NationalWatch

The Supreme Court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency law to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, delivering a blow to the president in a case centered on one of his signature economic policies — one he characterized as “life or death” for the U.S. economy.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices invalidated Trump’s tariffs. 

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in November in the case, which centered on Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to enact his “Liberation Day” tariffs on most countries, including a 10% global tariff and a set of higher, so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on certain nations.

In April, Trump declared the U.S. trade deficit a “national emergency,” and lawyers for the administration have cited that declaration as the legal basis for invoking IEEPA, which allows the president to respond to “unusual and extraordinary threats” when a national emergency has been declared.

BATTLEGROND STATES SHOULDER BURDEN OF TRUMP’S TARIFFS AS MIDTERM MESSAGING RAMPS UP

The high court agreed to take up the case last fall after lower courts, including the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, blocked Trump’s attempt to use IEEPA to enact import duties.

Lower courts pressed the Justice Department to explain why Trump invoked IEEPA when other, more narrowly tailored statutes enacted by Congress more specifically address tariffs — including laws that cap tariffs at certain levels or set timeframes subject to congressional review.

The law authorizes the president to “regulate … importation” during a declared national emergency, but it does not mention the word “tariffs” — an omission that was at the heart of the hours-long arguments before the high court in November.

During oral arguments in November, justices pressed administration lawyers on whether IEEPA applies to tariffs or taxation powers and what guardrails — if any — would limit the executive branch should the high court rule in Trump’s favor.

TRUMP DENOUNCES COURT’S ‘POLITICAL’ TARIFF DECISION, CALLS ON SUPREME COURT TO ACT QUICKLY

In arguments, lawyers for the administration told justices that IEEPA allows a president to “regulate” “importation” of goods, which they said is the practical equivalent of a tariff.

But justices, including Trump’s conservative appointees, appeared skeptical, pressing the administration on whether there has “ever been another instance in which a statute has used that language to confer the power” Trump seeks.

Other conservative justices questioned whether an “economic equivalent” to tariffs — such as sanctions, embargoes, licenses and quotas — could be used by the president under the law.

Lawyers for the Trump administration have argued in lower courts that the IEEPA allows a president to act in response to “unusual and extraordinary threats” and in cases where a national emergency has been declared.

TRUMP TARIFF PLAN FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE AS COURT BATTLES INTENSIFY

Trump has claimed that deep and “sustained” trade deficits amount to a national emergency that is sufficient to trigger his executive powers under the emergency law.

The Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to allow the tariffs to remain in place, warning that denying Trump the tariff authority under IEEPA “would expose our nation to trade retaliation without effective defenses.”

Plaintiffs countered that in the 50 years since its passage, the law has never been used by a president to impose tariffs. They also argued that, by the administration’s own admission, the trade deficit cited by Trump has persisted for nearly 50 years — a fact they said undermines his claim that there is an “unusual and extraordinary” trade emergency.

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They argued that authorizing Trump’s use of IEEPA to continue his universal tariffs would drastically expand executive power at the expense of the other branches of government.

Judges on a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of International Trade voted unanimously earlier this year to block Trump’s tariffs from taking effect, ruling that as commander in chief, Trump does not have “unbounded authority” to impose tariffs under the emergency law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit also rejected the administration’s use of IEEPA.

The U.S. military has assembled one of its most substantial concentrations of naval and air power in the Middle East in decades, a force built near Iran not for a limited strike, but for sustained combat operations if ordered. 

While diplomats in Geneva trade proposals, the Pentagon has moved beyond a “show of force” to an operational footing that represents the largest concentration of U.S. air power in the region since the Iraq War.

Two-carrier war

Two carrier strike groups now anchor the alignment.

The USS Abraham Lincoln is operating in the Arabian Sea, supported by Arleigh Burke–class destroyers, including the USS Spruance, USS Michael Murphy, USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. and USS Pinckney.

WORLD’S LARGEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER HEADS TO MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN NUCLEAR TENSIONS SPIKE DRAMATICALLY

Transiting the Mediterranean is the USS Gerald R. Ford strike group, escorted by the USS Bainbridge and USS Mahan. Once the Ford arrives in theater, the Navy will establish a dual-carrier strike posture rarely seen outside major conflict.

Under high-tempo conditions, a single carrier air wing can generate more than 100 sorties in a 24-hour period depending on tanker support and target distance. With two carriers operating in parallel, planners can sustain continuous strike cycles — rotating decks so that aircraft are launching from one carrier while the other rearms and recovers.

That posture allows for sustained pressure over multiple days rather than isolated waves.

Hardened targets, repeated strikes

The buildup comes as satellite imagery reveals Tehran, Iran, accelerating defensive preparations.

Commercial imagery published in a report by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) shows Iran reinforcing the Taleghan 2 facility at Parchin with fresh concrete and overburden. Similar hardening is underway at tunnel entrances near Natanz.

“The core issue is all these efforts would complicate the battle damage assessment (BDA) in a post-strike environment,” defense analyst Can Kasapoğlu said. Hardened subterranean targets require repeated “drill” strikes, multiple munitions on the same coordinates, followed by confirmation missions to determine whether facilities have been disabled.

That kind of campaign demands sustained sortie generation and deep munitions reserves.

Suppression and strike depth

While the Department of War has not released exact aircraft numbers, the regional air presence has expanded significantly.

Advanced fighter jets, including F-22 Raptors and F-35 Lightning IIs, have been repositioned at regional hubs. These stealth platforms are designed to suppress air defense systems such as Iran’s S-300 and Bavar-373 batteries.

Once air defenses are degraded, aircraft such as F-15E Strike Eagles and carrier-based F/A-18 Super Hornets would conduct follow-on strikes against missile infrastructure, command nodes and IRGC facilities.

Further depth is provided by long-range bombers. 

B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, operating from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri with aerial refueling, are capable of 30-hour round-trip missions. They are the only platforms configured to deliver the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) against deeply buried targets.

The logistics backbone: A weeks-long window

Senior U.S. officials have disclosed that the Pentagon is preparing for “sustained, weeks-long operations” if conflict erupts — different from the in-and-out Operation Midnight Hammer strikes conducted in June 2025.

Defense analysts say that timeline reflects the realities of munitions burn rates and forward-positioned stockpiles.

In high-intensity conflict simulations, forward-positioned precision munitions can be significantly depleted within roughly three to four weeks depending on sortie tempo and target density. After that point, forces would rely increasingly on resupply from the continental United States, a process that can take additional weeks to scale into a full maritime logistics bridge.

Operations may not come to a halt, but campaign duration would depend heavily on replenishment cycles and industrial production, not just aircraft availability.

SCOTT BESSENT SAYS IRAN UNDERSTANDS ‘BRUTE FORCE’ AS TRUMP WEIGHS OPTIONS AMID NUCLEAR STANDOFF

No ground invasion posture

Notably absent is the kind of troop buildup associated with a ground invasion.

There are no large-scale Army combat formations staging in Kuwait or Iraq for an occupation. The emphasis remains on stand-off strikes and precision airpower, a campaign designed to degrade targets from a distance rather than seize and hold territory.

That distinction carries political weight.

A January 2026 Quinnipiac University poll found that 70% of American voters oppose a direct war with Iran, with even higher resistance to deploying ground troops. 

“Talk of the U.S. military potentially intervening in Iran’s internal chaos gets a vigorous thumbs down, while voters signal congressional approval should be a backstop against military involvement in any foreign crisis,” said Quinnipiac analyst Tim Malloy.

Retaliation risk: ‘All-out war’

Iranian officials have warned that U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey would be targeted if Washington launches an attack. Senior Iranian military figures have said any U.S. strike would be treated as “all-out war.”

In response, the U.S. has distributed Patriot and THAAD missile defense batteries across regional hubs to shield its assets from potential missile retaliation.

Diplomacy still on the table

Despite the military posture, talks are ongoing. Iranian officials have said they will return within weeks with additional proposals aimed at narrowing gaps in negotiations.

President Donald Trump has framed the moment in blunt terms.

“We have to make a deal, otherwise it’s going to be very traumatic, very traumatic,” Trump said recently, warning that Iran would face consequences if diplomacy collapses.

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“The presence of so much firepower in the region creates a momentum of its own,” said Susan Ziadeh, a former U.S. ambassador. “Sometimes that momentum is a little hard to just put the brakes on.”

The force now in position — from dual carriers to stealth bombers — is structured not for a single weekend strike, but for endurance.

Whether it is used, and for how long, will depend on decisions made at the negotiating table.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is running in the Illinois Democratic U.S. Senate primary, posted a campaign video that features footage of multiple people saying, “F— Trump.”

“They said it. We’re all thinking it,” Stratton wrote in a post on X when sharing the video.

The video kicks off by showing three different people saying, “F— Trump, vote Juliana.”

ILLINOIS GOV PRITZKER DONATES $5M TO SUPER PAC BACKING LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S SENATE CAMPAIGN

The candidate then appears and declares, “They said it, not me. I’m Juliana Stratton, and I’m proud to have lived my whole life on the South side of Chicago. I’m not scared of a wannabe dictator. I’m running for Senate to stand up to Donald Trump.”

Referring to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, she declares, “I’ll abolish ICE and hold Trump accountable for the crimes he’s committed.”

She then says, “Just like they said,” before three more people declare, “F— Trump.”

DUFFY GIVES ILLINOIS 30-DAY ULTIMATUM AFTER AUDIT FINDS 1 IN 5 NONCITIZEN TRUCK LICENSES ISSUED ILLEGALLY

One of the people to drop the f-bomb on the president is Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who has endorsed Stratton. Gov. JB Pritzker, who has also endorsed the Senate candidate, then appears next to the lieutenant governor and says, “Vote Juliana.”

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

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois announced last year that he would not seek re-election in 2026.

ILLINOIS DEM SENATE CANDIDATES SPLIT ON BACKING SCHUMER AS LEADER

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U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly are also running in the Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic primary.

The Pentagon is deploying the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East, creating a rare two-carrier presence in the region as tensions with Iran rise and questions swirl about possible U.S. military action.

The Ford will reinforce the USS Abraham Lincoln already operating in theater, significantly expanding American airpower at a moment of heightened regional uncertainty.

While officials have not announced imminent action, the dual-carrier presence increases the Pentagon’s flexibility — from deterrence patrols to sustained strike operations — should diplomacy falter.

The largest aircraft carrier in the world

The Gerald R. Ford is the largest and most advanced aircraft carrier ever built.

Commissioned in 2017, the nuclear-powered warship stretches more than 1,100 feet and displaces more than 100,000 tons of water. It serves as a floating air base that can operate in international waters without relying on host-nation approval — a key advantage in politically sensitive theaters.

Powered by two nuclear reactors, the ship has virtually unlimited range and endurance and is designed to serve for decades as the backbone of U.S. naval power projection.

WORLD’S LARGEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER HEADS TO MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN NUCLEAR TENSIONS SPIKE DRAMATICALLY

How much airpower does it carry?

A typical air wing aboard the Ford includes roughly 75 aircraft, though the exact mix depends on mission requirements.

Those aircraft can include F/A-18 Super Hornets, stealth F-35C Joint Strike Fighters, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets, E-2D Hawkeye early warning aircraft and MH-60 helicopters.

In a potential conflict with Iran, several of those platforms would be central. 

The F-35C is designed to penetrate contested airspace and carry out precision strikes against heavily defended targets. The Growler specializes in jamming enemy radar and communications — a critical capability against Iran’s layered air defense systems. 

The E-2D extends surveillance hundreds of miles, helping coordinate air and missile defense.

Together, they give commanders options ranging from deterrence patrols to sustained strike operations.

Built for higher combat tempo

What separates the Ford from earlier carriers is its ability to generate more sorties over time.

Instead of traditional steam catapults, it uses an electromagnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS, allowing aircraft to launch more smoothly and at a faster pace. The system is designed to reduce stress on jets and increase operational tempo.

The ship also features advanced arresting gear and a redesigned flight deck that allows more aircraft to be staged and cycled efficiently.

In a high-intensity scenario — particularly one involving missile launches or rapid escalation — the ability to launch and recover aircraft quickly can be decisive.

How it compares to the Lincoln

While both the Ford and the Abraham Lincoln are 100,000-ton, nuclear-powered supercarriers capable of carrying roughly 60 aircraft to 75 aircraft, they represent different generations of naval design.

The Lincoln is a Nimitz-class carrier commissioned in 1989 and part of a fleet that has supported decades of operations in the Middle East. The Ford is the Navy’s next-generation carrier and the lead ship of its class.

The key difference is efficiency and output. 

The Ford was built to generate a higher sustained sortie rate using its electromagnetic launch system, along with a redesigned flight deck and upgraded power systems. In practical terms, both ships bring substantial strike capability — but the Ford is designed to launch and recover aircraft faster over extended operations, giving commanders greater flexibility if tensions escalate.

IRAN SIGNALS NUCLEAR PROGRESS IN GENEVA AS TRUMP CALLS FOR FULL DISMANTLEMENT

How it defends itself

The Ford does not sail alone. It operates as the centerpiece of a carrier strike group that typically includes guided-missile destroyers, cruisers and attack submarines.

Those escort ships provide layered air and missile defense, anti-submarine protection and additional strike capability.

The carrier itself carries defensive systems including Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles, Rolling Airframe Missiles and the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System — designed to intercept incoming threats at close range.

That defensive posture is especially relevant in the Middle East.

Iran has invested heavily in anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, armed drones, naval mines and fast-attack craft operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Gulf region presents a dense and complex threat environment, even for advanced U.S. warships.

Why two carriers matter

With both the Ford and the Lincoln in theater, commanders gain more than just added firepower. Two carriers allow the U.S. to sustain a higher tempo of operations, distribute aircraft across multiple areas, or maintain continuous presence if one ship needs to reposition or resupply.

Dual-carrier deployments are relatively uncommon and typically coincide with periods of heightened regional tension.

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The timing — as negotiations with Tehran continue — underscores the strategic message. Carriers are often deployed not only to fight wars, but to prevent them.

By positioning both ships in the region, Washington is signaling that if diplomacy falters, military options will already be in place.

Ex-Victoria’s Secret mogul Les Wexner’s lawyer was caught on a hot mic jokingly threatening to “kill” him if he continued giving long answers to questions during his deposition on Jeffrey Epstein by the House Oversight Committee.

The moment was caught after the committee released its full, nearly five-hour deposition of 88-year-old Wexner as part of its ongoing probe into Jeffrey Epstein’s network.

Several hours into the deposition, while Wexner was giving a particularly long-winded answer, Wexner’s attorney leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, “I’m going to f—ing kill you if you answer another question with more than five words, okay?”

Both Wexner and his attorney laughed after this statement, indicating Wexner understood it as a joke. The lawyer proceeded to instruct Wexner to “answer the question,” laughing more.

Shortly before this exchange, the attorney had urged Wexner to “answer the question,” saying, “I’m sure we all appreciate the stories, we’re just trying to answer questions that they actually want answered,” referring to the House committee.

EPSTEIN PROBE LEADER COMER SAYS ‘NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW’ AFTER EX-PRINCE ANDREW ARREST

The Oversight Committee heard from Wexner, a billionaire fashion mogul best known for his work in revolutionizing the Victoria’s Secret store chain, about his involvement with Epstein, whom Wexner characterized as strictly a business associate rather than a close friend.

Despite being named a co-conspirator in a recently uncovered FBI document from 2019, Wexner said that he has never been directly contacted by either the FBI or the Department of Justice. He maintained his total innocence during the deposition, saying, “I was naïve, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide. I completely and irrevocably cut ties with Epstein nearly twenty years ago when I learned that he was an abuser, a crook, and a liar.”

The committee stated it was releasing the full deposition with “no spin,” saying, “The American people deserve to see the testimony for themselves—transparency matters.”

Wexner is the founder of L Brands, formerly called The Limited, through which he acquired well-known companies Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, Express, and Abercrombie & Fitch, among others. He is no longer associated with Victoria’s Secret. He was one of Epstein’s first major clients as a financial advisor, with Epstein being granted power of attorney over Wexner’s vast wealth. Wexner also sold his Manhattan townhouse to Epstein, which was later discovered to be one of the locations where federal authorities accused Epstein of abusing young women and girls under 18.

Despite this, Wexner stated that he always kept his relationship with Epstein as strictly professional, saying, “I don’t think I ever went to lunch, or dinner, a movie or had a cup of coffee with Jeffrey,” adding, “My focus was on my business and on community.”

EXCLUSIVE: EPSTEIN EMAILS RELEASED AS DOJ SAYS NO CRIMINAL OR INAPPROPRIATE CONDUCT BY TRUMP

Wexner said he severed ties with Epstein in 2007 after learning of an investigation and discovering that Epstein had misappropriated funds from him and his family. He said a substantial amount of the money was returned. 

Wexner also testified that he was not aware of Epstein ever staying at a guesthouse on his New Albany, Ohio, estate, where Maria Farmer is said to have been abused by Epstein and associate Ghislaine Maxwell. He maintained that he only had knowledge of Epstein staying at a nearby neighbor’s residence. Pressed on whether he denies Farmer’s testimony that she was abused on his property, he stated, “I never met her, didn’t know she was here, didn’t know she was abused.”

He categorically denied any knowledge of either Epstein or Maxwell arranging women for prominent individuals. He also categorically denied ever having a sexual encounter with anyone introduced by Maxwell and Epstein or having any sexual relationship with Epstein himself.

He further denied any sexual contact or knowledge of another prominent Epstein victim, Virginia Giuffre.

AG PAM BONDI ANNOUNCES ‘ALL’ EPSTEIN FILES HAVE BEEN RELEASED, LISTING OVER 300 HIGH-PROFILE NAMES

Wexner was also asked about his knowledge of Epstein and President Donald Trump’s relationship. He said that he does not think they were friends, but said Epstein “held him out as a friend.”

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Committee members also questioned Wexner on a note he wrote in a birthday book to Epstein in which he drew breasts with the caption, “Dear Jeffrey, I wanted to get you what you want, so here it is … Your friend, Leslie.”

Wexner confirmed that he wrote the note but dismissed it, saying, “He was a bachelor, so I drew a pair of boobs as kind of a joke, offhandedly, I would say.”

Wexner is the fourth person appearing before the House Oversight Committee in its Epstein probe.

Fox News Digital’s Liz Elkind contributed to this report.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, widely believed to have presidential ambitions, is standing by his account of his family’s history of fleeing the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina in the face of a report questioning the details about that story. 

“It’s hurtful, and it’s offensive,” Moore told Fox News Digital when asked about the report. 

Earlier this month, the Washington Free Beacon published an article that disputed a story Moore told about his family’s background, in which his grandfather and great-grandfather were forced to flee the state of South Carolina due to threats from the Ku Klux Klan. 

“I know my family’s history, I know that James Joshua Thomas was born in South Carolina, and when he was a toddler, when he’s just a child, was run out by the Ku Klux Klan, that his family picked up and they moved to Jamaica, but that he came back to this country, and he became the first black minister in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church,” Moore said.

Moore has frequently referenced his maternal grandfather, James Thomas, as the figure in the story, including during a 2020 appearance on the Yang Speaks podcast titled “Wes Moore on how the KKK ran his family into exile,” where he detailed how his great-grandfather was a minister in Winnsboro, South Carolina, who fled to Jamaica with his son after being threatened by the Klan.

MARYLAND GOV WES MOORE IN HOT SEAT AFTER REPORT QUESTIONS CLAIM ABOUT GRANDFATHER AND KKK

However, the Free Beacon report cast doubt on the specifics of that story, claiming that historical records from the Protestant Episcopal Church and contemporary newspaper reports indicate that Thomas’s departure was not a secret, middle-of-the-night escape, but an orderly and public professional transfer after he was appointed to replace a deceased pastor in Jamaica.

Additionally, archival data and the diocese’s own historical accounts suggest that the White community in Pineville, S.C., actually held Thomas’s church in high regard for its medical services, with no mention of racial animus or Klan interference during his tenure.

“The irony,” Moore said, “is that when he became the first black minister in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church, threats started coming to him because not everybody was happy, and he stuck because this is a man who had a deep Jamaican accent his entire life and was maybe the most patriotic American I’ve ever met.”

“And so to hear now him and his story being attacked by a right-wing blog. It’s just deeply hurtful and deeply offensive. And I said it before, but if they have questions about the Ku Klux Klan’s activities in the 1920s in South Carolina, then don’t ask me, ask the Ku Klux Klan.”

TRUMP SLAMS MARYLAND GOVERNOR, LAUNCHES FEDERAL EFFORT TO PROTECT POTOMAC AFTER HISTORIC SEWAGE SPILL

The Washington Free Beacon has publicly stood by its reporting on Moore’s life story.

Moore has previously faced other questions about misrepresenting his past, including on Sunday when CBS’ Norah O’Donnell pressed the governor on another Washington Free Beacon report alleging discrepancies about his claims about his tenure at Oxford University. 

“Oxford says it does not have a copy of your thesis,” O’Donnell asked. “Did you submit it? Any idea why it’s missing?”

Moore responded, “”I think Oxford has said that I have completed my degree. There is no denying that. And that I received a Master’s degree at Oxford University in international relations after being the first African American Rhodes Scholar in the history of Johns Hopkins University. And so, there is no denying that.”

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In September, Moore said he is “not running for president” in 2028 and is “excited” about serving a full term if he wins re-election in November, although many still believe he has presidential ambitions at some point in the future.

A top Democrat in Maryland’s state legislature threw cold water on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ campaign to oust the state’s lone Republican from Congress.

Jeffries, D-N.Y., was in Annapolis on Wednesday meeting with state leaders to discuss redrawing Maryland’s congressional map before the November 2026 midterms.

He’s one of the highest-profile Democrats pushing the state to join the growing redistricting war, which could see Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., effectively drawn out of the one Republican-leaning district in the state.

That would require both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly to approve a new map recommended by Gov. Wes Moore’s redistricting commission earlier this year. But Senate President Bill Ferguson is resisting pressure from fellow Democrats.

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE RUNS THROUGH VIRGINIA AS COURT OKS HIGH-STAKES REDISTRICTING VOTE

“It’s precisely because we want Leader Jeffries in the majority that most members in the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus do not support moving forward with mid-cycle redistricting that will backfire in our State courts and lose Democrats in Congress,” Ferguson said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

It’s a position he’s held since last year, when he wrote a letter to state Democrats warning that “mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality where the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined.”

Ferguson said they also discussed “the importance of responding to the lawless Trump Administration through economic, social, and immigration policies” and how they could cooperate in those areas.

SCOTUS ALLOWS TEXAS TO USE TRUMP-PUSHED REDRAWN CONGRESSIONAL REDISTRICTING MAP FAVORING REPUBLICANS

But redistricting remains a sticking point dividing Democrats in the Old Line State.

Moore, who spoke with Fox News Digital on Wednesday, called for Ferguson to at least allow a vote to be held on the new map.

“As someone who fought for this country and someone who fought for democracy, I just believe in fighting for democracy, and I think that requires a vote, no matter how the vote turns out,” Moore said. “It frankly doesn’t matter, but just vote. And so I think that was also the message that Leader Jeffries shared with the Senate President.”

Jeffries has met with Democrats in various states about redistricting across the country, but it’s rare for him to wage such a public pressure campaign on a fellow party leader.

He told reporters on Wednesday that he shared with Ferguson, “It’s our view, and I believe this is the view that has been clearly and decisively shared by Governor Wes Moore, that the best course of action at this moment is to allow an up-or-down vote in the Maryland State Senate so that we have an opportunity to move forward in a transparent way and see where things will land.”

Jeffries also suggested Ferguson’s decision was not final and that there were still ongoing conversations on the matter.

REDISTRICTING BATTLES BREWING ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS PARTIES COMPETE FOR POWER AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS

Harris, Maryland’s lone Republican representative, is the leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

He told Fox News Digital last month that he would bring a lawsuit to challenge the new map if it somehow did get approved.

“Wes, we’ll see you in court,” the conservative caucus leader said.

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Redistricting is normally a process seen every 10 years, after a new census calls for the modification of congressional districts based on changes in population.

But a redistricting war has broken out ahead of the November midterms that could upend electoral maps across the country.

Both Texas and California have moved to redraw their congressional maps in favor of Republicans and Democrats, respectively.

A similar effort by Indiana Republicans, backed by President Donald Trump, was shot down by members of their own party while pushes in Ohio and North Carolina prevailed in favor of the GOP. But states like Virginia and Florida and could follow suit.

A top Senate Republican demanded that if former Prince Andrew is found to have broken American laws with respect to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, he should stand trial in the U.S.

“If he’s violated American law, absolutely,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital.

Scott’s comments came after the news that the former prince, now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who is linked to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office in the United Kingdom Thursday.

EPSTEIN PROBE LEADER COMER SAYS ‘NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW’ AFTER EX-PRINCE ANDREW ARREST

British authorities were reportedly investigating whether Mountbatten-Windsor had shared confidential trade information with Epstein while acting as Britain’s special envoy for trade over a decade ago, The Associated Press reported.

Mountbatten-Windsor has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein despite being one of his most well-known associates. He was also accused by the late Virginia Giuffre — one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers — in her memoir of having sex with her when she was a minor.

The list of co-conspirators and those connected to Epstein continues to grow after Congress’ move to force the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release millions of documents related to him known as the “Epstein Files.”

MASSIE, TOP OVERSIGHT DEMOCRAT CALL FOR SECRETARY LUTNICK TO RESIGN FOR ‘LYING’ ABOUT ALLEGED EPSTEIN TIES

But criminal action against those alleged to have ties with Epstein has remained scarce, given that appearing in the files doesn’t directly translate to criminal charges. Scott argued that if people “violate the law, you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

“It’s as simple as that. It’s despicable what Epstein did,” Scott said. “I can’t imagine these people who had relationships with Epstein, especially after he was convicted the first time, and they kept their relationship.

“If they’ve done anything wrong, they should be held accountable,” he continued. “I don’t know if Prince Andrew has done anything wrong, but everybody who has should be held accountable. What you read that happened to these young girls is just like — I’ve got two daughters, I’ve got a granddaughter, and I can’t imagine, you know, the position that Epstein and, it seems like, some other people put these young women in.”

The Senate voted unanimously last year in favor of legislation that President Donald Trump signed into law that required the DOJ to release all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials “publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format” related to the late financier and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

STARMER CALLS ON EX-PRINCE ANDREW TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS AFTER LATEST EPSTEIN RELEASE

Several names of prominent Americans, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, were revealed in the trove of unredacted documents.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., when asked if Lutnick or others should face consequences, said earlier this month that “transparency is something we all ought to aspire to here.”

“And if there are folks who are, you know, named in there or discussed in there in some way, they’re going to have to answer for that,” Thune said.

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Millions of files and a handful of months later, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced earlier this week that the DOJ had unloaded all the documents. But lawmakers have said it’s not enough.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., charged that the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files “is a travesty.”

“But in France, the Paris prosecutor’s office just opened two investigations based on new leads from the released files,” Schumer said on X. “And in Britain, former Prince Andrew has been arrested over ties to Epstein. When will there be justice in America?”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, had a stark warning for Texans as he fights to keep his job in the Senate, saying a vote for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton could mean a Democrat wins the Lone Star State seat for the first time in three decades.

“Ken Paxton will be the kiss of death for Republicans on the ticket in November of 2026,” Cornyn said.

Cornyn made his comments as he crisscrossed the state in a mad dash to shore up support as early voting began in Texas earlier this week. He’s deadlocked in a battle for political survival in a grueling three-way primary with Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.

TRUMP WITHHOLDS ENDORSEMENT IN FIERY GOP SENATE PRIMARY AS EARLY VOTING BEGINS IN TEXAS

Nick Maddux, an advisor for Paxton, fired back in a statement to Fox News Digital that the current Texas attorney general won his election by double digits in 2022, “and the same thing is going to happen in 2026, because Republican voters are fired up to go to the polls and support him.”

Maddux charged that Cornyn “is the worst possible choice” for turning out “low-propensity, Trump-supporting America First voters.”

“There’s a reason that he’s stuck in the mid-20s even after $70-plus million’s been lit on fire to help him instead of going to races in NC, MI, ME and GA,” Maddux contended. “Texas voters don’t like him, don’t trust him, and won’t show up to vote for him in November.”

CORNYN TORCHES DEMOCRATIC FIELD AS HE SEEKS RE-ELECTION IN TEXAS 

With the March 3 primary election less than two weeks away, Cornyn wanted to remind voters that their decision could have direct consequences on the GOP’s grip in Texas.

The last time a Democratic candidate won a statewide election in Texas, Cornyn noted, was in 1994. And on the opposite side of the playing field, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, and Texas state Rep. James Talarico are salivating at the chance to snatch the seat.

“I think the attorney general, if he’s the nominee, could very well lose the seat,” Cornyn said. “But if he doesn’t lose the seat, he’s not going to win except by the hair of his chin. And, unfortunately, that will not help the down-ballot races.”

EARLY VOTING UNDERWAY IN TEXAS PRIMARY 

Congressional Republicans hold a trifecta in Washington, D.C., which has been instrumental in advancing President Donald Trump’s agenda, particularly his marquee tax bill, the “big, beautiful bill.”

But midterm elections often serve as a referendum against the sitting president, and though Republicans in the state redistricted last year to give GOP candidates a better chance come November, Cornyn believes a Paxton win in their three-way primary battle would have a negative trickle-down effect.

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Trump, however, has not yet endorsed a candidate in the contest, telling reporters earlier this week that he “liked all three of them.”

“I know President Trump feels very strongly not only about Texas but also about the congressional races,” Cornyn said. “We’ve got five new congressional seats in Texas, and I know the president wants to carry the majority for the House into the midterms and beyond, because, as he said himself, if Democrats win the majority in the House of Representatives, they will impeach him for the third time.”

The United Kingdom is blocking the Trump administration from using its military air bases for a possible attack on Iran over concerns that a strike could violate international law. 

A report by The Times said the U.S. was drawing up a report to use Royal Air Force base Fairford in England, which is home to America’s fleet of heavy bombers in Europe.

President Donald Trump reportedly spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday about the plans. U.K. officials were reportedly worried that giving the United States permission to use the RAF bases for a military attack could breach international law, according to The Times.

MORNING GLORY: WHAT WILL PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP DECIDE TO DO WITH IRAN?

“Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday.

“An attack that would potentially be made on the United Kingdom, as well as other friendly countries. We will always be ready, willing, and able to fight for the U.K., but they have to remain strong in the face of Wokeism, and other problems put before them.”

Trump has pressed for Tehran to make a deal with the U.S. over its nuclear program. 

“President Trump’s first instinct is always diplomacy, and he has been clear that the Iranian regime should make a deal,” a White House official told Fox News Digital. “Of course, the President ultimately has all options at his disposal, and he demonstrated with Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Absolute Resolve that he means what he says.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the use of British military bases against Iran is a “necessity for an attack — it would be beyond surprising.”

“The bottom line is the largest state sponsor of terrorism on the planet is the weakest it’s been because the people of Iran have risen up by the millions to end their oppression and the United States and Israel have delivered crushing blows to the regime’s military infrastructure,” Graham wrote on X. 

“To my friends in Britain, sitting this one out puts you on the wrong side of history and is yet another example of how much our alliances throughout Europe have degraded.”

KHANNA AND MASSIE THREATEN TO FORCE A VOTE ON IRAN AS PROSPECT OF US ATTACK LOOMS

On Thursday, Trump told reporters Iran has a maximum of 15 days to make a deal or “it’s going to be unfortunate for them.”

Washington and Britain have been in a rift over the use of Britain’s air bases. Under the terms of long-standing agreements with Washington, the bases can only be used for military operations against third countries that have been agreed in advance with the government, according to The Times. 

On Wednesday, Trump withdrew his support for Starmer’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. However, a deal would allow the U.K. to keep control of Diego Garcia and its strategically important air base.

“Our relationship with the United Kingdom is a strong and powerful one, and it has been for many years, but Prime Minister Starmer is losing control of this important island by claims of entities never known of before. In our opinion, they are fictitious in nature,” Trump wrote Wednesday. 

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“Prime Minister Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia, by entering a tenuous, at best, 100-year lease,” he added. “This land should not be taken away from the UK and, if it is allowed to be, it will be a blight on our great ally.”

The U.S. uses Diego Garcia for bombers operating in the Middle East and Asia.

Iran has a short window to agree to a deal with the U.S., President Donald Trump said Thursday, before warning that the situation could soon shift if negotiations fail.

The talks focus largely on curbing Tehran’s advancing nuclear program, which U.S. officials say has moved closer to weapons-grade enrichment.

The U.S. and Israel also want Iran to give up its long-range ballistic missiles, stop supporting groups around the Middle East and stop using force against protesters inside Iran.

“We’re going to make a deal, or we’re going to get a deal one way or the other,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, signaling determination to secure an agreement.

VANCE WARNS IRAN THAT ‘ANOTHER OPTION ON THE TABLE’ IF NUCLEAR DEAL NOT REACHED

While declining to specify whether the ultimate goal is the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, Trump made clear there would be consequences if diplomacy falls short.

“We’re either going to get a deal, or it’s going to be unfortunate for them,” he said.

Trump suggested the window for a breakthrough is narrowing, indicating Iran has no more than “10, 15 days, pretty much maximum” to reach an agreement.

Trump spoke as negotiation efforts with Tehran remain ongoing.

MORNING GLORY: WHAT WILL PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP DECIDE TO DO WITH IRAN?

Although Trump has repeatedly expressed hope for a deal, indirect talks in Geneva have yielded mixed feedback.

Trump said “good talks are being had,” and a senior U.S. official said Iran would make a written proposal on how to address U.S. concerns, Reuters reported.

“I believe we made good progress,” said Abbas Araghchi, the head of the Iranian delegation in Geneva. “The path toward an agreement has started, but we will not reach it quickly.”

Vice President JD Vance, however, said in an interview with Fox News that “red lines” were set.

IRAN SIGNALS NUCLEAR PROGRESS IN GENEVA AS TRUMP CALLS FOR FULL DISMANTLEMENT

“In some ways, it went well. They agreed to meet afterward,” Vance said. “But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through. So, we’re going to keep on working it.”

According to The Associated Press, Iran has resisted broader U.S. and Israeli demands to curb its missile program and cut ties with armed regional groups.

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Trump’s comments also coincided with Iran’s annual military drills with Russia on Thursday as a second U.S. aircraft carrier moved closer to the Middle East.

Similarly, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of military action despite ongoing talks.

President Donald Trump’s top House GOP critic admitted in a recent interview that he once offered Republican leaders his vote in exchange for a public expression of gratitude for his role in forcing the disclosure of the federal government’s Jeffrey Epstein files.

It’s a move that has drawn backlash from at least one of his fellow House Republicans and others in the right-wing sphere.

“Anyone who uses the victims of Epstein’s horrific sexual abuse to advance a political agenda or chase public recognition should seriously reconsider their line of work,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis.

In an interview with Politico earlier this week, Massie said he had made the offer when the speaker had approached him for his support on a key vote.

LAWMAKERS ESCALATE EPSTEIN PROBE WITH POSSIBLE BILL GATES SUBPOENA

“One day, they needed my vote, and I offered to give them my vote if [Johnson] would issue a press release thanking me for my good work on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. That’s all I required to get my vote. And I think he probably went and gave somebody else a bill to pass instead of doing the public statement,” Massie said.

He told Fox News Digital that it was a test of whether Johnson would take responsibility for opposing his effort to force the vote — but said Johnson refused. 

“I wanted to see if the speaker would admit that it was a mistake to oppose the [bill], but even with all the new revelations about depraved and illegal activity of rich and powerful men, the speaker refused to acknowledge the success of the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Massie said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

But the move also caught blowback from others in the Republican social media sphere, which has erupted into a civil war of sorts between Massie and Trump’s supporters.

“Coming soon to a campaign ad: Thomas Massie requires that he be praised publicly in order to secure his vote in Congress,” right-wing influencer Ryan Saavedra wrote on X.

Sean Davis, who founded conservative outlet “The Federalist,” wrote on social media, “Good grief. It really is all ego-driven.”

Some defended him, however, like an X account tied to someone only identified as “Jeremy”: “You really can’t blame the guy who’s constantly getting crapped on my conservatives for wanting the speaker of the house to say something positive about the Epstein files coming out and giving him the credit. It is childish on the surface, but this is also how their games work.”

Massie last year led a handful of Republicans to join with Democrats to force consideration of the Epstein Files Transparency Act over the objections of House leadership and Trump, who argued the legislation did not come with sufficient protections for the identities of Epstein’s sex-trafficking victims. 

The bill was aimed at forcing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release nearly all information on Epstein’s case, and Massie maintained its language did provide for sufficient coverage for the late pedophile’s victims.

But Johnson and Trump both affirmed they supported efforts for government transparency but maintained they could not support Massie’s bill. 

THESE HOUSE MAVERICKS DEFIED THEIR OWN PARTIES MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN 2025

Notably, however, all House members except for Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., wound up voting for the bill.

In the view of Matthew Green, professor of politics at The Catholic University of America, Massie’s ask — and its denial — underscores how reliant Johnson is on the president for support. 

Republicans currently hold just a one-vote majority in the chamber amid the recent resignation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and the sudden death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif, both of which happened in January. Republicans will likely win back a seat in March when Georgia holds a special election to fill Greene’s vacancy.

But until then, Johnson has battled against a vanishingly small margin of error to pass GOP-led priorities, a margin Massie has made consistently smaller.

In this case, Green believes Massie was asking for something that would threaten one of the key things holding the party together: Trump’s support.

“What he was actually asking for, to my mind, was illustrating how closely Republican leadership is or has to be aligned with President Trump,” Green said.

“You know, to just say ‘I support a bill’ or ‘I think this bill is a good idea,’ you’d think would be a relatively harmless ask, but with the Epstein files, you had the president, until the very end, saying, ‘Do not vote to release these,’ and the speaker agreeing.”

GOP MUTINY FORCES HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON TO DELAY VOTE ON KEY PIECE OF TRUMP’S AGENDA

In the lead-up to a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Trump slammed the effort, calling on Massie to abandon his push and condemning the “Democrat Epstein Hoax” in a post to Truth Social.

It’s the president’s opposition to Massie’s Epstein transparency push that makes Green think the Kentucky lawmaker knew his request would go unfulfilled. 

“He knew the answer would be no,” Green said. “If Johnson said yes, it would be not only going against what he had said about the bill himself, but also potentially upsetting President Trump.” 

Despite the improbable nature of the request, Green thinks it’s noteworthy Massie was willing to negotiate at all.

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“What is interesting, though, is that he suggests that he actually was willing to vote yes in exchange for something,” Green said.

Massie’s office did not address Van Orden’s statement about his vote offer.

Kentucky’s Republican auditor Allison Ball spoke to Fox News Digital this week about a report she put out flagging concerns about lavish spending in the state’s executive branch headed up by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is widely believed to have presidential ambitions down the road.

Ball issued a report earlier this month outlining spending by the executive branch in fiscal year 2025 entered into the state’s system and flagging issues she believes demonstrate extravagant spending of tax dollars that “needs to stop.”

The “concerning expenditures” listed include $183,576 in out-of-state travel costs, including $7,632 for a limousine in Germany; a $17,013 dinner at a Kentucky distillery; and $360,000 for 75 people to attend a two-day conference within the Commonwealth. 

DEM GOVERNOR IN DEEP-RED STATE CALLS FOR ICE PULLOUT, TRIGGERING CLASH OVER ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY

“We saw some really excessive, really worrying and questionable expenditures,” Ball told Fox News Digital. 

“For example, one of the things we saw is that the governor and the tourism cabinet spent about $338,000 on a nonprofit called First Saturday in May. So, for people who are not from Kentucky, the first Saturday in May is when the [Kentucky] Derby happens. So, that money actually went to events for VIPs to come in and celebrate and observe the Derby.”

Ball says the spending data was all entered by the executive branch into the Commonwealth’s eMARS system, and while she understands elected officials need to spend more on security than typical citizens, she categorized much of the spending she flagged as “luxury items.”

“I absolutely think the governor needs security. We want people to be safe. We don’t want anything to happen to our elected officials,” Ball explained. “But this is the time when you look at, OK, are you spending an excessive amount? And I think $7,000 for limo services in Germany, $5,000 to navigate the airport in Switzerland, hotels like in Beverly Hills, Aspen. 

“We even found an expenditure in the hundreds of dollars for something called the Caribou Club, which is a private club in Aspen. So, these expenses are essentially luxury items when you’re looking at where they’re at and the amount of money that’s being paid.”

KENTUCKY GOVERNOR TAKES HEAT FOR CITING BIBLE TO DEFEND TRANSGENDER TREATMENTS FOR CHILDREN

Fox News Digital reached out to Beshear’s office for comment but did not receive a response. 

“They never asked us any questions, and you have to do that if it’s an audit report,” Beshear recently told local media. “All they did was take lines, and they didn’t ask questions because if they had gotten the answers, they couldn’t have done the political attack that it was.”

Ball said it’s “no surprise” when elected officials push back on reports like hers, “but my job is about transparency.” 

Ball’s report noted $39 million in spending by the executive branch’s advertising arms in various departments, over $7 million in out-of-state travel, over $23 million on in-state travel and over $16 million in trainings, conferences, food and trade shows.

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“It’s a budget year, and this is when the General Assembly is actually crafting what money they’re going to appropriate through all levers of state government. And that’s why they asked us, this is early in the process, and they wanted to know, ‘OK, what is the executive branch spending its money on?” Ball explained. 

“And they specifically asked us about travel. They asked about conferences. They ask us about food and beverage because those are the things usually that can get out of control quick if you’re not paying close attention. So, we’re here just to provide information.”

Beshear told CNN last summer he was weighing a 2028 presidential bid, and many predict he would be a formidable candidate given his popularity governing as a Democrat in deep red Kentucky. 

In another CNN interview Thursday, The Hill reported that Beshear said he is still weighing a run but that he won’t make a final decision until his term as governor ends in late 2017.

“We have got to do more than just beat [President] Trump,” Beshear said. “We have got to end this division. We have got to restore the American dream. We have got to bring hope back to the American people about a brighter future.”

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Former Transportation Secy. Pete Buttigieg tops the list of potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders in a new poll conducted in New Hampshire, which has traditionally held the first primary in the race for the White House for over a century.

Twenty percent of Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire said they would vote for Buttigieg if the 2028 presidential nomination contest was held today. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York were tied for second at 15%, with former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 nominee, and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona each at 10%, with everyone else in single digits.

The University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll was released Thursday, a couple of hours before Buttigieg arrived in New Hampshire to campaign with Democrats running in this year’s midterm elections.

Asked about the survey by Fox News Digital, Buttigieg noted,” I’m not on any ballot right now.”

EARLY MOVES ALREADY WELL UNDERWAY IN 2028 WHITE HOUSE RACE

“Obviously it feels good to be well received,” added Buttigieg, who made plenty of friends in the Granite State as he came in close second in the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, slightly behind Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Buttigieg’s stop in New Hampshire was his third in an early voting state in the Democratic nominating calendar since stepping down as Transportation secretary following the end of former President Biden’s administration, following trips last year to South Carolina and Iowa. While he mostly avoids 2028 talk, Buttigieg has said he would consider what he brings “to the table” in regards to another White House run.

As he kicked off a three-day swing in key New England swing state, Buttigieg teamed up with Rep. Chris Pappas, the clear frontrunner for the Democratic Senate nomination in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a fellow Democrat. Shaheen’s seat is a top GOP target in the midterms.

Later Thursday, Buttigieg joined the state’s other Democratic House member, Rep. Maggie Goodlander. And he was scheduled to hold more events on Friday and Saturday, including a grassroots mobilization event that was expected to draw some top New Hampshire supporters from his 2020 presidential campaign.

Buttigieg is heading next week to battleground Nevada, and a source familiar told Fox News Digital Buttigieg has plans to campaign for candidates in Ohio, Georgia and Pennsylvania in the weeks ahead.

“I’m a big believer in going everywhere across the media landscape and geographically. Some are well known places on the political map. Some are a little bit off the beaten path. All of them deserve attention,” Buttigieg told Fox News Digital.

NEWSOM’S UPCOMING STOP IN KEY PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY STATE SPARKS MORE 2028 BUZZ

He added that he’ll “continue to go wherever I think I can be useful in elevating attention to issues and working with candidates I believe in and Chris Pappas is a great example of a candidate I am proud to be supporting and speaking up for.”

Newsom will be next up in New Hampshire.

The California governor’s tour for his new book, “Young Man in a Hurry,” will bring him to Portsmouth, New Hampshire on March 5. It will be his first stop in the state in two years.

Newsom grabbed headlines this past weekend, as he was one of a handful of potential Democratic presidential contenders to speak at the high-profile Munich Security Conference in Germany.

TRUMP HAMMERS AOC MUNICH STUMBLES AS ‘NOT A GOOD LOOK FOR THE UNITED STATES’

Ocasio-Cortez was among the other Democrats in Munich. But the progressive champion, who has long been laser focused on affordability and other domestic issues, has faced intense criticism for nearly a week over a gaffe in Munich, when she asked during a panel discussion whether the U.S. should send troops to defend Taiwan from a possible invasion by China.

The four-term lawmaker appeared to stall for nearly 20 seconds before offering that the U.S. should try to avoid reaching a clash with China over Taiwan.

Social media posts on the right slammed her for offering up a world salad.

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But it wasn’t just Republicans who critiqued Ocasio-Cortez.

A veteran Democratic strategist who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News Digital, “It is abundantly clear that AOC is not ready for prime time given her remarks in Europe.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly assigned additional job roles to Cabinet members and other officials and one of his top health officials is the latest to begin pulling double-duty for the president. 

On Wednesday, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya became the latest Trump official assigned an additional role. The NIH chief and staunch COVID contrarian will temporarily run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) until a new permanent director is appointed by President Donald Trump and subsequently confirmed by the Senate, while continuing to lead the NIH.

Bhattacharya’s move to the CDC followed the departure of Jim O’Neill, who was also deputy secretary of the Health and Human Services Department amid a broader restructuring of the Trump administration’s public health agencies. O’Neill is now reportedly expected to lead the National Science Foundation.

Fox News Digital looked back on the various Trump Cabinet members and officials wearing multiple hats as the president adjusts during the second year of his second term.

TRUMP TOUTS ‘MOST SUCCESSFUL’ FIRST 100 DAYS IN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORY DURING MICHIGAN RALLY  

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

A physician, former Stanford professor of medicine and senior fellow at the university’s Institute for Economic Policy Research, Bhattacharya was a leading voice during the COVID-19 pandemic against lockdown measures and vaccine mandates. He was one of the co-authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, a document published in October 2020 by a group of scientists advocating against widespread COVID lockdowns and promoting the efficacy of natural immunity for low-risk individuals as opposed to vaccination.

Under Bhattacharya’s tenure, he has been forced to defend certain funding cuts tied to academic research and staffing. One of the core components Bhattacharya indicated that he wanted to pursue following his confirmation was to usher in a new age of “gold standard science.”

“I think fundamentally what matters is do scientists have an idea that advances the scientific field they’re in?” Bhattacharya said during his March confirmation testimony. “Do they have an idea that ends up addressing the health needs of Americans?”

Marco Rubio

Rubio and the Trump administration came under fire from Democrats for the Secretary of State holding as many as four high-profile roles in the second Trump administration. As of today, he currently remains in two of those roles.

He was first confirmed as Secretary of State hours after Trump was inaugurated, a role that Rubio remains in today. 

About a month later, amid a massive reorganization at the U.S. Administration for International Development (USAID), Rubio was named director and held that role until handing it off a few months later.  

Around the same time, Rubio was tapped to be the Acting Archivist of the United States (NARA), a role he stopped serving in earlier this month.

Rubio does still serve as the interim National Security Advisor, a role he has held since May following the departure of Michael Waltz.   

“There’s no way he can do that and do it well, especially since there’s such incompetence over at DOD with Pete Hegseth being secretary of defense and just the hollowing out of the top leadership,” Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said of Rubio’s multiple jobs. “There’s no way he can carry all that entire load on his own.”

CRITICS WARNED TRUMP’S DEPORTATIONS WOULD SPARK BLOODSHED – PROGRESSIVE GROUP REPORTS POLICE KILLINGS FELL

“I don’t know how anybody could do these two big jobs,” Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner added.

When asked about the trend of Trump officials wearing multiple work hats in May, the White House reflected in a comment to Fox News Digital on former President Joe Biden’s “disaster of a Cabinet.” 

“Democrats cheered on Joe Biden’s disaster of a Cabinet as it launched the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, opened the southern border to migrant criminals, weaponized the justice system against political opponents and more,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital in May. “President Trump has filled his administration with many qualified, talented individuals he trusts to manage many responsibilities.” 

The Trump administration has repeatedly brushed off concerns over Rubio holding multiple roles, most notably juggling both his State Department leadership and serving as acting national security advisor. Similarly, former President Richard Nixon in 1973 named National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger to simultaneously serve as Secretary of State.

TRUMP NOMINATES WALTZ FOR HIGH-LEVEL POST AFTER OUSTING HIM AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR 

“You need a team player who is very honest with the president and the senior team, not someone trying to build an empire or wield a knife or drive their own agenda,” an administration official told Politico. “He is singularly focused on delivering the president’s agenda.” 

Despite Democratic rhetoric that Rubio was taking on too many roles, the former Florida senator helped oversee successful U.S. strikes on Iran in June, which destroyed a trio of nuclear sites and decimated the country’s efforts to advance its nuclear program.

Kash Patel

FBI Director Kash Patel, who railed against the “deep state” and vowed to strip corruption from the federal law enforcement agency ahead of his confirmation, was briefly charged with overseeing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in February after the Biden-era director resigned in January 2025. 

Patel was later replaced by Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll as acting ATF director in a job change that was reported publicly in April. 

ARMY SECRETARY DAN DRISCOLL TO LEAD ATF, REPLACING FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL

“Director Kash Patel was briefly designated ATF director while awaiting Senate confirmations, a standard, short-term move. Dozens of similar re-designations have occurred across the federal government,” the White House told Reuters in April. “Director Patel is now excelling in his role at the FBI and delivering outstanding results.”

Sean Duffy 

Duffy, a former Republican congressman from Wisconsin, was tapped to oversee the Department of Transportation and was confirmed by the Senate Jan. 28. Duffy has been forced to juggle a handful of crises related to tragic plane crashes, including the Potomac River midair collision Jan. 29 and air traffic control issues that plagued New Jersey’s Liberty International Airport last year. 

In July, President Trump announced Duffy would also serve as interim chief of NASA. Duffy remained in that position until mid-December, when commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman took over.

Prior to Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, the president announced he would be nominating Isaacman but later withdrew his nomination in May before the full Senate confirmed him. Trump said the decision followed a review of Isaacman’s “prior associations,” pointing to money he has given to Democrats. However, Isaacman suggested at the time that the recission of his nomination may have been due to his connections to Elon Musk, who was running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the time. 

Duffy replaced Janet Petro, who had served as acting NASA administrator since Trump’s inauguration.

Daniel Driscoll 

Driscoll was sworn in as the 26th secretary of the Army in February. The secretary of the army is a senior-level civilian official charged with overseeing the management of the Army and also acts as an advisor to the secretary of defense in matters related to the Army. 

It was reported in April that Driscoll was named acting ATF director, replacing Patel in that role. 

NEW ARMY SECRETARY PRAISES TRUMP, HEGSETH FOR CREATING ‘A LANE FOR CHANGE’ AS HE ZEROES IN ON CUTTING WASTE

“Mr. Driscoll is responsible for the oversight of the agency’s mission to protect communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations, and the illegal trafficking of firearms, explosives, and contraband,” his ATF biography states. “Under his leadership, the ATF works to enforce federal laws, ensure public safety, and provide critical support in the investigation of firearms-related crimes and domestic and international criminal enterprises,”

Ahead of Trump taking office, Republican representatives Eric Burlison of Missouri and Lauren Boebert of Colorado introduced legislation to abolish the ATF, saying the agency has worked to strip Second Amendment rights from U.S. citizens. 

The ATF has been tasked with assisting the Department of Homeland Security in its deportation efforts under the Trump administration. 

Driscoll remains listed as the agency’s acting director as of February 2026. 

Doug Collins 

Former Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins was sworn in as the Trump administration’s secretary of Veterans Affairs in February, a Cabinet-level position tasked with overseeing the department and its mission of providing health, education and financial benefits to military veterans. 

Days after his confirmation as VA secretary, Trump tapped Collins to temporarily lead two oversight agencies, the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Special Counsel. 

VA SECRETARY ACCUSES REPORTER OF SPREADING ‘RUMORS’ ABOUT DOGE THAT HURT VETERANS IN TENSE CLASH

The Office of Government Ethics is charged with overseeing the executive branch’s ethics program, including setting ethics standards for the government and monitoring ethics compliance across federal agencies and departments. 

The Office of Special Counsel is charged with overseeing and protecting the federal government’s merit system, most notably ensuring federal whistleblowers don’t face retaliation for sounding the alarm on an issue they’ve experienced. The office also has an established secure channel to allow federal employees to blow the whistle on alleged wrongdoing. 

The Office of Special Counsel also enforces the Hatch Act, which bans executive branch staffers, except the president and vice president, from engaging in certain forms of political activity. 

Jamieson Greer

Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, has also been tapped for multiple roles within the administration, in addition to helping lead the administration’s tariff negotiations to bring parity to the chronic U.S. trade deficit with other nations. 

Greer took on Collins’ roles as acting director of the Office of Government Ethics and as acting special counsel of the Office of Special Counsel April 1. 

Trump nominated conservative attorney Paul Ingrassia to lead the Office of Special Counsel in May, but he subsequently withdrew his nomination amid concerns about his rhetoric and other accusations the young conservative was facing at the time.  

Russell Vought 

Trump named his former director of the Office of Management and Budget under his first administration, Russell Vought, to the same role in his second administration. Vought was confirmed as the federal government’s budget chief in February. 

Days later, Vought was also named the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a position he still remains in.

RUSS VOUGHT, TAPPED AS CFPB’S ACTING DIRECTOR, DIRECTS BUREAU TO ISSUE NO NEW RULES, STOP NEW INVESTIGATIONS  

The CFPB is an independent government agency charged with protecting consumers from unfair financial practices in the private sector. It was created in 2010 under the Obama administration after the financial crash in 2008. Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren originally proposed and advocated for the creation of the agency.

The CFPB came under fierce investigation from the Department of Government Efficiency in February, with mass terminations rocking the agency before the reduction in force initiative was tied up in court. 

Ric Grenell 

President Donald Trump’s former ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence under his first term, a pair of roles held at separate times in the first administration, currently serves as president of the Kennedy Center and special presidential envoy for special missions of the United States. 

GRENELL DEVELOPING ‘COMMONSENSE’ PLAN TO TURN KENNEDY CENTER FINANCIALS AROUND

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts serves as the national cultural center of the U.S. Trump notably serves as the center’s chair of the board, and Grenell said the center will see a “golden age” of the arts during Trump’s second administration through productions and concerts that Americans actually want to see after years of the performing arts center running in the red. 

Trump named Grenell as his special presidential envoy for special missions to the United States in December 2024 before his inauguration, saying Grenell will “work in some of the hottest spots around the world, including Venezuela and North Korea.”

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In this role, Grenell helped lead the administration through its response to the wildfires that tore through Southern California in the last days of the Biden administration through the beginning days of the Trump administration. 

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Last year when President Donald Trump helped broker a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, he took a victory lap.

“Who else could say, ‘I’m going to make a phone call and stop a war between two very powerful countries, Thailand and Cambodia?'” he said.

Now, that agreement appears under strain, as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet told Fox News Digital that Thai forces have pushed into long-held Cambodian territory beyond the line of dispute. Thai soldiers have sealed off villages with barbed wire and shipping containers, leaving 80,000 Cambodian locals unable to return home, according to Cambodian officials.

“The occupation is beyond even Thailand’s unilateral claim,” Manet said. “Many of the villagers cannot go back to their hometowns.”

US ALERTS TOURISTS OF ‘UNPREDICTABLE SECURITY SITUATION’ IN POPULAR HOLIDAY DESTINATION

Cambodia and Thailand have sparred for decades over sections of their 500-mile land border, much of which was drawn during the French colonial era and later interpreted differently by Bangkok and Phnom Penh. The dispute has periodically flared into armed clashes, particularly around areas near historic Khmer temple sites and rural villages where demarcation remains incomplete.

Tensions escalated again last year, with fighting breaking out along contested stretches of the frontier and displacing thousands of civilians on both sides. The clashes prompted diplomatic intervention and culminated in a ceasefire agreement brokered with U.S. involvement during an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Images and local reporting from the most recent fighting show damage to structures near the frontier, including at or near the UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear temple complex — raising concerns about the safety of cultural heritage sites caught in contested zones. Cambodian officials have blamed Thai forces for the damage, while Thai officials have denied deliberately targeting religious or cultural landmarks, saying military operations were limited to contested security areas.

The Thai embassy could not be reached for comment on this interview.

TRUMP’S PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH IN 2025: WHERE WARS STOPPED AND RIVALS CAME TO THE TABLE

Still, Manet declined to threaten military retaliation. “Our position is to always stick to peaceful resolutions,” he said. “We don’t believe that using war to stop a war is sustainable or practical.”

Thailand, with a population of more than 70 million — roughly four times Cambodia’s 17 million — maintains a significantly larger and better-equipped military, raising the stakes of any renewed conflict.

With fighting again threatening fragile stability along the frontier, Manet traveled to Washington this week for the inaugural meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace.

“The Board of Peace can play an active role in promoting peace, stability and normalcy between Cambodia and Thailand,” he said.

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Hun Manet took office in 2023, succeeding his father, Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades. The leadership transition marked the first formal handover of power in decades, though the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has maintained firm control over the country’s political system amid longstanding criticism from rights groups about limits on opposition activity.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Manet has sought to maintain close ties with China while cautiously reopening channels with Washington, including restoring joint military exercises that had been suspended in 2017.

As Cambodia navigates tensions with Thailand, it is also balancing relations between Washington and Beijing.

Manet said navigating ties with competing world powers “doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game” and that Cambodia, as a smaller nation, cannot afford to “choose one country against the other.”

That balance has centered in part on Ream Naval Base, a strategic facility on Cambodia’s southern coast rebuilt with Chinese financing.

The USS Cincinnati docked at Ream in late January, marking the first U.S. warship visit since the base was renovated with Chinese funding and technical support. The visit was marked by a striking visual: the USS Cincinnati docked roughly 150 meters from a Chinese naval vessel already moored at the base. For years, U.S. officials have raised concerns that Cambodia had granted China exclusive access.

But Manet insisted the base remains under Cambodian control. “Our constitution says that no foreign military base [can] be situated on Cambodian soil.”

The U.S. visit, he said, “clearly shows that Cambodia is not exclusively used as a naval base for cooperation with China.”

Manet also confirmed that annual U.S.-Cambodia military exercises known as Angkor Sentinel, suspended in 2017, are set to resume this year — signaling warming defense ties. “We hope to have expanding cooperation with the U.S.”

In recent years, Cambodia has emerged as a hub for large-scale online scam operations, including so-called “pig butchering” schemes that have defrauded victims worldwide — including Americans — out of billions of dollars. U.S. authorities have sanctioned Cambodian-linked entities tied to crypto fraud and pressed Phnom Penh to intensify enforcement efforts amid concerns about trafficking and forced labor linked to some compounds.

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Manet said his government has stepped up cooperation with U.S. authorities and recently worked with the FBI to dismantle a major operation.

“We have recently worked with the FBI cracking on a major case involving one of the Oknyaks,” he said, referring to an influential Cambodian figure. “We arrested him, and we closed down one of the big compounds.”

Dan Osborn, a Nebraska “independent” Senate hopeful with deep ties to Democrats, has faced criticism for funneling a significant amount of campaign funds to his family members, amounting to almost $250,000 to just his wife and her political consulting firm. 

Across both his failed bid in 2024 and his current bid in the 2026 cycle, Osborn, his wife, daughter and sister-in-law have raked in north of $370,000, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings reviewed by Fox News Digital. The money stems from both Osborn’s campaign and his affiliated political action committee, the Working Class Heroes Fund. 

In July, Osborn, who is trying to oust incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., faced heat over his FEC filings that showed his campaign made six payments to his wife, Megan, amounting to roughly $19,000 between April and June. “If you’re James Carville and you’re running and you hire your wife Mary Matalin, that’s one thing,” Perre Neilan, a longtime Nebraska political strategist and former Executive Director of the Nebraska Republican Party said after the payments came to light. “But this one, I think – this one stinks.” 

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Meanwhile, several months later, it was uncovered that Osborn also funneled over $100,000 to a shadowy political consulting firm co-owned by his wife last year as well. 

The FEC made it easier for candidates to pay themselves in 2023, a move meant to give less wealthy folks an easier shot at running. 

Osborn, who has been endorsed by leaders of the Nebraska Democratic Party and has received campaign cash from multiple Democratic campaigns, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has not been the only candidate to take advantage of this. However, while the payments are not illegal, critics have taken issue with the lack of political experience from Osborn’s wife, a former restaurant manager.

Across both Osborn’s 2024 and 2026 campaigns, his wife, who previously managed an Omaha sports pub, per the Lincoln Journal Star, has raked in at least $246,000 via money directly from the campaign and from the Working Class Heroes Fund, FEC filings reviewed by Fox News Digital show. The money is going both to Megan directly and her Wyoming-based political consulting firm, which has faced transparency concerns. Her affiliation was only uncovered after Osborn filed an amended financial disclosure after the press started asking questions.   

When reached for comment, an Osborn campaign spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to comments Osborn made last year to local Nebraska news outlet, the Lincoln Journal Star. 

Megan “has been instrumental in recruiting, preparing and supporting multiple working-class candidates across Nebraska and the country who share Dan’s vision to fix our broken politics,” an Osborn campaign spokesperson said in November to the Lincoln Journal Star.

“I work 40, 50 and even 90 hours per week on the campaign trail,” Osborn added last year when he was facing heat over the matter. “Megan does too. Most Senators have millions, even billions. But we’ve learned that it’s almost impossible to run for Senate as a regular person who needs to pay the bills and put food on the table. That’s why the Senate has become a country club full of millionaires, and it’s why less than 2 percent of our politicians come from the working class.” 

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Osborn himself, a former steamfitter and industrial mechanic, has raked in a salary from his campaign of around $120,000, financial filings reviewed by Fox News Digital also show.

Meanwhile, Georgia, Osborn’s daughter, and Jodi, his sister-in-law, have raked in thousands from Osborn’s campaign and political action committee too. Georgia, a part-time dancer who Osborn says still needs help paying her bills, was given $4,200 following Osborn’s first campaign, and before launching his 2026 bid, for “assistant services” from the then-dormant campaign.

Osborn’s sister-in-law, Jodi, received $1,400 for “treasurer services” at the end of 2025, according to campaign disclosures which also show that she is listed as the Working Class Heroes Fund’s Treasurer.

In addition to questions about how Osborn is paying his loved ones, critics of the candidate have also balked at his decision to run as an Independent. Osborn has indicated he has no plans to caucus with either major party if elected, and says on his website that as an Independent he is “uniquely positioned” to get things done in Congress. 

However, Osborn’s decision to cash in on national Democratic Party support, including utilizing the party’s main fundraising platform, ActBlue, have led to questions about how independent he really will be.

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In December, Osborn was slammed for hiring an anti-cop staffer seen at an anti-police event featuring severed pig heads, and the agency creating Osborn’s ads, Fight Agency, was also behind building ads for the likes of Zohran Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, and other Democrats. One of the firm’s leaders said they were struck by Osborn’s “over performance” in 2024, leading him to surmise “that Democrats need to run a lot of different kinds of campaigns.”

The consulting firm co-owned by Osborn’s wife, Independent Campaigns, has also worked with Democrat candidates. FEC filings show Nathan Sage, a Democrat running for Senate in Iowa, has paid thousands to Osborn’s wife’s consulting firm.

President Donald Trump said aboard Air Force One that former President Barack Obama revealed classified information by suggesting aliens are real, calling the remarks a “big mistake” and accusing Obama of disclosing secrets about possible non-human visitors to Earth.

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump about Obama’s claim during a gaggle aboard Air Force One, pressing the current sitting president on whether he has seen evidence of non-human visitors on Earth.

“He gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump said. “I don’t know if they’re real or not. I can tell you, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that – he made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information.”

Former President Barack Obama appeared on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast Saturday, where he was asked point-blank whether aliens are real.

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“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” Obama said.

The 44th president also dismissed the idea that extraterrestrials are being held at Nevada’s Area 51, saying there is no secret underground facility “unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”

After his comments sparked buzz online, Obama sought to clarify his remarks on Instagram.

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“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention, let me clarify,” he wrote. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens are low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

Cohen also asked what Obama’s first question was after taking office, prompting another alien reference.

“Uh, where are the aliens?” Obama joked.

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Saturday’s appearance was not the first time Obama addressed the topic. During a 2021 interview on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” he said that after entering office, he looked into whether aliens were being studied in a secret lab and was told they were not.

Still, Obama noted that officials are investigating aircraft exhibiting unusual flight patterns.

“There is footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are,” he said. “We can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. I think people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is.”

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Doocy later asked President Joe Biden about Obama’s remarks, referencing unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs.

“What do you think that it is?” Doocy asked.

“I would ask (Obama) again,” Biden responded.

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Interest in UAPs has intensified in recent years, drawing attention from federal lawmakers and defense officials. Congress passed the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act in 2023, and the Department of Defense established the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office to further examine such incidents.

Fox News Digital’s Mike Sinkewicz contributed to this report.

A federal judge in California on Thursday tossed out a lower court ruling that supported broad detention powers of migrants by the Trump administration.

Judge Sunshine Sykes, a Biden bench appointee, said the government’s claim it was taking the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal immigrants for deportation was “inaccurate.”

“‘Worst of the worst’ is an inaccurate description of most of those affected by DHS and ICE’s operations,” Sykes wrote. “Perhaps in utilizing this extreme language DHS seeks to justify the magnitude and scope of its operations against non-criminal noncitizens.”

AMERICANS COULD PAY TO BRING BACK ALLEGED MEMBERS OF ‘FOREIGN TERRORIST CARTEL’ TO US

“Maybe that phrase merely mirrors the severity and ill-natured conduct by the Government,” Sykes added. “Even though these press releases might contain an inkling of truth, they ignore a greater, more dire reality.”

The ruling could block mass deportations and guarantee bond hearings for many non-criminal migrant detainees.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been allowed to deny bond hearings to those arrested by federal immigration authorities who had been in the United States for years. 

Recent migrant arrivals have traditionally not been guaranteed an immediate bond hearing. In June, the Trump administration singled out California and launched a mass detention policy focusing on migrants in the Los Angeles area in an effort to arrest criminal illegal immigrants. 

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Several people detained sued, alleging they had been denied bond hearings. Sykes said the administration’s policies swept too broadly.

“Americans have expressed deep concerns over unlawful, wanton acts by the executive branch,” Skyes said.  “It is not the ‘worst of the worst’ that are swept into the nationwide and reckless violations of the law by the executive branch. In the past weeks, the Government detained Adrian Conejo Arias and his five-year-old son without a valid warrant.”

“Beyond its terror against noncitizens, the executive branch has extended its violence on its own citizens, killing two American citizens— Renée Good and Alex Pretti—in Minnesota,” the judge added. “The threats posed by the executive branch cannot be viewed in isolation.”

A federal appeals court based in New Orleans last week ruled for the administration, concluding the current DHS detention and bond policy was legal.

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The Justice Department had no immediate comment on the latest ruling but is expected to appeal the decision and request the detention policies be allowed to continue temporarily while the issue is being litigated.

Fox News Digital has also reached out to the White House. 

President Donald Trump welcomed leaders from around the world on Thursday as he hosted the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington, D.C. 

One country that would not be joining the board, but will be hosting a related event is Norway.

The U.S. president announced the plan for Norway to host a meeting on Palestinian aid during the inaugural meeting of the board on Thursday. However, as he announced Norway’s plans, he joked about getting the Nobel Peace Prize.

“I’m excited to announce that Norway has agreed to host an event bringing together the Board of Peace — Oh, I thought when I saw this note, ‘I’m excited to announce that Norway,’ I thought they were going to say that they’re giving me the Nobel Prize. Oh, this is less exciting,” Trump quipped. “Oh, it says, ‘I’m excited to announce that Norway,’ and I’m saying, ‘Oh, great, I’m getting the Nobel Prize. Finally, finally, they got it right.’ But I don’t care, I don’t care about the Nobel Prize. I care about saving lives.”

TRUMP CONVENES FIRST ‘BOARD OF PEACE’ MEETING AS GAZA REBUILD HINGES ON HAMAS DISARMAMENT

Trump received several nominations for the prize. However, they were declared past the Nobel Committee’s nomination deadline. In the end, the award was given to then-exiled Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Following the capture of Venezuela’s dictatorial leader Nicolás Maduro, Machado came to the U.S., where she met with Trump and presented him with her Nobel Peace Prize.

“I presented the President of the United States the medal… the Nobel Peace Prize, and I told him, ‘Listen to this, 200 years ago, General Lafayette gave Simón Bolívar a medal with George Washington’s face on it,” Machado said while speaking at the U.S. Capitol in January. “He kept that medal for the rest of his life. Actually, when you see his portraits, you can see the medal.”

She said Lafayette gave the medal to Bolívar as a symbol of the partnership between the people of the U.S. and the people of Venezuela and their shared fight for freedom against tyranny.

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Trump thanked Machado for the medal in a post on Truth Social on Thursday evening.

“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today,” Trump wrote. “She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”

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Norway has said that it would not join the Board of Peace. However, it is set to convene its Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee (AHCL) for Palestinian aid, according to The Times of Israel. The outlet noted that Norway has led the AHCL for decades, as it was established in the wake of the Oslo Accords, which were also aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas conflict.

A spokesperson for the Norwegian Foreign Ministry told The Times of Israel that Norway “remains firm” in its position against joining the Board of Peace.