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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., didn’t use the free government tax-filing system she had spent years promoting when it became available in her state, records show.

As far back as 2016, Warren pushed for a free IRS online tax preparation and filing service, a precursor to what became Direct File. The senator touted it as a way for taxpayers to save time and money. When Direct File launched a pilot program serving Massachusetts for the 2024 tax-filing season, however, Warren’s publicly released tax return indicated that she opted to use a private accountant instead.

Warren was ineligible to use Direct File during the 2024 tax-filing season because she chose not to take the standard deduction that year. The standard deduction under the program is a restriction critics say illustrates why the program was too limited to serve many taxpayers.

“The Direct File pilot program has been a huge win for taxpayers,” Warren said in April 2024. “This year, thousands of taxpayers saved hours of their time and the $150 typically spent on TurboTax and other junk filing fees — money that could be spent on groceries or rent … I’m excited to continue to work with the IRS and the Treasury Department to permanently extend and expand this free and easy tax filing solution for Americans.”

HAWLEY, WARREN TEAM UP TO BACK TRUMP, CRACK DOWN ON DEFENSE CONTRACTOR PAYOUTS

Warren has characterized herself as one of the top legislative architects of the Direct File system.

“For years, Senator Warren has been the Direct File program’s biggest champion — yet her own tax returns show she hired a private accountant,” David Williams, president of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance (TPA), a right-of-center fiscal advocacy group, told Fox News Digital. 

“Direct File was ill-equipped to handle investment, property and interest income — limiting the tax credits and deductions Americans deserve. At its core, the government would not have any incentive — as the tax preparer, collector, and auditor — to maximize those deductions,” he added. 

The Trump administration moved to suspend Direct File in 2025, and the IRS later told states the program would not be available for the 2026 filing season.

Even after her own return showed she used a private accountant and not Direct File for the 2024 tax-filing season, Warren continued to push for the system. On April 15, Tax Day 2026, Warren took a recently-introduced bill to the Senate floor seeking to revive the program. 

“Filing your taxes should be easy and free … Let’s save people time and money, and show the American people that government can work for them,” Warren said.

SEN WARREN UNLOADS ON TRUMP’S FED NOMINEE KEVIN WARSH IN EXPLOSIVE HEARING SHOWDOWN

Usage of the Direct File was low during the 2024 tax-filing season, with only 161,042 of the estimated 19 million eligible Americans submitting returns through it, according to an IRS report.

Among those who did use the service, however, 90% rated their experience as “excellent” or “above average,” according to the IRS. Large majorities of respondents reported that Direct File was easy to use and had high quality customer service support.

The TPA, however, says that 25% of Direct File users rated their experiences negatively, citing its analysis of user responses obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.

THE SIMPLE TAX HABIT THAT COULD SAVE YOU THOUSANDS OVER YOUR LIFETIME

Critics of Direct File, such as conservative economist Stephen Moore, have argued that allowing the IRS, which has an incentive to maximize tax revenue, to prepare taxes for Americans creates a conflict of interest and that the program isn’t truly free, given its administrative costs. Proponents like the left-of-center advocacy group Public Citizen, meanwhile, argue that eliminating filing costs could save taxpayers billions of dollars per year at a relatively minor public expense.

Firms such as Intuit and H&R Block lobbied aggressively to kill Direct File, which many believed would cut into their profits.

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Warren’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent Monday.

FIRST ON FOX: Congress’s powerful Ways and Means Committee is expanding its investigation into an alleged “foreign-aligned influence network” that happened to be at the heart of the anti-American, pro-communist protests unleashed on the country’s streets on May Day.

Just after 1 p.m. on Friday, a black minivan pulled up to the curb on Union Square East in Lower Manhattan, and David Chung, organizing director of a national nonprofit, the People’s Forum, started quickly unpacking megaphones and bright yellow pre-made protest signs, including the message, “TRUMP IS THE SYMPTOM. CAPITALISM IS THE DISEASE. SOCIALISM IS THE CURE!”

Below the denunciation of the U.S. free enterprise system was the name “PARTY FOR SOCIALISM AND LIBERATION,” a self-declared Marxist communist group that worked closely with the People’s Forum as part of a network of 600 groups with $2 billion in collective funding behind protests on May 1, known as May Day. The scene repeated itself in cities across the country, with foot soldiers from the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Washington, D.C., chapter among the first to arrive for May Day protests, pulling identical bright yellow pre-made signs out of a black Subaru Outback parked on 21st Street NW.

600 GROUPS WITH $2B IN REVENUE MOBILIZE 3,000 MAY DAY PROTESTS IN A ‘RED-BLUE’ ALLIANCE, PROBE FINDS

Fox News Digital has now learned that House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith is escalating an investigation into an alleged malign influence of Neville Roy Singham, an American-born Marxist tech tycoon living in Shanghai, funding the People’s Forum and two other pro-communist, pro-China nonprofits headquartered in the U.S., BreakThrough BT Media Inc. and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, which regularly publish pro-China propaganda criticizing the U.S. as the “belly of the beast” and an “imperialist” power.

On Monday, Smith sent letters, obtained by Fox News Digital, to the three groups, raising “significant concerns” about “foreign influence or control” in the U.S. and the “financing arrangements and the structure of a foreign-aligned influence network, not protected speech or association.”

According to a Fox News Digital investigation published into the so-called “House of Singham,” the wealthy tech mogul has pumped a documented $278 million into a network of nonprofits, including the three groups, since 2017, pressing anti-American, pro-communist ideology in the U.S. and globally.

Smith repeatedly describes the three groups as part of an “interconnected network of organizations,” telling each nonprofit, “The Committee is considering whether legislative or regulatory reform is necessary to ensure that tax-exempt status is not used to facilitate or obscure foreign influence across an interconnected network of organizations.”

POWER COUPLE OF CHAOS: HOW A TYCOON AND ACTIVIST BUILT A ‘REVOLUTIONARY BASE’ AT THE HOUSE OF SINGHAM

While the congressional investigation isn’t a direct response to the May Day protests, the deepening investigation reveals a wider concern among lawmakers and Trump administration officials in the Treasury, Justice and State departments. They tell Fox News Digital they are concerned that overseas interests are exploiting U.S. nonprofit laws to create an infrastructure and industry that asserts “foreign malign influence” in the U.S., operating through tax-exempt organizations, donor-advised funds, shell companies, fiscal sponsorships and media platforms.

In his letter to the People’s Forum, Smith alleged that Singham and his wife, CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans, had funneled money into groups “through shell companies and donor-advised funds that, by design, obscure the true source of contributions.”

REVOLUTIONARY TOURISM: INSIDE THE $600M MARRIAGE OF DARK MONEY AND FAR-LEFT AGITPROP

The Missouri Republican lawmaker has ordered each organization to turn over internal documents related to the investigation by May 18, including communications with Singham, records of foreign-linked donations exceeding $5,000, contracts tied to fiscal sponsorship arrangements, communications with foreign principals and lists of grant recipients located outside the U.S.

The letters to the People’s Forum, BreakThrough and Tricontinental reveal a congressional strategy in which lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Oversight Committee have been trying to use their jurisdiction over tax-exempt organizations to examine whether nonprofit law is equipped to deal with the infrastructure that influence-peddlers allegedly build to bankroll activism, amplify propaganda and influence elections.

At a hearing earlier this year into the role of malign foreign influence in the U.S., Smith rebuked the groups for “sowing discord” in the country.

Smith’s letters also show the common defense mounted by the groups, whose lawyers argue that the inquiry is political, exceeds the committee’s jurisdiction, improperly invokes the Foreign Agents Registration Act, called FARA, and threatens First Amendment rights. Smith rejected those arguments, writing that “none of those challenges withstands scrutiny.”

TOP GOP SENATOR CALLS OUT CODE PINK, THE PEOPLE’S FORUM ALLEGEDLY PUSHING CCP PROPAGANDA IN US

According to the letters, Washington, D.C., attorney Andrew Herman is representing BreakThrough and Tricontinental, along with Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, a far-left 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that is also representing the People’s Forum. Herman and Verheyden-Hilliard didn’t respond to requests for comment.

According to digital records, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund shares the same address at a Florida Avenue NW townhouse that is used by the ANSWER Coalition, a self-described communist group that also operates out of the People’s Forum headquarters on W. 37th Street in Midtown Manhattan. 

When approached outside the People’s Forum in late January, People’s Forum Executive Director Manolo De Los Santos, ANSWER Coalition and Party for Socialism and Liberation co-founder Brian Becker and BreakThrough editor-in-chief Ben Becker refused to answer questions about Singham’s funding to their groups. De Los Santos is a researcher at Tricontinental.

MAY DAY DEMONSTRATIONS EXPECTED TO DRAW THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AS LEFT-WINGERS PROTEST ‘BILLIONAIRES’

At the center of the congressional investigation is the influence of Singham. In 2017, Singham sold Thoughtworks, a company that he established, to a private equity firm, Apax Partners, for an estimated $785 million. He then used cash from the sale to build a network of nonprofits that promulgates anti-American Marxist ideology. A spokeswoman for Apax Partners told Fox News Digital that the firm wouldn’t reveal the identities of the investors that purchased Thoughtworks.

In his letters, Smith describes Singham as a former U.S. technology executive “now residing in Shanghai with documented [Chinese Communist Party] affiliations,” and he identifies the three Singham-funded organizations as three nodes in a complex “foreign-aligned influence network.” In a video unearthed by Fox News Digital, Singham expressed support at a conference co-sponsored by Tricontinental at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Shanghai, expressing support for the CCP, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Xi’s “new world order.”

In letters to BreakThrough News and Tricontinental, Smith said that he was investigating whether the groups are “acting as an agent of a foreign principal.”

FAR-LEFT NONPROFITS IN THE HOT SEAT AS LAWMAKER EXPOSES THEM FOR ‘SOWING CHAOS’ IN US

According to a Fox News Digital investigation, Singham has funneled $22.44 million to the People’s Forum between 2017 and 2022 through GS Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc., a donor-advised fund affiliated with Goldman Sachs. A spokesman for Goldman Sachs told Fox News Digital that the philanthropy terminated its relationship with Singham in early 2024.

Meanwhile, the Fox News Digital investigation found that Singham pumped $16.76 million into Tricontinental Ltd., through the Goldman Sachs philanthropy fund, and he funneled $1.098 million to BreakThrough BT Media Inc. from the Goldman Sachs fund, $2.1 million from the Justice and Education Fund, another Singham-funded nonprofit, and $60,600 from the Progress Unity Fund, another organization in the wider Singham network. 

Chung, the People’s Forum organizing director, was listed as chair of the Justice and Education Fund in its 2024 tax filing, with De Los Santos, from the People’s Forum and Tricontinental, and Karina Garcia, a leader with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, also on its board.

Smith focused on the People’s Forum’s role as a so-called “fiscal sponsor,” collecting tax-deductible donations for like-minded projects, writing that the group provides “fiduciary oversight, financial management and administrative services” for affiliated entities, an arrangement he said “may allow foreign-influenced funds to flow to downstream organizations.”

The committee’s demands show its investigative blueprint to follow the money, map global relationships and determine whether malign interests are exploiting America’s tax-exempt system to obscure foreign influence across a network, not just within one organization.

Back on the streets, Chung, the organizing director for the People’s Forum, stage-managed the group’s protesters as they weaved across New York City’s streets, crossing over Union Square West, chanting, “One struggle, one fight!”

Soon after, BreakThrough posted the video clip, cropping Chung out of the shot.

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Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan, Louis Casiano and Jesse Watson contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is eyeing New York for potential redistricting gains as Republicans race to redraw congressional maps in several Southern states ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Jeffries unveiled the New York Democracy Project on Monday to explore redrawing the Empire State’s congressional map to benefit Democrats, who hold 19 of the state’s 26 congressional seats. The initiative is part of his efforts to push blue states to consider new partisan gerrymanders after the Supreme Court restricted the use of race in drawing electoral districts last week — a move that could put more than a dozen Democratic-held seats in jeopardy.

Jeffries also mentioned Colorado, Illinois and Maryland as top places where Democrats will seek to gerrymander more seats ahead of 2028 in an interview with Politico. 

“This is just the beginning,” Jeffries said in a statement on Monday. “Across the nation, we will sue, we will redraw, and we will win.”

‘FULL OF S—‘: NEW YORK REPUBLICAN ACCUSES STATE DEMS OF HYPOCRISY IN REDISTRICTING PUSH

“House Democrats will not allow a MAGA majority to be built on rigged maps and the dilution of Black voting strength,” the top Democrat added. “Ultimately, this will end poorly for Republican extremists. It’s the American people who get to decide who wins the majority in Congress, not Donald Trump.” 

Though Democrats face several hurdles in drawing a new congressional map in New York this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul said that she would work with the state legislature to redistrict before 2028. 

“New York has always led the fight for voting rights, and we’ll lead again,” Hochul said of the possible new gerrymander after the Supreme Court’s ruling last week.

Jeffries said Monday that he directed Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., to meet with the state legislature to discuss redrawing the state’s congressional map. Passing a constitutional amendment as early as 2027 to allow the state legislature to draw a Democratic-friendly gerrymander is an option under consideration, according to his statement.

RON DESANTIS UNVEILS NEW FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL MAP THAT WOULD GIVE THE GOP AN EXTRA FOUR SEATS

New York Republicans sharply criticized the redistricting initiative on Monday.

“Jeffries, Hochul, and other New York Democrats insult the intelligence of voters, who strongly supported redistricting reforms in 2014, including a ban on partisan gerrymandering,” New York Republican Party chairman Ed Cox said in a statement. ” Democrats tried to torpedo that reform but the people rejected their efforts in 2021. I am confident that they will do so yet again.”

Jeffries’ announcement came shortly after Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., signed a new GOP-friendly congressional map that could net Republicans as many as four seats in the Sunshine State.

The top Democrat has sharply criticized DeSantis for calling a special session to redraw Florida’s map, which he argued is “blatantly illegal” in a statement on Monday. Jeffries has also pledged to aggressively target vulnerable GOP lawmakers in Florida as Democrats look to retake control of the House this November.

“Democrats have brutally thwarted the MAGA midterm power grab, and we will continue to push back aggressively,” Jeffries said in a statement. “See you in court.”

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President Donald Trump has urged Republican-led states to swiftly pass new congressional maps before the midterm elections to give the GOP an advantage in districts that could help decide House control. So far, Republicans have passed GOP-friendly maps in Texas, North Carolina, Florida and Missouri, while Democrats have drawn new Democratic-heavy seats in California and Virginia.

A number of Republican states, including Louisiana and Tennessee, are moving forward with redistricting efforts to eliminate Black-majority districts held by Democrats following the Supreme Court’s ruling. In Tennessee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is running to be the state’s next governor, has pitched a new map that would allow Republicans to hold every district.

After resigning in the face of a House ethics probe, disgraced former Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has been cut off from doing business with the federal government or receiving federal grants, aid or contracts.

This comes as Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat, is charged with stealing $5 million in COVID-19 FEMA funds and making illegal campaign contributions. Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from Congress in late April after Republicans vowed to force a vote to expel her from the chamber. Though she resigned, Cherfilus-McCormick has denied any wrongdoing and is still running to regain her congressional seat this November.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, announced that Cherfilus-McCormick has been suspended, a federal designation that temporarily bars her from receiving contracts, grants or other federal funds. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, along with other associates and affiliated entities named in the federal indictment, has also been suspended by DHS.

“Former Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick abused Americans’ trust in the most egregious way possible,” DHS General Counsel James Percival said in a statement. “She manipulated the COVID-19 crisis to funnel over $5 million of FEMA relief funds to her and her family members.”

DEM CONGRESSWOMAN INDICTED FOR ‘PARTICULARLY SELFISH’ ALLEGED THEFT OF FEMA RELIEF FUNDS FOR CAMPAIGN USE

“This is outright fraud,” Percival added, continuing, “That’s exactly what a federal grand jury and the U.S. House of Representatives found.”

Percival said he is “proud that my office is taking the first step to ensure she is held accountable and American taxpayers’ money is protected from further misuse.”

Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted by a Miami grand jury in November 2025 for allegedly stealing $5 million from FEMA. The decision to resign from office came just before the House Ethics Committee was scheduled to recommend she be punished for misusing disaster relief funding that she allegedly funneled through several companies into her campaign coffers.

The committee found that she had committed 18 campaign finance violations, five counts of false financial disclosures, three counts of misusing official funds and one count of lack of candor.

Cherfilus-McCormick maintained her innocence, asserting that “This was not a fair process.”

She said in a press release that the House Ethics Committee “refused my new attorney’s reasonable request for time to prepare my defense.” She wrote, “I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished.”

FLORIDA DEM FILED FOR RE-ELECTION DAYS BEFORE RESIGNATION AS HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE RAMPED UP PRESSURE

“Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so that I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida’s 20th district. I hereby resign from the 119th Congress, effective immediately,” she wrote.

DHS said that Cherfilus-McCormick’s suspension aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. The Trump Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which is led by “fraud czar” Vice President JD Vance, has been directed by the president to combat fraud, waste and abuse in federal benefit programs, “restore integrity to taxpayer-funded safety-net programs” and ensure that benefits go only to eligible Americans.

Vance said last week that the task force has been “working around the clock to root out fraudsters who have taken advantage of Americans’ generosity for far too long.”

KLOBUCHAR VOWS FRAUD CRACKDOWN, AUDIT OF MN GOV’T AS GOP BLASTS WALZ TIES

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He pointed out that since the task force was launched, it has exposed 447 California hospices suspected of more than $600 million in fraud, while the U.S. Small Business Administration has referred more than 560,000 fraudulent COVID-era loans totaling $22 billion to the Treasury for collection.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign for comment.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new congressional map into law Monday that could flip as many as four additional U.S. House seats to red, escalating a redistricting fight in the second-largest red state to combat the long-running Democratic sweep in the deep-blue Northeast.

“Signed, sealed and delivered,” DeSantis hailed in a Monday X post, sharing an image of Florida’s newly redrawn districts.

The GOP-controlled Legislature passed the proposal just days earlier and the Senate approved it, one week after DeSantis’ office delivered the plan to lawmakers.

DeSantis and Republican allies have pointed to Florida’s population growth as justification for redrawing the map, which is expected to draw immediate legal challenges from Democrats and left-wing voting rights groups.

RON DESANTIS UNVEILS NEW FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL MAP THAT WOULD GIVE THE GOP AN EXTRA FOUR SEATS

Florida Republicans hold a 20-8 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation under the map DeSantis signed four years ago. The new map could expand that edge to 24 seats by reshaping districts now held by Reps. Kathy Castor, D-Fla.; Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.; Darren Soto, D-Fla.; and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

The map would leave Republican red across most of Florida, with four Democratic strongholds relegated to major metro areas.

Those for Democrats have said they intend to seek re-election, though some are weighing runs in newly configured districts.

FLORIDA DEMOCRAT PREDICTS DOOM FOR HIS PARTY IN THE STATE FOR ANOTHER 70 YEARS

Moskowitz has not made a “final decision,” but said that if he runs, he would seek the 25th District, a coastal South Florida seat that includes many Jewish voters and roughly half of his current district, he told Politico on Monday.

The district backed President Donald Trump in 2024 but is still viewed by some Republican consultants as competitive.

DeSantis has pushed for new congressional lines since last summer, citing several reasons, including the possibility that the Supreme Court could further restrict how race can be considered in redistricting.

The governor’s office has said the new map was drawn in a “race neutral” manner. That approach led to major changes in a South Florida district previously held by former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., who resigned earlier this month.

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Democrats dispute DeSantis’ argument, pointing in part to Central Florida, where Hispanic voters — many of them Puerto Rican — were split across several districts.

Florida’s Fair Districts amendment bars districts drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent.

New York City Public Schools are under investigation by the Trump administration over allegations that a group of pro-Palestinian teachers sought to sow “hatred towards Jewish students” during classroom instruction.

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights announced its investigation into the nation’s largest public school system nearly two weeks ago after receiving reports that teachers were organizing seminars propping up the Palestinian resistance and labeling Zionists as “genocidal white supremacists.”

“No child should be taught by his or her teachers to hate their peers. Neither should Jewish children be taught that being Jewish somehow makes them inherently guilty or proponents of hate and violence,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement. “Discrimination has no place in our schools, and, unlike the previous Administration, the Trump Administration will not turn a blind eye to antisemitic harassment.”

The Education Department’s investigation into New York City Public Schools comes as NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani enters his fifth month in office. Mamdani has previously been heavily scrutinized for his anti-Israel rhetoric, having accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing war crimes and said Palestinians are facing a “genocide” perpetrated by the Jewish state. He also revoked an executive order that blocked New York City officials from boycotting or divesting in Israel and another executive order that expanded the definition of antisemitism.

TRUMP ADMIN WON’T TOLERATE ANTISEMITISM IN SCHOOLS, SAYS LEO TERRELL AS NYC SCHOOLS UNDER MICROSCOPE

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office.

At the center of the Education Department’s investigation is a group of educators known as NYC Educators for Palestine. The group’s mission statement centers on the belief that “education should be a tool for liberation not occupation” and that teachers should work “both inside and outside the classroom” to achieve Palestinian justice.

The Education Department noted the group’s teaching seminars focused on “Palestinian, Zionism, and Resistance” as a potential Title VI violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During these seminars, which were taught to children as young as five, the educators focused on the “contemporary and historical Palestinian resistance.” Complaints alleged that the seminars depicted Zionists as “genocidal white supremacists” and that it gave credence to support Hamas and its “martyrs.”

‘ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT’ SECTION OF STUDY GUIDE FOR NEW YORK HIGH SCHOOLERS DRAWS OUTRAGE

NYC Educators for Palestine also organized a “Teach-In for Palestine” set for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The “teach-in” was advertised for students as young as six.

Fox News Digital reached out to NYC Educators for Palestine for comment.

A spokesperson for New York City Public Schools denied the group’s affiliation with the school district.

JEWISH STUDENTS ‘SCARED’ AFTER MAMDANI WINS NYC MAYOR RACE, CALLING IT ‘HUGE BLOW’

“The group referenced is not connected to New York City Public Schools,” a spokesperson said.

But a parent told Fox News that it seemed teachers were “so radicalized and so focused on sending messages like this [pro-Palestine] rather than focusing on really crucial skills like literacy and critical thinking.”

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The Education Department’s investigation into New York City Public Schools is just the latest investigation into allegations of antisemitism running rampant in public school districts across the country in the wake of the Gaza War.

Last August, the Trump administration launched an investigation into Baltimore City Public Schools for alleged antisemitic harassment. The investigation is still ongoing.

More than 60 colleges and higher education institutions have been notified by the Trump administration of pending investigations into the schools’ failures to properly address antisemitism on campus.

Fox News’ Lauren Green contributed to this report.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s ongoing hospitalization is related to serious health repercussions of his heroism in New York City following the 9/11 terror attacks nearly 25 years ago, and the Republican stalwart’s condition appears to be improving, Fox News Digital has learned.

Giuliani was in the final year of his two-term mayorship when terrorists hijacked airliners and crashed them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, killing thousands. He was two blocks away when the first tower fell at 9:59 AM ET on that otherwise sunny Tuesday and felt the effects first-hand, close-up.

GIULIANI BLASTS DE BLASIO’S TENURE AS MAYOR

Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman told Fox News Digital on Monday that the 81-year-old ex-mayor and former presidential candidate is currently recovering from pneumonia and still being monitored at a Florida hospital as a “precautionary measure.”

“On September 11, Mayor Giuliani ran toward the towers to help those in need, which led to a restrictive airway disease diagnosis,” Goodman said in a statement he also later posted to X.

DEMOCRATS WHO RALLIED AT ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTS MOCKED FOR CHEERING KING CHARLES IN CONGRESS

“This disease adds complications to any emerging respiratory issue, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain his blood pressure.”

Sometimes called “World Trade Center Cough,” restrictive airway disease is a lung condition caused by inhalation of heavily-alkaline dust from materials like concrete, as well as asbestos and glass that was pulverized when the towers collapsed and shrouded about one-fifth of Manhattan Island in some level of dust-induced darkness.

Thousands of first responders have battled or died from the disease, leading famous Tri-State figures like comedian Jon Stewart to publicly take up the mantle of their cause.

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Goodman said Monday that Giuliani is now breathing on his own and has primary medical providers at his side.

“Mayor Giuliani is the ultimate fighter—as he has demonstrated throughout his life—and he is winning this battle,” he said.

“His family deeply appreciates the outpouring of love and support. The mayor believes in the power of prayer, and we are feeling that strength today. He remains in critical but stable condition. Keep the prayers coming.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted Sunday that the indictment against former FBI Director James Comey rests on more than just an “8647” Instagram picture, saying new evidence would come to light in court to support the government’s claim that Comey’s post amounted to a criminal threat against the president. 

Blanche provided the remarks during a “Meet the Press” interview as he was grilled about the credibility of the high-profile case and whether it was politically motivated. The charges hinge on whether prosecutors can prove the former FBI director’s intent, a key legal threshold. Blanche signaled the Department of Justice will present broader evidence in court to support the charge while rejecting claims the prosecution was driven by Trump’s past clashes with Comey.

“You prove intent like you always prove intent,” Blanche said. “You prove intent with witnesses. You prove intent with documents, with materials. … This is not just about a single Instagram post. This is about a body of evidence that the grand jury collected over the series of about 11 months.”

The term “86” is understood as slang to get rid of someone or something, rooted in restaurant usage for an unavailable item or refused customer. Prosecutors allege that, paired with “47” — a reference to Trump as the 47th president — Comey’s post amounted to a threat.

HOW JAMES COMEY’S INDICTMENT COULD GO SOUTH FOR THE DOJ

Blanche noted that threatening the president was a common criminal charge. But he said the DOJ does not prosecute everyday mentions of “8647,” such as paraphernalia featuring the numbers being sold on Amazon, and that other factors were in play in Comey’s case.

“Rest assured that the career assistant United States attorneys in North Carolina, the career FBI agents, the career Secret Service agents that investigated this case didn’t just look at the Instagram post and walk away. … So I am not permitted to get into the details of what the grand jury heard or found,” Blanche said. “But rest assured that it’s not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted.”

The DOJ brought two charges against Comey in federal court in North Carolina last week alleging an Instagram post he made last year of seashells on the beach amounted to a threat to harm or kill Trump.

The post prompted an outcry from social media users, who accused Comey of threatening Trump, his longtime political nemesis, leading Comey to immediately delete the image and issue an apology. Comey said at the time he did not realize the number “86” was associated with violence.

FORMER FBI DIRECTOR JAMES COMEY MEETS WITH SECRET SERVICE AFTER CONTROVERSIAL ’86 47′ POST

Then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem responded by announcing that U.S. Secret Service would investigate the post, and Comey voluntarily met with federal agents at the time for an interview, though no charges were brought.

The case marks the Justice Department’s second recent prosecution of Comey, after a separate indictment alleging he lied to Congress was tossed on procedural grounds. The DOJ is appealing that decision. 

Blanche was also questioned over whether Comey was charged because Trump explicitly called for the DOJ to bring criminal charges against him and other political foes in a Truth Social post last fall, calling them “guilty as hell” and saying “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

“Do the American people think that nothing was done on those cases until President Trump posted that Truth in September?” Blanche asked. “No, these are ongoing investigations.”

The latest indictment against Comey has faced widespread criticism as Democrats and some Republicans argue the charges present a free speech problem and do not rise to the “true threat” standard established by the Supreme Court. Comey’s attorney said in court that he plans to ask the judge to toss out the charges because they were selective and vindictive. Still, the DOJ and Trump allies are standing firmly behind the charges as they warn critics to wait to hear evidence before jumping to conclusions.

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Comey’s arraignment is slated for May 11 in Greenville.

Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ and Comey’s lawyer for comment.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Jon Husted has secured a record-breaking 75 endorsements from Ohio’s 88 county sheriffs, marking the largest show of support from law enforcement in the state’s history, including a “clean sweep” of Independent sheriffs and a show of support from across party lines.

“They’ve seen at the national level people like Sherrod Brown denying the border crisis, when millions of people poured across our border who were unvetted,” Husted told Fox News Digital. “That included people who were bringing drugs and human trafficking.”

He explained his belief that the immigration and crime policies put in place under the Biden administration made law enforcement hesitant to support Brown, Husted’s Democratic opponent in November who is aiming to return to the Senate after being ousted in 2024 after 18 years in the chamber.

Local sheriffs feel abandoned by previous federal policies, according to Husted.

“They would tell me that they would arrest people who were in the country illegally, they would have them in their jails, they would call Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and ICE would just say ‘let them go,'” Husted claimed.

HUSTED FILES FOR 2026 SENATE RACE, LAUNCHING AGGRESSIVE STATEWIDE RE-ELECTION PUSH

Husted argued that the current return to pro-enforcement policies in the Trump administration has changed the game for those on the ground. 

“These are the people on the front line,” Husted said. “That’s what they experience. They know the difference between where Sherrod Brown is on those issues… and where I’ve been. Now they see the opposite. When they arrest somebody who has committed a crime, who’s in the country illegally, they just call ICE, ICE comes and gets them, and they do the process of deportation.”

The list of officials backing Husted includes a sheriff who previously stood with Husted’s opponent, Sherrod Brown. Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn, who endorsed Brown in the last cycle, is now firmly behind Husted.

“Jon Husted has proven he will stand up for law enforcement,” Wasylyshyn said in a press release. “In this race, he’s earned my support. I’ve seen his leadership, and I’m confident he will continue to support those of us working to keep our communities safe.”

Additionally, the sheriff from Brown’s home county of Richland is supporting Husted.

Husted also framed the issue of crime as a struggle for everyday Ohioans, noting that “working families” don’t have the luxury of private security like some of the high-profile celebrity critics of crime crackdowns.

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“If you’re, you know, a working family of four, you make $80,000 a year, you don’t live in a gated community with officers and security,” Husted said. “You live in neighborhoods where, in many cases, criminals try to come and steal cars, bring drugs and things like that. And they don’t want that. That’s why working families support law and order. They support the rule of law. They want people to follow the law, and they want law enforcement to enforce the law.”

The senator’s campaign pointed to Husted’s long-standing record of funding law enforcement. Throughout his service, he led efforts to invest more than $274 million into Ohio law enforcement for body cameras, training and wellness programs. He also pioneered the creation of a statewide law enforcement recruitment hub to address critical staffing shortages.

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“Jon Husted has been an ally to law enforcement when others have turned their backs,” said Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach. “He has always stood with those of us on the front lines, making sure we have the resources and support we need to do our jobs.”

For Husted, the endorsements are more than just numbers; they are a validation of his career-long alignment with police. “I’ve been behind the police my whole life,” Husted said. “They’re on the front lines of fighting crime, and they know I’ve always had their backs. I support them, and they support me—and together, we’ll keep Ohio safe.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Brown campaign for comment.

The Ohio Senate race is viewed as a key battleground because Democrats see it as a winnable pickup that could erode the GOP’s narrow 53–47 majority, while Republicans need to hold it to prevent their already slim margin from tightening further.

Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker is urging state officials to pursue criminal investigations into federal immigration enforcement agents involved in Operation Midway Blitz, citing a report released by a commission he created to investigate federal agents’ conduct during the months-long investigation.

Pritzker’s Thursday press conference unveiling the Illinois Accountability Commission’s recommendation to pursue criminal investigations into ICE and other federal agents came just over a month after he first vowed to seek criminal charges against Trump administration officials and law enforcement officers he said had “broken the law.”

“Our communities and our people were subjected to an unprecedented campaign of harassment, intimidation and brutality,” Pritzker said at the news conference. “They deployed tear gas and smoke grenades against peaceful protesters and peaceful crowds and in peaceful neighborhoods. They committed flagrant and egregious abuses of power and force that went unchecked.”

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The report was compiled by eight members who were appointed to the commission by Pritzker. Members of the commission include retired judges, a retired law enforcement official, former prosecutors and a nonprofit leader. The report pinpointed more than a dozen incidents involving federal agents as alleged instances of misconduct that warrant further investigation, including the death of Silverio Villegas González, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was shot and killed by ICE agents.

The more than 150-page report accused the Trump administration of lying about the motivation behind Operation Midway Blitz and that it “distorted key facts about events involving federal immigration agents.”

“High-level White House, DHS and other federal officials enabled and encouraged misconduct by ICE and CBP agents during Operation Midway Blitz by urging agents to ‘go hard,’ defending and mischaracterizing incidents of use of force, shielding agents from accountability, lifting safeguards, and effectuating harmful policies,” the report alleged.

The report alleged that federal agents engaged in “unconstitutional uses of force” which consisted of “extreme physical force, indiscriminate use of chemical agents, shootings, beatings, and other violent acts.”

ILLINOIS GOV. JB PRITZKER MOVES TO BOYCOTT EL SALVADOR FOR AIDING TRUMP OVER KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA’S DETENTION

“Governor Pritzker continues to refuse to do his job to protect his citizens from illegal alien crime and instead chooses to smear our law enforcement,” Department of Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. “Where is the investigation into his own policies that allowed Sheridan Gorman’s killer to be released from jail to go on and commit her heinous murder?”

Bis slammed Pritzker’s calls for criminal prosecution as “nothing more than a political stunt.”

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“Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other Federal agencies,” Bis said. “The states do not have the authority to run such an investigation.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the Office of the Illinois Attorney General for comment.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger left the door open to imposing taxes on services like gym memberships, digital subscriptions and dog grooming when asked about the possibility during a recent interview.

“I think every idea, as long as it’s reasonable and makes some amount of sense, should be discussed,” Spanberger told a local ABC affiliate.

“I think there are worthy conversations to be had about what revenue generation looks like into the future as our economy changes in so many ways.”

The comment comes as Spanberger tries to leave the door open to exploring new sources of revenue for Virginia while also fending off accusations from the White House that have painted her as a tax-happy Democrat.

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“So sad! She is adding so many taxes: a food and beverage tax, digital services tax, utilities tax and more. People are leaving that would never have even thought of doing so!” Trump said in a post to Truth Social.

“This went from a thriving and powerful place to a commonwealth run by a person who has no concept of low taxes and economic strength.”

Those criticisms stemmed from a handful of bills introduced in the Virginia state legislature that, if implemented, would extend taxes to: storage facilities, counseling, dry cleaning, vehicle repair, website design, data storage and digital subscription storage.

The bills, which were first introduced by lawmakers during the tenure of Spanberger’s predecessor, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, never reached the floor of the General Assembly for a vote before the end of the state’s legislative session on March 14.

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Notably, apart from a bill that will raise the minimum wage incrementally to $15 an hour by 2028, Spanberger has yet to sign off on any new state-based increases — a record she believes Trump is misrepresenting.

“The array of taxes that the president asserts move forward in Virginia is sort of ludicrous,” Spanberger said.

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But Spanberger also noted that she could revisit ways to raise revenue from shifting industries that have changed the tax calculus.

“You used to buy a DVD; there used to be sales tax. Streaming is different. So, I recognize there’s value in having these conversations,” Spanberger said, highlighting one such area of change.

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Spanberger said that any decision along those lines would ultimately depend on the specific language of a proposal.

“Whether I would ever sign a bill is wholly dependent on what is actually in the bill and how it is outlined,” Spanberger said.

Federal prosecutors’ stunning indictment of a left-wing activist group for alleged financial crimes is reverberating in Georgia’s 2026 Senate race, with Republicans targeting Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., for his past ties to the organization. 

The Department of Justice brought criminal charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center in April for allegedly defrauding its donors by secretly transferring money to extremist groups with the goal of infiltrating and monitoring their activities. 

Ossoff, the most vulnerable Senate Democrat running for re-election in 2026, is endorsed by the law center’s 501(c)(4) arm. The group contributed more than $700,000 to his campaign account in 2020, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.

The Georgia Democrat has also praised the group’s purported efforts to combat racism.

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“Thank you for decades of work defending civil rights in the United States,” Ossoff said in a video celebrating the nonprofit group’s 50th anniversary in November 2021.

“I’m deeply concerned, like many of you, by the rising level of polarization, hatred and mistrust in our society,” he added. “We must recommit to the path of love, tolerance and peaceful coexistence if we are to flourish as a nation and as a world.”

During that time, federal prosecutors allege that instead of combating extremism, the SPLC was providing financial support to organizations that spread it.

Between 2014 and 2023, the Alabama-based organization paid more than $3 million to informants belonging to the United Klans of America, the Aryan Nation and other neo-Nazi groups, according to the 11-count indictment, which included charges of bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. The group allegedly concealed the payments by setting up bank accounts under fictitious names and did not inform federal law enforcement about their activities.

One informant, who the law center paid more than $270,000, was a member of an online group that helped plan the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to the indictment. Federal prosecutors said the informant attended the rally at the direction of the SPLC and “made racist postings” on behalf of the left-wing nonprofit.

Thirty-two-year-old Heather Heyer died after a man drove his vehicle through a crowd of counter-protesters while injuring nearly 20 others.

“The SPLC was not dismantling these groups,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference in April. The group, he added, “was instead allegedly manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.” 

SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair slammed the charges as politically motivated and has argued the since-defunct program “saved lives.” 

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The Republican National Committee (RNC) hammered Ossoff’s ties to the law center.

“If Jon Ossoff is too spineless to reject the Southern Poverty Law Center’s endorsement and return their money, he’s complicit in funneling millions to violent extremist groups like the KKK,” RNC spokeswoman Emma Hall said. “Anyone who doesn’t condemn these indicted fraudsters is wrong for Georgia — plain and simple.” 

Ossoff has not commented on the grand jury indictment. His campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Ossoff is facing a crowded field of GOP challengers ahead of November.

Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, R-Ga., and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley are vying for the Republican nomination in an increasingly bitter three-way contest. President Donald Trump has yet to intervene and a significant chunk of the state’s Republican voters are undecided, according to recent polling.

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The GOP candidates have raised just a fraction of the Ossoff campaign’s $31.7 million war chest.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report changed its race rating to “lean Democrat” in Ossoff’s favor earlier in April, citing an “increasingly sour national environment” for Republicans.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is going viral — not for diplomacy, but for stepping behind a DJ booth at a family wedding and hyping up the crowd in a clip shared online that’s quickly gaining attention.

The video, posted by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino on X, shows Rubio wearing headphones and standing behind a DJ setup, leaning over the controls as music plays and guests dance nearby.

At several points, he pumps his fist, nods along to the beat and appears to cue up the next track, drawing cheers from people gathered around the booth.

“MOMENTS AGO, BEHIND THE SCENES—Our Great Secretary of State @MarcoRubio DJ’s weddings too! Here he is in action tonight at a family wedding… Let’s goooooo!!!” Scavino wrote in the post.

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The track playing in the video is “Shiver” by John Summit and Hayla, a high-energy dance song known for its pulsing beat and dramatic drop — a fitting backdrop as the crowd moves in sync and reacts to the music.

The unexpected scene has set social media on fire, with users reacting to the unusual sight of a sitting U.S. secretary of state taking on DJ duties at what appears to be a family celebration.

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One user wrote, “Marco becoming the official White House DJ,” while sharing an AI photo of Rubio dressed in black, wearing sunglasses and headphones and standing beside DJ equipment. The image shows Rubio in a club-like setting, with lighting and staging that mirrors a professional DJ setup.

Other X users shared AI images of Rubio mixing it up behind two turntables and a microphone.

MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION

Another user wrote, “Marco can do it all!” posting another AI image showing Rubio at the turntables as Vice President JD Vance sits nearby on an ottoman, surrounded by haze and lighting effects.

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Rubio, who is also serving as acting national security advisor and has held several other roles, has taken on a wide range of responsibilities over the course of his career — and now, at least for one night, he can add DJ to the list.

The California man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was highly educated and had worked as a tutor, a profile one university president said raises an unsettling question about the role of education in shaping character.

Cole Allen, 31, earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 and a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills last year. That doesn’t match the typical resume of a would-be presidential assassin, but a disturbing shift appears to be underway, according to Cornerstone University President Gerson Moreno-Riaño.

“A troubling trend that appears to be emerging is that of the ‘educated assassin,’ individuals who do not fit the typical profile of people who commit such heinous acts,” Moreno-Riaño said. “These individuals are often schooled in some of America’s most elite institutions and act out of a perverted philosophical conviction that sees the killing of others not as evil, but as justified.”

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“My concern has been for many, many years that some of these not just activists, but violent activists, are perhaps some of the most highly educated ones in our country,” he said. “When education ceases to educate, when it’s ideological, when it’s brainwashing, when it’s indoctrination, it’s no longer education… It’s something very different.”

Prosecutors say Allen, who remains in federal custody, targeted Trump and Cabinet officials in the April 25 incident. He allegedly had authored a damning manifesto and left what authorities described as an extensive digital trail showing weeks of planning.

In addition to his advanced schooling, Allen joined tutoring company C2 Education in March 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. A Dec. 30, 2024, Facebook post from the company congratulated “Cole Allen of C2 Education Torrence” as a teacher of the month.

CHARLAMAGNE BLAMES TRUMP FOR HEATED RHETORIC AMID WCHA DINNER FALLOUT

Secret Service Director Sean Curran told Fox News Thursday that Allen shot an agent in the chest while “charging through security,” with the round stopped by the agent’s bulletproof vest.

Curran said the agent returned five shots that missed, adding the agent was the only person other than Allen who discharged a weapon during the incident. Allen is believed to have tripped and fallen, prompting Secret Service agents to surround and subdue him.

Defense attorneys claim prosecutors lack key physical evidence and dispute aspects of how the incident has been characterized. A defense memo described Allen as a “devout Christian,” a highly educated man with no criminal history and a “loved and respected teacher.”

But Moreno-Riaño warned that credentials and professional roles do not necessarily reflect deeper moral grounding.

“The universities have rejected the centrality of God, a theistic Christian worldview, but nothing has taken its place,” he said.

“There is no moral compass for universities and for education today. It just doesn’t exist.”

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He added that parents should take a more active role in understanding what their children are being taught.

“Parents can no longer… simply drop off their student” and assume responsibility ends there, Moreno-Riaño said.

Moreno-Riaño also said people who carry out acts like this can hide their intentions, making them difficult to identify ahead of time.

“Our entire life as a whole, whatever we do in private, whatever we’re doing in secret, does have a significant impact on what we do in public,” he said.

Allen’s next hearing is scheduled for May 11.

For Moreno-Riaño, the case points to a moral concern.

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“There’s a crisis of morality, a crisis of faith,” he said. “Without it, all we’re giving to students is just information then. And that’s not giving them guidance and moral direction.”

Fox News Digital’s Alex Koch, Asra Q. Nomani, Jake Gibson, Julia Bonavita and Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this reporting.

This is part 2 of a series on California’s troubled Ivanpah Solar Power Plant in the Mojave Desert. 

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – More than a decade after it opened, an Obama-era taxpayer-backed “clean energy” solar plant in California still burns fossil fuels and kills thousands of birds each year.

The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant, a massive facility in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border, uses hundreds of thousands of mirrors to reflect sunlight into three towering structures, generating intense heat to produce electricity.

But those same beams have proven deadly.

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Federal researchers and monitoring reports have documented thousands of birds being killed after flying through the plant’s concentrated solar rays — a phenomenon known as “solar flux.”

The plant also relies on natural gas to start up each day – producing tens of thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide annually – an amount comparable to the energy use of thousands of homes, raising questions about how “clean” the facility really is.

Standing near the site, its footprint is unmistakable. The towers glow intensely as beams of reflected sunlight converge at their tops, creating an almost surreal scene against the desert landscape.

Once promoted as a symbol of the future of renewable energy, Ivanpah is now drawing scrutiny over whether its environmental costs outweigh its benefits, with critics saying the project raises broader concerns about how “clean energy” is evaluated.

“If oil and gas spills a drop, literally a drop, the entire operation is shut down. And to an extent that’s a good thing,” Daniel Turner, founder of the energy advocacy group Power The Future, told Fox News Digital.

“But you label something ‘green’ or ‘clean’ and all regulations are waived.”

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Despite the documented wildlife impacts, the plant continues to operate — with California regulators declining efforts to shut it down and instead arguing it is still needed to support the power grid. Officials under both the Trump and Biden administrations have supported shutting the facility down, citing the high cost of its electricity compared to newer alternatives.

The project was built with more than $1.6 billion in federally backed loans and additional taxpayer-funded incentives, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars still outstanding — even as environmental concerns continue to mount. In addition, the U.S. Department of the Treasury provided a $539 million grant to help build the facility, covering about 30% of construction costs.

Bird deaths and wildlife impacts

The facility spans more than 4,000 acres of the Mojave Desert and uses roughly 350,000 mirrors — mounted on more than 170,000 heliostats — to reflect sunlight toward three central towers.

That same concentrated light has had unintended consequences.

Researchers say insects are drawn to the bright towers, which in turn attract birds. Some then fly through the plant’s concentrated solar beams — known as solar flux — where they can be injured or killed.

Researchers dubbed the phenomenon “streamers,” with video released by the U.S. Geological Survey showing birds trailing smoke as their feathers burn.

A 2016 federal study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found evidence of birds suffering feather damage and trauma consistent with exposure to intense heat near the towers.

Monitoring reports filed with California regulators and reviewed by Fox News Digital continue to document bird and bat deaths at the site, with hundreds of birds found dead each year.

Environmental reviews conducted before construction anticipated some level of wildlife impact, including bird deaths linked to mirror collisions and concentrated solar beams, according to California Energy Commission documents.

“Bird mortality is still a significant concern at concentrated solar plants like Ivanpah,” Lewis Grove, director of wind and energy policy at the American Bird Conservancy, told Fox News Digital.

“Public estimates are that thousands of birds are killed every year by this single facility,” he said, adding that the trade-off is “generally not worth it for birds.”

CALIFORNIA’S POLITICIANS DIDN’T START THE FIRES. THEY MADE THEM WORSE

He noted that newer photovoltaic solar systems have significantly lower impacts on wildlife, underscoring how the industry has shifted away from the technology used at Ivanpah.

“The Ivanpah plant was a financial boondoggle and environmental disaster,” Julia Dowell of the Sierra Club said in a previous Fox News Digital report. She added the project “killed thousands of birds and tortoises” and showed that “not all renewable technologies are created equal.”

Habitat impact

Beyond bird deaths, the project has reshaped the surrounding desert.

The site was once considered a high-quality habitat, according to federal environmental reviews conducted before construction. Development cleared large areas of land, displacing tortoises and other wildlife and raised concerns about long-term survival.

Early monitoring reports showed dozens of protected desert tortoises went unaccounted for during initial operations — including animals held in controlled enclosures — according to California Energy Commission documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Critics have also questioned whether efforts to relocate tortoises away from the site have been effective.

Burning fossil fuels

The plant’s environmental footprint extends beyond wildlife.

Ivanpah relies on natural gas to start up operations each day — a requirement that has raised questions about how “clean” the facility really is.

While the original design assumed limited gas use, actual operations often require several hours of gas-burning to bring the system online. The plant also lacks large-scale energy storage, meaning it cannot generate electricity at night — a limitation newer solar projects increasingly address.

Project documents show the facility was originally approved to use significantly less natural gas than it ultimately required, with operators later seeking approval to increase usage by roughly 60% to maintain reliable operations, according to California Energy Commission filings reviewed by Fox News Digital.

The plant has burned natural gas to support daily startup and operations, producing roughly 25,000 to 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually — roughly equivalent to the emissions from several thousand U.S. homes.

That level of emissions is enough to place the plant under California’s cap-and-trade program, which requires major polluters to pay for their emissions — effectively placing the “solar” facility alongside traditional fossil fuel plants when it comes to emissions.

While Ivanpah produces fewer emissions than a conventional natural gas plant, its carbon footprint remains significantly higher than that of modern solar farms, which generate electricity without burning fossil fuels.

NRG Energy, which operates the facility, said in a previous statement that it remains committed to providing renewable electricity but declined to provide additional comment regarding environmental issues.

The California Energy Commission told Fox News Digital the project remains in compliance with its environmental requirements, with wildlife impacts addressed through ongoing monitoring and coordination with federal and state agencies.

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More than a decade after it opened, Ivanpah now stands as a symbol of the trade-offs in the push for clean energy — where efforts to reduce emissions can also bring real-world environmental costs.

For now, the plant continues to operate because regulators say the power it provides is still needed — even as questions remain about its cost, environmental impact and whether it still makes sense to keep it running.

Those questions extend beyond the plant itself, raising broader concerns about how projects like Ivanpah were approved — an issue Fox News Digital will examine in the next part of this series.

Republicans are calling out Democratic Senate primary candidate Sherrod Brown for being disingenuous on illegal immigration just days before Tuesday’s Ohio primary election.

“I support closing the border to people so they just can’t cross the border at will, but I also say we, of course, should be deporting people that have committed a crime, surely,” Brown said in an interview last month, prompting reviews of his voting record to the contrary.

That remark has raised concern about Brown trying to rewrite his voting record that showed longtime opposition to border security and deportation of criminal aliens since the first Trump administration.

Brown served in the Senate for three terms (2007-2025), nearly two full decades, before losing in 2024 to Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. Now, Brown is seeking the seat of Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, who was appointed to Vice President JD Vance’s seat at the start of the second Trump administration.

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Brown had been squarely on the side of the left against President Donald Trump’s border security and enforcement actions as a senator. Not only did he vote at least 10 times to protect federal funding for sanctuary cities from his time in the House in 2001 through his third Senate term in 2024, he has also:

• Co-sponsored the 2019 End Mass Deportation Act, which sought to rescind Trump’s executive order to prioritize deporting criminal illegals and withhold funding for sanctuary cities.
• Voted against ensuring ICE has “sufficient resources to detain and deport a higher number of illegal aliens who have been convicted of a crime.”
• Voted against funding to stop criminal aliens from securing amnesty.
• Voted to stop funding for deportation of criminal aliens in 2001.

Brown’s voting record shows a discrepancy between his latest comments and his past votes and public positions.

Brown has repeatedly opposed construction of a southern border wall “that doesn’t work,” calling the idea “stupid,” “wrong” and “ludicrous.” In the past he has voted:

Fox News Digital reached out to Brown’s campaign for comment, but they did not immediately respond. 

The Ohio Senate race figures to be a very competitive one this summer, drawing massive campaign dollars from both sides in the pursuit of the Senate majority, with immigration remaining a top issue.

“This November, Ohioans will have a clear choice between the past and the future,” Husted campaign manager Drew Thompson told Signal Cleveland, which reported a $1 million ad campaign for his Senate race this week, despite running unopposed in the primary. “Jon Husted is getting an early start by taking his story directly to voters who are ready for a fresh, common-sense approach in Washington.”

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Brown’s 32-year record of voting for sanctuary cities and illegal immigration will come back to haunt him in the state, Thompson added in a statement.

“After shocking Ohioans in 2024 by claiming he only hears about illegal immigration from the far Right, Sherrod Brown is now desperate to return to Washington and continue the same Biden-era open border policies he supported for 32 years,” the statement read. “Jon Husted, on the other hand, is working to clean up Sherrod Brown’s mess by funding border security, supporting border agents, and standing for the rule of law.”

Ohio is one of three races considered a toss-up by The Cook Political Report. The re-election campaign of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and the open Michigan seat vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., being the other two.

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Senate seats in Alaska (lean GOP), Georgia (Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.), North Carolina (lean Democrat) and New Hampshire (lean Democrat) are the other close races drawing attention and campaign dollars.

“Sherrod Brown’s lies aren’t going to trick Ohioans,” NRSC regional press secretary Nick Puglia said in a statement. “They know Brown has fought for over half a century alongside liberals like Kamala Harris to open our borders and protect dangerous criminal illegals from deportation.”

Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, accusing the Republican of using his office for “retaliation” to punish the group for its political work and asking a federal judge to block his investigations and litigation against the organization.

“ActBlue is trying to take me down,” Paxton, who is running for Senate in Texas, wrote on X. “I sued the fundraising platform for deceiving Americans by lying about its donation processes that allow fraudulent and foreign donations.

“I will hold those who break the law accountable.”

The ActBlue lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Boston, seeks to counter the case Paxton brought last month in Texas state court accusing ActBlue of misleading Congress and the public about its donation practices. ActBlue said Paxton’s actions are part of an unlawful retaliation campaign targeting the nation’s leading small-dollar Democratic fundraising platform.

TEXAS AG PAXTON SUES DEM FUNDRAISING PLATFORM ACTBLUE, ALLEGING ‘FRAUDULENT AND FOREIGN DONATIONS’

“Ken Paxton has spent more than two years using the power of his office to investigate, harass, and sue ActBlue,” Lawrence Oliver, ActBlue’s chief legal officer, said in a statement.

“The timing of Paxton fighting for his political life in his run for U.S. Senate and his use of the Attorney General’s  office to attack ActBlue, should not be lost on anyone. He is wasting taxpayer dollars to benefit his political ambitions.

“That is not law enforcement. It is retaliation against constitutionally protected speech and association, and it is exactly what the First Amendment forbids.”

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

ActBlue also argues selective prosecution, noting Paxton has never investigated WinRed — the Republican fundraising counterpart to ActBlue — alleging in the lawsuit that “Paxton has a history of targeting Democratic-aligned entities.”

“During his tenure as Texas Attorney General, Paxton has signaled an emphasis on enforcement against entities enabling voting and political speech that he perceives as aligned with the Democratic Party,” the lawsuit reads. “He has consistently sought to suppress speech with which he disagrees and hobble his political opponents by abusing the powers of his Office.”

ActBlue cited a New York Times report that Talarico “had posted strong fundraising numbers for the first quarter of 2026,” in potentially being the nexus for Paxton’s opening his investigation.

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The timing of his investigation shows a political motive, ActBlue’s lawsuit argues. The group says Paxton’s investigators began conducting undercover transactions on ActBlue’s platform Feb. 18, one day after Talarico announced he had raised $2.5 million in 24 hours, including more than $2.2 million through ActBlue.

The lawsuit said Paxton filed his Texas case five days after national reporting described Talarico as a major fundraising threat who had raised more than $36 million through the platform.

The lawsuit marks an escalation in a broader Republican-backed campaign targeting ActBlue and other online fundraising platforms. President Donald Trump last year directed his Department of Justice to investigate the groups, and Paxton has pursued ActBlue through a series of inquiries dating back to December 2023.

‘TIPPING THE SCALES’: HOUSE GOP LEADERS RIP ACTBLUE AFTER DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT HIT WITH SUBPOENA

The issue comes as the Democratic National Committee reportedly carried more than $17.5 million in debt this winter, according to the FEC.

The House Administration, Judiciary and Oversight committees have been investigating ActBlue for more than a year and issued a 2025 report titled “Fraud on ActBlue.”

“ActBlue has engaged in good faith at every turn,” the group wrote in a statement after sending a letter to the committees last week before filing the Paxton lawsuit.

TOP HOUSE COMMITTEES ACCUSE DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT OF FACILITATING ‘BAD ACTORS’ IN BOMBSHELL DOJ LETTER

“We are asking the Committees to do the same: engage with us directly before sending accusatory public correspondence, and answer unresolved questions about the relationship between their oversight work and a DOJ investigation ordered by a President who has made no secret of his hostility towards ActBlue.

“We see what this is,” the statement added. “And we’re going to keep showing up, keep correcting the record — because that’s what transparency actually looks like. Not as a talking point. As a practice.”

Paxton’s Texas lawsuit, filed April 20, seeks financial penalties and asks a state court to stop ActBlue from allowing donations through gift cards and prepaid debit cards. Paxton alleged those payment methods could obscure a donor’s identity and enable illegal contributions, including from foreign nationals. His suit also claimed ActBlue continued to process gift card donations after saying in 2024 that it would stop doing so.

DEMOCRAT PLATFORM ACTBLUE SUBPOENAED BY HOUSE COMMITTEE AMID CONCERNS FOREIGN DONORS EXPLOITED SECURITY FLAWS

ActBlue denied the allegations.

“This is a thinly veiled attempt to distract from Ken Paxton’s numerous legal and ethical issues ahead of next month’s runoff,” ActBlue spokeswoman De’Andra Roberts-LaBoo told Fox News in an April 20 statement via email. “If he and his Republican allies actually cared about donor fraud, they would work to strengthen security standards across the board, including within their own operations, rather than targeting ActBlue.

“Our platform has done more than any other, regardless of party, to prevent improper donations and protect donors. Full stop.”

SCOOP: DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT ACTBLUE HIT WITH SUBPOENA BY TOP HOUSE COMMITTEES

Investigators from Paxton’s office attempted three times to use an American Express gift card on ActBlue’s platform, and all three attempts were rejected by the platform’s automated fraud-prevention tools, according to the complaint.

ActBlue said Paxton nevertheless filed a lawsuit accusing the group of having “secretly resumed” accepting gift cards and failed to disclose the failed test transactions to the Texas court, calling the allegations “false and inflammatory.”

“Paxton’s decision to use his government office to target ActBlue with legal sanctions as retribution for its protected speech and political association is an affront to the Constitution and must not be tolerated,” ActBlue’s lawyers wrote in the federal lawsuit.

Since its founding in 2004, ActBlue said it has helped raise $19 billion for Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations, including more than $568 million in the first quarter of 2026, acting as a conduit for individual donors.

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The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare Paxton’s investigation and Texas civil case unconstitutional violations of ActBlue’s First and 14th Amendment rights and to bar him from continuing to pursue them.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly planning to travel to the Vatican and Italy this week for meetings aimed at steadying relations after public spats between President Donald Trump, Pope Leo and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Rubio, a Catholic, is expected to meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s top diplomatic official, Reuters reported, citing Italian newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera.

Rubio is also expected to hold talks with Italy’s foreign and defense ministers, the Italian newspapers reported.

The visit would come at a tense moment for U.S.-European relations. The Pentagon on Friday announced a drawdown of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany, the largest American base presence in Europe, as disagreements over Iran and tariffs deepen strains between Washington and several European capitals.

TRUMP MEETS WITH ITALIAN PM GIORGIA MELONI AT HIS MAR-A-LAGO RESORT

Trump added he “probably should” weigh a drawdown of U.S. troops for NATO in Italy, too.

“Why shouldn’t I? Italy has not been of any help to us, and Spain has been horrible,” Trump said Friday from the Oval Office.

“I didn’t need the help, but I said, ‘yeah, we’d love to have your help, because I want to see if they’d do it. And they, in all cases, they said, ‘We don’t want to get involved.’ And you know the amazing thing is they use the Strait of Hormuz, and we don’t. We don’t use it. We don’t need it. We have a lot of oil.”

Trump has praised Rubio for his peacemaking and diplomatic efforts.

FIRST AMERICAN POPE WELCOMES VANCE AND RUBIO FOR PRIVATE VATICAN AUDIENCE

“People like you,” Trump said of Rubio during his State of the Union address earlier this year. The president even joked he might consider firing Rubio after the Munich Security Conference for being so likable and effective on the world stage.

“You have done a great job, a great Secretary of State. I think he’ll go down as the best ever.”

Italy remains one of the largest hosts of U.S. forces in Europe, with nearly 13,000 active-duty American troops stationed across six bases at the end of 2025.

It is uncertain whether Rubio will also meet with the pope, who has been critical of the Trump administration’s peacemaking efforts in the Middle East.

Rubio and Vice President JD Vance attended Pope Leo’s inaugural Mass in St. Peter’s Square and held a private meeting with him the following day in May 2025.

TRUMP ACCUSES POPE LEO OF BEING ‘TERRIBLE’ ON FOREIGN POLICY OVER PONTIFF’S ANTI-WAR COMMENTS

The reported trip also comes weeks after Trump drew criticism from Christians across the political spectrum for attacking Leo on social media, including at one point calling the pontiff “terrible.”

“I have no fear of the Trump administration,” Pope Leo said last month before backing down and saying “I will not enter into debate.”

Trump had repeatedly blasted the pope for criticizing the war on Iran and the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.

POPE LEO SLAMS THOSE WHO ‘MANIPULATE RELIGION’ FOR MILITARY OR POLITICAL GAIN, TRUMP RESPONDS

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote in a scathing Truth Social post.

“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church,” he concluded.

Fox News reached out to the White House, State Department, Holy See press office and the Italian government for comment.

The trip is aimed in part at easing tensions between Washington and Rome after Trump publicly criticized Meloni, one of his closest European allies, over her stance on the Iran war and her defense of the pope.

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Corriere reported that Rubio’s schedule has not been finalized. La Repubblica said a meeting with Meloni has not been ruled out.

Reuters contributed to this report.

After a month on the sidelines, the 2026 primary season is back with a vengeance.

A dozen states from coast to coast hold primaries or runoffs in May, and the results of those nomination contests may ultimately determine the outcomes of November’s midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their slim Senate and razor-thin House majorities.

Also on the line in some of the ballot box showdowns: President Donald Trump’s immense sway over the GOP, as his endorsements in key races will be tested.

ONLY ON FOX NEWS: TRUMP WILL ‘DELIVER’ – RNC CHAIR SIGNALS MIDTERM CONFIDENCE DESPITE ‘DOOM AND GLOOM’

Indiana and Ohio kick off the action on May 5, with Nebraska and West Virginia holding primaries a week later, on May 12. Louisiana’s nominating contest follows on Saturday, May 16. Three days later marks the busiest day of the month, with Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania holding primaries. Texas wraps up May with runoff showdowns on May 26.

Here’s a closer look at some of the top races.

MAY 5 – Indiana and Ohio

The first major test of Trump’s grip on the GOP comes in Indiana.

Five months ago, Republicans in the GOP-dominated state Senate withstood immense pressure from Trump and his allies and voted down congressional redistricting, which would have given solidly red Indiana two more right-leaning U.S. House seats ahead of the midterms. Seeking retribution, the president endorsed challengers to eight GOP state senators who voted against the redistricting bill.

The president’s allies have spent millions of dollars to try to oust the state lawmakers who opposed Trump’s redistricting push. Among those in the political fight on behalf of the president are Turning Point USA’s political wing and the Club for Growth.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS NATIONAL POLL SAYS ABOUT DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS

The intra-party battle is seen not just as a test of fealty to Trump but rather a fight between MAGA forces and more traditional conservatives for the future of the GOP.

“We’ve got to change those old-style Republicans, put in people who will fight, fight against the Democrat gerrymandering,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh told Fox News Digital.

McIntosh, a former congressman from Indiana, said “I want to see my state do the right thing.”

In neighboring Ohio, there’s a lot less drama.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and business leader who grabbed national attention during his bid for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination before dropping out and becoming a top Trump surrogate, is all but certain to capture the Republican gubernatorial nomination in his home state. Ramaswamy, who is backed by Trump, will face off in November against Dr. Amy Acton, a doctor and researcher who served as director of the state Department of Health from 2019 to 2020. Acton is unopposed in the Democratic primary. The winner will succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine.

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

It’s the same story in Ohio’s Senate primary, where appointed Republican Sen. Jon Husted, a former lieutenant governor, is unopposed in the GOP primary. Former longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is expected to cruise to his party’s nomination. The winner will serve the final two years of the term of Vice President JD Vance, who stepped down from the Senate after the Trump-Vance ticket won the 2024 presidential election.

Once a top general election battleground state, Ohio has shifted to the right over the past decade, with Trump carrying the state by 11 points in the 2024 election. But this year’s races for the Senate and governor are expected to be very competitive. And the Senate race is one of a handful across the country that may determine if the GOP holds the majority or if the Democrats flip the chamber.

 

May 16 – Louisiana

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is facing primary challenges from two Republicans: Rep. Julia Letlow and former Rep. John Fleming, who is currently the state treasurer. Trump earlier this year weighed into the race by endorsing Letlow.

Cassidy was one of only seven Senate Republicans who voted in early 2021 to convict Trump after he was impeached by the House for his role in the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters who aimed to upend congressional certification of former President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

CRUZ WARNS ‘RADICAL DEMOCRATS’ WILL ‘BURN IT DOWN’ IF THEY WIN BACK CONGRESS

But since the start of Trump’s second term 15 months ago, Cassidy has been supportive of the president’s agenda and his nominees.

If no candidate cracks 50% of the primary vote, the top two finishers will face off for the nomination in a June 27 runoff election.

 

May 19 – Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania

The third major test of Trump’s endorsement power this month is in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, where Rep. Thomas Massie is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Ed Gallrein.

Massie has long been one of Trump’s most vocal GOP critics in Congress, repeatedly taking aim at the president over the Epstein files and foreign policy.

Trump allies have spent big bucks to boost Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, and to take aim at Massie.

The president’s endorsement is also being tested in Georgia’s GOP gubernatorial nomination, in the 2026 race to succeed popular conservative Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term limited.

Trump has endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is trading fire in a competitive and combustible battle with healthcare executive and mega GOP donor Rick Jackson, who has infused millions of his own money in his bid. Among the others battling for the nomination in a crowded Republican field are state Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who later served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Among the other contenders in the crowded field of candidates are Mike Thurmond, a former DeKalb County CEO and former state Labor Commissioner, and former Republican lieutenant governor turned Democrat Geoff Duncan.

Republicans are hoping to flip the U.S. Senate seat up for grabs this year in Georgia. The GOP views first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat seeking re-election this year. But beating Ossoff, who has built a massive war chest, won’t be easy in the southeastern battleground state.

Making matters worse for the GOP: There’s a nasty primary between major contenders Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, and former college football coach Derek Dooley, who is backed by Kemp. Trump has remained neutral to date in the Senate primary in Georgia.

May 26 – Texas

Longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn is fighting for his political life as he faces off in a runoff election against state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is a MAGA firebrand and major Trump supporter.

Trump has stayed neutral in the showdown between the two Republican titans in right-leaning Texas.

Cornyn narrowly edged Paxton in an early March GOP primary that also included Rep. Wesley Hunt, but with no candidate topping 50%, Cornyn and Paxton advanced to the runoff.

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The winner of the runoff will face off in November with Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state representative and rising Democratic Party star who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising the first three months of this year.

Democrats are confident, and Republicans are concerned, that if Paxton wins the GOP nomination, Republicans will have a harder time in the general election holding the seat. And similar to the Senate race in Ohio, the showdown in Texas is one of a handful across the country that may determine if the GOP holds the majority.

The legal battle over abortion pills escalated to the Supreme Court on Saturday, as the manufacturer of mifepristone filed an emergency request warning a lower court ruling is already causing “immediate confusion and upheaval” across the country.

Danco Laboratories is asking the high court to quickly block a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that blocked mail-order access and reinstated in-person requirements for the drug, arguing the ruling is disrupting access and creating nationwide uncertainty about legality.

The ruling directly affects the distribution of mifepristone, Danco’s primary product.

Mifepristone is one of two drugs commonly used in medication abortions.

The application was directed to Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency matters from the 5th Circuit and can either act on his own or refer the request to the full court. The Supreme Court could act at any time.

ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE SPARKS NEW PRO-LIFE DEBATE AS SOME DOCTORS STRESS SAFETY CONCERNS

In its filing, Danco warned the appeals court’s order is already creating “chaos” in real-world medical settings.

“The panel’s ruling injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions,” the company wrote, adding it is forcing “providers, patients, and pharmacies all to guess at what is allowed and what is not.”

The filing raises immediate questions, including what happens to existing abortion pill prescriptions, pharmacy dispensing and access to in-person visits.

PRO-LIFE GROUP FINDS BIDEN-ERA FDA POLICY IS DRIVING 500 ABORTIONS PER DAY, SAYS TRUMP HAS POWER TO END IT

“What happens when patients arrive for scheduled appointments this weekend… or walk into pharmacies… to obtain [the drug] that was prescribed… yesterday?” the filing states.

Danco is asking the court to immediately pause the ruling through an administrative stay, then block it longer term while litigation continues. The company also suggested the justices could take up the case on an expedited schedule before the end of the term, a move that could reshape the court’s already packed 2026 docket.

The emergency appeal comes just one day after the 5th Circuit issued its ruling, which blocked the mailing of mifepristone and effectively barred pharmacy distribution under the challenged FDA rules, requiring women to obtain the drug in-person from a medical provider.

PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT CONFRONTS HIGH ABORTION RATES THREE YEARS AFTER DOBBS

“Of course they filed an emergency petition. Big Pharma has gotten extremely rich after the unprecedented and radical deregulation of these dangerous abortion pills,” 40 Days for Life President Shawn Carney told Fox News Digital.

“No abortion advocate or anyone from Big Pharma was pushing to send these drugs through the mail just a few years ago, and now they act as if they’re entitled to do so with zero regulation and zero oversight,” Carney added. “This is more evidence the FDA needs to reevaluate how these drugs were approved after years of ER visits from women who take them.”

Abortion-rights advocates said the ruling has “upended” access to care nationwide, particularly for patients relying on telemedicine, while legal groups warned it is creating confusion for providers trying to comply with rapidly changing rules.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the decision is “yet another cruel attack on abortion access,” adding that “mifepristone is safe, effective, and essential.”

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The underlying case is still ongoing in lower courts, but the emergency filing now places the dispute squarely before the Supreme Court in what could become the next major legal showdown over abortion policy.

The justices could choose to pause the ruling immediately, allowing the current system to remain in place while the case proceeds, or let the restrictions take effect nationwide.

Danco Laboratories did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.