contenders who came up short in last month’s primary: progressive Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president who was also backed by Sanders; Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.

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Collins, a moderate Republican who at times votes against President Donald Trump’s agenda, is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate.

Republicans currently control the chamber 53-47 and flipping the Senate seat in left-leaning Maine is a key part of the Democrats’ path to retake the majority.

In a series of sweeping nationwide operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Thursday arrested some of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens convicted of heinous crimes.

Among those captured was Jose Solorzano-Felix, of Mexico, who was apprehended in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Solorzano-Felix was previously convicted for the attempted murder of a federal law enforcement officer, use of a firearm during and in the commission of a felony, and being an illegal immigrant in possession of a handgun.

ICE NABS ILLEGAL ALIENS CONVICTED OF CHILD SEX CRIMES AND METH TRAFFICKING IN NATIONWIDE ENFORCEMENT SWEEP

In Santa Clara, California, ICE agents took Paulino Lugos-Perez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, into custody following his conviction for lewd or lascivious acts with a child.

Meanwhile, in Forsyth County, North Carolina, authorities arrested Adrian Valdez-Lopez, a Mexican national convicted of second-degree forcible rape.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SOCCER COACH WHO USED ALCOHOL AND DRUGS TO SEXUALLY ABUSE KIDS LEARNS FATE

The crackdown also targeted violent gang affiliates, resulting in the Pasadena, California, arrest of Edgar Josue Centeno, a Honduran national and member of the Latin Kings gang convicted of assault with a deadly weapon.

In Mineola, New York, agents arrested Rodolfo Umana, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who had been convicted of burglary.

“Yesterday, the brave men and women of ICE risked their lives to arrest illegal criminal aliens convicted for attempted murder of a federal law enforcement officer, lewd or lascivious acts with a child, rape, assault with a deadly weapon, and burglary,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acting assistant Secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement.

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The arrests represent a targeted effort to remove dangerous illegal immigrants from the country, with Bis emphasizing that under President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, “ICE will continue to arrest and remove these public safety threats from our communities.”

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DHS said nearly 70% of ICE arrests are those of illegal immigrants who have already been charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.

“Thanks to our ICE law enforcement, our communities are safer,” Bis wrote.

President Donald Trump said he has left behind instructions to strike Iran should Tehran succeed in its attempts to assassinate him.

“I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with,” he told the New York Post on Friday. “… The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”

Trump said that Tehran has wanted him dead for some time, noting that there were no new plans to kill him amid recent reports that Israel flagged an Iranian plot to take him out, the newspaper reported.

ISRAEL SHARES INTELLIGENCE WARNING IRAN PLOTTED NEW ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST TRUMP: REPORT

“No, no, Israel came up with nothing,” Trump said. “I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.”

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

Iran has sought Trump’s assassination after he ordered a 2020 strike that took out Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Most recently, mourners called for his death during the funeral for Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

TRUMP CALLS TERRORIST IRANIAN A ‘CANCER.’ IS HE FINALLY THE ONE TO REMOVE IT?

“I swear by the blood of the Supreme Leader, Trump, we will kill you!” they shouted, with women holding up placards reading “Kill Trump.”

Domestically, Trump has been the target of assassination plots in the United States. In July 2024, a bullet grazed his ear when a shooter opened fire on him during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to escalate after Trump called off a ceasefire after Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz this week.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks,'” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. “We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

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Trump noted Iran’s ambitions to target him during a press conference this week at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.

“They had leaders, they’re gone. Then they had another set of leaders, they’re gone,” he said. “Now they have another set of leaders — they may be gone, who knows? And you know what? I may be gone too. Because I’m their No. 1 target — it’s out all over the place. Because they’re scum.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum vowed to pursue “significant legal measures” against the United States after a Mexican national was fatally shot during an ICE operation in Texas.

Mexican officials counted 17 cases of Mexican nationals who have died in U.S. immigration custody, while Sheinbaum focused on Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, an illegal migrant who has lived in the United States for decades.

DHS officials claimed Araujo was the subject of an ICE arrest operation when an agent shot him in self-defense because he allegedly ignored orders and allegedly attempted to ram the agent.

ICE SAYS OFFICER SHOT AND KILLED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WHO TRIED TO RAM HIM WITH CAR IN HOUSTON

During Sheinbaum’s daily “Mañanera del Pueblo” press availability in Mexico City, she laid out her planned escalation of objections against U.S. immigration enforcement’s behavior.

“Our goal is to go beyond diplomatic notes and the representations we made to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. We cannot tolerate the mistreatment of our fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters, in the United States. So, we are proposing further measures,” Sheinbaum said in Spanish.

Sheinbaum said the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs will present the measures to Washington, and commented on Araujo’s death.

ICE AGENTS IN FATAL HOUSTON SHOOTING WERE NOT WEARING BODY CAMERAS, SOURCES SAY

“This occurred in the context of detention, even though their only offense was lacking documentation — and this despite having been hired by a U.S. company.”

She said the U.S. has no reason to hold people like Araujo in detention or allegedly “subject [them] to violence.”

“We are therefore preparing, obviously, more significant legal measures.”

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On Thursday, Mexican Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco said he is requesting criminal charges be brought in connection with the 17 Mexican nationals who died in U.S. custody, according to the AP, which reported the requests will be sent to the Justice Department and various state attorneys general.

Multiple reports suggested Sheinbaum’s demands would have no legal effect in U.S. courts.

Mexico City has claimed 14 of the 17 died in custody while three have been killed during active DHS operations, according to the outlet.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department and DHS for comment. The White House directed Fox News Digital to DHS.

Araujo, 52, was reportedly transporting workers to a jobsite for a homebuilding company in the Magnolia Park section of Houston.

As critics disputed the government’s recounting of events, objections arose over the lack of bodycams on the agents on-scene.

A DHS spokesperson defended the agents, telling Fox News they had not been issued body-worn cameras because of the repercussions of the Democrat-backed agency shutdown earlier this year.

“The process of purchasing and issuing body-worn cameras to all of our ICE field offices was interrupted by the Democrats multiple government shutdowns. Body cameras have been deployed to more than half the field offices, with the remaining half to receive them in the next 60 days,” a spokesperson said, while noting a 1,300% increase in assaults against agents during the same period.

Meanwhile, advocacy group Voto Latino condemned the Araujo incident, saying that the Mexican national should still be alive.

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“His story is the embodiment of what it means to seek the American Dream — the same dream that drives so many of us to call this nation home. Lorenzo called the United States home for nearly 35 years, and his family deserves immediate answers that come from a completely independent process, not from the very agency that upended their lives,” Voto Latino executive director Beatriz Lopez said in a statement, which also called for Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s resignation.

Asked about Sheinbaum’s warning, an ICE spokesperson defended the agency and the accounting of events depicting Araujo as trying to hit an agent.

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“[He] refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense,” the spokesperson said.

“DHS-OIG is leading an investigation into the agent-involved shooting. FBI Houston is leading an investigation into the potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer. This is a developing situation, and we will update the public when more information is available.”

Fox News’ Brooke Taylor and The Associated Press contributed to this report.