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Senate Republicans on Tuesday successfully launched their floor takeover to put Senate Democrats on record against Trump-backed voter ID legislation.

It’s a move to shift the spotlight from internal GOP divisions over the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act onto Senate Democrats, who are ultimately withholding the needed votes to pass the bill.

“Not a single Democrat will support the SAVE Act. It is a radical bill,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor. 

“And if Republicans try to burn time on this legislation here on the floor, we will oppose them for as long as it takes.”

TRUMP VOTER ID PUSH FACES SENATE TEST AS GOP REBELS THREATEN TO SINK BILL

It’s also the culmination of a pressure campaign on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., from President Donald Trump, conservatives in his conference and a fervent online campaign to put the bill on the floor.

Trump said he spoke with Thune Monday morning about the forthcoming process and said “he’s trying.”

“I hope John Thune can get it across the line,” Trump said.

When asked if Trump understood the path forward, Thune said, “Well, I think he wants us to fight for our position, which we will, and then we’ll see what the Democrats want to do.”

Still, opening up what will be a multi-day marathon debate on the bill wasn’t without its hiccups. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined all Senate Democrats to block the legislation. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who threatened to do everything he could to block the bill, did not vote. 

While the lobbying campaign from Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., was partly successful in getting the bill on the floor, it is still destined to fail.

Lee said during a video call on X Monday that he and Trump were confident they could win the floor fight if Republicans “get this thing teed up, and we do not leave it until it’s passed.”

SENATE GOP EYES BLAME GAME AS TRUMP-BACKED SAVE ACT HEADS FOR DEFEAT

Lee and a cohort of Republicans pushed Thune to enact a talking filibuster to effectively wear down Senate Democrats and lower the threshold to pass the SAVE America Act to just a simple majority vote.

But there wasn’t unanimous support among Republicans for the move, making a novel idea into a math problem that could easily backfire on the GOP, given that Republicans don’t have the votes to block several Democratic amendments that would drastically change the bill.

“If your senators don’t support using the talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, you might need to replace them,” Lee said on X.

With the initial hurdle passed, the Senate will now begin the marathon debate and amendment process. Amendment votes will only come at the tail end of the floor battle and will require Republicans to take another procedural test that Democrats could block. 

And each amendment, which Republicans will control, has to hit a 60-vote threshold, meaning that none of the provisions that Trump wants to be attached to the bill will survive.

TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL FACES GOP RESISTANCE AS TILLIS VOWS TO STOP IT

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., will head off the flurry of amendments with a package of add-ons that include Trump’s desired modifications to the bill.

Those include ending mail-in ballots, with exceptions for military service members, disabilities and illness; banning men from women’s sports; and halting transgender surgeries on minors.

Halting mail-in balloting isn’t a home run among Republicans, with many pushing back on a sweeping end to the practice.

Johnson acknowledged that hurdle before the vote and agreed that absentee ballots couldn’t be halted altogether, but lawmakers should find “reasonable restrictions” on the practice.

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“I’ve argued myself you can’t ban absentee ballots, or I’m not gonna be able to vote,” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “I’m here on Tuesdays in Washington, you know. So, you have to have absentee ballots, but there’s got to be restrictions on it.”

Senate Democrats could inflict maximum pain as the floor battle rages, too, turning to procedural moves to bog down the process that could derail the timing of Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s, R-Okla., confirmation hearing as the GOP sprints to install him as Trump’s next Department of Homeland Security chief.

A former top advisor to War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was ousted amid a high-profile leak investigation, has been hired to work under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, according to a source familiar with the move.

Dan Caldwell’s return to a sensitive intelligence role comes less than a year after he was publicly accused of leaking classified information — allegations that have never been publicly substantiated — and as the Trump administration navigates an escalating war with Iran. 

The hiring also places a prominent advocate of a more restrained U.S. foreign policy inside the intelligence apparatus at a moment of growing internal tension. 

PENTAGON PROBE INTO SECRET SIGNAL CHATS ON HOUTHI STRIKES SET TO DROP THURSDAY AS HEGSETH FACES SCRUTINY

Earlier Tuesday, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned, citing opposition to the Iran war and arguing Tehran, Iran, did not pose an imminent threat to the United States — a rare public break from within the administration.

A source familiar with the move described Caldwell’s new position as an “administrative role,” focused on internal management and coordination rather than directly shaping intelligence assessments or national security policy. However, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) plays a central role in coordinating intelligence across 18 agencies and shaping the president’s daily intelligence briefing.

The source said Caldwell has completed a polygraph test, and passed a series of background and security checks and is currently in the onboarding process.

Gabbard’s office could not immediately be reached for comment. 

A recent Quinnipiac poll found the war is dividing Americans just as it is those within the administration: 53% of those surveyed opposed the military intervention while 40% supported it. 

Caldwell’s hiring signals the apparent end of a leak investigation that began in April 2025, when Caldwell and two other senior Pentagon officials, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, were abruptly fired and escorted out of the Pentagon. All three aides have denied any involvement in leaks, and no public evidence has been produced to support the allegations. 

Hegseth said at the time the three aides would be investigated for leaking and suggested there was evidence of wrongdoing, but none of the men were ever charged, and Caldwell retains his security clearance.

The Pentagon has not disclosed whether the investigation remains active or has concluded. 

IG: HEGSETH BROKE PENTAGON RULES USING SIGNAL TO SHARE STRIKE DETAILS, THOUGH NO CLASSIFIED INFO WAS RELEASED

Fox News Digital previously reported that the three aides had clashed with then-chief of staff Joe Kasper, who was also later removed from his role. 

Hegseth continued to accuse the aides of leaking even after their departure, saying at the time: “Those folks who are leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda and what we’re doing. And that’s unfortunate.”

Caldwell, a Marine Corps veteran and prominent voice in the restraint-minded foreign policy sphere, advised Hegseth primarily on European issues and has been outspoken against prolonged U.S. military involvement overseas. His views align with a faction inside the administration that has long warned against entering another major Middle East conflict.

That debate has taken on new urgency as the U.S. enters its third week of war with Iran, and as Gabbard — who built much of her political identity opposing regime-change wars — has remained largely quiet publicly about the conflict despite overseeing the nation’s intelligence apparatus.

After his firing, Caldwell suggested the trio’s removal may have been tied to internal power struggles. “We threatened a lot of established interests inside the building and outside the building,” he said.

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The Pentagon declined to comment on Caldwell’s hiring and the status of the investigation.  The Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations did not respond to a request for comment. 

Lawyers for Brian J. Cole Jr. claimed in a court filing Monday that President Donald Trump‘s sweeping presidential pardons for Jan. 6 defendants apply to him and the case should be dismissed.

Cole Jr. is accused of planting explosive devices at the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump issued the pardons on his first day in office, Jan. 20, 2025.

The motion to dismiss was filed in U.S. District Court by Cole Jr.’s lawyers, arguing the government’s own narrative in the case “inextricably” tethers Cole to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

“By the government’s own telling, this is exactly the kind of case that President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Presidential Pardon was invoked to reach,” defense attorneys Mario Williams and John Shoreman wrote.

EVIDENCE AGAINST J6 PIPE BOMB SUSPECT WAS JUST ‘SITTING THERE’ FOR YEARS, DOJ SAYS

The defense lawyers cited Department of Justice connections between the bombs and Jan. 6, including the “timing and location,” and the allegation that Cole Jr. drove to D.C. “to attend a protest concerning the outcome of the 2020 election.”

“The Pardon — like it or not — applies to Mr. Cole, based on the ordinary and plain meaning of the Pardon’s language as applied to the relevant facts in this case,” the 23-page motion to dismiss concluded.

DOJ MOVES TO WIPE STEVE BANNON CONTEMPT CONVICTION TIED TO JAN. 6 PROBE

“Wherefore, for the reasons stated above, Mr. Cole requests that this Motion be granted and the charges against him dismissed, in their entirety.”

The defense argues that because the 2025 Pardon applies to all individuals “convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Cole should be immune from prosecution.

To bolster their claim, Cole’s team pointed to the case of David Dempsey, who was sentenced to 20 years for what prosecutors described as “vicious and protracted” assaults on police officers. Despite being labeled a “domestic terrorist” by some officials, Dempsey received a full pardon.

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The defense argues it would be a “grave injustice” to prosecute Cole — whose devices never exploded and caused no physical injury.

READ THE MOTION TO DISMISS – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:

The government is expected to challenge the motion.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday it’s a “good thing” that National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned in protest of the Iran war because Kent thought “Iran was not a threat.”

“I read his statement,” Trump said during a meeting at the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on St. Patrick’s Day. “I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security.”

Kent served under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has rejected “regime-change wars” for years.

“I didn’t know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy, but when I read his statement, I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out,” Trump said. “Because he said that Iran was not a threat. 

“Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

President Donald Trump declared in a Tuesday Truth Social post that most NATO countries have noted that they do not want to jump into the U.S. attack against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the president declared in the Truth Social post. “I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need.” 

He continued, “Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military — Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again! Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer “need,” or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea. In fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World, WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” 

The U.S. has been waging war against Iran in conjunction with Israel, a close American ally.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated

President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that he will not endorse any lawmaker who votes against the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, escalating pressure on Republicans as the bill heads to the Senate.

Trump made the pledge in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning, warning that any Republican or Democrat who opposes the measure would face political consequences.

“The Save America Act is one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress, and America itself,” Trump wrote.

“I WILL NEVER (EVER!) ENDORSE ANYONE WHO VOTES AGAINST ‘SAVE AMERICA!!!’”

GOP WARNS DEMOCRATS USING DHS SHUTDOWN TO STALL SENATE VOTER ID PUSH

Trump has long pushed for stricter election laws — making election integrity a central pillar of his 2024 campaign — and has repeatedly questioned the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden.

The SAVE Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and impose stricter voter ID rules.

Trump said the bill also touches on issues including mail-in voting, transgender athletes and medical care for minors.

“No Men in Women’s Sports, No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our Children. 90% to 99% ISSUES ALL! Only sick, demented, or deranged people in the House or Senate could vote against THE SAVE AMERICA ACT. If they do, each one of these points, separately, will be used against the user in his/her political campaign for office – A guaranteed loss.”

The GOP-led House passed the bill in February, largely along party lines.

Trump and his allies argue the legislation would prevent noncitizens from voting and strengthen election security, while critics say it could disenfranchise eligible voters who lack documentation.

SCHUMER SAYS DEMS WILL FIGHT VOTER ID PUSH ‘TOOTH AND NAIL,’ BALKS AT DHS ROLE IN ELECTIONS

The bill now faces steep odds in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster — a threshold Republicans do not currently have given their 53–47 majority.

Some conservatives have pushed to force a “talking filibuster” or change Senate rules to bypass that threshold and pass the bill with a simple majority, but GOP leaders have said they lack the votes within their own conference to take that step.

Senate Majority Leader John ThuneJohn Thune has indicated the votes are not there to pass the measure, and most Democrats are expected to oppose it.

“It’s about the math,” Thune said. “And I’m, for better or worse, the one who has to be a clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here.”

Republicans are expected to force a vote to put Democrats on record opposing the bill, but the measure faces steep odds of clearing the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

Cracks have also emerged within the GOPwithin the GOP.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a supporter of the bill, acknowledged Republicans “don’t have the votes for the talking filibuster right now” while Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has opposed the legislation and said he plans to “do everything I can to prevent it from even moving forward.” Tillis has objected to the bill’s scope, arguing it goes beyond voter ID and warning against imposing sweeping federal mandates on states.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has also come out against the bill, warning that new federal mandates could disrupt state election systems.

The internal divisions come as Trump ramps up pressure on lawmakers, urging voters to contact their senators and back the legislation, which he has described as one of the most consequential bills in U.S. history.

Fox News’ Alex Miller and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: Internal Department of Justice emails obtained by Fox News Digital show prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith sought phone records in 2023 for a wide-ranging group of Republican lawmakers, including newly revealed names such as a current Trump administration official.

The email exchanges between prosecutors beginning Jan. 9, 2023, show Smith’s team mapped out a web of House and Senate lawmakers who interacted with key people in Smith’s probe into the 2020 election, including figures like President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led many of Trump’s unsuccessful legal challenges to the election results.

New names within the emails obtained by Fox News Digital include Texas Rep. Brian Babin, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs and then-New York Rep. Lee Zeldin.

“I’d like to seek [the Public Integrity Section’s] concurrence to get phone tolls for several MOCs who had contact with pertinent parties in our investigation,” wrote DOJ lawyer Timothy Duree. “I’ll keep the timeframe tight—probably October 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.”

JACK SMITH DEFENDS SUBPOENAING REPUBLICAN SENATORS’ PHONE RECORDS: ‘ENTIRELY PROPER’

Duree produced 16 names and said he wanted to discuss whether to “subpoena these all at once.” The list included Reps. Babin and Biggs and now former Reps. Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, Zeldin and Jody Hice. The list also included Gohmert’s chief of staff Connie Hair, and seven senators whose names were previously revealed through public disclosures, such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

Public disclosures previously showed that some of the 16 members’ phone records were subpoenaed, but the new emails with new names, including Babin, Biggs and Zeldin, do not make clear if Smith ultimately executed subpoenas for their phone records.

Raymond Hulser, an adviser on Smith’s team, responded at one point in the January 2023 email chain by acknowledging the scale of his request.

“And please there’s no hurry this morning, [Duree]” Hulser wrote. “It just occurred to me that before we tell Main we are going to fire off subpoenas for so many members tolls I should make sure Jack’s aware.”

DEM REP DEFENDS DOJ OBTAINING GOP SENATOR CALL RECORDS IN 2023: ‘YOU WEREN’T SURVEILLED’

The subpoenas for lawmakers’ records have been a top source of scrutiny as House and Senate Judiciary Committee members continue to investigate Smith’s work. Smith has stood by them, saying they were “entirely proper” and followed DOJ protocol. The Republicans who were targeted have, however, condemned them as egregious violations of the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which gives Congress members an added layer of immunity from investigations.

In addition to members of Congress, public disclosures by the congressional committees revealed that Smith targeted hundreds of Republican-affiliated people and entities as he pursued charges against Trump. Smith eventually brought four criminal charges against Trump alleging he illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election results but dropped the case after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DOJ policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.

In another email from the January 2023 email chain, Hulser directed Duree to check the Jan. 6 Committee’s report for members who interacted with Trump and Giuliani on Jan. 6, the day of the U.S. Capitol breach, underscoring how Smith’s prosecutors used the investigative work of the committee to help with their probe. Republicans have widely dismissed the since-disbanded Jan. 6 panel as hyper-partisan as it comprised seven Democrats and two vocally anti-Trump Republicans.

Hulser later said Smith wanted to “narrow” down the list of 16, leading Duree to provide a bolded list of names “we should get in the first round.”

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No. 1 on the list, for instance, read “Brian Babin (texts with Meadows; calls with Chip Roy, Perry, Ratcliffe, and Meadows).” Other names noted followed a similar structure. Roy and Perry were known targets and Smith’s probe and previously revealed that they had their records subpoenaed by the special counsel’s team.

Fox News Digital reached out to a Smith representative for comment, as well as the current House lawmakers mentioned in the emails and the office of Zeldin, who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency.

EXCLUSIVE — As Republicans aim to hold and expand their congressional majority in this year’s midterm elections, the House GOP campaign arm is launching a new program to elevate what it says is the next wave of America First candidates.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) on Tuesday unveiled its initial list of GOP contenders in the MAGA Majority, which identifies candidates running in key battleground districts across the country. The announcement was shared first with Fox News Digital.

The unveiling of the MAGA Majority, which in past election cycles was known as the Young Guns program, comes as Republicans build resources to defend their fragile majority in the midterm elections. The GOP currently holds a razor-thin 218-214 control of the chamber, and Democrats need a net gain of just three seats in the midterms to flip the majority.

“House Republicans are on offense, and the MAGA Majority is the next wave of leaders who will help us expand our majority in 2026,” the NRCC chair, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, said in a statement.

‘FICTION’ – HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR DISMISSES DEMOCRATS MOVE TO EXPAND THEIR REPUBLICAN TARGET LIST

Hudson emphasized, “From veterans and job creators to proven conservative fighters and local leaders, these candidates are stepping up to secure the border, lower costs, and deliver on President Trump’s America First agenda.”

The NRCC says it will provide MAGA Majority candidates with early support, strategic resources, and visibility as Republicans aim to expand the map and go on offense in districts where it sees Democrats as vulnerable.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS ON OFFENSE: EXPAND GOP TARGET LIST

Republicans are battling stiff political headwinds as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms. The GOP is also facing a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation and Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

But Republicans highlight that Democrats in the midterms will be defending over a dozen districts that Trump won in the 2024 elections, and that “the MAGA Majority is designed to capitalize on that opportunity.”

The initial list of MAGA Majority candidates includes:

Mike LiPetri, New York’s 3rd District – LiPetri, a former state lawmaker, is an attorney and businessman running to flip a key Long Island battleground seat.

Peter Oberacker, New York’s 19th District – Oberacker is a state senator, farmer and small business owner with deep roots in upstate New York.

Tano Tijerina, Texas’ 28th District – Tijerina, a lifelong South Texan, is a Webb County judge whom the NRCC touts as a border security champion.

Eric Flores, Texas’ 34th District – Flores, a decorated Army veteran, is a Rio Grande Valley native and former prosecutor.

FOX NEWS POLL: AN EARLY LOOK AT THE 2026 MIDTERMS

Kevin Lincoln, California’s 13th District – Lincoln is a former Stockton mayor, former Marine and what the NRCC calls a rising Republican star in California’s Central Valley.

Paul LePage, Maine’s 2nd District – LePage, a former two-term governor in blue-leaning Maine, is running for Congress in a district Trump carried in all three of his presidential campaigns.

Jay Feely, Arizona’s 1st District – Feely is a former professional football player who played for the Arizona Cardinals, an NFL analyst and humanitarian.

Laurie Buckhout, North Carolina’s 1st District – Buckhout served 26 years in the Army, and is a decorated veteran of the Gulf War.

Joe Mitchell, Iowa’s 2nd District – MItchell is a former state representative, a veteran of the Trump administration, and grassroots conservative organizer.

The rival Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is currently targeting 44 Republican-controlled districts in the midterms.

Democrats are energized, despite the party’s continued polling woes. Democrats, thanks to their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation, scored decisive victories in the 2025 elections and have won or over performed in a slew of scheduled and special ballot box contests in the 14 months since Trump returned to the White House.

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“Democrats are on offense, and our map reflects the fact that everyday Americans are tired of Republicans’ broken promises and ready for change in Congress,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene emphasized in a statement. “Healthcare, housing, groceries, energy bills — they are all going up, and it’s directly because of Republican policies that favor the wealthiest few while leaving hardworking families behind.”

And DelBene predicted, “Going into the midterms, Democrats have the winning message, top-tier candidates, and the public on our side, paving the way for a new Democratic House Majority under the leadership of a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries.”

A former top official in the Biden and Obama administrations recently caused a stir after she appeared to vow political retribution against companies once Democrats regain control in Congress and the White House.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., last week condemned plans for political retribution he believes Democrats, such as Susan Rice, hope to enact when they regain power and argued that both parties should refrain from using government power to pressure their political opposition.

“What Ms. Rice is talking about is payback,” Kennedy said, referring to comments Rice, who served as Biden’s domestic policy council director, had made on a podcast last month.

In a media appearance Rice gave with Vox in February, she warned that companies that had aligned themselves with President Donald Trump’s priorities could face Democratic scorn down the road.

THUNE WARNS DOJ’S PROBE OF FED CHAIR POWELL ‘BETTER BE REAL’ AND ‘SERIOUS’ AMID POLITICAL BACKLASH

“I’m going to quote [her],” Kennedy said. “‘When it comes to the elites, you know, the corporate interests, the law firms, the universities, the media, it’s not going to end well for them.’”

In that podcast appearance, Rice promised that Democrats would not quickly forget their posture.

“They’re going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box,” Rice said.

“I think whether you’re a law firm, whether you’re a university, whether you’re a media entity, whether you’re a big corporation, whether you’re big tech, you need to play a long game, not this short game that has been so detrimental,” Rice added.

Kennedy said he found Rice’s comments troubling.

“What Ms. Rice seems to be saying is that it’s okay in America today to use the law to prosecute and harass your political enemies. I find that astounding coming from a person of her statue,” Kennedy said.

Rice, who in addition to her Biden administration role was former President Barack Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations, could not be reached for comment.

WILL CHAMBERLAIN: HOW THE FBI TRAMPLED ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE TO HUNT TRUMP ALLIES

Kennedy framed political retaliation as a practice that in recent years started under the Biden administration and, in particular, with then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, who launched probes of Trump while he was campaigning to recapture the presidency.

In 2021, Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to investigate whether Trump had interfered with a transfer of power after the 2020 election and whether Trump had mishandled classified information following his presidency.

Kennedy recalled thinking that Garland and Biden had set a new precedent they would regret.

“And I remember thinking at the time: They have unleashed spirits they cannot control,” Kennedy said.

Although he primarily focused on remarks from Democrats like Rice, Kennedy said he opposes continued political retaliation from across both parties, noting that Trump has received his fair share of accusations of weaponizing the government against political opponents.

TRUMP INSISTS GOPERS ‘LOVE’ DOJ TARGETING JEROME POWELL, SAYS HE ‘CAN’T HELP’ IT IF IT LOOKS LIKE RETRIBUTION

Trump has received criticism for investigations opened by his Department of Justice (DOJ) into figures like former national security advisor and Trump critic John Bolton, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who helped spearhead prosecutions against Trump in New York, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has resisted policy changes Trump has pushed.

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“And I know some are going to say, well, ‘President Trump is doing the same thing.’ If that’s true, I don’t like that either,” Kennedy said.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right. It was wrong then when President Biden did it; it’s wrong now.”

Senate Republicans are gearing up for a floor fight this week over doomed Trump-backed voter ID legislation.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is expected to launch the GOP’s floor strategy for the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act on Tuesday afternoon.

It won’t be done through the talking filibuster, despite pressure from President Donald Trump and a fervent ecosystem of conservative influencers to do so. That’s because there is not enough support among Republicans to follow through with the move.

SENATE GOP EYES BLAME GAME AS TRUMP-BACKED SAVE ACT HEADS FOR DEFEAT

“It’s about the math,” Thune said. “And I’m, for better or worse, the one who has to be a clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here. And so we’ll continue to convey that. And I think that we’re going to have the fight on the floor. We’re going to vote on this.”

Republicans’ plan is to put Senate Democrats on record for voting down the bill. And Senate Democrats are primed to oblige. 

“Democrats will not let Donald Trump ram this bill through the Senate. Not this week, not ever,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on a call with reporters over the weekend. “And Democrats are going to make sure the American people have their chance to deliver their verdict at the elections this fall.”

Part of the issue among Republicans, outside the staggering amount of floor time it would take up, is that the GOP isn’t unified to block Democratic amendments that could drastically alter the bill if they went the route of the talking filibuster.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who is one of the key voices pushing for the SAVE America Act in the Senate, acknowledged that Republicans “don’t have the votes for the talking filibuster right now.”

“We just got to, you know, we got to look at every way we can try to pass it,” Scott said.

GOP REACHES KEY 50-VOTE THRESHOLD FOR TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL AS SENATE FIGHT LOOMS

Still, the first procedural step on Tuesday will take a simple majority but may still need an assist from Vice President JD Vance to break a tie.

And throughout the process, which could stretch over several days, there will be a handful of key lawmakers to watch in both chambers.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., declared last week that he wouldn’t support the SAVE America Act and that he planned to “do everything I can to prevent it from even moving forward.” 

How that could play out during the lengthy floor battle remains to be seen.

Still, Tillis’ objection to the bill is notable, given Republicans’ thin margin for error in the upper chamber.

He would rather vote on legislation that incentivized states to adopt voter ID and warned that the additional changes to the bill Trump wanted, like barring men in women’s sports or halting mail-in ballots with limited exceptions, “doesn’t sound like we’re letting the people at the tip of the spear — that’s these people running for re-election — define what we should be voting on next week.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, came out early against the SAVE America Act and contended that “one-size-fits-all mandates from Washington, D.C., seldom work in places like Alaska.”

TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL FACES GOP RESISTANCE AS TILLIS VOWS TO STOP IT

“Election Day is fast approaching,” Murkowski said in February. “Imposing new federal requirements now, when states are deep into their preparations, would negatively impact election integrity by forcing election officials to scramble to adhere to new policies, likely without the necessary resources.”

Whether she’ll vote to allow Republicans to open debate on the bill and march forward with their slew of amendments is still an open question. Fox News Digital did not immediately hear back from her office for comment.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who often bucks his party on key votes in the Senate, likes the idea of voter ID but isn’t on board with some of the changes demanded by Trump.

Fetterman said on “Mornings with Maria” that the SAVE America Act was “needlessly complicated,” particularly Trump’s request to include a sweeping ban on mail-in ballots with limited exceptions.

“I have said it’s not Jim Crow, and it’s not extreme things, but mail-in voting is absolutely secure,” Fetterman said. “Some of the best examples in the country are red states like Florida and Ohio.”

House GOP

Meanwhile, in the House, a rebellion is brewing among Thune’s fellow Republicans.

Several GOP lawmakers there are threatening to vote against any legislation that comes out of the Senate until the SAVE America Act is passed, which, given the circumstances, could lead to a lengthy standoff.

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Many of those threats first bubbled up earlier this month on a House GOP lawmaker-only call, following the U.S. and Israel’s joint strikes on Iran.

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., was among those pushing the House to reject any bills from the Senate until the measure was taken up, telling Speaker Mike Johnson, according to multiple sources on the call, “If we don’t get this done, or at least show that we’ve got some backbone, we’re done. The midterms are over.”

The Trump Department of Homeland Security has requested that Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and officials in immigrant-friendly Fairfax County not release an adult illegal alien charged with groping several high school girls on school grounds.

Illegal alien Israel Flores Ortiz, 19, is facing nine counts of assault and battery for groping girls at a Fairfax County high school he was attending. Victims and parents have alleged that Ortiz approached about 12 girls from behind in crowded hallways, grabbed them between the legs, and groped their private areas, according to 7News.

The outlet reported that parents said the incidents have occurred throughout the school year. Ortiz attends the school and is in the eleventh grade, per 7News.

According to DHS, Ortiz illegally entered the U.S. in 2024 and was released into the country by the Biden administration.

ANGEL MOM WHOSE 13-YEAR-OLD SON WAS EXECUTED BY ILLEGAL GANG MEMBER URGES INCOMING DHS CHIEF TO ACT

He is currently being held without bond in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, which is operated by the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Stacey Kincaid. 

According to the sheriff’s office website, the office does not honor ICE administrative detainers — requests to hold inmates — unless the detainer is accompanied by a criminal judicial order.

Further, as governor, Spanberger has rolled back state policies mandating cooperation with ICE. Spanberger has said that “when state and local law enforcement are pulled away from upholding our Virginia laws to do the job of federal agents, it weakens their ability to deepen trust — contributing to a culture of fear and distrust that makes it harder for officers to do their jobs.” 

In a later executive order, Spanberger added that Virginia law enforcement efforts “focus on upholding the rule of law, investigating and stopping criminal conduct, and protecting public safety, not the administrative enforcement of civil status.”

DHS NABS AFGHAN MAN ADMITTED UNDER BIDEN AFTER CONVICTION FOR EXPOSING HIMSELF TO MINOR

In a Monday statement, DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said that the agency is “calling on Fairfax County sanctuary politicians to NOT release this predator from jail back into our communities to assault more teenage women.”

Bis slammed Spanberger for ending former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policy of cooperation with ICE, saying it is “siding with criminal illegal aliens over American citizens.”

“This 19-year-old criminal illegal alien should NOT have been attending a Virginia high school and allowed to prey on innocent teenage girls,” Bis said, adding, “This is yet another example of the Biden Administration’s failed open border policies.”

In response, Allyson Conroy, a spokesperson for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, told Fox News Digital that Ortiz currently “remains in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.” 

Conroy said that “while it is still too early in the process to know the outcome of his case, ICE has been notified of Ortiz’s location at the ADC” and “they are able to execute their detainer by responding to the ADC and taking Ortiz into custody if and when he is ordered released.”

Conroy emphasized that the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office “does not obstruct or prevent ICE from acting on their civil detainers.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, a mother of three students in the Fairfax County School System, told Fox News that “this entire horrifying situation is the direct consequence of policy with really dysfunctional priorities,” which she said are attempting to “shield adult illegal immigrants at the expense of children’s safety, even in their public schools.”

ICE BUSTS HUMAN SMUGGLING RING THAT KIDNAPPED FAMILY, SEXUALLY ASSAULTED PREGNANT WOMAN

Lundquist-Arora claimed officials at the high school waited two weeks to inform parents, and that the move only came after parental pressure.

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In an emailed statement, Fairfax County Public Schools said that while it is “unable to comment on specifics due to federal and state privacy laws, we prioritize student and staff safety and we fully investigate any time someone shares that an incident has occurred at school, or that they do not feel safe at school.”

The public school system added that it is “grateful to our law enforcement partners who continue to work swiftly and thoroughly when there are safety concerns in our schools” and that the “safety of all FCPS students and staff remains a top priority.”

Spanberger’s office and the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this report.

Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois is unopposed for his party’s nomination as he seeks a third term steering the nation’s sixth-most populous state.

But the billionaire governor and potential 2028 White House contender has plenty on the line as Illinois on Tuesday holds a slew of competitive primaries that are grabbing national attention.

The contest at the top of the list is the race in the blue-leaning state to succeed 81-year-old Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who is retiring after nearly three decades in the Senate.

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Pritzker is backing Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who is facing off against two other major candidates, Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi, among a crowded field of contenders in the contentious and extremely expensive showdown.

If Kelly or Stratton were to win the primary and then the general election in November, they would become the second Black woman elected to the Senate in Illinois. And Krishnamoorthi, who was born in India and immigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child, would make history as the nation’s second Indian American in the Senate.

ILLINOIS DEM SENATE CANDIDATES SPLIT ON BACKING SCHUMER AS LEADER

Krishnamoorthi is the clear fundraising frontrunner in the race, and has spent big bucks to run ads. And a super PAC funded by crypto titans has shelled out nearly $10 million to back Krishnamoorthi.

The governor, a member of the Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain and who has launched several venture capital and investment startups, has dipped into his large war chest to dish out millions to fund a super PAC supporting Stratton.

Pritzker’s support for Stratton is drawing pushback. Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, accused the governor of trying “to tip the scales” in the primary.

“A sitting governor shouldn’t be heavy-handing the race. Quite frankly, his behavior in this race won’t soon be forgotten by any of us,” Clarke emphasized in a statement.

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be considered the clear front-runner in the general election in a state where no GOP contender has won statewide in a dozen years.

Former GOP state party chair Don Tracy and attorney Jeannie Evans are among four Republicans seeking their party’s nomination.

2028 LOOMS LARGE: HARRIS, NEWSOM, PRITZKER CONVERGE AT HIGH-STAKES DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUMMIT

But for Pritzker, the Senate primary is viewed as a test of his political clout in his home state as he likely gears up for a 2028 presidential run. The governor has seen his national profile skyrocket over the past year as he’s become a top Democrat leading the resistance to President Donald Trump‘s second-term agenda.

Four Republicans are seeking their party’s gubernatorial nomination, in hopes of facing off against Pritzker in the general election. Among the GOP challengers is former state Sen. Darren Bailey, who lost to Pritzker by more than 12 points in the 2022 governor’s race.

Also grabbing attention in Tuesday’s primaries are the Democratic showdowns in four blue-leaning House districts.

There are crowded and competitive races for Kelly and Krishnamoorthi’s seats, as well as for retiring longtime Democratic Reps. Danny Davis and Jan Schakowsky.

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Polls in Illinois close at 7 p.m. Central time.

More than half a million ballots had been cast in early voting as of Friday.

EXCLUSIVE: Google’s AI chatbot Gemini flagged several Republicans — but no Democrats — when asked to identify senators who have made statements that violate its hate speech policies, author Wynton Hall told Fox News Digital. It’s just one example of what the author believes is a deeply ingrained bias against conservatives found in artificial intelligence tools. 

Hall used the “deep research” function on Google’s Gemini Pro. Fox News Digital reviewed a screen recording of Hall’s prompt and findings. Google did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

One of the Republicans flagged by Gemini in Hall’s research, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, of Tennessee, was listed for characterizing “transgender identity as a harmful cultural ‘influence’ and has used ‘woke’ as a derogatory slur against protected groups.” Another, Arkansas’ Sen. Tom Cotton, was cited for cosponsoring legislation “to exclude transgender students from sports.”

MUSK, XAI TOUT NEWEST GROK UPDATE AS ONLY ‘NON-WOKE’ PLATFORM: ‘DOESN’T EQUIVOCATE’

The finding stood out against a backdrop of inflammatory rhetoric from some Democrats in recent years.

In 2023, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., warned that then-candidate Donald Trump was “destructive to our democracy” and needed to be “eliminated.” However, he quickly apologized for his comments, claiming that it was a “poor choice of words.” 

Last year, Texas Democratic House candidate Rep. Jolanda Jones made a throat-slashing gesture while rejecting former first lady Michelle Obama’s famous mantra, “when they go low, we go high,” on CNN’s “Outfront.”

“If you hit me in my face, I’m not going to punch you back in your face. I’m going to go across your neck,” Jones said while making a slashing motion across her neck. “We can go back-and-forth, fighting each other’s faces. You’ve got to hit hard enough where they won’t come back,” she added. 

But for Hall, Gemini’s seemingly partisan answer underscored the central argument of his new book, “Code Red: The Left, The Right, China and the Race to Control AI.” In it, he argues that AI systems marketed as neutral are increasingly shaped by the ideological assumptions of the people and institutions who create them, which are far from neutral. 

His book starts out with a clear example. 

Less than 10 weeks before the 2024 election, a series of viral videos appeared to expose a strange double standard in American homes. When users asked Amazon’s Alexa why they should vote for Kamala Harris, the device delivered a polished endorsement. When asked why they should vote for Donald Trump, Alexa declined, citing a policy of neutrality.

“I cannot provide content that promotes a specific political party or a specific candidate,” Alexa said.

Hall says the concern extends beyond a single Gemini output.

“AI’s Silicon Valley architects lean left politically, and their lopsided political donations to Democrats underscore their ideological aims,” Hall told Fox News Digital.

To Hall, episodes like this show how AI can shape political perceptions while maintaining the appearance of objectivity. “Through algorithm throttling and shadow bans, Big Tech centralized control over which voices soar and sink across social networks. Now AI has put Big Tech’s consolidating control on steroids,” he writes.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

He argues that this imbalance reflects the politics of the people building the systems. The billionaires driving the AI revolution, he says, invest their money and political energy where their values lie. As PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel once put it, “Silicon Valley is a one-party state.”

The money appears to bear that out. According to Hall, 85% of political donations from employees at Apple, Meta, Amazon and Google go to Democrats. 

After Trump’s 2024 victory, major tech companies made the customary $1 million inauguration donations. But Hall argues those gestures did little to hide where Silicon Valley’s loyalties had long been. Aside from Elon Musk, he says, most of Big Tech’s leading figures remained firmly on the left.

Hall points to Democratic fundraising in 2024 as evidence of Silicon Valley’s political influence, citing major support from figures including Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs.

But Hall argues the bigger issue is not campaign money. 

It is the growing influence of AI systems that many people assume are neutral and objective. He warns that users often trust those answers too much, even when they may be biased.

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To Hall, this bias is reinforced by the relationship between tech companies and legacy media. He argues AI systems are trained on enormous amounts of content from outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic and Reuters, while conservative outlets are largely excluded.

The result, he says, is a closed loop: AI absorbs the assumptions of legacy media and repackages them as objective truth. Hall argues conservatives must respond by demanding transparency in training data and ending taxpayer-funded contracts for vendors whose systems show political bias.

“Whoever wins the AI fairness battle,” Hall concludes, “will shape the minds and political attitudes of future generations. The time to act is now.”

FIRST ON FOX: A key conservative group is accusing Democrat-run states of launching frivolous lawsuits against the Trump administration with no actual cause, and is calling on Congress to intervene.

America First Legal, a nonprofit founded by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, is urging House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to open a probe into “lawfare” conducted by blue states that it says is part of a larger effort to block President Donald Trump’s goals.

“America First Legal Foundation (‘AFL’) has uncovered a nationwide pattern to subvert the agenda of the Trump administration: Democrat-controlled states have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, yet in many cases, the states are unable to show any support for their alleged injuries,” the group’s legal counsel Will Scolinos wrote.

DEMOCRAT AGS SUE TRUMP FOR ‘UNCONSCIONABLE’ FREEZE ON $6.8B IN K-12 SPENDING

There are over 200 active cases challenging various Trump administration policies right now, according to Lawfare Media’s litigation tracker. Dozens of those have been launched by states like California, Colorado, Minnesota and New York.

Scolinos said AFL launched a probe into various blue states’ lawsuits — and allegedly found many of them have been filed without concrete evidence to back up the claims they make.

“AFL’s investigation reveals that these Democrat-controlled states are pleading allegations of harm for which there is no corresponding evidence to support their claims,” the letter said.

“The fundamental problem is not merely that courts are failing to rigorously enforce standing requirements, but that state attorneys general are filing complaints premised on speculative injuries that their own client agencies cannot substantiate.”

TRUMP ADMIN SEEKS TO OVERTURN FEDERAL RESTRAINING ORDER LIMITING ICE OPERATIONS IN LOS ANGELES

The letter said it “raises serious questions about whether these lawsuits are being filed in good faith or are instead designed to obstruct the lawful policies of the Trump Administration through judicial intervention.”

Four states that sued the Trump administration over its transgender policies, for example, said “they lacked records” necessary to respond to AFL’s inquiries over the basis of those lawsuits, the letter said.

Five of 20 states that joined a lawsuit over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) getting access to federal Medicaid data to probe whether illegal immigrants were getting health benefits similarly told AFL that it could not provide records it requested, the letter said.

“Such conduct not only undermines the integrity of the federal court system but also abuses the judicial process to obstruct the lawful policies of the Trump Administration—policies that the American people voted for,” AFL said.

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“Given the Committee’s jurisdiction over Title 28 and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, we request that you investigate this pattern of conduct and consider whether legislative action is warranted.”

A spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee told Fox News Digital when reached for comment, “We appreciate this tremendous work from America First Legal. We are evaluating the report and everything is on the table.”

EXCLUSIVE: California mother and grandmother Angie Morfin, whose 13-year-old son, Ruben, was executed at point-blank range by an illegal alien gang member, shared a message for incoming Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin: “Make sure no other mother has to get the call I did.”

“Ruben was just a little boy with dreams of growing up, getting married, and having a family of his own,” she told Fox News Digital, adding, “For 34 years I’ve fought to keep his memory alive, so he didn’t die in vain.”

She shared that she is hopeful that Mullin, a current Republican senator from Oklahoma who is set to take the reins at DHS at the end of the month, “will continue to listen to Angel Families and stand with us as we fight to make sure no other mother has to get the call I did.”

In a recent interview with The American Border Story, shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, Morfin said her family remains devastated decades after losing Ruben.

“I cry for him today, like if it was just yesterday,” she shared.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING NJ TEEN COULD BE RELEASED UNDER SANCTUARY POLICIES, ICE WARNS

In the winter of 1994, Ruben, a young Hispanic teenager with no gang affiliation, was chased down and shot in the back of the head by Mexican national Ezequiel Mariscal near Orange County, California. Ruben had been walking with a group of friends to a party.  

Morfin said that though her family was living in Oceanside, just north of San Diego, at the time, she had sent Ruben to stay with his grandparents during the holidays over concerns about gangs in their area.

Then one night, just after midnight, Morfin said she got a call.

“I grabbed the phone, and I could hear my mom screaming, ‘They shot Nino, they shot Nino.’ I knew it was my baby because that’s what we called him, because he was so small,” she said.

Morfin said she and her husband rushed to the hospital.

“It was probably the longest ride of my life. I was scared. I didn’t know what I was going to see when I got there,” she explained.

Once there, she was made to wait.

“They told me he was dying. That if he made it through the night, that he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life because they had just shot off half of his brain,” she recounted.

ICE BUSTS HUMAN SMUGGLING RING THAT KIDNAPPED FAMILY, SEXUALLY ASSAULTED PREGNANT WOMAN

“Finally, my husband got to go in, and he came out crying, and told me not to go in. Just to remember him the way he was, and I go, ‘No, this was my baby you’re talking about. I have to see for myself.’”

Inside the room where Ruben was being kept on life support, Morfin said her son was bandaged and greatly disfigured.

“I could see my baby on that table. His body was shaking from all the machines he had on. He had bandages on his head, and his eye was hanging out,” she recalled. “I asked if I could give him one last kiss before they cut [life support]. And I walked close to my baby, and I gave him his last kiss. In his good eye, he had two teardrops.”

“All I kept trying to do in my mind was stop the bullet,” she added.

According to Morfin, the shooter had been previously deported. He was a teenager at the time of the shooting and a member of the Posole street gang. After the shooting, he fled to Mexico and was later sentenced to 45 years in a Mexican state prison.

After losing Ruben, Morfin said, “Everything changed about me, everything.”

Morfin founded Moms Against Gang Violence, a California-based advocacy group for stricter law enforcement. She has also testified before Congress on the need for stricter immigration enforcement. She explained that her advocacy on behalf of victims like Ruben is “my way of keeping him alive.”

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She praised President Donald Trump’s hard-line policy against illegal immigration, saying “it takes guts to do what he’s doing.”

“He helped me give my son a voice,” she said.

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“There’s a lot of new victims,” she went on, slamming current Democrats, saying they “only have one agenda … to bring in more Democrats.”

Nicole Kiprilov, executive director of The American Border Story, told Fox News Digital that the Morfins’ story is a “heartbreaking reminder that behind every statistic is a child whose life was stolen, and a family forced to live with that loss forever.”

“Angel Families like Angie’s have spent decades fighting to make sure their loved ones are not forgotten,” said Kiprilov. “We’re hopeful that Secretary Mullin will continue listening to these families and put the safety of American communities first.”

Lawyers for the Trump administration on Monday asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to reconsider his order that quashed grand jury subpoenas of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, appearing to make good on a vow from U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro to appeal the order to a higher court.

In the Justice Department’s motion for reconsideration that was submitted Monday, prosecutors argued that the court “applied an incorrect legal standard, erred with respect to certain facts, and overlooked other relevant facts.” 

They argued that a subpoena should be allowed when there is even a “reasonable possibility” that the category of materials the government seeks will produce information “relevant to the general subject of the grand jury’s investigation,” and even where a subpoena recipient “proposes a plausible theory of an ulterior motive.”

EX-JUDGES BLAST TOP TRUMP DOJ OFFICIAL FOR DECLARING ‘WAR’ ON COURTS

The filing, submitted Monday, comes two days after Boasberg blocked a pair of grand jury subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve Board, concluding that they were merely a “pretext” to pressure the Fed’s Powell into lowering interest rates or resigning from the head of the nation’s central bank. 

The Federal Reserve Board, DOJ argued Monday, has “never disputed that the subpoenas sought only materials directly related to the subjects of the grand jury’s investigation: the over budget renovations — estimated at over $1 billion, outrageous even by D.C. standards — as well as Chair Powell’s congressional testimony.” 

The request comes days after Boasberg issued a ruling blocking Pirro’s office from moving ahead with a subpoena of records and testimony related to the investigation of the central bank. He said in the newly unsealed ruling that the Justice Department offered “no evidence whatsoever” that Powell committed any crime “other than displeasing” Trump. 

BIDEN-APPOINTED FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TRUMP’S ‘THIRD COUNTRY’ DEPORTATION POLICY IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

“Did prosecutors issue those subpoenas for a proper purpose? The Court finds that they did not,” he said. “There is abundant evidence that the subpoenas’ dominant (if not sole) purpose is to harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will.”

The ruling came after Pirro opened a criminal inquiry into Powell’s June 2025 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in January, centered on the Fed’s years-long renovation of its headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

Powell revealed the investigation publicly in January, which he described as an attack on the Fed’s independence. 

Pirro said Friday that the Justice Department would appeal the ruling to a higher court, blasting the order as “outrageous.”

“This process has been arbitrarily undermined by an activist judge,” she said at a news conference Friday, arguing that Boasberg “put himself at the entrance door to the grand jury, slamming that door shut — irrespective of the legal process — and thus preventing the grand jury from doing the work that it does.”

TOP US COURT HANDS TRUMP A WIN ON DEPORTATIONS AS SCOTUS CHALLENGE LOOMS

Any appeal could prolong Trump’s efforts to remove Powell from the Fed and replace him with his pick — former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh — as Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. remarked on social media Friday.

Trump also took aim at Boasberg on Truth Social on Sunday night, accusing him of suffering “from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome” and someone the president claimed “has been ‘after’ my people, and me, for years.”

Boasberg used last week’s order to tick through many of Trump’s social media posts blasting Powell and unsuccessfully pressuring him to lower interest rates before suggesting that someone else should replace him to head up the Fed.

“Being perceived as the president’s adversary has become risky in recent years,” Boasberg said in the ruling. 

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“In his second term, Trump has urged the Department of Justice to prosecute such people, and the Department’s prosecutors have listened,” he added. 

Congressional Democrats are seeking criminal charges against Kristi Noem weeks after President Donald Trump ousted her from leadership of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the top Democrats on their respective chambers’ Judiciary Committees, sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday accusing Noem of lying to Congress during back-to-back hearings earlier this month.

“A number of her statements appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress,” the letter said. “After months of evading our Committees’ requests to testify in routine oversight hearings, Secretary Noem made a series of demonstrably false statements in a brazen attempt to undermine critical congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security.”

The top Democrats on the Senate and House Judiciary committees charged that there were four categories of statements Noem made during her testimony before the respective panels where the DHS chief could have perjured herself.

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Among those answers the lawmakers scrutinized were whether DHS follows court orders, Corey Lewandowski’s role in DHS contracts, whether immigration enforcement has detained U.S. citizens, and most notably the contracting process for a $220 million ad campaign heavily featuring Noem. 

The ad campaign, in particular, was an explosive moment during Noem’s hearing earlier this month when Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed her on whether there was a competitive bid process for the contracts and the substantial cash flow. 

Noem told the panel that the contract did go through a competitive process, “and career officials at the Department chose who would do those advertising commercials.” When asked if President Donald Trump knew about the ad campaign and its eye-popping sum, Noem said he did.

CAPITOL HILL DEMS HAIL TRUMP’S DHS OUSTER OF NOEM AFTER HEATED SENATE HEARING

Trump contradicted that statement in an interview with Reuters, and Kennedy argued that it was “hard to believe” the president would give it the green light. 

“It’s something we have to defend. I’m on the Appropriations Committee. I mean, my research shows that you did not bid them out,” Kennedy said. 

He alleged that the group that received “most of the money” had direct ties to former DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin and her husband, Benjamin Yoho, who runs the company.

KRISTI NOEM FIRED FROM HOMELAND SECURITY POST AMID RECENT TURMOIL

“Even if Secretary Noem was the one telling the truth about the President’s knowledge, and she may well have been, she flatly misrepresented that the contract had been subject to a competitive bid,” Durbin and Raskin wrote. 

Yoho denied using his wife to secure lucrative contracts from the government, however, writing in a letter to Senate Democrats on Friday, “This statement is factually incorrect, and I respectfully request that you have your colleague correct the official record and issue an apology.”

Making false statements to Congress is classified as a felony, and a guilty verdict carries up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

But the Trump administration is sticking by Noem. A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury is categorically FALSE.”

Still, Democrats suggested that their effort would not end with the Trump administration, writing, “While we have low expectations that you will pursue this matter given your partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice, we note that the statute of limitations for perjury and for knowingly and willfully making false statements to Congress is five years.”

Trump announced earlier this month that Noem would no longer serve as DHS secretary and instead take on a new role as special envoy to the Shield of the Americas, a military coalition formed by the Republican president.

It comes after mounting criticism from both sides of the aisle over Noem’s handling of the department and its enforcement of Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

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Trump instead nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to take over the department. His confirmation hearing is expected this week.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment on Democrats’ letter.

President Donald Trump said Monday that White House doctors helped treat Rep. Neal Dunn after the Florida Republican was given what he described as a “terminal” diagnosis.

Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., recounted the episode during remarks at the White House, saying Dunn was continuing to work in Congress despite a “pretty grim” outlook.

“He would be dead by June,” Trump told reporters.

Johnson said he informed Trump of Dunn’s health challenges and the president suggested involving White House medical staff.

FLORIDA REPUBLICAN REP NEAL DUNN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT FROM CONGRESS AFTER FIVE TERMS

The speaker said White House doctors arranged for Dunn to receive treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery.

“The man has a new lease on life. He acts like he’s 30 years younger,” Johnson said.

Trump praised White House doctors as “miracle workers,” saying they moved quickly to help Dunn.

“I said, I have to call them. And I called the two doctors. They’re both great. And they immediately went over to see the congressman, and he was on the operating table like two hours later,” Trump added.

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS’ EARLY RETIREMENT RUMORS SEND SHOCKWAVES THROUGH HOUSE GOP

Dunn, a physician and former Army surgeon who represents Florida’s 2nd Congressional District, announced in January that he would not seek re-election after five terms.

In a statement at the time, the congressman said he wanted to “pass the torch to new conservative leaders, return home to Panama City, and spend more precious time with my family and our beloved grandchildren.”

“It has been my greatest honor to fight for lower taxes, our military and veterans, the unborn, healthcare innovation, and policies that empower Americans over bureaucracy and addressing threats from Communist China, Russia and others,” he added.

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER’S EARLY RETIREMENT RUMORS SEND SHOCKWAVES THROUGH HOUSE GOP

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As of mid-March, 60 House members, including 23 Democrats and 37 Republicans, have announced they will not seek re-election in the 2026 election cycle, according to the U.S. House of Representatives Press Gallery “Casualty List.”

Several Republicans are running for other offices, including governor and Senate, while Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, lost his primary to Steve Toth.

There’s a new push to give federal reparations to descendants of slaves among congressional Democrats, this time being led by progressive Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich.

Thanedar introduced a bill late last week that would set up a federal commission to “study and distribute land reparations” for the descendants of slaves in the U.S. The legislation has no formal backers and faces steep obstacles to advancing in the Republican-controlled House.

“The history of historical injustices against Black Americans by our federal government is nothing short of shameful,” Thanedar told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Formerly enslaved families were promised land as a means of securing freedom and self-sufficiency, but these promises were broken, and the devastating economic effects of this broken promise is still felt today.”

Thanedar’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding how the legislation would work in practice.

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Reparations refer to financial compensation for Black Americans intended to address economic harms their ancestors experienced during slavery and the Jim Crow era. Republicans oppose the idea over eligibility concerns and their belief that present-day Americans should not be responsible for harms committed generations ago.

The reparations push comes as Thanedar, a two-term lawmaker, is facing a serious challenge from the left ahead of Michigan’s August 2026 primary. State Rep. Donavan McKinney, D-Mich., is vying to unseat Thanedar in the deep-blue district with the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders I-Vt., and the progressive group, Justice Democrats — despite Thanedar’s own progressive credentials.

But Thanedar’s support for Israel has served to alienate him from the furthest-left flank of his party, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a fellow member of his state’s delegation. He left the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), of which Tlaib is a member, after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel in 2023.

Tlaib is also supporting McKinney’s campaign.

Thanedar, an Indian American, has supported slavery reparations since before his congressional tenure.

“Every other community has — Japanese Americans got their [reparations], American Indians got their reparations,” the Michigan Democrat said in 2022 while running for Congress. “This is something that needs to be handled in a fair way.”

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Thanedar is an original cosponsor of H.R. 40, also known as the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, which aims to kickstart the reparations process for descendants of slaves. The Michigan Democrat is also a proud supporter of more expansive legislation that aims to transfer $14 trillion in estimated losses to reparations recipients.

The legislation was originally introduced by Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., in 2023, when it was similarly dead on arrival in the GOP-controlled House.

Progressive Democrats have long advocated for the passage of reparations legislation but have encountered resistance from members of the party’s moderate flank who view the idea as politically toxic.

Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md., vetoed legislation in 2025 that would have enacted a reparations commission at the state level. Moore is notably one of the only Black Democratic governors in the country and is rumored to have presidential ambitions.

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Thanedar has also introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump and other Trump administration figures, despite opposition from House Democratic leadership.

The Supreme Court on Monday said it will review the Trump administration’s effort to revoke temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian migrants living in the U.S. — a significant update that comes as the president looks to deliver on his hardline immigration enforcement promises in his second White House term. 

Justices on the high court let stand, for now, a pair of lower court orders that blocked the Trump administration from immediately halting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for the Syrian and Haitian migrants. 

The Supreme Court did agree to review the consolidated cases on an expedited basis, and said Monday that it will hear oral arguments in both cases next month.

A ruling is expected by late June.

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The news comes as the Trump administration has moved to end the TPS designation for migrants from roughly half a dozen countries, including some 6,000 Syrians and 350,000 Haitians living in the U.S. under the program.

The TPS program allows individuals from certain countries to live and work in the U.S. legally if they cannot work safely in their home country due to a disaster, armed conflict or other “extraordinary and temporary conditions.” 

Last week, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court to intervene and stay a lower court order from U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes that blocked the administration’s effort to immediately revoke temporary protected status designations for Haitian migrants.

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Sauer urged the high court to take up the broader issue of whether the Trump administration can revoke TPS protections for other migrants living in the U.S. — citing the Justice Department’s appeal of a similar case centered on TPS protections for Syrian migrants that was kicked to the high court earlier this year.

“Unless the court resolves the merits of these challenges — issues that have now been ventilated in courts nationwide — this unsustainable cycle will repeat again and again, spawning more competing rulings and competing views of what to make of this court’s interim orders,” Sauer said last week. “This court should break that cycle.”

Haitians were first granted TPS status in 2010 after the devastating earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left some 1.5 million in the country homeless. 

The protections were extended several times, including under the Biden administration in 2021 after the July assassination of Jovenel Moïse, Haiti’s last democratically elected president.

The appeal comes as the Trump administration has sought to wind down most TPS designations, arguing the programs have been extended for too long under Democratic presidents.

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Trump officials have also taken aim at lower courts that have sought to block or pause their efforts to wind down TPS protections, accusing the lower court judges of exceeding their authority and unlawfully intruding on the executive branch’s authority on immigration policy.