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Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accountant testified behind closed doors that he was never aware of any payments the late financier and sex offender made to President Donald Trump, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Wednesday.

Richard Kahn, one of the executors of Epstein’s estate, is the latest person to be deposed in the committee’s investigation into how the federal government handled Epstein’s case.

“Mr. Kahn testified under oath that — because the Democrats asked this question — that he had never seen any type of transaction to Trump or anyone in his family,” Comer told reporters. “That makes the fifth witness now that’s testified under oath that they’ve never seen any involvement by Donald Trump or the family.”

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Comer said Kahn did confirm, however, that five people paid money to Epstein: ex-Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner, hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, businessman Steven Sinofsky, the Rothschilds and investor Leon Black. Epstein was known to have served as a financial advisor for each of them.

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“What Kahn said is he was under the impression that Epstein made his money as a tax advisor and a financial planner. So, these were the five people that transferred significant sums of money to Epstein,” Comer said.

But when it comes to Trump, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., gave a slightly different account of what Kahn said behind closed doors.

He told reporters Kahn said a “person who was an accuser of Donald Trump was given a settlement by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.”

That does not necessarily mean that the alleged settlement was regarding Trump.

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The president was known to be a friend of Epstein’s until the two had a falling out before the late pedophile’s first federal investigation. 

He has not been implicated in any wrongdoing related to his crimes.

Subramanyam said Kahn also testified that “there was another head of state that was mentioned as having financial transactions with Jeffrey Epstein,” though he did not elaborate on who that was.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted the Trump administration‘s request to pause a lower court order that blocked it from deporting illegal immigrants to so-called “third countries” — granting a near-term reprieve to the administration just hours before the lower court’s order was slated to take effect.

Trump administration lawyers had appealed the ruling to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last week, arguing that the order from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy created an “unworkable scheme” that threatened to derail sensitive negotiations with outside countries, and risked derailing up to “thousands” of planned deportations. 

They also argued Murphy’s ruling cut against two previous Supreme Court emergency stays last year, after the high court intervened and allowed the administration to continue its deportation policy, for now. 

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The case is all but certain to be punted to the high court for a full review on its merits, as senior Trump administration officials acknowledged earlier this year.

Murphy, a Biden appointee, sided with migrants last month in his 81-page ruling, determining that the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal process — or the process by which migrants are removed from the U.S. to a country other than their country of origin — is unlawful and violates due process protections under the U.S. Constitution.

He ruled that the Trump administration must first try to deport the migrants to their home country, or to a country of removal previously designated by an immigration judge. Only after that process, he said, could migrants be removed to a third country, so long as “meaningful notice” is provided, as well as the opportunity for the migrants to raise any fear of persecution in the third country identified for their removal under a so-called “reasonable fear” interview.

The third-country removal policy “fails to satisfy due process for a raft of reasons, not least of which is that nobody really knows anything about these purported ‘assurances,’” Murphy wrote in his ruling, though he stayed it from taking force for 15 days in order to give the administration time to appeal.

Barring intervention from the U.S. appeals court, the order was slated to take force on Thursday. 

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DHS officials have previously claimed an “undisputed authority” to deport criminal illegal migrants to third countries that have agreed to accept them. 

“If these activist judges had their way, aliens who are so uniquely barbaric that their own countries won’t take them back, including convicted murderers, child rapists and drug traffickers, would walk free on American streets,” former Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in June, after the Supreme Court temporarily permitted the Trump administration to continue its deportation policy amid legal challenges. 

Murphy had presided for months over a class-action lawsuit filed by migrants challenging deportations to third countries, including South Sudan, El Salvador, and both Costa Rica and Guatemala, which the Trump administration has reportedly eyed in its ongoing wave of deportations.

He has sparred with the Trump administration while overseeing the case, including in May, when he accused the administration of failing to comply with a court order requiring it to keep in U.S. custody six migrants who were deported to South Sudan without due process or notice.

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Murphy previously ordered that the migrants remain in U.S. custody at a military base in Djibouti until each of them could be given a “reasonable fear interview,” or a chance to explain to U.S. officials any fear of persecution or torture, should they be released into South Sudanese custody.  

Murphy previously acknowledged the criminal histories in question after Trump officials blasted the individuals removed as the “worst of the worst.”

“The court recognizes that the class members at issue here have criminal histories,” Murphy wrote in an order last year.

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“But that does not change due process,” he wrote. “The court treats its obligation to these principles with the seriousness that anyone committed to the rule of law should understand.”

Dorothy McAuliffe, the wife of former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, announced Wednesday that she is entering the Democratic primary race for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

“As a mom of five, grandmother, former State Department official & First Lady of Virginia, I’ve spent my life fighting for children, families, and those without a voice,” she wrote in a post on X.

The Associated Press reported that Virginia voters will decide April 21 whether to approve a constitutional amendment establishing a new congressional map. 

McAuliffe would seek to represent the proposed new 7th District stretching from the D.C. suburbs to western Augusta County if the map is approved.

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Virginia’s primary elections are scheduled to be held Aug. 4 after the General Assembly moved the date from June to August under legislation signed in February.

Early in-person voting begins June 19, with absentee ballots mailed by that date, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.

“We need a leader who has a record of delivering and can finally bring down costs for families, who will increase access to affordable healthcare, and who will never back down from holding Donald Trump and ICE accountable,” McAuliffe said in a statement to the AP.

“I look forward to traveling this district — from Arlington to Augusta and Prince William to Powhatan — and sharing that vision for this community that I’ve long called home,” she added.

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McAuliffe was Virginia’s first lady from 2014 to 2018 and was later appointed by former President Joe Biden as the U.S. Special Representative for Global Partnerships in June 2022.

According to Ballotpedia, incumbent Rep. Eugene Vindman is running in the Democratic primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, along with state Del. Dan Helmer and Alex Thymmons, a U.S. Army veteran.

Passage of the SAVE America Act is of paramount importance to President Donald Trump and many congressional Republicans.

In his State of the Union speech, the president implored lawmakers “to approve the SAVE America Act to stop illegal aliens and other unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections.”

The House approved the plan to require proof of citizenship to vote last month, 218-213. There’s now a different version of the legislation that’s in play. And, as is often the case, the hurdle is the Senate. Specifically, the Senate filibuster.

So some Republicans are trying to save the SAVE America Act.

It’s important to note that Trump never called for the Senate to alter the filibuster in his State of the Union address. But in a post last week on Truth Social, Trump declared, “The Republicans MUST DO, with PASSION, and at the expense of everything else, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”

Again, the president didn’t wade into questions about overcoming a filibuster. But “MUST DO” and “at the expense of everything else” is a clear directive from the commander in chief.

That’s why there’s a big push by House Republicans and some GOP senators to alter the filibuster — or handle the Senate filibuster differently.

It’s rare for members of one body of Congress to tell the other how to execute their rules and procedures. But the strongest conservative advocates of the SAVE America Act are now condemning Senate Republicans if they don’t do something drastic to change the filibuster to pass the measure.

Some Senate Republicans are pushing for changes, or at the very least, advocating that Senate Republicans insist that Democrats conduct what they refer to as a “talking filibuster” and not hold up the legislation from the sidelines. It takes 60 votes to terminate a filibuster. The Senate does that by “invoking cloture.” The Senate first used the cloture provision to halt a filibuster on March 8, 1917. Prior to that vote, the only method to end a filibuster was exhaustion — meaning that senators finally just run out of gas, quit debating and voted.

So let’s explore what a filibuster is and isn’t and dive into what Republicans are talking about when they’re talking about a talking filibuster.

The Senate’s leading feature is unlimited debate. But, ironically, the “debate” which holds up most bills is not debate. It’s simply a group of 60 lawmakers signaling offstage to their leaders that they’ll stymie things. No one has to go to the floor to do anything. Opponents of a bill will require the majority tee up a cloture vote — even if legislation has 60 yeas. Each cloture vote takes three to four days to process. So that inherently slows down the process — and is a de facto filibuster.

But what about talking filibusters? Yes, senators sometimes take the floor and talk for a really long time, hence, the “unlimited debate” provision in the Senate. Senators can generally speak as long as they want, unless there’s a time agreement green-lighted by all 100 members.

That’s why a “filibuster” is hard to define. You won’t find the word “filibuster” in the Senate’s rules. And since senators can just talk as long as they want, they might argue that suggesting they are “filibustering” is pejorative. They’re just exercising their Senate rights to speak on the floor.

A true filibuster is a delay. For instance, the record-breaking 25-hour and 8-minute speech last year by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., against the Trump administration was technically not a filibuster. Booker began his oratory on the evening of March 31, ending on the night of April 1. Once Booker concluded, the Senate voted to confirm Matt Whittaker as NATO ambassador. The Senate was supposed to vote on the Whitaker nomination on April 1 anyway. So all Booker’s speech did was delay that confirmation vote by a few hours. But not much.

In October 2013, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, held the floor for more than 21 hours. It was part of Cruz’s quest to defund Obamacare. But despite Cruz’s verbosity (and a recitation of “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss), the Senate was already locked in to take a procedural vote around 1 p.m. the next day. Preparations for that vote automatically ended Cruz’s speech. Thus, it truly wasn’t a filibuster either.

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So, this brings us to the talking filibuster, which actually gums up the Senate gearboxes. A talking filibuster is what most Americans think of when they hear the term “filibuster.” That’s thanks to the iconic scenes with Jimmy Stewart in the Frank Capra classic, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

Most senators filibuster by forcing the Senate to take two cloture votes — spread out over days — to handle even the simplest of matters. That elongates the process by close to a week. But if advocates of a given bill have the votes to break the filibuster via cloture, the gig is up.

However, what happens if a senator, or a group of senators, delays things with long speeches? That can only last for so long. And it could potentially truncate the Senate’s need to take any cloture vote, needing 60 yeas.

Republicans who advocate passage of the SAVE America Act believe they can get around cloture — and thus the need for 60 votes — by making opponents of the legislation talk. And talk. And talk.

And once they’re done talking, the Senate can vote — up or down — on the SAVE Act. Passage requires a simple majority. The Senate never even needs to tangle with 60.

Senate Rule XIX (19) states that “no senator shall speak more than twice upon any one question in debate on the same legislative day.”

Easy enough, right? Two speeches per day. You speak twice on Monday, then you have to wait until Tuesday? Democrats would eventually run out of juice after all 47 senators who caucus with Democrats have their say — twice.

But it’s not that simple. Note the part about two speeches per “question.”

Well, here’s a question. What constitutes a “question” in Senate parlance? A “question” could be the bill itself. It could be an amendment. It could be a motion. And just for the record, the Senate usually cycles through a “first-degree” amendment and then a “second-degree” amendment — to say nothing of the bill itself. So, if you’re scoring at home, that could be six (!) speeches per senator, per day, on any given “question.”

Questions?

But wait. There’s more.

Note that Rule XIX refers to a “legislative day.” A legislative day is not the same as a calendar day. One basic difference is if the Senate “adjourns” each night versus “recessing.” If the Senate “adjourns” its Monday session on calendar day Monday, then a new legislative day begins on Tuesday. However, the legislative day of “Monday” carries over to Tuesday if the Senate “recesses.”

It may be up to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., whether the Senate “adjourns” or “recesses.” The creation of a new legislative day inhibits the GOP talking filibuster effort.

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Democrats would obviously push for the Senate to adjourn each day. But watch to see if talking filibuster proponents object to Thune’s daily adjournment requests. If the Senate votes to stay in session, that forces the legislative day of Monday to bleed over to Tuesday.

Pro tip: Keep an eye on the adjournment vs. recess scenario. If a talking filibuster supporter tries to prevent the Senate from adjourning, that may signal whether the GOP has a shot at eventually passing the SAVE Act. If that test vote fails and the Senate adjourns for the day, the SAVE Act is likely dead in the water.

We haven’t even talked about a custom practiced by most Senate majority leaders to lock down the contours of a bill when they file cloture to end debate.

It’s typical for the presiding officer to recognize the Senate majority leader first on the floor for debate. So Thune and his predecessors often “fill” what’s called the “amendment tree.” The amendment tree dictates how many amendments are in play at any one time. Think of the underlying bill as a “trunk.” A “branch” is for the first amendment. A “sprig” from that branch is the second amendment. Majority leaders often load up the amendment tree with “fillers” that don’t change the subject of the bill. He then files cloture to break the filibuster.

That tactic curbs the universe of amendments. It blocks the other side from engineering controversial amendments to alter the bill. But if Thune doesn’t file cloture to end debate, then the Senate must consider amendment after amendment, repeatedly filling the tree and voting on those amendments. This would unfold during a talking filibuster, not when Thune is controlling the process by filing cloture and “filling the tree.”

This is why Thune is skeptical of a talking filibuster to pass the SAVE Act.

“This process is more complicated and risky than people are assuming at the moment,” said Thune.

In fact, the biggest “benefit” to filing cloture may not even be overcoming a filibuster, but blocking amendments via management of the tree. Republicans are bracing for amendments Democrats may offer.

“If you don’t think Democrats have a laundry list of amendments, talking about who won the 2020 election, talking about the Epstein files — if you don’t think they have a quiver full of these amendments that they’re ready to get Republican votes on the record, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you,” said George Washington University political science professor Casey Burgat.

Plus, forcing a talking filibuster for days precludes the Senate from passing a DHS funding bill. That’s to say nothing of confirming Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as Homeland Security secretary. His confirmation hearing likely comes next Wednesday, but a protracted Senate debate would block a confirmation vote from the floor.

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Thune all but killed the talking filibuster maneuver on Tuesday — despite the president’s ultimatum.

“Do you run a risk of being on the wrong side of President Trump and your resistance to do this talking filibuster, tying the Senate in knots for weeks?” asked yours truly.

“We don’t have the votes either to proceed, get on a talking filibuster, nor to sustain one if we got on it,” replied Thune. “I understand the president’s got a passion to see this issue addressed.”

I followed up.

“Does he understand that, though?”

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

And there just doesn’t appear to be any parliamentary way to get there with the talking filibuster.

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Like many things in Congress, it all boils down to one thing.

As Thune said, “It’s about the math.”

Republican House candidate Clay Fuller says his playbook for the runoff election for a vacant congressional district in solidly red northwest Georgia that was once held by Marjorie Taylor Greene is simple.

“We’re just going to continue to get that message out about President Trump supporting us, and my experience, being a military officer, an elected district attorney and an America First fighter too,” Fuller told Fox News Digital.

Fuller was interviewed soon after he advanced to the runoff after coming in the top two in the special election in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. He will face off in the runoff with Democrat Shawn Harris, a retired brigadier general and cattle farmer. 

Harris grabbed 37% of the vote, with Fuller at 35% amid a field of 17 candidates, including 12 Republicans.

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Tuesday’s special election and the April 7 runoff are being held as Republicans cling to a razor-thin 218–214 majority in the House.

The congressional seat was left vacant when MAGA firebrand Greene stepped down at the beginning of January. Greene quit Congress with a year left in her term, after a very public falling out with Trump mostly over her push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. 

The GOP cannot afford any surprises and allow the Democrats to pull an upset in a district which extends from Atlanta’s northwest exurbs to Georgia’s northwestern border with Alabama and northern border with Tennessee — that Trump carried by a whopping 37 points in his 2024 presidential victory.

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“President Trump truly matters in Georgia 14,” emphasized Fuller, a local prosecutor and Air National Guard member. 

Trump teamed up with Fuller during a stop in the district in March. Speaking ahead of the president at an event in Rome, Georgia, Fuller described himself as a “MAGA warrior.”

“It’s Christmas every time he’s here,” Fuller told Fox News Digital. “Let’s get him back as many times as we can. I’d love to have him here every day. I know he’s got bigger issues than Georgia 14 to deal with, but I’d love to see him. Let’s get Vice President JD Vance down here. Let’s get everybody down here.”

Fuller was also backed by the deep-pocketed political group Club for Growth, which pushes a pro-growth, limited government agenda.

Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey, pointing to Harris topping the field Tuesday, argued that “Georgians are sick and tired of cost-raising, health care-cutting, failed Republican leadership — and Shawn’s performance tonight is the proof.”

Harris, taking to social media Wednesday, said, “Last night we came out on top in a crowded field and earned our spot in the runoff. That’s no small thing in Northwest Georgia. Now it’s one-on-one on April 7. We’re going right back to work — and we’re going to win again.”

But Harris, who lost to Greene by nearly 30 points in 2024, will face a steep climb in the runoff election.

Democrat sources tell Fox News Digital it’s highly unlikely Democratic-aligned groups will invest resources in the runoff. 

Fuller said he would be reaching out to the other Republican candidates who were on the ballot, including former state Sen. Colton Moore, a vocal Trump supporter who enjoys plenty of support from the far right. Moore finished in third place, with nearly 12% of the vote.

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“We know that the Republican Party is going to consolidate around President Trump’s choice. We’re going to drive out the vote,” Fuller said.

And he emphasized, “Everybody in the field understands that a Democrat cannot represent Georgia 14. It would be a tragedy for Georgia 14, a tragedy for the MAGA movement. And we’re going to rally around as a party and go and win this thing and defeat Sean Harris.”

After an illegal immigrant was discovered to have been voting for more than a decade in Philadelphia, immigration experts are warning that the “system can fail” and that loss of voter confidence represents the true “serious threat” to American democracy. 

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said that “the most important thing is perception.”

“People have to believe that their vote counts. And so that’s, I think, a much more serious long-term threat,” said Hankinson. 

“We have a perception in the United States,” he continued, “that elections were free and fair. If even the appearance of impropriety, the appearance of corruption, is bad enough to turn people off, to make people not interested in going to vote, to think, ‘Well, my vote doesn’t count anyway.’ Then that’s really what undermines democracy.”

WATCH: DEM WITNESS ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘POPULATION PURGE,’ KENNEDY FIRES BACK: ‘YOU TRIGGER MY GAG REFLEX’

Earlier this week, Fox News Digital learned that Mahady Sacko, a Mauritanian citizen and illegal immigrant, allegedly voted in every federal election since 2008. He has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and charged with voter fraud in Philadelphia. This comes as congressional lawmakers fiercely debate the SAVE Act, a measure proponents say would strengthen election integrity laws. 

Despite being given a removal order in 2000, Sacko, 50, registered to vote in 2005 and falsely stated on several occasions that he was a U.S. citizen, authorities allege. The voting records showed that he cast ballots in the general elections in 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024. In addition, he voted in the 2016 and 2020 primary elections, prosecutors said. 

Hankinson said that while he believes such cases are more isolated and are not widely prevalent in the U.S., it is a “potentially big problem, and it’s one that’s very easy to fix.”

“The average Joe who does vote doesn’t think he’s setting fire to his ballot. He thinks it’s actually going to count for something. That’s what’s at risk here,” Hankinson continued, adding, “That I think is a long-term serious threat to our democracy.”

Meanwhile, Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of the election integrity research group True the Vote, told Fox News Digital that “an illegal alien allegedly voting in every presidential election since 2008 is proof the system can fail — and we have no reliable, codified way to determine how many others may be doing the same.”

“Millions could be voting illegally, but we don’t know because comprehensive voter roll audits are being fought tooth and nail, instead of being standard operating procedure,” she went on. “What’s most disturbing is how vicious the fight has become to block analyses, stop audits, and shut down even the most basic questions about eligibility and voter record maintenance.”

“That kind of resistance leaves millions of Americans with the unmistakable impression that something is very wrong in our system, and that feeling, that loss of trust, is likely the biggest impact of all.”

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She posited that “we should treat voter rolls the way serious industries treat sensitive record management.” She suggested bringing in independent third-party auditors, setting clear state and national standards, and using real-time verification of identity, residency, and citizenship as a matter of routine.

“The data exists, the technology exists, and other sectors use it every day — what’s missing is political will to apply those same basic safeguards to our elections,” she said.

On the other hand, in a statement shared with Fox News Digital, David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), said, “We have a very good sense of the depth of the problem here” and “it is extremely rare that noncitizens get registered, and it is infinitesimally rare that they vote.”

CEIR released its latest review of noncitizen registration and voting claims last month. That review concluded, “CEIR continues to find that sweeping allegations about noncitizen registrations or voting appear to arise from misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, or outright fabrications about complex voter data.”

Becker said that President Donald Trump’s “own Department of Homeland Security has checked more than 49 million voter records, and they themselves admit that 99.98% of those records represented confirmed citizens.”

He added that “in several states that are politically aligned with President Trump, the number of alleged noncitizen voters has precipitously dropped when subjected to scrutiny.”

“We see consistently that the number of potential or confirmed noncitizens registered is very small, and those who are voting are even smaller,” he said.

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However, Hans von Spakovsky, a former commissioner at the Federal Election Commission and a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, told Fox News Digital, “The point is that we have an honor system currently with most states doing absolutely nothing to verify citizenship. And we have hundreds of close elections all the time in this country where even a small number of aliens could make the difference in an election.”

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He shared information from his 2024 testimony to Congress in which he said that findings based on official registration records of thousands of aliens showed they are registered in various jurisdictions, including Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and sanctuary cities like Philadelphia and Chicago.

Despite these reports, he said, “virtually no prosecutors have expressed any interest in investigating and potentially prosecuting these aliens.”

“The indicators that it is occurring are there, and it is important to understand that every vote by an alien cancels and effectively voids the vote of a citizen,” he said.

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

President Donald Trump, who is backing challenger Ed Gallrein over incumbent GOP Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District Republican primary, highlighted his endorsement again on Tuesday ahead of his planned Wednesday visit to the Bluegrass State.

Trump then followed that up by targeting Massie again in a Wednesday morning Truth Social post.

“I predict that ‘Representative’Thomas Massie will go down as the WORST Republican Congressman in the long and fabled history of the United States Congress, even worse than Crazy Liz Chaney, Cryin’ Adam Kinzinger, and Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown (Remember, Green turns to Brown under stress!). They are all misfits and losers, but Massie, who is running against a great American Patriot in the Kentucky Primary, will hopefully lose BIG. I LOVE KENTUCKY!!!” the president declared in the Wednesday morning Truth Social post.

In a text message to Fox News Digital, Massie wrote, “It was actually Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who teamed up with Trump in March of 2020 to try and defeat me.”

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In a post on X, Massie wrote, “I predict ‘President’ DJT will begrudgingly sign my beautiful Epstein Files Transparency Act, causing beleaguered princes and ambassadors and prime ministers and CEOs around the world to be arrested or resign in total shame. Oh wait, that already happened.”

The president had declared in part of a Truth Social post on Tuesday, “Captain Ed Gallrein has my Complete and Total Endorsement against ‘Congressman’ Thomas Massie — He only votes AGAINST the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left. Unlike ‘lightweight’ Congressman Massie, a true hater of Israel, and a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET KENTUCKY DOWN!” 

“Someone’s upset to learn Woke Eddie left the Republican Party when Trump won the nomination! Here’s today’s Truth Social post. It’s just a copy and paste from several months ago. Says Ed ‘filed today,’ which isn’t even possible since the filing deadline passed in January,” Massie wrote in a Tuesday post on X.

Massie on Tuesday posted a document on X that he said was Ed Gallrein’s voter registration card — the document shows Gallrein registering as an independent in May 2016. 

“Here’s Ed’s Voter Registration card documenting when he abandoned the GOP to protest Trump securing the nomination just days before,” Massie wrote in the post.

In a text message to Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning, Massie said of Trump’s Tuesday post, “His Truth Social post was recycled from months ago, but our ad is brand new. We’ll be running the ad in this X post on TV and radio today,” Massie wrote, pointing to a post that features a campaign ad attacking Gallrein over his party affiliation history.

Massie’s campaign ad claims that Gallrein switched his registration back to the Republican Party in 2021.

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“I was proud to vote for President Trump all three times and donate in 2020 and 2024, unlike Thomas Massie who campaigned against him in 2024 and sides with the Democrats to vote against President Trump every week in Congress,” Gallrein said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

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Trump is slated to appear at an event in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday.

A Tuesday post on Gallrein’s X account said, “President Donald Trump is coming to Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District this Wednesday to support Ed Gallrein for Congress.”

When asked about the visit, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told Fox News Digital, “President Trump will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his Administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable.”

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In a text message to Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning, Massie wrote, “I have other previously scheduled events in the district today, including a visit to two public schools that are about 3 hours from the President’s speech.”

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report

After a decades-long battle with Democrats, teacher unions, and even a few Republicans, Texas conservatives are celebrating the successful launch of what is likely to become the largest school-choice program in the country.

The Lone Star State’s school choice program, called the Texas Education Freedom Accounts, saw record-setting registrations in its first days. Within one hour of the program opening, it had already garnered 8,000 registrations. By the end of the day, it had notched 42,000 signups and three days in, it was sitting at around 62,000 signups. The program is expected to hit 100,000 by its March 17 deadline.

To Texas Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, chief administrator of the program, the program’s early success represents a win for what he called “educational freedom.”  

“We figure in the State of Texas, we lead the nation in economic freedom, we might as well lead the nation in educational freedom,” he said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOLS ON VERGE OF CLOSING OVER POSSIBLE TEACHERS STRIKE

School choice was a major legislative priority for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who signed the measure establishing the program into law last May. Under the program, families will receive $10,000 per year to help pay for their child’s private school tuition or costs for home-schooling and virtual learning programs. Children with disabilities can qualify for as much as $30,000 per year.

Though showing early signs of success, getting a school choice program to pass in a state the size of Texas was not easy. As a parent himself, Hancock said he has been an advocate for school choice for the last three decades.

“We got close at times in the state of Texas, where we thought the votes were there, and then we wouldn’t get there. And frankly, a couple of years ago, before Gov. Abbott got involved, I myself was like, ‘OK, I don’t know that we’re ever going to get there,’” he admitted.

While proponents believe the measure gives parents more options by allowing them to take their children out of poor-performing public schools in favor of alternative public or private school choices, others argue it pulls financial resources from Texas’ public school students and subsidizes the private education of wealthy families.

The program saw fierce opposition from the state’s leading teachers unions, including the Texas American Federation of Teachers (Texas AFT) and the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA).

Ahead of the program launching, Texas AFT issued a statement calling it a “growing billion-dollar boondoggle.”

TRUMP DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ROLLS OUT LATEST STEP TO EXPAND SCHOOL CHOICE NATIONWIDE

TSTA argued that Texas could not adequately fund both its public schools and the school choice program, saying, “Our underfunded public schools need all the tax dollars that lawmakers spend on K-12 education.”

In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, TSTA President Ovidia Molina vowed to “continue working to kill this expensive and discriminatory program.”

She knocked the state for “most” of the religious schools approved to participate in the program being Christian, which she said, “restrict admission or give preference to children of their own faith.” She also said that “some of these schools refuse admission to LGBTQ students.”

“These schools will use public tax dollars to discriminate against children whose families pay these tax dollars. Public schools do not discriminate. They accept every student who lives in their district, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, family income or whatever, and only public schools should receive our tax revenue,” said Molina.

Hancock, however, pushed back on the idea that the program pits public and private schools against each other. He said Texas, which operates on a constitutionally required balanced budget, was able to fund the school choice program “at the same time that we had record investment in public education and $4 billion in teacher pay, which was a record investment in going directly to paying for our teachers there within the public setting.”

MAJOR CITY SCHOOL DISTRICTS LOSING STUDENTS AS PARENTS SEEK BETTER OPTIONS

“We want to be number one, not only in this program, but in education as a whole, both our public schools, our charter schools, and home schools, and private schools,” he explained. “We’re willing to give that investment, and we have our eyes set on it.”

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He framed the opposition to the program as attempts to maintain the status quo and eliminate competition in education.

“It’s the standard pushback, and the reality is no change, no competition, we want the system as is, we don’t want any changes to be involved in it,” he said. “Look, I’m a businessman, and I would love it if in the business I’m in that I had limited or no competition, that I have government protections, that had government funding me, that lived within all those protections. I mean, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want those protections? But that’s not good for… the students, the children.”

“What’s the best for children is competition,” he went on.

Further, he believes the huge number of signups indicates how badly needed the program is.

“I think by opening this up and then the enormous turnout we had, the record turnout we hit, that what it shows is we’re meeting the customers’ needs and the customers are Texans.”

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.

In a scathing rebuke of President Donald Trump’s endorsement track record, former Rep. Bob Good suggested that the president’s picks would be better used to know which candidates not to support in election contests.

“Truth…face it…Trump IS the problem…not his advisors (that he picks because they say nice things about him on TV)…Trump himself…you would literally do better by using Trump’s endorsement to know who NOT to vote for,” the former lawmaker wrote on X Tuesday.

Good has personal experience running against a Trump-backed opponent.

In 2024, while serving as House Freedom Caucus chair, Good lost a GOP congressional primary in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District to Trump-endorsed challenger John McGuire, who went on to win the general election and succeed Good in the House seat.

TRUMP TEASES KINGMAKER ENDORSEMENT IN TEXAS ‘SOON’ TO FORCE OTHER CANDIDATE OUT OF RUNOFF

Trump had repeatedly trashed Good on Truth Social, asserting, “Bob Good is BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA.”

Last week Good declared in a post on X, “Trump LIKES RINOS…based on his endorsement history.”

In a post last month, Good asserted that “Trump has never made an endorsement based on the principles, character, policy positions, or qualifications of a candidate or elected official.”

FORMER FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR BOB GOOD CALLS OUT ‘THE BIG GLARING WEAKNESS FOR ALL OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Republican National Committee for comment on Wednesday morning.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — a longtime Trump ally who had a falling out with the president last year and departed Congress early this year in the middle of her term — has also been a vociferous critic of Trump’s endorsement track record.

EX-TRUMP ALLY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE RIPS THE PRESIDENT’S ENDORSEMENTS, SAYING THEY ‘SOLIDIFY THE SWAMP’

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“Trump’s endorsements do not drain the swamp, his endorsements solidify the swamp and ensure the swamp is never drained,” she wrote in a January post on X.

Jeremy Carl, President Donald Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, withdrew his nomination Tuesday after facing bipartisan criticism over past comments about race, religion and Israel.

Carl, a conservative commentator and senior fellow at the Claremont Institute, wrote on X he lacked the unanimous Republican support needed to advance his nomination out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was nominated to the State Department role by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“I am withdrawing my nomination for consideration as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs,” he wrote Tuesday afternoon. “I am tremendously grateful to President Trump for nominating me and then (upon expiration of my original nomination) renominating me for this role, and I am also grateful to Secretary Rubio and his team for their continued support throughout this long and time-consuming process.”

Republicans hold a 12-10 majority on the panel, meaning a single GOP defection would result in a tie vote and block the nomination from moving to the full Senate.

MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION

“Unfortunately, at this time this unanimous support was not forthcoming,” Carl wrote, adding that he did not want the administration to “waste valuable time and energy” attempting to change the outcome.

During his confirmation hearing last month, senators pressed Carl on previous remarks concerning “White identity,” immigration and Israel. Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, said afterward that Carl was not the “right person to represent our nation’s best interests in international forums,” citing what he described as anti-Israel views and insensitive comments about Jewish people.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., questioned Carl about his references to “White identity” and what he believed was being “erased.” Carl responded that he was concerned about the erosion of what he described as a majority American culture due to mass immigration, saying he stood by those comments. Murphy later called him a “legit White nationalist” on social media.

MIKE WALTZ SEES TRUMP’S GAZA PLAN AS ‘ONCE-IN-A-GENERATION OPPORTUNITY FOR PEACE’

Carl rejected that characterization, saying he is “not a White nationalist” and that his remarks referred to a broadly shared American culture that people of all backgrounds could embrace.

“Unfortunately, for senior positions such as this one, the support of the President and Secretary of State is very important but not sufficient,” Carl added on X. “We also needed the unanimous support of every GOP Senator on the Committee on Foreign Relations, given the unanimous opposition of Senate Democrats to my candidacy, and unfortunately, at this time this unanimous support was not forthcoming.”

The position Carl was nominated for oversees U.S. engagement at the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. He previously served as a deputy assistant interior secretary during Trump’s first term.

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“I remain extremely confident in President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and the rest of the outstanding team at State (a group of leaders that includes many close friends),” Carl concluded on X. “I know they will continue to pursue a foreign policy that puts America first, and that they will work to ensure America is able to exercise its power and influence in the world like never before.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment and has not heard back.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Texas, pledged to continue efforts to impeach President Donald Trump, spearheaded by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, even as he wages a campaign to take his seat.

However, Menefee promised that his impeachment attempts would stand more of a chance of winning over party support.

“I’m the candidate in this race who has a track record of standing up for my community, of fighting back and doing so effectively in a way that gets things done,” Menefee said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Menefee, who won a special election in January to fill the seat of the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, is taking on Green in a heated primary contest. Turner died while in office in March 2025.

The two Democrats were put on a collision course last year when Republicans advanced redistricting plans in Texas set to eliminate as many as five Democrat-held seats. Green announced that he would pursue reelection in the 18th District — the seat Menefee took in January.

DEM REP COMPARES HIMSELF TO MLK JR, ROSA PARKS AFTER GETTING BOOTED FROM SECOND STRAIGHT TRUMP ADDRESS

Although Menefee declined to specifically address his thoughts on Green and his impeachment attempts, he said his own efforts would center on winning over enough support to have them clear the House of Representatives.

“My approach is going to be, when I file articles of impeachment, my goal is for them to either pass or to get very close to passing,” Menefee said.

“That means collaborating with the other members of the Democratic caucus to make sure that it’s going to be effective. My approach is generally, if I start something, I am doing it because I want to ultimately take it across the finish line in a way that’s going to actually help people.”

HOUSE GOP MOVES TO CENSURE DEM WHO DISRUPTED TRUMP ADDRESS FOR 2ND STRAIGHT YEAR

None of Green’s impeachment efforts have cleared the chamber. 

His most recent attempt in December attracted the support of 140 Democrats. Notably, 23 voted with Republicans to kill the measure and 47 voted present. 

Menefee’s promises to continue pushing for Trump’s impeachment continue Green’s legacy even as the Democratic newcomer has stressed unity and pragmatism over the political purity tests Green has offered in the past.

Green, a 20-year veteran in Congress, has made opposition to Trump his defining characteristic in recent years. He made headlines in 2026 for being ejected from Trump’s State of the Union Address for bringing a sign with the phrase “black people aren’t apes.”

VOCAL ANTI-TRUMP DEM REVEALS WHICH INDUSTRY IS TRYING TO OUST HIM FROM HOUSE SEAT: ‘I WAS A TARGET’

Green was also removed from the 2025 State of the Union after he refused to take his seat while waving his cane at the president.

In his most recent attempt, Green framed his impeachments as a sort of litmus test for his own party — to see where they stood on whether Trump had committed high crimes or misdemeanors.

“We have to participate. This is a participatory democracy. The impeachment requires the hands and the guidance of all of us,” Green said in November 2025 as he announced his December attempt. 

AL GREEN RETURNS TO HOUSE CHAMBER FOR TRUMP SOTU AFTER DRAMATIC 2025 EJECTION

Outside groups also praised Green for being willing to put the question to Democrats in Congress. Dave Mytych, outreach lead at For Liberation and Resistance Everywhere (FLARE), praised Green’s latest efforts.

“This is what the American people want. They want fighters that hold the line. Democrats, are you listening? Leader Schumer, are you listening? Leader Jeffries, are you listening?” Mytych said, calling out several high-ranking Democrats.

When asked about those messaging votes, Menefee said his focus would be different.

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“If I’m spending time on it, it’s because I’m trying to get something done. My goal in filing impeachment articles is going to be to impeach the President of the United States, no other goal,” Menefee said.

With neither candidate having captured a majority of the vote in the initial Texas primary elections earlier this month, Green and Menefee will face off in a runoff election on May 26.

President Donald Trump’s Federal Reserve chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, will meet Tuesday with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., the Republican who has been holding up his nomination amid GOP concerns tied to a criminal probe involving Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Tillis told Fox News Digital he supports Warsh, whom Trump tapped in January, but said he wants the Powell investigation resolved before he can vote to move the nomination forward.

On Jan. 11, Powell confirmed that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into his congressional testimony related to the renovation of the Federal Reserve’s two historic main buildings on Washington, D.C.’s National Mall. 

TRUMP NOMINATES KEVIN WARSH TO SUCCEED JEROME POWELL AS FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR

“I have very few questions. I’m a real fan of [Warsh] and I’m hoping we can get disposed of the Powell investigation, so I’d be in a position to vote for him,” Tillis told Fox News Digital.

“I have no problems at all with him. I’m looking forward to meeting him, because, like I said, I’ve been a fan,” he added.

Tillis has vowed to block any Federal Reserve nominee until the Trump administration concludes its criminal probe involving Powell. As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, his hold is especially consequential. Overriding it would require a discharge vote on the Senate floor, an extraordinary step that needs 60 votes and is widely seen as a long shot.

Trump tapped Warsh to succeed Powell, whose term as chair ends in May, but he must first win Senate confirmation by a simple majority — a process that typically starts with a hearing and vote in the Senate Banking Committee.

TRUMP’S FED PICK KEVIN WARSH FACES UNEXPECTED ROADBLOCK OVER ONGOING POWELL PROBE

Warsh’s potential ascent to the top of the world’s most powerful central bank comes at a turbulent moment for the Federal Reserve. 

With the Justice Department conducting a criminal probe involving Powell, the Supreme Court weighing limits on the Fed’s independence and rising cost-of-living pressures testing Trump’s economic agenda, the stakes for the next chair are intensifying.

What began as tension over interest-rate policy has spiraled into a broader confrontation, marking one of the most challenging stretches of Powell’s eight-year tenure leading the Fed.

Powell called the DOJ investigation “unprecedented” in a video statement and another example of what he described as Trump’s ongoing threats lobbed at the central bank. His unusually public response, after days of private consultation with advisors, marked a sharp departure from his typically measured approach.

TRUMP VS THE FEDERAL RESERVE: HOW THE CLASH REACHED UNCHARTED TERRITORY

Powell, widely viewed as one of the most crisis-tested Federal Reserve chairs in modern U.S. history, built his career as a lawyer and investment banker in New York before entering public service in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. 

He joined the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in 2012 and was nominated by Trump to lead the central bank in 2017.

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Like Powell, Warsh is not an economist by training. Instead, he brings a background in law and finance that has shaped his views on the Federal Reserve.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University in 1992 and a law degree from Harvard in 1995. He built his career at Morgan Stanley and, at 35, became the youngest person to serve on the Fed’s board in 2006.

Though he stepped down in 2011, he was widely recognized as the Fed’s key liaison to Wall Street during the 2008 financial crisis. He previously worked in the Bush administration as a special assistant to the president for economic policy and executive secretary at the National Economic Council.

Warsh was among Trump’s leading candidates to replace Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in 2017. However, Trump ultimately appointed Powell to the role.

FIRST ON FOX – The Justice Department says it is speeding up settlement offers for people exposed to contaminated drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, under a compensation program created by Congress in 2022.

The law, formally titled the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, includes the Camp Lejeune Justice Act.

The statute allows service members, their families and others who lived or worked at the base between 1953 and 1987 to seek compensation if they developed cancer or other illnesses tied to the water supply on the base. 

“At the direction of the president and attorney general, this Department of Justice has reprioritized approving settlements for Camp Lejeune victims and families, many of whom sadly had to wait years for justice,” said Associate Attorney General for the Civil Division Stanley Woodward. “I am proud of the work we have done in the past year to speed up the compensation approval process and we will continue to approve settlements on a weekly basis.”

POISONED PROMISES: CAMP LEJEUNE FAMILIES STILL WAIT FOR JUSTICE DECADES AFTER TOXIC WATER SCANDAL

Between 1953 and 1987, three of the base’s eight water systems contained contaminated water.

The Justice Department and the Department of the Navy launched the “Elective Option” settlement program in 2023. The program is designed as an alternative to litigation, offering faster payouts to people with qualifying illnesses.

Payments under the program range from $100,000 to $550,000 depending on the illness. Officials say victims can possibly qualify even if they were not assigned to a specific part of the base known to have received contaminated water.

According to the DOJ, Woodward has recently taken responsibility for approving settlement offers under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act. In the last three weeks, he approved 649 settlement offers totaling about $175 million.

That represents more than a 25% increase in approved offers since the Elective Option program began in September 2023.

Overall, the Justice Department says it has approved 2,531 settlement offers through the program, totaling roughly $708 million.

DOJ officials also tell Fox News that more than $421 million in settlements has been paid out since Jan. 27, 2025, and offers continue to be approved on a weekly basis as the department works through a massive backlog of claims. 

TRUMP AND FIRST LADY ATTEND DIGNIFIED TRANSFER OF 6 US TROOPS KILLED IN KUWAIT

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Behind the scenes, top leadership at the DOJ also recently changed who has authority to approve these settlements.

When the Elective Option program was announced in September 2023, then-Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta delegated settlement authority to senior officials in the Civil Division. That authority was later passed down to a career manager.

Earlier this year, on Feb. 10, Woodward revoked that delegation and took control of the approval process. 

Justice Department officials say the move is part of a broader effort to accelerate settlement offers and move claims through the system more quickly.

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., is endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate.

Paxton is facing off against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in the Lone Star State’s GOP U.S. Senate primary runoff.

“Ken Paxton is a proven conservative fighter who will be a champion for the people of Texas in Washington,” Burlison, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

CORNYN, PAXTON READY TO GO FOR THE THROAT IN 2ND ACT OF BRUTAL PRIMARY CAMPAIGN

“During the Biden Administration, Ken led the national legal charge to stop the Biden Border Crisis and stop the far-left agenda. He’s fought for Texans’ rights against woke corporations and the Austin political establishment. In the Senate, he will continue to be a fearless conservative who will never back down. That’s why I’m proud to wholeheartedly endorse his campaign,” Burlison added.

While Cornyn and Paxton were the top finishers in the primary, no candidate won a majority, so the two men will go head-to-head in a runoff primary election later this year.

President Donald Trump indicated that he plans to endorse one of the two men but has held off on choosing. Trump notably endorsed Burlison for reelection last year, describing him as a “warrior” for the MAGA movement.

PAXTON VOWS HE’S ‘STAYING IN THIS RACE’ EVEN IF TRUMP BACKS CORNYN IN TEXAS GOP CLASH

“The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas, a State I LOVE and won 3 times in Record Numbers (the HIGHEST vote ever recorded, by far!!!), cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively!” Trump declared in the Truth Social post.

“Both John and Ken ran great races, but not good enough. Now, this one, must be PERFECT! My Endorsements within the Republican Party have been virtually insurmountable! It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I Endorse WINS, and wins by a lot, especially in Texas! I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE! Is that fair? We must win in November!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” the president added in the post.

‘THE RIGHT THING’: PAXTON, CORNYN TRADE BLOWS IN TEXAS PRIMARY BUT UNITE FOR TRUMP’S IRAN STRIKES

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Texas state Rep. James Talarico defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Texas Democratic U.S. Senate primary.

Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino declared the Trump administration’s Chicago immigration crackdown “vindicated” Monday after a federal appeals court threw out a sweeping injunction that had curtailed enforcement operations in the city.

On Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit tossed out a preliminary injunction against federal officers enforcing immigration law in the Chicago area issued by Obama-appointed Judge Sara Ellis. The circuit court issued a blistering rebuke of Ellis’ injunction, calling it “overbroad” and “constitutionally suspect.” The ruling effectively erases the lower court’s restrictions on federal immigration operations in Chicago, delivering a legal victory to federal immigration authorities and giving the controversial official fresh political ammunition after months of backlash.

After the ruling, Bovino posted on X, “Chicago efforts vindicated!!! Well done.”

“What’s not suspect is legal, ethical, and moral Border Patrol Agents conducting operations in Chicago. Well done, Border Patrol! TRUTH came through!” he wrote in another post.

JEWISH LEADERS WANT CHICAGO MAYOR TO CREATE ANTISEMITISM TASK FORCE

Bovino was recently pulled out of his leading role in Minneapolis amid intense controversy over the killing of two anti-ICE activists, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by federal officers. He has faced intense criticism from Democrats across the country.

In his previous role as Border Patrol commander at large, Bovino became the face of many of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations, including Chicago, Minneapolis and Los Angeles.

Bovino was replaced by border czar Tom Homan as head of the Minneapolis operation in January. He was returned to his previous role as chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector in Southern California.

Despite the criticisms leveled against him, after the circuit court ruling, Bovino touted Border Patrol agents as the “most highly trained, experienced agency ready to take on expeditionary type missions in the toughest of environments.”

“Our operations are conducted with much foresight with the most experienced, proven, and battle hardened agents the Border Patrol has to offer to ensure we WIN every time,” he added in another tweet celebrating the ruling.

FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR SLAMS PRITZKER FOR ‘MALPRACTICE’ AS BEARS LOOK TO FLEE TO RED STATE

In its ruling, the appeals court panel faulted Ellis for applying her injunction not just to specific officers but “the entire Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, as well as anyone acting in concert with them.” The panel criticized this, saying it “effectively established the district court as the supervisor of all Executive Branch activity in the city of Chicago.”

Ellis had issued a lengthy 233-page opinion explaining why she granted the class-wide preliminary injunction against Homeland Security and Justice Department authorities carrying out immigration enforcement in Chicago. Her order followed a string of clashes between protesters and agents during Operation Midway Blitz, the effort launched last year by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration and street crime in Chicago.

Ellis justified the injunction by saying it was not novel and that it only ordered federal agents to follow current DHS policies regarding use of force and body-worn cameras.

BLUE-STATE GOVERNORS MOVE TO KEEP HEAT ON NOEM AS DHS FIRES BACK

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“In other words, the Court’s order should break no new ground, and indeed it tracks similar orders entered in other crowd control cases across the country,” Ellis said.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver and Louis Casiano and Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Senate Democrats are preparing a series of war powers votes aimed at curbing President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military operations against Iran — and forcing the administration to publicly defend its actions.

Several Senate Democrats filed war powers resolutions last week meant to handcuff Trump and his continued conflict in the Middle East. It’s a power play by the group, who say the administration has not shown enough evidence that the U.S. should have struck Iran in the first place, much less continue fighting in the region.

Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., collectively filed five war powers resolutions last week, and they’re joined by Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Tim Kaine, D-Va. Kaine has filed resolution after resolution to curb Trump’s war authority since he took office for his second term.

SCHUMER ONCE BLOCKED TRUMP’S MOVE TO FILL THE NATION’S OIL RESERVES, NOW HE WANTS THEM OPENED

Those resolutions, barring an official slate of hearings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, could hit the Senate next week and grind down floor time.

“This Congress should be focused on the biggest military action since the Afghanistan war, and we’re not even holding hearings on that,” Booker told Fox News Digital. 

Murphy said that the resolutions could hit the Senate floor as soon as next week, and warned that if hearings are set in motion, Democrats would be able to “call up a vote every day on war powers and force at least a short debate and vote every day.”

“There’s no excuse to hide what the administration is doing from the public,” Murphy said. 

STATE DEPARTMENT DEFENDS ‘PROACTIVE’ EVACUATION EFFORTS AGAINST DEMS’ CLAIMS OF DIPLOMATIC CHAOS

While the group wouldn’t reveal exactly what their gridlock-inducing floor strategy would look like, they contended that the chairs of the Senate Armed Services and Senate Foreign Relations committees had already requested that Rubio and Hegseth testify.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch, R-Idaho, wouldn’t say whether he had requested Rubio to appear before his panel but blamed Senate Democrats for helping the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

“You’ll notice the Democrats are the only entity on this planet who are helping the IRGC,” Risch told Fox News Digital, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

OPERATION EPIC FURY SURVIVES SENATE CHALLENGE AS REPUBLICANS CLOSE RANKS BEHIND TRUMP

The group argued that Rubio and Hegseth should make the case for the war in Iran to the public and that closed-door, classified briefings on the matter weren’t enough to convince them that the war was necessary.

“I was absolutely not convinced. In fact, nothing was offered to show me that we were under imminent attack,” Baldwin said. “That we were under imminent attack, or that it was reasonable to believe that we were at risk — and that’s what would trigger the president’s authority to use military force without coming to Congress first.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged that Democrats’ strategy would eat away at floor time but cautioned that “we’ll see how the next few days in the conflict go.”

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“I’m sure there’ll be some decisions made around that, but maybe that’ll affect whether or not they try to trigger all those,” Thune said.

Thune said that “there always are” hearings and noted that the Senate Armed Services Committee would be holding hearings soon on the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

“So they’re going to have all those folks coming through on a fairly routine basis anyway, and I’m sure this will be a subject of discussion,” Thune said.

President Donald Trump is urging Congress to pass the SAVE America Act (SAA) as well as restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as more than 100,000 federal employees go without pay during a prolonged funding lapse, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. 

Leavitt outlined the president’s dual push for sweeping election legislation and immediate action to reopen DHS, where employees have missed paychecks and travelers are facing long airport lines.

The SAA would move through Congress as election legislation, while DHS funding requires a separate vote to reopen the department and resume full operations.

Leavitt described the SAA as “one of the most critical pieces of legislation in our nation’s history.”

“The Save America Act is overwhelmingly popular with all Americans because each provision is rooted in common sense,” she said.

DHS FUNDING STALEMATE THAWS AS WHITE HOUSE SENDS DEMOCRATS ‘SERIOUS’ COUNTEROFFER

According to Leavitt, the legislation includes five core provisions: requiring voters to show identification to cast a ballot, requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, ending universal mail-in ballots while maintaining exceptions for illness, disability, military service and travel, permanently banning biological males from competing in women’s sports, and banning transgender surgery for minors.

On voter ID requirements, Leavitt said the proposal reflects broad public support.

“Voters have to show ID to cast a ballot in an American election. Very simple,” she said. “Ninety percent of Americans, including more than 80% of Democrat voters, agree with this.”

SCHUMER, DEMS HOLD FIRM ON DHS FUNDING DESPITE NOEM’S BOMBSHELL OUSTING

The legislation would also require proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

“The Save America Act will require all voters to show proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in American elections,” Leavitt said. “Again, this is popular and rooted in common sense. Only American citizens have the right to vote in American elections.”

Leavitt said Trump is urging Congress to “get the job done and send this historic piece of legislation to his desk immediately for signature.”

TRUMP VOWS BLOCK ON SIGNING NEW LAWS UNTIL SAVE AMERICA ACT PASSES SENATE

She also pushed back on claims that the legislation could prevent married women who changed their last names from voting.

“There is zero validity to these claims,” Leavitt said. “The Save America Act does not prohibit anyone from voting, with the exception of illegal aliens.

“As far as married women who have changed their name, if they’re already registered to vote, they’re entirely unaffected by the Save Act,” she added.

Leavitt also turned to the ongoing funding lapse at the DHS, saying the president wants Congress to move quickly to restore pay for affected workers and fully reopen the department.

“President Trump wants the Department of Homeland Security — he wants TSA, he wants FEMA. He wants the brave men and women of our United States Coast Guard to receive their paychecks,” she said.

More than 100,000 employees across the country have been impacted, she noted, acknowledging the strain on families.

“To any American out there who is struggling without a paycheck, we know there’s more than 100,000 of you across the country,” Leavitt said.

She added that the lapse is also affecting travelers nationwide.

“To any American out there who is showing up to an airport and facing incredibly long wait times in lines,” she said, Trump is calling on Congress to restore funding and reopen the department.

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The president wants DHS “fully funded and fully reopened,” Leavitt said.

DHS oversees agencies including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Coast Guard, all of which have personnel affected by the funding lapse.

Trump is pressing lawmakers to act on both fronts, with Leavitt saying the president is calling on Congress to move swiftly to deliver both measures.

The special election to fill former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s vacant House seat in Georgia’s solidly red 14th Congressional District is headed to a runoff next month.

The seat in northwestern Georgia was left vacant when Greene stepped down at the beginning of January. Green quit Congress with a year left in her term after a public falling out with President Donald Trump over the Epstein files.  

Tuesday’s special election ended in a runoff between Trump-endorsed Republican District Attorney Clay Fuller and retired Army veteran Shawn Harris. 

The GOP clings to a razor-thin 218–214 majority in the House. As a result, Republicans cannot afford any surprises and allow the Democrats to pull an upset in a district Trump carried by a whopping 37 points during his 2024 presidential election victory.

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All 17 candidates in Tuesday’s special election in Georgia, regardless of party affiliation, were on the same ballot. Twelve were Republican, three were Democrats.

Since no contender topped 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two candidates are advancing to an April 7 runoff.

Harris, a retired Army brigadier general, got 39.9% of the vote, while Fuller, a district attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, got 34.2%.

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With $4.3 million raised, Harris was the fundraising champion among all 17 candidates, but Fuller has a Trump endorsement in a district the president won handily. 

Fuller teamed up with the president recently during a stop in the district at an event in Rome, Georgia, during which he described himself as a “MAGA warrior.” In addition to his Trump backing, Fuller is backed by the politically potent and deep-pocketed fiscally conservative group the Club for Growth. 

“I think we’ve been very successful in staying with our message discipline that President Trump truly matters in Georgia 14,” Fuller told Fox News Digital. “His support has meant the world to me and meant the world to the voters. So, we’re just going to continue to get that message out about President Trump supporting us, and my experience, being a military officer, an elected district attorney and an America First fighter too.”

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Former Congresswoman Greene, once a top Trump ally in the House, became a vocal critic of his and stayed neutral in the race to succeed her. Fuller told Fox News Digital Tuesday night that he had not gotten a chance to speak with other Republicans in the race, but said he was confident that the Republican Party would embrace him against Harris. 

Third place Tuesday evening went to former state Sen. Colton Moore, a vocal Trump backer who enjoyed support from the far right. Moore garnered 10.9% of the vote.

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“Everybody in the field understands that a Democrat cannot represent Georgia 14. It would be a tragedy for Georgia 14, a tragedy for the MAGA movement. And we’re going to rally around as a party and go and win this thing and defeat Sean Harris,” Fuller said Tuesday evening. 

EXCLUSIVE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas will remain open and is undergoing an operational upgrade, Fox News Digital has learned.

“Camp East Montana is NOT closing, quite the opposite,” an ICE spokesperson exclusively told Fox News Digital Tuesday.

“Rather, ICE has contracted with a new provider following Secretary Noem’s termination of the old contract inherited from the Department of War. ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody.”

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The spokesperson said the new contract will allow the facility to maintain what the agency described as the “highest detention standards” while expanding oversight.

According to ICE, the new contractor will also provide increased on-site medical care, additional staffing and a “PRECISE quality assurance surveillance plan.”

The agency said the updated agreement also strengthens ICE’s direct oversight of operations at the El Paso-area facility.

“Far from closing, Camp East Montana is upgrading,” the spokesperson said.

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The news that the facility will remain open comes after The Washington Post reported that the facility could face closure amid scrutiny over operations.

A document was distributed to ICE staff, the Post reports, indicated that the agency was drafting a letter to terminate the facility’s $1.2 billion contract at an unspecified date.

ICE officials, however, characterized the contract termination as a deliberate effort by Noem to raise standards and improve services.

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The facility, located at Fort Bliss in Texas, has been used to house thousands of detainees as part of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

ICE did not immediately provide details on the identity of the new contractor or the timeline for full implementation.

The race for Mississippi’s Senate seat is set for November and will feature a clash of a sitting incumbent battling a foe she once blocked from a lifetime judicial appointment.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., cruised to a victory in her primary to earn the GOP nomination for Senate in Mississippi. She beat Sarah Adlahka, a political newcomer who challenged Hyde-Smith’s effectiveness in Washington, D.C., since being appointed to the position in 2018.

Hyde-Smith is running for a second term in the upper chamber and, in deep-red Mississippi, is expected to hold onto her job in the GOP’s sprawling battle to maintain control of the Senate.

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But she’ll face a Democratic opponent she’s dealt with before — just not on the election battlefield.

Mississippi District Attorney Scott Colom came out on top of his crowded primary to earn the Democratic nomination for Senate in the Magnolia State. He toppled U.S. Marine Corps veteran Albert Littell and Priscilla Till, the cousin of Emmett Till, who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in the 1950s.

Hyde-Smith and Colom have a history dating back to the Biden administration, when the lawmaker blocked his nomination to serve as a district court judge in Mississippi.

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At the time, she used the veto power each home-state senator has, known as a blue slip in the upper chamber, to weigh in on a judicial nominee — it’s a tradition that President Donald Trump has demanded be done away with to nullify Democratic resistance to his own judicial nominees.

Hyde-Smith told the Magnolia Tribune at the time that while she recognized that Colom was “smart and well-liked in his district,” she had concerns over his record.

Nathan Calvert, spokesperson for the Hyde-Smith campaign, told Fox News Digital in a statement that “Colom has never seen a Biden/Harris policy he didn’t like.”

“Senator Hyde-Smith is proud of opposing judicial nominations for extreme leftists who support a radical transgender agenda,” Calvert said. “She opposes allowing men to participate in women’s sports and believes we need judges who will take the same stance.”

“Senator Hyde-Smith believes we need to cut government spending, fight inflation (driven by excessive government spending), and reduce (not increase) our soaring national debt, and she’ll continue voting to do that,” he continued. 

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“As someone with a strong interest in protecting the rights of girls and women, I am concerned about Scott Colom’s opposition to legislation to protect female athletes,” Hyde-Smith said. “The significant support his campaign received from George Soros also weighs heavily against his nomination, in my view. I simply cannot support his nomination to serve on the federal bench in Mississippi for a lifetime.”

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Meanwhile, Colom has gone after Hyde-Smith for voting against federal funding coming into Mississippi, which has consistently ranked as the poorest state in the country.

His website accused Hyde-Smith of not “working for us anymore, voting against Mississippi jobs and investments because it serves her donors’ agenda.”

Fox News Digital reached out for comment to Colom’s campaign, but did not immediately hear back.