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An illegal migrant has been indicted after he allegedly created a fake branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and held fraudulent training seminars to sell DHS and FBI identification cards to attendees, saying the IDs would provide “immunity” from federal immigration officers. 

Brazilian national Mario Cesar Dos Santos, Jr., 50, was indicted and arrested in Ocala, Florida, last week for fraudulent use of government seals. 

He was allegedly the self-proclaimed president of the “Chaplain Emergency Management Agency,” which he referred to as “CEMA,” a completely fake government agency that swindled attendees into believing they were paying for immunity from federal immigration officials.

“FEMA is cracking down on those who don’t just scam our programs but hijack our identity, a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “This individual — a Brazilian illegal alien who overstayed his visa — did more than just break our laws. This illegal alien brazenly defrauded our government by running a shadow agency.”

“We have ZERO tolerance for anyone who weaponizes our seal to build a fraudulent platform or subvert our immigration system. Working with DHS — Homeland Security Investigations and the DOJ, we will ensure that those who exploit our credentials face the full weight of the law,” the spokesperson added.

Dos Santos allegedly charged a $400 fee (generating $14,000 in total revenue) for individuals who took the fake course and received a certificate that featured the FBI and DHS seals as well as the “CEMA” seal falsely associated with FEMA. 

The indictment was brought against Dos Santos by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Florida after DHS, FBI and FEMA investigated the case.

KRISTI NOEM TO FACE SENATE GRILLING OVER MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTINGS AS DHS SHUTDOWN HITS WEEK 3

Dos Santos now faces deportation proceedings after he overstayed an expired visa. 

The news of his deportation comes as President Donald Trump ousted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday from her role in the administration and appointed her special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a security initiative in the Western Hemisphere. 

Trump promptly named Noem’s successor, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., in a Truth Social post Thursday. 

“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026,” Trump posted.

“Serving 10 years in the United States House of Representatives, and 3 in the Senate, Markwayne has done a tremendous job representing the wonderful People of Oklahoma, where I won all 77 out of 77 Counties — in 2016, 2020, and 2024,” Trump continued. “A MAGA Warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter, Markwayne truly gets along well with people, and knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Advance our America First Agenda.”

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Sources familiar with the transition told Fox News Digital that Noem’s relationships with countries like Chile, Argentina and others which she dealt with during her role at DHS prepared her for the new gig.

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

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An increasing number of voters disapprove of the job the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, is doing, with nearly half wanting Congress to reduce its funding.

That’s according to a new Fox News poll conducted before President Trump announced on Thursday that he will nominate Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem.

The survey finds nearly 6 in 10 voters disapprove of ICE’s performance, while about 4 in 10 approve. This is the highest disapproval rating recorded, up 7 points since last fall and 17 points since the question was first asked in 2018.

Nearly twice as many voters strongly disapprove as strongly approve.

The increase in disapproval can mostly be attributed to voters under age 30 (+17 points more disapproving than in September), independents (+13), men (+11) and Democrats (+8).

“This isn’t a complicated story,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who helps run the Fox News Poll with Democratic counterpart Chris Anderson. “ICE’s tactics in Minneapolis, along with negative news coverage, have caused a sharp drop in approval, especially among independents and members of the out-party.”

Meanwhile, large majorities of MAGA supporters (94% approve), very conservative voters (87% approve) and Republicans (83%) back ICE.

When asked about funding the agency, nearly half (46%) said reduce it. The other half wants to increase funding (20%), keep at current levels (18%) or fund at current levels but with new restrictions (16%).

FOX NEWS POLL: VIEWS ARE DIVIDED ON US ACTION AGAINST IRAN

Majorities of Democrats (77%) and independents (59%) want to defund ICE while Republicans would prefer to at least keep it at its current level (37%) if not increase it (43%).

Today, voters are slightly more likely to feel the Trump administration’s immigration policies have made the U.S. safer (42% safer vs. 37% less safe) than they did last June, when they were split on the matter (39% each). Overall, 2 in 10 say the policies don’t make a difference to safety.

But when looking at immigration from an economic lens, more voters think the administration’s policies are hurting the economy (49%) than helping it (33%). Two in 10 (17%) say they haven’t had an effect on the economy.

Majorities of Republicans are more likely to say the immigration policies have made the U.S. safer (82%) and helped the economy (66%), while it’s the opposite for Democrats (62% less safe, 83% hurt). A majority of independents think the economy is being hurt (57%) but are more divided on safety: 27% safer, 40% less safe, 33% no difference.

Views on what to do about illegal immigration remain nuanced. Two-thirds favor allowing illegal immigrants who have jobs in the U.S. to stay and apply for legal status (67% favor, 33% oppose). On the other hand, 6 in 10 favor deporting immigrants who are here illegally back to their home countries (59% favor, 40% oppose). 

Among voters favoring deportation, 53% would support immigrants who live here illegally but have jobs to stay and apply for legal status.

Majorities of Hispanic voters favor allowing illegal immigrants with jobs to stay (74% favor), disagree with deportations (56% oppose) and disapprove of ICE (58%).

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Big picture, border security and immigration remain President Trump’s best issues. Border security continues to be his only net positive job rating with 52% approving and 48% disapproving. While his handling of immigration stands at 47% approve and 53% disapprove, it is a slight improvement since the last recording in January when it was 45-55%.

The president’s ratings on other issues remain underwater: jobs (43% approve, 56% disapprove), taxes (40-59%), foreign policy (40-60%), economy (38-61%), healthcare (38-61%), tariffs (36-63%), and cost of living (32-67%).

Conducted Feb. 28 to March 2, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,004 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (104) and cellphones (642) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (258). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data.

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Socialism is gaining ground with voters, as half say capitalism is not working and a growing number are open to a shift toward socialism.

The latest Fox News survey, released Thursday, finds a record 38% think it would be a good thing for the United States to move away from capitalism and in the direction of socialism — up from 32% in 2022, the last time the question was asked. In 2010, a low of 18% backed socialism.

Very liberal voters (66%) and Democrats under age 45 (66%) are those most likely to think moving to socialism would be good.  More than half of all Democrats (55%), Black voters (55%), and those under age 30 (53%) also favor moving away from capitalism.

Still, a majority of 61% think it’s a bad thing to move toward socialism, including large majorities of Republicans (78%), conservatives (75%), men over age 45 (75%), and voters ages 65 and up (75%).

The shift may be tied to divided views on capitalism itself. Voters are split over whether capitalism in the United States is working well: 51% say it’s working very or somewhat well, while nearly as many, 49%, say it’s working not very or not at all well.

FOX NEWS POLL: VIEWS ARE DIVIDED ON US ACTION AGAINST IRAN

Plus, equal shares say capitalism is working “very” well and “not at all” well (18% each).

The biggest supporters of capitalism are Republican men (87% working very/somewhat well), MAGA supporters (85%), and Republicans ages 45+ (81%). In contrast, very liberal voters (79% working not very/not at all well), Democratic women (79%), and Democrats under age 45 (72%) are those most likely to give it poor marks.

These findings seem to suggest frustration with the current system more than a clear preference for expanded government. When it comes to whether they would like the government to “lend me a hand” or “leave me alone” voters are again split: 48% opt for a hand up, while 51% prefer to be left alone — a 3 percentage-point edge for “leave me alone.” The last three times this question was asked, voters preferred a helping hand: by 7 points in 2025, 3 points in 2024, and 9 points in 2022. Before 2020, voters generally preferred to be left alone by wide margins.

More than half of women, Black voters, Hispanic voters, voters under 30, households making less than $50,000, and Democrats would like a boost. More than half of men, White voters, those ages 65+, households with income $50,000 or more, and Republicans want to be left alone.

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The survey finds a record high 48% of Democrats say, “leave me alone,” up from 39% in July 2025 and a low of 18% in August 2021.

The overall shift back toward wanting to be left alone by the government comes as 43% have a positive view of their financial situation, up a touch since November when 40% were positive.

Conducted February 28-March 2, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,004 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (104) and cellphones (642) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (258). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data.

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Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the embattled Department of Homeland Security, is a supporter of strict immigration enforcement who, in the last year, has proven invaluable in getting key pieces of the president’s agenda across the finish line.

A first-term senator who identifies as Native American, Mullin is a self-described “bull in a China cabinet” who was instrumental in the Senate’s passage of the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Lora Ries, a border security and immigration expert at the Heritage Foundation, predicted to Fox News Digital that Mullin will have a focused leadership approach as head of DHS.

“It won’t be about him. It’s about the mission, and it’s about carrying out the president’s agenda to maintain a secure border but also mass deportations,” she said.

Shortly after news of his appointment broke, Mullin called it a “big surprise” but said he is “excited” to take on the role.

“The president and I have a really good relationship; we talk all the time anyway. I wasn’t, to be quite honest with you, expecting the call today. But it’s super exciting,” he told reporters outside the Capitol.

He said his focus as DHS secretary will be to “keep the homeland secure.”

“Nothing is going to prevent me from doing my job,” he continued. “I’m going to enforce the policies and the laws that Congress has passed, and we’re going to protect the homeland.”

Ries said Mullin’s appointment signals Trump doubling down on his agenda of maintaining a secure border. Ries also said she does not expect the transition from outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem to Mullin to disrupt the agency’s enforcement operations.  

“We can’t waste any time, given we’re concerned with sleeper cells from Iran and other locations, terrorist threats that Joe Biden let into the country,” she added.

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

At 48 years old, Mullin is a husband and father of six. He has served in the Senate for just over three years, entering office in January 2023. Before that, he served in the House of Representatives for about 10 years.

Mullin serves as the chair of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee. He does not serve on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the panel that he will soon sit before during his confirmation process.

He is also a member of Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s leadership team and proved a decisive asset in extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts last year.

It was, however, the relationships he built in the lower chamber that made him a de facto liaison with his former House colleagues. That role began when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., with whom Mullin was close friends, was in leadership and has continued under House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. 

That role as liaison, which Mullin previously told Fox News Digital he never wanted, made him an invaluable asset last year when Republicans were trying to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Mullin had already become a member of Thune’s whip team and offered to help bridge the policy gap between House Republicans and Senate Republicans to ensure the legislation was passed.

Both chambers were going back and forth on the bill, which Mullin told Fox News Digital last year wasn’t necessarily “a good indication that we were butting heads.” 

“Everybody was very passionate about this,” Mullin said. “I mean, they’ve been working for a long time. We looked at it as maybe a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to be able to get this done.”

ILLEGAL’S DRAGGING OF ICE AGENT SHOWS THE EXACT DANGER THE OFFICER WHO SHOT RENEE GOOD FEARED, EXPERT SAYS

On Mullin’s website, he states, “We are a nation of laws, and those laws must be upheld.

“We must ensure our immigration laws are enforced, bring back the Remain in Mexico policy, finish building the wall, and end the liberal incentives that are fueling the worst border crisis in American history.”

Mullin has harshly criticized Democrats for moving to defund DHS, saying, “If we defund the Department of Homeland Security, they do a lot more than arrest illegals. You walk through the airport, they’re providing security. The Department of Homeland Security is there for a reason. … They protect us from threats at home and abroad, around the United States and across the world.”

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After the lapse in DHS funding, Mullin slammed the Democrats for “political theater,” saying he was focused on restoring the funding.

When asked if there were any lessons Mullin had learned from Noem’s tumultuous tenure atop the agency, he noted that he and Noem were close friends, but he had not yet had time to call her yet after receiving the news.

“Our families are friends. She was tasked to do a very difficult job. And I think she has, she has performed the best she can do,” Mullin said.

“Is there always lessons that can be learned? You know, listen, my wife and I, we have, over the years, we have been fortunate enough to purchase companies and grow our companies, and every day there’s something you can do better,” he continued. “And, so, I think there’s, there’s an opportunity to build off successes, and there’s also opportunities to build off things that maybe didn’t go quite as planned.”

Mullin said he and Trump are “great friends,” and “I look forward to working for him on his Cabinet. Of course, we still have this whole thing called confirmation, and we’re going to get started on that right away.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Thursday that U.S. forces have delivered devastating blows to Iran’s military in the opening days of Operation Epic Fury, crippling key naval and missile capabilities while signaling that a larger and more sustained campaign is underway.

Speaking alongside U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Adm. Brad Cooper at CENTCOM headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, Hegseth described a fast-moving operation that has significantly degraded Iran’s ability to threaten U.S. forces and regional partners as officials shift toward preventing Tehran from rebuilding its military strength.

“In just days of Operation Epic Fury, you and your team have delivered nothing short of devastating, precise strikes taking out the better part of Iran’s navy, making it combat ineffective, neutralizing missile sites and launchers and establishing total dominance over the skies,” Hegseth told Cooper. 

“Our forces are executing with unmatched skill, and the mission is advancing decisively.”

Cooper detailed the expanding maritime campaign, saying U.S. forces have intensified strikes against Iranian vessels in recent hours, surpassing previously disclosed totals and further weakening Tehran’s ability to project power at sea.

“You may have heard the president say just a little while ago that we have sunk or destroyed 24 ships. That was true. At the moment, we’re now up over 30 ships,” Cooper said. “In just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier. And, as we speak, it’s on fire.”

Beyond naval losses, sustained air operations have sharply reduced Iran’s ability to launch retaliatory attacks. U.S. bombers have targeted launchers, command infrastructure and air defenses deep inside the country in an effort to limit both immediate threats and future strike capacity.

“Ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90% since day one. Drone attacks have decreased by 83% since day one,” Cooper said.

RED CROSS SHARES AUDIO OF IRANIAN CIVILIAN EXPLAINING SITUATION ON THE GROUND IN TEHRAN: ‘NO RESPITE’

The sharp decline in launches, officials indicated, reflects both the destruction of key systems and the disruption of Iran’s command-and-control networks, forcing Tehran onto the defensive as U.S. aircraft continue operating over the country.

Hegseth made clear the operation is not slowing down, warning that significantly more firepower is moving into the region as additional forces and assets come online.

“We have only just begun to fight and fight decisively,” Hegseth said. “The amount of combat power that’s still flowing, that’s still coming, that we’ll be able to project over Iran is multiples of what it currently is right now.”

PENTAGON POLICY CHIEF GRILLED AS DEM CLAIMS TRUMP BROKE PROMISE ABOUT GOING TO WAR WITH IRAN

He also sought to counter any suggestion that the U.S. could face supply constraints as the campaign continues, emphasizing both capacity and staying power.

“Our capabilities are overwhelming and gathering still, as are those of our Israeli partners,” Hegseth said. “Our munitions are full up and our will is ironclad, which means our timeline is ours and ours alone to control as long as it takes to ensure the United States of America achieves these objectives.”

Cooper confirmed the mission is entering a new phase aimed at Iran’s long-term missile production capacity, shifting from degrading existing stockpiles to preventing their regeneration.

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“We’re not just hitting what they have. We’re destroying their ability to rebuild,” Cooper said. “As we transition to the next phase of this operation, we will systemically dismantle Iran’s missile production capability for the future.”

Together, the remarks underscored both the scale of the battlefield damage already inflicted and the administration’s message that the campaign — bolstered by additional forces and sustained munitions capacity — is positioned to intensify in the days ahead.

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The United States and Venezuela’s interim authorities have agreed to re-establish diplomatic and consular relations, according to a State Department media note issued Thursday.

“The United States and Venezuela’s interim authorities have agreed to re-establish diplomatic and consular relations,” the State Department said in a statement released March 5.

The State Department said the agreement is intended to “facilitate our joint efforts to promote stability, support economic recovery, and advance political reconciliation in Venezuela.”

“Our engagement is focused on helping the Venezuelan people move forward through a phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government,” the statement said.

The announcement confirms the restoration of diplomatic and consular relations between the two governments. The State Department did not specify when embassy operations or visa services could resume.

The statement also did not address potential sanctions changes, outline migration or security cooperation measures, or provide additional details about diplomatic engagement moving forward.

The announcement comes after months of U.S. engagement in Venezuela.

MILLIONS LOSE POWER ACROSS CUBA AS TRUMP SANCTIONS CONTINUE TO FUEL ONGOING ENERGY CRISIS

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum traveled to Caracas on March 4 and held meetings with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez during a two-day visit, U.S. and Venezuelan officials said. 

Burgum discussed opportunities related to mining and critical minerals supply chains and said the Venezuelan interim government had offered security assurances for foreign mining companies seeking to invest in the country.

U.S. forces captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3 in Caracas. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty two days later in federal court in New York to charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and weapons-related offenses.

Diplomatic and consular relations typically involve government-to-government engagement as well as the operation of embassies and consulates that facilitate visas, citizen services and diplomatic coordination.

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“The United States remains committed to supporting the Venezuelan people and working with partners across the region to advance stability and prosperity,” the statement said.

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz and Greg Norman-Diamond contributed to this reporting.

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) is continuing its investigation into former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen in the final months of his administration — focusing on pardons and commutations — though a senior official said Biden himself is unlikely to face criminal exposure.

A senior DOJ official told Fox News that the autopen investigation is ongoing and not closed, adding that investigators are reviewing clemency actions taken in the final months of the Biden administration.

The official also pointed out, however, that the use of an autopen by a sitting president is “established law.”

The issue under review is whether the autopen was used in violation of the law — specifically, whether Biden personally approved each name included on pardon and commutation lists.

“These types of cases are tough, executive privilege issues come into play,” the official said.

What is also clear, the official indicated, is that the target of any potential prosecution would not likely be Biden.

“It’s hard to imagine how [Biden] could be criminally liable for pardon power,” the senior DOJ official said.

BIDEN’S AUTO-PEN PARDONS DISTURBED DOJ BRASS, DOCS SHOW, RAISING QUESTIONS WHETHER THEY ARE LEGALLY BINDING

The official noted that one reason the former president would be unlikely to face charges stems from a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that originally involved President Donald Trump, the current sitting president, but would also apply to Biden.

“We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power requires that a former President have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office,” the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States in 2024. “At least with respect to the President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute.”

Sources familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s team continues to review the Biden White House’s reliance on an autopen, contradicting a recent New York Times report that indicated the investigation had been paused.

DOJ SIGNALS IT’S STILL DIGGING INTO BIDEN AUTOPEN USE DESPITE REPORTS PROBE FIZZLED

Trump has pushed for consequences tied to the autopen controversy, alleging on social media that aides acted unlawfully in its use and raising the prospect of perjury charges against Biden.

Biden has rejected those claims, saying in a statement last year that he personally directed the decisions in question.

“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,” Biden said. “I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

The House Oversight Committee has homed in on Biden’s clemency actions, including five controversial pardons for family members in the final days of his presidency, citing what it described as a lack of “contemporaneous documentation” confirming that Biden directly ordered the pardons.

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The committee asked the DOJ to investigate “all of former President Biden’s executive actions, particularly clemency actions, to assess whether legal action must be taken to void any action that the former president did not, in fact, take himself.”

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.

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A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to begin the drawn-out task of refunding billions of dollars to companies that paid tariffs the Supreme Court recently invalidated. 

Judge Richard Eaton, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, laid out the estimated $130 billion refund process in a three-page order, saying it would begin with U.S. Customs and Border Protection calculating what importers would have paid without the now-invalid tariffs. Eaton also made clear he had sole jurisdiction over the refunds, which more than 1,000 companies have sued over in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

“The Chief Judge has indicated that I am the only judge who will hear cases pertaining to the refund of [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] duties,” Eaton wrote. “So there is no danger that another Judge, even one in this Court, will reach any contrary conclusions.”

The case in question was brought by Atmus Filtration, Inc., a company that paid President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which Trump imposed on nearly every country on an emergency basis under IEEPA last year.

The IEEPA is a 1977 law that allows the president – after declaring a national emergency in response to foreign threats – to regulate or block certain economic transactions, such as by imposing sanctions.

The Supreme Court decided 6-3 in February to block Trump’s use of the emergency law to impose sweeping tariffs on trading partners. The majority held that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, even after a national emergency declaration, because Congress did not clearly grant the executive branch that power.

All importers who paid those duties were entitled to benefit from the Supreme Court’s ruling, Eaton said.

Eaton said CBP should calculate the affected imports as if the tariffs had never applied, which the judge signaled would eventually pave the way for refunds to the companies.

TRUMP RESPONDS TO SUPREME COURT RULING REJECTING SWEEPING TARIFFS POWERS: ‘A DISGRACE’

The Supreme Court majority left the refund process unaddressed in its decision, leaving it to the lower courts to mete out. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, however, questioned in his dissent how the U.S. Treasury could go about refunding companies to the tune of billions of dollars, warning of “serious practical consequences.”

“The United States may be required to refund billions of dollars to importers who paid the IEEPA tariffs, even though some importers may have already passed on costs to consumers or others,” Kavanaugh wrote. “As was acknowledged at oral argument, the refund process is likely to be a ‘mess.’”

Eaton disputed that notion during a hearing just prior to issuing his order.

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“There is nothing particularly novel about the provision of refunds. … I believe that there will be no chaos associated with the provision of these refunds and that it will not result in a mess,” Eaton said, according to Politico.

The Trump administration indicated during the hearing that it is likely to appeal Eaton’s order to delay it from taking effect. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Eaton is set to preside over a closed-door conference with the parties in the case on Friday to further discuss the refund process.

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A group of two dozen state attorneys general sued President Donald Trump on Thursday in an effort to block his new 10% tariffs from taking force — a move that all but ensures Trump’s newly revived tariff regime will end up back before the federal courts for the second time in nearly as many years.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in the Court of International Trade by attorneys general from 24 states, including New York, Oregon, California, and Arizona. 

The state attorneys general argued in the lawsuit that Trump lacks the authority to impose the 10% tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, describing the effort as merely an attempt to “sidestep” last month’s 6-3 Supreme Court ruling, which blocked Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, (IEEPA) to unilaterally stand up his 10% global tariff regime announced last April.

Trump responded to the ruling by immediately invoking Section 122 to keep the 10% tariffs in place in the near-term. He also said then that the administration is planning to increase the import duties from 10% to 15% for certain countries. 

In the lawsuit, the state AGs said Trump “has made clear that he is going to impose worldwide tariffs by any means necessary,” and argued that the effort is “an exercise of completely unrestrained executive power.”

“As with his unlawful use of IEEPA, the President has once again exercised tariff authority that he does not have—involving a statute that does not authorize the tariffs he has imposed—to upend the constitutional order and bring chaos to the global economy,” they added.

Next steps in the case are unclear, though the new lawsuit is likely to be met with fierce opposition from the White House and Justice Department.

It comes as Trump has continued to embrace tariffs as the signature economic policy of his second White House term. Trump, who previously billed himself as the “Tariff Man,” has described the issue as “life or death” for the U.S. economy. 

Last April, Trump declared a national trade emergency to invoke IEEPA, citing the law as a means to address trade imbalances, reduce deficits with key trading partners and boost domestic manufacturing and production.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS 5 TRUMP TARIFF EXECUTIVE ORDERS 

Two federal courts — the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit — previously blocked Trump’s use of IEEPA to enact his tariffs, prompting the administration to kick the case to the Supreme Court last year for emergency relief. (The Manhattan-based Court of International Trade ruled last year that Trump, as commander-in-chief, does not have “unbounded authority” to impose tariffs under the emergency law.)

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

Section 122 tariffs can remain in place for up to 150 days without congressional approval, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed on the Senate floor last week that the Democratic caucus would not approve an extension of the broad import duties. 

Legally, the administration could have its work cut out for it as well. 

Some economists — as well as the state AGs — argue that there is a difference between a traditional balance of payment deficit and the trade deficit between the U.S. and other countries. 

“Contrary to the Section 122 Proclamation, a trade deficit is not a balance of payments deficit,” the states argued in their lawsuit. 

Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan, told Fox News Digital in an interview last year that Trump’s focus on the trade “deficit” is in fact based on a common misconception. 

“We have a dollar deficit – but we have a stuff surplus,” he said. 

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“What that means is we sell China a small amount of stuff, and they sell us a large amount of stuff,” Wolfers explained. For every dollar bill that goes to China, the U.S. gets something for it that Americans want to buy, like T-shirts. 

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House Democrats largely voted to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown to keep going on Thursday, shrugging off Republicans’ concerns about the increased domestic terror threat amid the U.S.-Israeli operation in Iran.

It comes hours after President Donald Trump shocked Capitol Hill by ousting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and appointing Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as his replacement.

But that did not stop the vast majority of Democrats from voting against a bipartisan DHS funding bill aimed at funding the cabinet agency through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. 

The bill did pass the House in a 221 to 209 vote, with all but four House Democrats voting against it — a significant indicator that Noem’s firing is not enough to tip the scales in the ongoing standoff. The Democrats who voted in favor of the funding bill are Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez, D-Wash., and Don Davis, D-N.C.

Nearly identical legislation already passed the House in January, but House GOP leaders wanted to force the vote again in light of heightened national security concerns within the country’s borders.

While largely symbolic, it shows Republicans’ pressure strategy is falling on deaf ears as the left continues to protest President Donald Trump’s strategy to combat illegal immigration.

The bill was the product of original bipartisan negotiations that followed the longest-ever full government shutdown in U.S. history, which ended in November after 43 days.

It would fully fund all aspects of DHS while also including new guardrails on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demanded by Democrats, like a body-worn camera mandate and new required training on public engagement and de-escalation.

But Democrats walked away from the deal en masse amid fallout from Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which saw two U.S. citizens shot and killed by federal agents during anti-ICE demonstrations there. The operation has since ended.

Democratic leaders are still insisting on withholding their caucus’ support, however, until further restrictions are put on ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on the ground in various cities.

And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., signaled to reporters that Noem’s ouster was not enough.

“It’s not like Kristi Noem was the one who was involved in negotiating anything. She was a corrupt lackey. So we were dealing with the White House before, and we’re going to continue to deal with the White House at this point,” he said.

Meanwhile, the resulting DHS shutdown has taken on new significance as the U.S. continues its campaign to take out Iran’s top leadership and its military sites.

Republican leaders are warning that keeping DHS in a shutdown state is dangerous for national security, given its jurisdiction over agencies that monitor threats from home and abroad.

SWALWELL PRESSED ON DEMOCRATS’ RESISTANCE TO FULLY FUNDING DHS AMID IRAN THREAT

“Now is the time to be vigilant at home and to ensure that all of our doors are locked, so to speak,” Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said during a press conference Wednesday. “And yet, as all this is happening, we have Democrats running around here playing political games in Congress. It’s infuriating. They’ve shut down the very agency that is responsible for securing the homeland.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called Republicans’ argument “insane” when asked by Fox News Digital earlier this week.

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“Donald Trump launches an unauthorized war in the Middle East. … He decides that he wants to spend billions of dollars to bomb Iran, rather than spend taxpayer dollars to lower the grocery bills that are crushing the American people, and then wants to use his unauthorized war as an excuse to continue spending taxpayer dollars to brutalize or kill American citizens by continuing to unleash ICE without restriction on the American people?” Jeffries posed. “I think it’s ridiculous.”

It’s the Senate, however, where passing that DHS funding bill is actually key to ending the shutdown. The upper chamber voted again Thursday on the original legislation that passed the House in January, but it failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.

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Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby faced tough questions Thursday about President Donald Trump‘s previous statements about war with Iran. 

While Colby was testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, the Democratic ranking member said that the president broke his campaign promise.

Colby appeared before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday to testify about the recently-released 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS). Several lawmakers focused on the U.S.’s Operation Epic Fury, as U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran continue.

“When President Trump was running for office, he said over and over and over again, ‘I’m not going to do wars.’ In fact, he very specifically said, ‘If I’m president, we will not go to war with Iran.’ And here we are. So I’m genuinely curious what changed? What changed from when he was a candidate to when he was in office?” Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said.

Smith later asked Colby the question, saying that Trump had routinely implied that “his mere presence and his policies” could prevent wars as part of his “America First agenda.” The lawmaker then wondered how that agenda allegedly failed in Iran.

“I think the president sincerely meant that. He sincerely meant, ‘you put me in office, I’m going to do things to make sure that we don’t go to war with Iran.’ He failed. We’re at war with Iran,” Smith said.

PENTAGON OFFICIAL FLAGS RETURN OF ‘COLD WAR MENTALITY,’ AS TRUMP ADMIN RESHAPES NATO ALLIANCE

Colby pushed back, saying he did not think that the agenda had failed in Iran, noting Trump’s consistency in opposing Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. However, the ranking member would not accept that answer and retorted, once again bringing up the president’s statements about not going to war.

The Pentagon policy chief later brought up the president’s commitment to “peace through strength,” citing the peace deals Trump has struck, such as the one in Gaza, as examples of “peace” and saying that what was happening in Iran was the “strength” part.

The lawmaker accepted Colby’s answer as “solid enough” before saying that there was “no question that he failed” in light of the launch of Operation Epic Fury.

Colby was not the only one to refute the argument that Trump broke promises by acting in Iran. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said that under Trump’s leadership, “we’re preventing endless wars.” 

Another lawmaker, Rep. Richard McCormick, R-Ga., asked Colby whether he would consider what is happening in Iran to be “a forever war,” to which the Pentagon official said, “No, sir.”

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

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump said that he would not drag the U.S. into endless wars and also spoke against Iran having a nuclear weapon. 

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt refuted what she described as “fake news headlines” suggesting U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran were unjustifiable. She told reporters at the first White House press briefing since Operation Epic Fury began that Iran “is a rogue terrorist regime that has been threatening the United States, our allies and our people for 47 years.”

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“The American people are smart enough to know that. And they’ve also been smart enough to listen to the president himself, not just over the past year in this second term, but during his first term as president, and also for the past 40 years of his life,” Leavitt said. “This is a president who has been remarkably consistent on this issue, that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon. And the president tried peace through diplomacy exhaustively and extensively.”

“He and his team gave it their best go, and the president ultimately came to the determination of that peace was not a suitable path,” she said. “The Iranian regime, they want death. They want destruction. They want to kill Americans. And that’s unacceptable to this president. It’s intolerable to him as commander in chief.”

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Virginia lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that requires public schools to describe the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot as a violent attack and specifically prohibits teachers from framing it as a peaceful protest.

Virginia Democrats have quickly advanced a slew of controversial legislation since Gov. Abigail Spanberger was elected in November and their ranks ballooned in the state House, including a bid to redraw every Republican congressman except Rep. Morgan Griffith out of their seats to make the Democratic majority 10-1 in the state’s congressional delegation. Now, they are taking steps to shape how the history of Jan. 6 is taught to children.

HB 333, crafted by Del. Dan I. Helmer of Fairfax, bars public school programs from describing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot as a peaceful protest or presenting claims that widespread election fraud altered the 2020 presidential results as credible.

The bill specifically “prohibits” instruction that portrays the insurrection as peaceful or suggests there was “extensive election fraud” that could have changed the election outcome. However, it does not lay out any explicit criminal penalties for violations.

In a statement to the Virginia Mercury on the bill, Helmer said there is “real concern” that President Donald Trump is “trying to rewrite the history of January 6; borne out by the fact there is a WhiteHouse.gov site that presents a false history.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Virginia Republicans for comment.

The Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists also came out against the bill, with executive director Michael Huffman testifying before a state Senate committee that the true education equips children for life, not political agendas, and glorifying or mandating … the dark day serves only short-sighted partisanship, not our kids’ future,” according to Hampton Roads’ PBS affiliate.

Helmer, an Iraq War veteran and staunch gun control advocate, was first elected by flipping what was Fairfax County’s last remaining Republican district, along its border with Prince William County, in 2020.

VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS MOVE TO SEIZE REDISTRICTING POWER, OPENING DOOR TO 4 NEW LEFT-LEANING SEATS

Helmer also announced a bid for Congress in one of the newly-redrawn districts nicknamed the “lobster” or the “scorpion” by critics – as it runs from the Potomac River in Arlington southwestward before splitting in two “claws” to reach out toward the West Virginia line near Rawley Springs and the other jutting down toward Goochland and Powhatan effectively collecting a swath of Republican-leaning towns and pitting them against a small but densely-populated Democrat stronghold.

One of his ads in a 2018 congressional bid compared Trump to Usama bin Laden, where he narrated that the “greatest threat to democracy” used to live “in a cave” but now “he lives in the White House.”

He had recused himself from the redistricting redraw, according to the New York Times, but is considered a top ally of House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, who engineered the effort in the lower chamber.

While the new map has yet to get voters’ approval in an April special election, Helmer has also garnered at least one Democratic challenger in the would-be heavily Democratic-favored district.

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Prosecutor J.P. Cooney, the former top deputy of Special Counsel Jack Smith in his investigation of Trump, told the New York Times that the mogul is not being sufficiently “check[ed]” by Congress and that the DHS-involved shooting of Alex Pretti solidified his decision.

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

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Kristi Noem, the former South Dakota congresswoman and governor who has led President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security thus far in his second term, was ousted from her position on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump announced his he will nominate Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace her on Truth Social. 

Noem, 54, will likely be at least temporarily replaced by Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar, a Navy veteran and former mayor of Los Alamitos, California, in the line of succession for the agency.

Noem’s tenure marked a distinct reversal of the open-border policies permitted by predecessor Alejandro Mayorkas during the Biden administration, and DHS has notched record drug interdictions totaling more than half a million pounds of illegal drugs in her first year.

Her management of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda has also led to more than 2 million reported self-deportations in 2025 and about 670,000 removals of illegal immigrants, a figure supporters have hailed as the most successful immigration enforcement operation in history.

Her agency has also been unafraid to hit back at high-profile critics, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.; Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; and 2026 midterm candidate David Trone of Maryland, who accused DHS of “executing people in the streets” as he filmed a protest ad outside a Williamsport compound recently purchased for use as a detention facility.

Such criticisms of her mass deportation operations, particularly in Minneapolis, appeared to somewhat sour public sentiment on the administration’s handling of the immigration issue, as U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino — a DHS subordinate — was replaced in the Twin Cities by Border Czar Tom Homan amid the firestorm.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced Thursday that Trump is “furious” with Noem over her performance in bicameral Judiciary Committee hearings this week, particularly over a contract for an advertisement that Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and others grilled her on.

Trump reportedly took issue with her suggesting to Kennedy that he approved a taxpayer-funded ad subcontracted to a firm connected with her inner circle, according to National Review, which also reported that Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., is being considered a top candidate for her replacement.

“I haven’t talked to the president,” Mullin told the magazine.

In Wednesday’s House hearing, Noem was questioned by Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., over rumors of an affair with DHS “special government employee” Corey Lewandowski, a top figure in Trump’s 2016 campaign.

TRUMP UNLOADS ON ‘RADICAL LEFT’ AS HE STANDS BY KRISTI NOEM AMID IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT UNREST

Noem criticized Kamlager-Dove in response, as her husband, insurance company owner and former South Dakota first gentleman Bryon Noem, sat just feet behind her.

Kamlager-Dove asked Noem if at any time during her tenure she had “sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski,” before slamming the longtime Trump aide as a “failed campaign manager” and someone lacking military experience.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., followed up, pressing Noem on Lewandowski while wearing a Justice for Cricket pin referencing the dog Noem once wrote she had to euthanize on her farm.

“I really think you need to say the word ‘no’ into the record so that you can clear that up,” Moskowitz said.

Noem pushed back hard on both Democrats, saying what they were implying is “offensive” and telling Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that she was “shocked that we’re going down and peddling this tabloid garbage in this committee today.”

“The socialist, liberal left: you go off and you attack conservative women and you say that we’re either stupid or we’re sluts. That’s what you do. And I will tell you sir… I am neither of those,” Noem fumed at Moskowitz.

Through the recent turmoil, many Republicans remained highly complimentary of Noem’s tenure.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., a former law enforcement officer himself, said during the hearing that he was “embarrassed by the antics of my colleagues across the aisle.”

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“Madam Secretary, you inherited a disaster, and you turned it around. An astonishing 97% decrease in illegal crossings isn’t a coincidence; it’s leadership. Know that this committee has your back,” Higgins said.

When Swalwell pressed her on the ad campaign and contract, Noem shot back that while the Alameda Democrat was “focusing on photo-ops and luxury jets, I’m focused on the fact that the Coast Guard might not get paid because your party is choosing not to fund them.”

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Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger officially endorsed a Democratic-led redistricting amendment set to go before the commonwealth’s voters on April 21.

The effort, spearheaded by Senate President L. Louise Lucas and House Speaker Don Scott Jr., is written to “restore fairness” in Virginia’s congressional representation. Critics have called that phrasing misleading, arguing the map designed by Lucas would likely would likely redraw districts in a way that removes every Republican lawmaker except Rep. Morgan Griffith.

“I supported the formation of VA’s bipartisan redistricting commission in 2020 and that support has not changed,” Spanberger said in a video address Thursday.

What has changed, she said, is Republican-led states’ efforts to pursue their own redistricting moves, including in Texas. Indiana Republicans voted down a proposal that may have redistricted out some Democrats, including Rep. Frank Mrvan of Indiana.

Spanberger claimed the amendment is “temporary” and “directly in response” to actions in other states and to President Donald Trump’s reported comment that he is “entitled” to more congressional seats.

“It preserves Virginia’s fair redistricting process into the future,” Spanberger said from Richmond.

Incredulous Republicans piled on the Democratic governor on Thursday, noting her change in tune at least on a definitional level since McAuliffe and Youngkin-era redistricting moves.

Ian Lovejoy of Manassas and otherwise center-right Fauquier County — one of the slew of now-former Republican delegates ousted in the November blue wave that swept Spanberger into office — cited her comments after a 2019 redistricting effort was halted by the Supreme Court.

“This is good news for Virginia and the country. Gerrymandering is detrimental to our democracy and it weakens the individual voices that form our electorates. Opposing gerrymandering should be a bipartisan priority,” Spanberger said at the time, in a post screenshotted by Lovejoy.

THIS CRUCIAL STATE IS THE LATEST BATTLEGROUND IN REDISTRICTING WAR BETWEEN TRUMP AND DEMOCRATS

“I agree with the Governor on this one,” Lovejoy wrote in a caption accompanying the post.

“[A]nd [I] hope everyone votes no on the illegal gerrymandering amendment — early voting starts Friday.”

“Who could possibly vote against ‘fairness’?” asked Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart, noting the turn of phrase in the measure.

“This ballot language is so heavy-handed and misleading that it’s essentially fraud on the people of Virginia,” Williams said. “It frames a blatant, maximalist partisan gerrymander as an act of restoration.”

Amid a flurry of lawsuits, with the most consequential case moving through courts in Tazewell County in the mountainous western end of the state,

In that case, Judge Jack Hurley Jr. declared the amendment process “void ab initio” over a conflict in statutory early voting timelines and alleged abuse of the state’s special session provision. He separately barred Tazewell County from preparing for the election.

A higher court stayed one of Hurley’s orders, allowing the referendum to move forward on April 21 while the merits of the case are decided. A top Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital that could result in a ruling issued days after votes are cast.

On Wednesday, another development emerged as a new Bedford County lawsuit against an abortion rights amendment could also affect the redistricting measure.

Bedford County Supervisor Charla Bansley filed suit Tuesday, arguing the abortion initiative is invalid because the Democrat-led state legislature did not abide by a 1971 notice requirement mandating that all county clerks be notified for public inspection of the amendment three months before the 2025 election.

VIRGINIA REPUBLICANS CHARGE ‘POWER GRAB’ AS DEMOCRAT WHO BACKED REDISTRICTING RUNS FOR CONGRESS

A Republican source told Fox News Digital that Democrats “bet the farm” on the redistricting amendment, and that “if it fails on the notice requirement, so do their other three amendments.”

Bansley told the Virginia Mercury that her county, along with the independent city of Lynchburg and adjacent Campbell County, never received notice of that particular amendment.

The news sparked chatter, including in the Virginia Scope newsletter, that an unfavorable ruling for the legislature could also endanger the redistricting amendment.

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Abortion amendment sponsor Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Great Falls, told the Mercury the lawsuit is a “frivolous attempt” to silence voters.

Neither Scott nor Lucas have responded to several prior inquiries about criticisms of the redistricting amendment.

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The Department of Justice indicated Thursday it is still investigating the legality of former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen despite reports that the probe has been shelved because prosecutors have been unable to identify any criminal charges to bring.

Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office was still looking into the Biden White House’s autopen use after the New York Times reported that the inquiry was recently tabled.

Pirro responded to the report in an X post on Thursday, saying the DOJ “cannot comment on ongoing investigations,” signaling the investigation remained open.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the “inquiry was quietly shelved” because the DOJ failed “to build a criminal case against Mr. Biden and his aides.”

Jonathan Turley, George Washington University law professor and Fox News contributor, previously said legal challenges to Biden’s autopen use would likely be unsuccessful.

“Many are suggesting that the Biden pardons may now be challenged in light of the disclosures of Biden’s use of an autopen,” Turley wrote on social media in 2025. “The chances of such challenges succeeding are vanishingly low. Presidents are allowed to use the autopen and courts will not presume a dead-hand conspiracy.”

While other presidents have used autopens, including Trump — who has said he used it on “unimportant” documents — Biden’s became a flashpoint as scrutiny of his mental acuity grew during his tenure.

BIDEN’S ‘AUTOPEN SIGNATURE’ APPEARS ON MOST OFFICIAL DOCS, RAISING CONCERNS OVER WHO CONTROLLED THE WH: REPORT

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee investigated the matter, interviewing several former Biden staffers. The committee alleged in a report that Biden’s use of the autopen amounted to a scandal and recommended the DOJ investigate further.

“As President Biden declined, his staff abused the autopen and a lax chain-of-command policy to effect executive actions that lack any documentation of whether they were in fact authorized,” the report read.

Trump has been eager to see accountability over the autopen, claiming on social media that any staff who used the autopen on behalf of Biden did so “illegally” and threatening the former president with perjury charges.

Biden has forcefully denied the allegations, saying in a statement last year he was in charge of decision-making.

“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,” Biden said. “I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

The committee had homed in on Biden’s pardons, including five controversial pardons for his family members in the final days of his presidency, saying there was a lack of “contemporaneous documentation” to corroborate that Biden directly ordered the pardons.

The committee asked the DOJ to investigate “all of former President Biden’s executive actions, particularly clemency actions, to assess whether legal action must be taken to void any action that the former president did not, in fact, take himself.”

TRUMP RENEWS ATTACKS ON BIDEN AUTOPEN PARDONS, CLAIMS HE ‘NEVER GAVE THE ORDERS’

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Asked for comment, the White House deferred to the DOJ. 

DOJ headquarters declined to comment.

Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is making it clear: he’s staying in the race for the Republican Senate nomination even if President Donald Trump endorses Paxton’s rival, longtime Sen. John Cornyn.

“I’m staying in this race,” Paxton said in an interview Wednesday evening. “I owe it to the people of Texas.” 

Trump says he’ll soon take sides in the costly and combustible GOP primary showdown Cornyn and Paxton. 

“I will be making my Endorsement soon,” the president wrote in a social media post hours after Cornyn and Paxton advanced to a May 26 runoff election. 

The two heated rivals topped a crowded field of contenders in Tuesday’s primary, but since no one cleared the 50% threshold, the nomination race heads into overtime.

Trump added that he “will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!”

A Republican operative in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News Digital it’s expected Cornyn will get the president’s endorsement. However, the president has been known to change his mind on candidates or even reverse endorsements. 

A second source in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News that while there’s still jockeying to influence the president’s decision, given Cornyn’s better-than-expected performance in the primary, Trump is expected to back the senator and prevent a messy and expensive runoff.

CONTENTIOUS REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY IN TEXAS HEADED INTO OVERTIME

Asked if he would end his Senate bid if Trump backed Cornyn, Paxton, a MAGA firebrand and longtime Trump supporter and ally, said no in an interview with Real America’s Voice.

“I’ve spent a year of my life campaigning against John Cornyn because John has not represented the people of Texas well,” Paxton argued. “He’s been against Trump in both of his elections, said he shouldn’t run last time. … The people of Texas, at least the Republicans, would like something different.” 

And a source in Paxton’s political orbit emphasized to Fox News Digital that the Texas attorney general isn’t getting out of the race.

Cornyn or Paxton will face off in the general election against rising Democratic Party star state Rep. James Talarico, who topped progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a vocal Trump critic, in the Democrats’ primary. Talarico is trying to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate election in right-leaning Texas.

‘OPEN BORDERS, TRUMP-HATING RADICAL’—REPUBLICANS QUICKLY POUNCE ON TALARICO

The 2026 Senate showdown in Texas is one of a handful across the country that could determine if Republicans hold their majority in the chamber in the midterm elections. The GOP currently controls the chamber 53–47.

The Cornyn campaign and aligned super PACs spent nearly $100 million to run ads attacking Paxton and Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt — who came in third — with the senator charging in the closing weeks of the primary campaign that Democrats would flip the seat in the general election if Paxton was the GOP’s nominee.

Cornyn, his allies and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of the Senate GOP, repeatedly pointed to the slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered Paxton over the past decade, as well as his ongoing messy divorce.

“Over the next 12 weeks, Texas Republican primary voters will hear more about my record of delivering conservative victories in the United States Senate, and learn more about Ken’s indefensible personal behavior and failures in office,” Cornyn told reporters on Tuesday night.

“Just like the primary, we have a plan to win the runoff, and we are in the process of executing it,” Cornyn said. “Judgment day is coming for Ken Paxton.” 

Paxton, a MAGA firebrand and longtime Trump supporter and ally who grabbed significant national attention by filing lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administrations, told supporters on primary night, “As we head into this runoff, we’re going to make the choice even clearer. While John Cornyn was cutting deals on gun control and amnesty, I was suing corrupt Joe Biden over 107 times.”

And he charged, “John Cornyn spent around $100 million trying to buy this seat. We’ve spent around $5 million.”

ROUND TWO OF CORNYN VS. PAXTON GETS UNDER WAY

Trump on Wednesday urged, “for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW!”

And pointing to Talarico, the president argued, “We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively.”

“Both John and Ken ran great races, but not good enough. Now, this one, must be PERFECT!” Trump warned.

Trump, whose clout over the GOP remains immense, stayed neutral in the Republican primary race. All three candidates, who sought the president’s endorsement, were in attendance Friday as Trump held an event in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“They’re in a little race together,” Trump said of Cornyn and Paxton. “You know that, right? A little bit of a race. It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people, too.”

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the lobbying campaign to clinch the endorsement for Cornyn hasn’t stopped, and if anything, is intensifying in the hours since primary night.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that Cornyn had “a great night” against Paxton. The top Senate Republican has spent the last several months bending Trump’s ear at every opportunity to jump into the race and back the longtime incumbent.

“He’s positioned to win the runoff, and if the president endorses early, it saves everybody a lot of money, and a lot of, you know, just 10 weeks of another spirited campaign on our side that keeps us from spending time focusing on the Democrats,” Thune said.

Thune spoke with Cornyn on Wednesday morning, and believed that Talarico was the more formidable match-up for Republicans in November — one that Cornyn was better suited to win. 

“The matchup that’s good for us is John Cornyn at the top of the ticket,” Thune said.

NRSC communications director Joanna Rodriguez told Fox News Digital, “John Cornyn remains the only candidate who guarantees state Rep. Talarico never becomes a United States senator and ensures the fight for President Trump’s Senate majority is waged in true battleground states, not Texas.”

And the Thune-aligned Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the top super PAC backing Senate Republicans, which spent millions on behalf of Cornyn in the primary campaign, made it clear in a statement early Wednesday that it will continue to support the senator in the runoff.

“SLF and its sister organizations were proud to support Senator Cornyn early, and we look forward to him securing the Republican nomination on May 26,” the group’s executive director, Alex Latcham, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a GOP political operative in Trump’s orbit told Fox News Digital, “Talarico being the nominee makes President Trump’s endorsement of Cornyn more important than ever.”

While Trump stayed neutral, his top pollster, Tony Fabrizio, helped the Cornyn campaign. And veteran Republican strategist Chris LaCivita, who served as co-campaign manager of Trump’s 2024 White House bid, consulted for a top Cornyn-aligned super PAC. 

LaCivita, in a social media post Tuesday night aimed at Paxton and his top political consultant, wrote, “The second wave is going to be a (bi–h.)”

But on the Paxton side of the playing field, operatives and donors are confident they can unseat the senator.

Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and prominent Republican donor and bundler who supports Paxton, told Fox News Digital, “This was Cornyn’s shot to fend off his challenger by getting over 50%, and he couldn’t do it. The runoff voters will be even less friendly territory for Cornyn.”

Pointing to former longtime Senate GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has often acted as a Trump foil, Eberhart said, “This race is about MAGA vs. McConnell.”

Meanwhile, Lone Star Liberty, a pro-Paxton super PAC, circulated a memo ahead of Tuesday’s election that shrugged off threats that Cornyn would succeed in the runoff by continuing to hammer the attorney general over his litany of scandals, arguing there was nothing new to offer.

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“Cornyn’s talk of ‘unleashing’ new attacks in the runoff is bluster,” the memo states. “The truth is that from day one, his forces fired every bullet they had. There are no new attacks left — only more of the same, at ever-greater cost and with ever-diminishing returns.”

Fox News’ Rich Edson contributed to this report

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Former President Barack Obama on Thursday endorsed Democrats’ redistricting effort in Virginia that could grant the party four additional seats in the House of Representatives.

Virginia is one of several states engaged in a nationwide redistricting battle ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. So far, Obama has thrown his weight behind Democrat initiatives in both California and now Virginia.

“Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of our democracy. But right now, they’re under attack,” Obama wrote on X Thursday.

“Several Republican-controlled states have redrawn their congressional maps to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterm elections. Now Virginia has a chance to help level the playing field. If you live in the Commonwealth, early voting begins March 6, and Election Day is on April 21. Vote YES,” he added.

Obama urged Californians to back Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s redistricting effort late last year, arguing it was a “responsible” tactic in response to GOP redistricting efforts in Texas.

His newfound support for redrawing congressional maps comes six years after he and former Attorney General Eric Holder launched All On The Line, a “a grassroots movement to fight gerrymandering and advocate for a fair redistricting process.”

Obama also blasted gerrymandering during his final State of the Union address, during which he said the nation must “end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around.”

VIRGINIA REPUBLICANS CHARGE ‘POWER GRAB’ AS DEMOCRAT WHO BACKED REDISTRICTING RUNS FOR CONGRESS

The battle over congressional districts has spilled out across the country, with President Donald Trump and top Democrats urging allied state legislatures to take action.

The Supreme Court weighed in on the issue earlier this week, ruling in favor of a Republican representative from New York challenging a Democrat redistricting effort.

Over the dissent of the court’s three liberal justices, the conservative majority halted a state court ruling that had ordered New York’s redistricting commission to redraw the district held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., which covers Staten Island and a small piece of Brooklyn.

A judge had ruled that the district was drawn in a way that dilutes the power of its Black and Hispanic voters and had instructed the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to complete a new map.

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“Today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to keep New York’s 11th Congressional District intact helps restore the public’s confidence in our judicial system and proves the challenge to our district lines was always meritless,” Malliotakis said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The plaintiffs in this case attempted to manipulate our state’s courts to use race as a weapon to rig our elections,” she added. “That was wrong and, as demonstrated by today’s ruling, clearly unconstitutional.” 

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Chaos erupted during a Senate hearing Wednesday when Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., jumped in to help Capitol Police remove a protester — an encounter that may have left the man injured.

Video of the incident showed Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, stepping in as officers struggled to remove Brian McGinnis, a Marine Corps veteran running as a Green Party candidate for Senate in North Carolina.

Sheehy said in a statement that “Capitol Police were attempting to remove an unhinged protester from the Armed Services hearing.”

“He was fighting back. I decided to help out and deescalate the situation,” he said. “This gentleman came to the Capitol looking for a confrontation, and he got one. I hope he gets the help he needs without causing further violence.”

Before the scuffle, McGinnis stood up during a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on the Current Readiness of the Joint Force hearing and shouted, “America does not want to send its sons and daughters to war for Israel.”

Police immediately moved to remove him from the hearing room, with two officers attempting to corral McGinnis. After a struggle, they got him to the exit. That’s where Sheehy stepped in.

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McGinnis grabbed the door and held on, wedging his arm between the door and its frame. As officers and Sheehy pushed to get him to let go, a loud cracking sound could be heard in the video. It was not immediately clear whether his arm was broken during the struggle.

Capitol Police said in a statement that “an unruly man who started to illegally protest during a hearing put everyone in a dangerous position by violently resisting and fighting our officers’ attempts to remove him from the room.”

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Police said three officers were treated for injuries after working to remove McGinnis. They added that he “got his own arm stuck in a door to resist our officers and force his way back into the hearing room” and was also treated.

McGinnis faces three counts of assault on a police officer, three counts of resisting arrest, and a charge of crowding, obstructing and incommoding related to the unlawful demonstration.

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“Protests are not allowed inside the congressional buildings,” Capitol Police said. “There are plenty of other spots on Capitol Grounds, outside, where demonstrations are allowed.”

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Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., plans to introduce a bill that would halt entry from a set of Muslim countries, an effort Ogles framed as a continuation of travel restrictions President Donald Trump implemented in 2017.

“Mass Islamic immigration, legal or illegal, has transformed America and brought destructive consequences,” Ogles said.

“America’s moral exemplar is a meek carpenter who rose from the dead, not a warmonger with 12 wives and countless slaves. My bill will preserve this truth.”

Ogles’ bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to prevent admission of aliens from a series of countries with predominantly Muslim populations and a handful of other U.S. adversaries as Republicans continue to express concerns about Islamic ideologies and possible ties to recent acts of violence.

The bill, dubbed the “Halt Immigration from Countries with Inadequate Verification Capabilities Act” (HICIVA), targets Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

The bill describes those countries as regions “where the government or prevailing conditions do not allow for reliable verification of the identities, backgrounds, or intentions” for travelers looking to enter the U.S. The ban would also apply to individuals who have lived in the listed countries in the five years before the date of their attempted entry.

It makes an exception for U.S. citizens.

Ogles’ plans to introduce his bill come on the heels of a deadly shooting in Austin, Texas, that left at least three dead and over a dozen others injured.

While investigators declined to definitively ascribe motives to the attack, police discovered the suspect, Ndiaga Diagne, 53, wearing a hoodie marked with the words “property of Allah” on the front. A search of his home also revealed an Iranian flag and photos of Islamic leaders.

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Diagne was shot and killed in a confrontation with law enforcement on Sunday.

The shooting came just one day after the United States struck the Islamic Republic of Iran alongside Israel, targeting the country’s military leadership, citing an imperative to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed on Saturday.

Investigators said they would take recent events into consideration as they evaluated the Austin shooting.

“We’re looking at the totality of this. We see these indicators, we’re thinking about events and what’s occurring in the country as well. The motives – all of those things, that’s what the investigation is about right now,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said in a press event.

While the investigation into the motives for the attack continues, Ogles believes Islam itself presents a threat to the United States as an idea.

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“In 2017, President Trump rightly called out the unassimilable nature of those from Islamic nations, and I want to make it statute. America is no place for a religion that endorses pedophilia, sex slavery, polygamy, abuse of women and the murder of Christians,” Ogles said, referring to an executive order from Trump’s first term.

That 2017 order made by Trump also sought to ban travel from the six countries highlighted by Ogles’ bill, and Iraq, for 90 days.

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The bill notes that the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s power to enact the restriction in the case of Trump v. Hawaii, stating in its decision that Trump had been motivated by security concerns and not religious animus.

According to Ogles’ office, Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., will also join the bill as an original sponsor.  

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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signaled he may be willing to grant clemency to a pro-Trump election worker who was thrown in jail for a 2020 scheme attempting to find proof of election fraud.

President Donald Trump has been pressuring Polis to release Tina Peters, 70, since he returned to office last year. Polis acknowledged that Peters’ sentence was “harsh,” given that she had no prior criminal record.

Polis admitted on social media this week that Peters was sentenced to 9 years in prison while a former state lawmaker convicted of the same crime was sentenced only to probation and community service.

“Justice in Colorado and America needs to be applied evenly, you never know when you might need to depend on the rule of law. This is the context I am using as I consider cases like this that have sentencing disparities,” Polis wrote on X.

The Democratic governor said earlier this week that it would impact his decision if Peters expressed remorse for her actions in 2020, which she so far has not.

“What she would have to show in any successful clemency application would be appropriate contrition, apology. That’s the kind of thing I would be looking for,” he told KUSA-TV.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, whose office helped prosecute Peters, pushed back on Polis’ comments and emphasized that Peters has not demonstrated any remorse for her actions.

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“Clemency should be based on remorse, rehabilitation, and extenuating circumstances — not on political influence, favor, or retribution,” Weiser, a Democrat who is running to succeed the term-limited Polis, said.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who is also hoping to replace Polis as governor, also said Peters shouldn’t be pardoned or have her sentence commuted.

“Donald Trump may be seeking revenge on Colorado, but surrendering to his political pressure will not make our state stronger or safer,” the Democrat said.

Trump has posted on social media about Peters’ case multiple times, describing her as a “patriot.”

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“Instead of protecting Americans and their Tax Dollars, Democrats chose instead to prosecute anyone they can find that wanted Safe and Secure Elections,” Trump posted last year. “Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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