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As one of Israel’s staunchest defenders from the left, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., full-throatedly endorsed President Donald Trump’s attacks on Iran as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle reacted Saturday morning.

“President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region,” Fetterman wrote on X. “God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of Congress’ biggest backers of bold military action, is hailing President Donald Trump as a “man of peace,” and “evil’s worst nightmare.”

“As I watch and monitor this historic operation, I’m in awe of President Trump’s determination to be a man of peace but at the end of the day, evil’s worst nightmare,” Graham wrote Saturday morning on X in a string of posts. “Well done, Mr. President.”

Trump’s U.S. military armada in the Middle East, working in concert with Israel, is targeting military targets and ballistic missile sites that pose an “imminent threat,” a U.S. official told Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin. 

The U.S. military is not targeting Iran’s leadership, but Israel is, the official added.

Strikes hit the compound home of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, in downtown Tehran on Saturday morning.

And Trump issued a video statement on social media, urging Iranian people to get out of the way for now, but “when we are finished, take over your government; It will be yours to take.”

“God bless @POTUS for planning and now executing Operation Epic Fury, making America more safe and eventually more prosperous,” Graham added. “I seek God’s protection for all under President Trump’s command, as well as our allies in Israel.

LINDSEY GRAHAM CALLS FOR US TO USE ‘ANY MEANS NECESSARY’ TO STOP THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE KILLING OF IRANIANS

“My mind is racing with the thought that the murderous ayatollah’s regime in Iran will soon be no more.

While reports of explosions happened hours earlier, Graham posted his first support for the actions after 3 a.m. ET, calling the “operation is necessary and long justified.”

“The biggest change in the Middle East in a thousand years is upon us,” Graham added in his second post on X. “The likelihood of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel getting back on track is exceedingly high – a subject I brought up last week to the key players in the region who concurred if the ayatollah goes down, historic peace advances.”

As the attacks were under way and battle damage assessments were yet to come, Graham delivered his prayers to the troops undertaking the operation.

“As to the men and women participating in this operation for our country and Israel, may God bless you and keep you safe,” he wrote. “If you are injured or fall, I believe with all my heart that your sacrifice makes your country and the world a better and safer place. This moment is why you chose to serve.

“This operation has been well-planned. It will be violent, extensive and I believe, at the end of the day, successful. Again the demise of the ayatollah’s regime with American blood on its hands is necessary and more than justified.”

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

And, one of Trump’s long-time Republican critics, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., also posted on X, noting Trump has not sought congressional approval – although there was a briefing held with the Gang of Eight earlier this week.

“Acts of war unauthorized by Congress,” Massie wrote on X.

Senate Armed Forces Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., praised the “decisive action” against “the world’s leading proliferator of terrorism.”

“This is a pivotal and necessary operation to protect Americans and American interests,” Wicker wrote in a statement. “The president has stated the operation’s goals clearly: thwart permanently the ayatollahs’ desire to create a nuclear weapon, degrade their ballistic missile force and their production capacity, and destroy their naval and terrorism capabilities.

“These are the hardest decisions that face any American commander-in-chief, and I appreciate that President Trump and his team conducted a comprehensive strategy using all tools of national power and a well-orchestrated military planning process.”

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The time to strike was now, according to Wicker.

“The Iranian regime has never been weaker,” he added. “Without the use of military force against them, Iran’s ayatollahs would simply continue to grow their ability to threaten Americans and our interests, working in concert with the Chinese Communist Party, the Russian dictator Putin, North Korea, and other terrorist allies. 

“The ayatollahs have mortgaged the economic future of ordinary Iranians to engage in their obsessive and apocalyptic vision.   

Most importantly, I commend the brave men and women of our armed forces, who continue to demonstrate a level of operational proficiency unrivaled the world over. That fact will be evident in the coming days. Thanks to them, Americans are safer – not just today, but for generations to come.”

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President Donald Trump encouraged the Iranian people to take over their government once the United States and Israel finished “major combat operations” in Iran, marking a dramatic escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The U.S. and Israel launched the joint attack just after 9 a.m. local time in what the Pentagon has dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.”

In video remarks posted to Truth Social, Trump addressed the Iranian people directly and told them to “seize control of [their] destiny.”

“The hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump said. “This will be, probably, your only chance for generations. For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No President was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a President who is giving you what you want.”

“America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force,” Trump directed at Iranians. “Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach. This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.”

While Trump focused some of his message on empowering the people of Iran, he stated that the intent of the operation is to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,” which he described as “vicious” and “very hard, terrible people.”

Trump also said that while there may be American casualties as a result, the mission is “noble” as it is aimed at stopping a “wicked, radical dictatorship” from threatening American national security interests and destabilizing the Middle East.

“I do not make this statement lightly; the Iranian regime seeks to kill,” he said. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties, that often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing it for the future, and it is a noble mission.”

TRUMP ADMIN RAMPS UP ‘MAXIMUM PRESSURE’ IRAN SANCTIONS AHEAD OF NEW ROUND OF NUCLEAR TALKS

Trump noted repeated failed attempts at negotiating a deal with Iran, accusing Tehran of rebuilding its nuclear program and calling it “the world’s number-one state sponsor of terror.”

“It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

TRUMP SAYS HE IS ‘CONSIDERING’ A LIMITED MILITARY STRIKE TO PRESSURE IRAN INTO NUCLEAR DEAL

The president vowed to destroy Iran’s missile infrastructure and annihilate its navy.

“It’s a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon. This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces,” Trump said.

He also called on members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s armed forces and police to lay down their weapons and accept immunity or “face certain death.”

The military operation comes hours after Trump told reporters Friday that he was “not happy” with the state of nuclear negotiations.

The two countries had been engaged in indirect talks, and Trump gave Iran a deadline of roughly 10 to 15 days on Feb. 19 to reach an agreement. During his State of the Union address, he emphasized that his push for a deal was backed by force.

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Trump has repeatedly warned of severe consequences for the Iranian regime if negotiations ultimately failed.

“It’s been mass terror and we are not going to put up with it any longer,” Trump said.

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At least two more allies of President Donald Trump have said the Biden-era FBI secretly sought their records, in addition to the records of FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Republican operative Corey Lewandowski, who currently serves as a Department of Homeland Security aide, said Thursday he received the same type of notice that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino disclosed last year regarding records seizures. Both men said they were notified in 2024 that Google had complied with FBI legal demands for information tied to their accounts, underscoring how broadly the bureau’s investigation into Trump extended and fueling Republicans’ claims that President Joe Biden “weaponized” law enforcement to target his political opponents.

“Funny – I received the same notice,” Lewandowski wrote on X. “Where is the media outcry. Right, they don’t care when it happens to Trump people.”

Lewandowski and Scavino both said the notices they received indicated that Google had been under a court-authorized gag order and could not notify them sooner about the demands for their records. Prosecutors commonly obtain such gag orders as part of their investigations.

Patel, meanwhile, confirmed the existence of the subpoenas for his and Wiles’ phone records in a statement to Fox News this week and said the subpoenas were difficult to access because the files for them had added layers of protection.

“It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records — along with those of now White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight,” Patel said.

Fox News was told that the subpoenas sought Patel’s and Wiles’ toll records, which include dates and times and phone numbers related to messages and calls but do not include the contents of them. The subpoenas themselves have not been made public, so the details about what they sought remain unconfirmed.

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Two FBI officials told Fox News that in 2023, agents also recorded a phone call between Wiles and her lawyer. The officials said the lawyer was aware the call was being recorded and consented, but Wiles was not.

The claim about the lawyer has however been disputed. An unnamed lawyer representing Wiles at the time of the phone call in question denied to Axios that he knew of the FBI recording a phone call between him and his client.

“If I ever pulled a stunt like that I wouldn’t — and shouldn’t — have a license to practice law. I’m as shocked as Susie,” the lawyer told the outlet.

While it is unclear exactly what the FBI was investigating, the timing and targets signal the subpoenas could be related to the bureau’s probe into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents. Patel and Wiles, both private citizens during the Biden administration, were known witnesses in the classified documents case, in which special counsel Jack Smith alleged Trump violated the Espionage Act by hoarding national security-related documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

It has previously been widely reported that Patel was summoned to give grand jury testimony in exchange for immunity in 2022 as part of the same probe.

The FBI investigated Trump over both his alleged retention of classified documents and his alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 election. Documents released by Congress show that the FBI — and later Smith, after he became special counsel — issued hundreds of subpoenas targeting Republican entities and figures, including the phone records of several GOP lawmakers. Republican targets have characterized Smith’s actions as an egregious abuse of power and hyper-politicized, while Smith has repeatedly defended his work as by-the-book and apolitical.

In line with his claims of a weaponized FBI, Patel fired at least 10 bureau employees around the same time he revealed the subpoenas. The move drew condemnation from the FBI Agents Association, which represents thousands of employees and has maintained that agents’ actions are typically the result of following orders within the chain of command.

“The FBIAA condemns today’s unlawful termination of FBI Special Agents, which—like other firings by Director Patel—violates the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country,” the FBIAA said. “These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals—ultimately putting the nation at greater risk.”

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Former U.S. Attorney John Fishwick of Virginia told Fox News the firings could keep Patel “in good stead with President Trump,” saying Patel did not “look like a prototypical G-man” during his viral and widely reported on celebration at the Olympics in the Team USA men’s ice hockey team’s locker room.

The White House referred Fox News to the FBI when asked for comment. The FBI gave no additional comment. A representative for Smith had no comment.

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.

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EXCLUSIVE: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman laid out the timeline for the Artemis Moon landing and discussed the current delay to the Artemis II mission during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.

The agency announced Friday that Artemis III, Artemis IV and Artemis V will all be launched before the end of President Donald Trump’s second term. Artemis IV and Artemis V will be missions where astronauts return to the surface of the Moon. 

“To be overwhelmingly clear, we did not stretch out our timeline or delay anything. What we did is insert additional missions, standardized, so we can actually achieve the national policy that President Trump set out to return American astronauts to the Moon, and build an enduring presence to stay,” Isaacman told Fox News Digital.

“Artemis II, we’re going to launch in a matter of weeks [and] go around the Moon,” Isaacman explained. “Artemis III will launch by mid 2027 with the aim to buy down risk and low Earth orbit for subsequent [Moon] landing attempts in 2028.”

The Artemis program was initially established by President Donald Trump during his first term in December 2017. 

Isaacman is seeking to complete four Artemis missions under his tenure at the agency, while the Biden administration successfully completed just one non-manned test flight in 2022.

The NASA administrator was critical of the Biden administration for the delay in launches, telling Fox News Digital “the previous administration didn’t make any decisions over the last four years that need to be done.”

INSIDE NASA’S FAST-TRACK PLANS FOR LUNAR NUCLEAR POWER AND NEW SPACE STATIONS TO OUTPACE GLOBAL RIVALS

“That’s being corrected now,” Isaacaman said. “You need to standardize, you need to launch with cadence. That’s how you get back to the moon. That’s how you stay. President Trump’s 100% behind that.”

Artemis II was scheduled to launch in early February, though the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket was transferred from the launchpad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to repair a helium leak on Wednesday.

In response to the Artemis II delay, the administrator also pointed out that the three-year delay between the Biden administration’s last successful Artemis mission and the current one set the agency back.

SENATE CONFIRMS JARED ISAACMAN AS NASA CHIEF MONTHS AFTER TRUMP-MUSK RIFT THAT MAY HAVE PULLED HIS NOMINATION

“You can’t launch a rocket this complex and important every three years, and expect to get it right,” Isaacman added. “There’s just, there’s just no muscle memory there. There’s going to be mistakes.”

“We’re not going to rush this, because, clearly, we’re, again, we’re relearning the same lessons, which means we didn’t get the technical root cause last time, three years ago,” Isaacman said. “We’re hoping, in a matter of days, we’ll have our arms around [Artemis II].” 

Isaacman said that the current launch window for Artemis II is set for early April.

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The 43-year-old billionaire was sworn in as the administrator of the space agency last December. Isaacman himself is a space fanatic, having commanded the first ever commercial spacewalk in September 2024. 

In the less than one hundred days that he has served as administrator, Isaacman has been vocal about his dedication to Trump’s mission to return Americans to the surface of the Moon and beyond — a daunting task for a mission that was last completed during Apollo 17 in 1972, more than half a century ago. 

“The approach we were taking is the right way, and it’s consistent with NASA’s history,” Isaacman told Fox News Digital. “We didn’t go right to Apollo 11. We launched with frequency, and we continued to learn and buy down risk.”

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“NASA, throughout our history, has launched, on average, every three months, our design vehicles from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, through space shuttle. Apollo 8 launched less than two months after Apollo 7’s splashdown,” Isaacaman said. 

“This is how you get back to the Moon and be able to stay,” the NASA administrator added.

He also noted that funding for the missions and resources needed for success already exist at the agency, and that “we got everything we need.”

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One of the key components to ensuring the completion of each Artemis mission is labor, and Isaacman took issue with the large number of contractors that work with the space agency, yet are not employed by NASA itself. 

When asked if he planned on transitioning contractors to NASA employees, Isaacman said, “100%.”

“One of the first observations I had in the job after visiting every one of the NASA centers is all of the core competencies that we either outsourced or lost over the years,” Isaacman explained. “Contractors are great and should contribute to NASA in areas that we are not supposed to be the best in the world at.”

“But when we’re talking about launchpad, launch control, mission control in Houston, those should be civil servants,” Isaacman told Fox News Digital. “That should be a core competency in NASA. We should be the best in the world at it. We are going to exercise the workforce directive that went out weeks ago to convert contractors to civil servants, rebuild core competencies.”

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The NASA administrator said that top companies who provide contractors, like Boeing, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, have told him that they support the timeline that would ultimately achieve Trump’s vision of returning mankind to the Moon. 

“We have universal support in this,” Isaacman explained. “Support from every one of the prime contractors in this program. Lockheed, Boeing, ULA, SpaceX, Blue Origin and all of the congressional leaders that have space equities understand that this is the way back to the Moon.”

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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Democrats in the House and the Senate on Capitol Hill clapped back with criticisms about President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, calling him out for “lies” and suggesting the president isn’t winning the way Trump says he is. 

Some Democrats, like Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., argued that Trump’s move to blame former President Joe Biden for the current affordability issues Americans are facing is expired, while Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said he had to up-and-leave the president’s address because he was talking about making America healthier, describing the claim as a “lie.” 

Markey wasn’t the only Capitol Hill Democrat to accuse Trump of lying during his State of the Union speech, with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., using the same attack line.

“I don’t want to respond to all of Dr. Trump’s lies,” Booker said when asked about Trump’s address to the nation.

But, in the process of discussing Trump’s approach to immigration, Blumenthal did admit “that the border is more secure.” That comment, however, was quickly followed up with a criticism about how Trump is doing just that.

“I’ve long favored border security. I’m pleased that the border is more secure,” Blumenthal said when asked about his reaction to parts of Trump’s speech. “Some of the tactics used within the country, I think, are really regrettable and inhumane. And that’s why I think there needs to be reforms that stop the violations of law and constitutional rights.”

ICE enforcement appeared to be a sticking point for Omar as well. 

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“It happens all the time when a president is lying and clearly forgets that his administration killed two of my constituents,” she told Fox News Digital when asked about some of the interruptions that took place during the State of the Union. “It is important for the reminder to be there.”

When asked about her stance on defunding ICE, Omar said, she “look[ed] forward” to doing it. 

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“At this moment, actually accountability and for people to go to jail for the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” Omar responded when asked what it would take for her to fund ICE and end the current partial government shutdown impacting workers.  

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Former President Bill Clinton suggested he could not recall President Donald Trump ever implicating himself in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, one of the Republicans deposing him said Friday.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., briefly updated reporters during Clinton’s deposition in the panel’s Epstein probe. The deposition began a little after 11 a.m. and is expected to continue into early Friday evening.

“I know there’s a lot of obsession about President Trump from the media, a lot of curiosity about President Trump from media. I want to make a statement because they’ll probably not mention this when they come out here,” Comer said, referring to Democrats on the committee.

He said the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., asked Clinton if Trump should be called before the committee like he was.

“That’s for you to decide,” Clinton said, according to Comer.

“The president went on to say that the president, Trump, ‘has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved,’ and he meant with Epstein,” Comer said. “I thought that was an interesting thing that President Clinton said.”

His deposition, and that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before him, are taking place in the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Westchester County, N.Y.

The Clintons have claimed the New York City suburb as their permanent residence since leaving the White House in early 2000.

Democrats who emerged from the performing arts center minutes later to update reporters signaled they did not agree with Comer’s account but would not go into details on their own.

Garcia suggested there was an agreement between all parties not to discuss details of the deposition as it was happening.

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“I think the best response with that is for you to view the complete record what actually he said, which, look, we’re not going to disclose what was said because that’s not in the rules. But Republicans keep breaking the rules,” the California Democrat told reporters.

“President Clinton did bring up some additional information about discussions with President Trump. I think that the way Chairman Comer described it, I don’t think it’s a complete, accurate description of what actually was said. 

“So, let’s release the full transcript, and you can all get a full record of what actually was said, which brings up some very important new questions about comments that President Trump has actually said in the past.”

Trump has been a main topic in the increasingly partisan divide in the House Oversight Committee’s probe.

Democrats have accused the GOP side of covering up for Trump at the expense of Epstein’s victims, while Republicans have accused Democrats of using the pedophile and his heinous crimes as a tool for attacking the commander in chief.

Trump told reporters Friday when asked about Clinton, “I don’t like seeing him deposed.”

The deposition is ongoing behind closed doors, but the committee is expected to release a video and transcript of the entire sit-down within days of its conclusion. The same is true for Hillary Clinton’s deposition, the video for which could be released as early as this weekend.

The only portion of Clinton’s testimony that is public so far is his opening statement in which he denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes.

“Now, let me say what you’re going to hear from me. First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that, at the end of the day, matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos,” Clinton said, according to his prepared opening remarks.

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“I know what I saw and, more importantly, what I didn’t see. I know what I did and, more importantly, what I didn’t do. I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong.”

Neither Trump nor Clinton have been implicated in any wrongdoing associated with Epstein or his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

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The Virginia State Senate and its Democratic majority may have voted to nearly triple their pay if a provision inserted into their final budget survives the House reconciliation process and reaches Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.

The development comes as Spanberger has centered her campaign on “affordability,” with Richmond Democrats echoing that they are working to improve their constituents’ personal finances.

Virginia’s legislature itself was founded as a part-time, gentleman’s chamber, where lawmakers would return to their day jobs when Richmond wasn’t holding session.

Proponents of raising the current 1988-established salary of $18,000 for senators and $17,640 for delegates say the structure restricts who can afford to serve as a lawmaker today. Lawmakers also qualify for a $237 per diem, mileage reimbursements, and coverage of office, meeting and other expenses.

Senators’ new salary would be $50,000.

Republicans were quick to criticize the final budget, with the Virginia Senate Minority Caucus saying in a statement that “teachers got a 3% raise, but Democrats give themselves 300%.” The actual increase would be closer to 178%, though one could say the new salary would be 300% of the original. 

“The affordability hoax just gets worse and worse,” the caucus said, adding that the chamber’s majority killed a repeal of the car tax — something GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Sears ran on — while increasing the state budget by $1 billion overall.

Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, told WVTF it is the “wrong time” to address lawmaker pay.

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 “It’s supposed to be affordability for working families across Virginia, not members of the General Assembly,” he said.

Virginia’s legislature — the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World — has been making laws since its inception as the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg, where Spanberger gave the Democratic Party’s State of the Union response.

In her speech, she claimed President Donald Trump is the one “enriching himself, his family and his friends” and said Republicans are the ones “making your life more expensive.”

“I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere: costs are too high. In housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare,” she said.

“Americans deserve to know that their leaders are focused on addressing the problems that keep them up at night.”

“Democrats across the country are laser-focused on affordability — in our nation’s capital and in state capitals and communities across America,” Spanberger said Tuesday.

The pay raise could be moot if the Democrat-controlled House of Delegates does not amend its own budget proposal to include the provision.

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The House’s budget includes $137 million for expanded childcare access, a minimum wage increase to $13.75 in 2027 and $15 in 2029, and a $20 million appropriation for state employees’ and home health care workers’ collective bargaining, according to Washington’s ABC affiliate.

Fox News Digital reached out to the governor, as well as the House and Senate minority leaders, for further comment.

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At least a dozen FBI employees were fired amid revelations the bureau under the Biden administration allegedly subpoenaed Kash Patel and Susie Wiles’ phone records in 2022 and 2023 as part of a federal probe into then-former President Donald Trump.

More than 10 FBI employees were fired Wednesday, and at least two  more FBI employees were terminated Friday, Fox News has learned.

The FBI allegedly subpoenaed Patel’s and Wiles’ records in 2022 and 2023 while they were private citizens.

Patel now serves as the director of the FBI, and Wiles serves as the White House chief of staff.

The names of the fired bureau employees were not shared due to privacy reasons, and the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) criticized the firings earlier in the week. 

“The FBIAA condemns today’s unlawful termination of FBI special agents, which — like other firings by Director Patel — violates the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country,” the organization said in a statement.

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“These actions weaken the bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals, ultimately putting the nation at greater risk.”

Reuters first disclosed the subpoenas, which were issued during the Biden administration while special counsel Jack Smith was investigating Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Florida. 

Smith ended up charging Trump in 2023 with multiple felony offenses related to alleged efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election and Trump’s handling of the documents after he left office.

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A federal judge later dismissed the election interference case after Smith moved to drop it following Trump’s re-election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. 

Smith also dropped the Justice Department’s appeal of a separate ruling that dismissed the classified documents case. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both matters.

In a statement to Fox News Wednesday, Patel called the move to seize the phone records “outrageous and deeply alarming.” 

“It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records — along with those of now White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight,” he said.

The FBI said it discovered the information in the bureau’s newly discovered “prohibited case file.”

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Patel also said he recently ended the FBI’s ability to categorize files as “prohibited.”

Fox News also learned from two FBI officials that, in 2023, FBI agents allegedly recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney.

According to those officials, Wiles’ attorney was aware the call was being recorded and consented, but Wiles was not informed.

Wiles’ 2023 attorney disputes those claims. 

“If I ever pulled a stunt like that I wouldn’t — and shouldn’t — have a license to practice law,” the unidentified attorney said, according to Axios. “I’m as shocked as Susie.” 

Smith testified in 2025 that records of members’ calls helped investigators verify the timeline of events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

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He said prosecutors “followed all legal requirements in getting those records” and told a House panel the records obtained from lawmakers did not include the content of conversations. 

Fox News’ Emma Bussey and Emma Colton contributed to this report.

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Frigid negotiations between the White House and Senate Democrats appear to be thawing, with the Trump administration submitting what it calls a “serious” offer to reopen the government.

“Yesterday, the White House made another serious counteroffer,” a White House official told Fox News Digital. “Democrats need to make a move to end the shutdown before more Americans are harmed by a lack of funding for critical services like disaster relief.”

It’s the second offer from the White House in an ongoing back-and-forth that has left the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without funding for two weeks. 

With lawmakers away from Washington, D.C., for the weekend, the shutdown will stretch into a third week.

The latest development comes after a week of stalled negotiations between Senate Democrats and the administration, along with concerns that an off-ramp from the shutdown remained out of reach.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., both acknowledged receiving the offer in a joint statement Friday.

“We have received the White House’s counteroffer and are reviewing it closely. Democrats remain committed to keep fighting for real reforms to rein in ICE and stop the violence,” they said. 

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Congressional Democrats have spent much of the week accusing the White House of not taking the negotiations seriously, while Republicans contend their counterparts are asking for too much.

Schumer and Senate Democrats earlier this week blocked another attempt by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republicans to fund DHS using the original compromise funding bill.

DEMOCRATS DEMANDING ICE REFORMS LOSE AIRPORT ESCORTS IN SHUTDOWN THEY TRIGGERED

“It seems like the Democrats concluded this is maybe good politics for them. It’s not for the people whose lives are affected on a daily basis,” Thune said earlier this week. “So, we’ll keep pressing to try and get folks to the table. But I think the White House — you know — they continue to exchange paper and trade paper and all that, and hopefully they’ll find a sweet spot.”

Democrats want stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including requiring agents to obtain judicial warrants and identify themselves during enforcement actions, changes Republicans and the administration say are red lines.

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Democrats argue the White House has not shown the urgency they would have expected, given that an agency central to President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda has been shuttered for nearly three weeks.

“They haven’t indicated that they’re concerned about the closure of DHS,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told Fox News Digital. “They’ve been slow to come back on the proposals that the Democrats have made.

“And no one has ever explained why there should be only one police force in the entire country that should not have to follow the same kind of rules as everyone else.”

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Former President Joe Biden on Friday accused President Donald Trump of attempting to “erase the truth” and squandering the United States’ role as the leader of the world.

“It’s not just my record Trump’s trying to erase,” Biden told South Carolina Democrats, while talking about the president’s efforts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

“He’s trying to erase fairness, equity, history, the truth,” he continued, citing incidents in which information about slavery has been removed or altered from museums and national parks since Trump took office.  

“Great nations don’t bury the truth, Biden balked. “They face it. This is a great nation.”

Last summer, Trump wrote that “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”

He also ordered a review of the Smithsonian to make sure its exhibits align with celebrating “American exceptionalism.”

Biden — the guest of honor at Friday’s “thank you” event organized by state Dems who helped resuscitate his presidential campaign six years ago — claimed the U.S. is currently living in “dark days.”

LIZ PEEK: AMERICA EXPECTED ONE THING FROM TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION. IT GOT ANOTHER

“Our future is literally on the line,” he said. “We have to be unapologetic about fighting for our country.”

Biden also issued a warning about the upcoming midterms, claiming that Trump is “trying to steal the election because he knows he can’t win your vote, so he’s going to do everything he can to prevent you from wanting to vote. … Mark my words. I hope I’m wrong.”

He said the more that voters see of Trump, the “less they like him.”

SPEECHWRITERS SPLIT AFTER TRUMP’S RECORD-BREAKING SOTU: ‘LIVING IN HIS OWN REALITY’ VS. ‘RESOUNDING SPEECH’

“They don’t like that he’s raising health care costs, fighting against the Affordable Care Act, and they sure as hell don’t like what they saw in Minnesota: Mass ICE agents pulling people out of their homes and literally murdering two people in the street,” he swiped.

 Biden, 83, added, “They don’t believe the president should be king or dictator.”

He said because of this, Democrats are winning in places “you’d never expect.”

BIDEN TO HEADLINE NATIONAL BAR ASSN GALA DESPITE SON HUNTER’S DISBARMENT, ALONG WITH CROCKETT, TISH JAMES

“So, we have reason to be hopeful, because time and again throughout history, in the moments of great crisis, Americans have summoned the better angels of our nature and brought our country back from the abyss.”

Biden also predicted that Democrats would take back both the Senate and House of Representatives in November.

Biden boasted that he knew more heads of state than any other president in history, adding, “Americans knew they had a president who believed in, respected and followed the Constitution.”

Citing a Pew Research Poll that he said showed a “dramatic drop in our reputation around the world,” he claimed, “We’re no longer the way we were.”

He added if the U.S. doesn’t lead the world, it could be Russia or China that does.

Biden also blasted Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday for what he left out.

“The guy talks for almost two hours but never mentioned the anniversary of Putin invading Ukraine,” Biden admonished. “Never once.”

He also noted that the president didn’t mention Renee Good or Alex Pretti, the Americans who were killed by ICE agents earlier this year in Minneapolis, “or offer even a word of solace to their families.”

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“He doesn’t offer a word of support, even recognition to Epstein’s victims sitting in front of him during the entire time,” Biden said, mentioning the Jeffrey Epstein survivors who were in the audience for the speech. “He never acknowledged them.”

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

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President Donald Trump on Friday floated the idea of putting Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on the Supreme Court, joking he is the only nominee who would receive “100% of the Democrat vote, 100% of the Republican vote” because lawmakers would want to “get him out” of Congress.

Trump made the comments after Cruz and other lawmakers traveled with the president to make remarks on energy in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“We have a senator who’s really an amazing guy,” Trump said during the outdoor engagement at the Port of Corpus Christi. “I’m thinking about putting him in the Supreme Court. … Getting these nominations through is very tough, and he’s the only guy I know who’ll get 100% of the Democrat vote, 100% of the Republican vote. They want to get him out of there.

“He is such a pain in the a–, but he’s so good and so talented,” the president continued. “If we ever had a problem, I just pick Ted. That would solve that problem. … He’s a great guy, and he’s a very talented guy too — smart.”

Cruz, who earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, argued eight cases before the Supreme Court as solicitor general of Texas before returning to private practice, where he argued his ninth before the highest court.

At the time of Cruz’s 2012 Senate run, he had tried the most Supreme Court cases of any practicing lawyer in Texas or any member of Congress, according to The Texas Tribune.

He was sworn into the Senate in 2013, where he has advocated for limited government, economic growth and national security.

VANCE SAYS ‘NO CHANCE’ US WILL GET INTO PROLONGED MIDDLE EAST WAR AMID IRAN TENSIONS

Cruz ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 election cycle but failed to match Trump’s popularity. He suspended his campaign May 3, 2016, after losing the Indiana primary.

During Trump’s remarks in Corpus Christi, he also briefly addressed ongoing talks with Iran, saying the U.S. faces a “very big decision” on whether to strike the country, an option the president said he ran by Cruz and other lawmakers who joined him Friday.

“We’ve got a lot of things going on now. We have a big decision to make. … Not easy,” Trump said. “We have a country that’s been, for 47 years, blowing people’s legs off, arms off … killing people, lots of people. Not only Americans. … They want to make a deal, but we’ve got to make a deal that’s meaningful. I spoke with Ted Cruz, John, all of them on the way here.

“We hit them real hard, as you know, with those beautiful B-2 bombers — recently knocked out their nuclear capability,” he continued. “I’d rather do it the peaceful way, but they’re very difficult people. I want to tell you that they’re very dangerous people, very difficult people.”

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Trump told reporters earlier Friday he had not yet decided if he would launch military strikes on Iran, but he voiced his unhappiness with recent negotiations.

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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Friday said he was ordering the “complete and immediate cancellation” of all Department of War attendants at universities like Princeton, Columbia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Brown and Yale, starting with the 2026-27 academic year.

Hegseth added that the ban would also include “many others,” claiming the higher education system has been “poisoned from within from a class of so-called elite universities who’ve abused their privilege and access to this department and utterly betrayed their purpose.”

Hegseth’s announcement comes after he similarly banned active-duty service members earlier this month from attending Harvard starting next year.

He accused the universities of gorging themselves for decades on a “trust fund of American taxpayer dollars only to become factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain.”

He claimed the universities had replaced “the study of victory and pragmatic realism with the promotion of wokeness and weakness.”

“This is not education, this is indoctrination,” he added.

COLUMBIA PULLS PROMOTION FOR CAREER DHS AFTER FACULTY CLAIMS UNIVERSITY IS AIDING ‘AUTHORITARIANISM’

“The Department of War is finished subsidizing the corruption of our own in uniform class,” he said. “We’re done paying for the privilege of our enemies’ wicked ideologies to be taught to our future leaders. We’ve had enough.

“We cannot and will not send our most capable officers, senior officers, into graduate programs that undermine the very values they have sworn to uphold.”

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Hegseth added that the department would also hold itself accountable, starting with a top-to-bottom review of “our own internal war colleges, ensuring they are once again bastions of strategic thought, wholly dedicated to the singular mission of developing the most lethal and effective leaders and war fighters the world has ever known.”

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The Texas Senate primary for Republicans is a bloodbath, and President Donald Trump isn’t wading in.

Trump, who appeared in Corpus Christi, Texas, to tout his energy agenda Friday, had the opportunity to stake his claim in the contentious race and endorse a candidate. 

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the longtime incumbent fending off seven challengers.

But the real race is between Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.

All three were in attendance at Trump’s rally, reminiscent of the made-for-TV spectacles that dominated his successful 2024 election campaign. Yet Trump didn’t endorse any of them as Election Day in the primary fast approaches.

Trump acknowledged all three — he paired Cornyn and Paxton and mentioned Hunt later in his remarks. He noted that they were all engaged in an “interesting election.”

“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.”

HUNT FILES POLICE REPORT AGAINST CORNYN CAMPAIGN STAFFER OVER ALLEGED FAMILY ‘DOXXING’ INCIDENT

Cornyn is running for a fifth term in the Senate and fighting for his political life in a nasty primary election that Trump has time and again refused to weigh in on. He’s got the full weight of Senate Republican leadership behind him, too.

Paxton, who has faced headwinds with scandals over the years, has strongly aligned himself with the president and built a coalition of conservative backers in the House, including Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who brought him to Trump’s State of the Union earlier this week.

And while the trio duke it out, money is being burned at a record pace. So far, a whopping $110 million has been spent on the Senate primaries, and $88 million of that has been dumped into the GOP contest, according to data from AdImpact.

CORNYN WARNS PAXTON WOULD BE ‘KISS OF DEATH’ FOR GOP AS BLOODY PRIMARY RACE RAMPS UP

Given the crowded field, it’s likely the race will head to a runoff, which will turn into a brutal sprint until late May. Paxton believes he could come out on top with at least 50% of the vote come March 3, while Cornyn is eying the long game.

The coveted Trump endorsement could put either over the top in ruby red Texas. And he may be close to picking his favorite.

Ahead of the event, Trump was asked if he had decided who to endorse.

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“Pretty much,” he told reporters.

But when asked if he would say who, he said, “No.”

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EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is calling on Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger to ensure local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials by handing over an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record who allegedly killed a woman earlier this week at a Virginia bus stop.

Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, arrested an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone earlier this week on charges of second-degree murder after he fatally stabbed a woman, Stephanie Minter, 41, who was found dead at a local bus stop with several wounds to the upper body. The alleged suspect, Abdul Jalloh, 32, also has a criminal history of more than 30 arrests, according to DHS, including for rape, malicious wounding, assault, identity theft, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, assault, pick-pocketing and more.   

The request from the Trump administration comes after the newly elected Democratic governor of Virginia signed an executive order to end cooperation between federal immigration officials and state and local law enforcement, a move several Democratic Party governors have taken recently amid President Donald Trump’s move to increase deportation operations around the country. 

The DHS request asking Virginia officials to cooperate with ICE also comes after an illegal immigrant murdered someone just days after being released from jail for a separate crime in December.

“We are calling on Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and Virginia’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this murderer and violent career criminal from their jail without notifying ICE,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “This illegal alien’s murder of an innocent, beautiful American woman came less than 24 hours before Governor Spanberger’s demonization of ICE law enforcement. This heinous criminal is a perfect example of why we need cooperation from sanctuary jurisdictions and the importance of third country removals for the safety of the American people.”

Spanberger’s representatives did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Jalloh entered the United States illegally in 2012, according to DHS, and immigration officials lodged an immigration detainer against him in 2020, whereupon he was granted a final order of removal by a judge who said he could be removed to any country other than Sierra Leone. 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WITH PRIOR DEPORTATION SHOOTS DEPUTY IN CHEST, DIES AFTER EXCHANGE: DHS

DHS indicated that ICE cooperation to ensure Jalloh’s deportation is evident following a case Fox News covered in December when a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, Marvin Morales-Ortez, 23, killed a man just a day after Fairfax County jail officials let him go. 

The immigrant from El Salvador had been in custody on malicious wounding and brandishing a firearm charges, but police released him after the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, run by George Soros-backed prosecutor Steve Descano, dropped the charges. Fox News Digital reached out to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s office to inquire about why the man had not been handed over to ICE, to which the Sheriff’s office indicated: “ICE was aware of Morales Ortez’s incarceration and elected not to seek a judicial warrant to ensure he remained in custody.”

“The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office follows all local, state, and federal laws when determining whether a person is subject to release from the ADC,” the sherriff’s office told Fox News Digital at the time. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is automatically notified any time a person is booked into the ADC.”

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The same sheriff’s office did not get back to Fox News Digital’s media inquiry for this story on DHS urging officials to cooperate with federal officials. 

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President Donald Trump on Friday said he was ordering every federal government agency to stop using Athropic AI immediately.

“THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS! That decision belongs to YOUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, and the tremendous leaders I appoint to run our Military,” Trump began in a lengthy Truth Social post Friday afternoon.

He added, “The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY.”

The president said he would immediately direct every federal agency to stop using Anthropic technology.

“We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!” he continued.

There will be a six-month phase out period for agencies such as the Department of War, he added.

“Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,” he wrote.

He continued, “WE will decide the fate of our Country — NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about.”

Earlier this week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused demands from the Department of War to use its artificial intelligence for “all lawful purposes,” but Amodei said no, concerned over the possibility it could be used for “mass domestic surveillance” or “fully autonomous weapons.”

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“The Department of War has stated they will only contract with AI companies who accede to ‘any lawful use’ and remove safeguards in the cases mentioned above. They have threatened to remove us from their systems if we maintain these safeguards; they have also threatened to designate us a ‘supply chain risk’ — a label reserved for US adversaries, never before applied to an American company — and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal,” Amodei said in a Thursday statement.

He declared that the “threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.”

Assistant to the Secretary of War for Public Affairs Sean Parnell declared in a post on X that the department does not want to engage in either of those activities but is asking to use Anthropic’s AI for all legal purposes.

“The Department of War has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement,” Parnell said in the post. “Here’s what we’re asking: Allow the Pentagon to use Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes.”

“This is a simple, common-sense request that will prevent Anthropic from jeopardizing critical military operations and potentially putting our warfighters at risk. We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions. They have until 5:01 PM ET on Friday to decide. Otherwise, we will terminate our partnership with Anthropic and deem them a supply chain risk for DOW,” he noted.

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Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael accused Anthropic and Amodei of lying.

In a post on X, Michael called Amodei “a liar” who “has a God-complex.” 

“He wants nothing more than to try to personally control the US Military and is ok putting our nation’s safety at risk. The @DeptofWar will ALWAYS adhere to the law but not bend to whims of any one for-profit tech company,” he asserted.

In another post he asserted, “Anthropic is lying. The @DeptofWar doesn’t do mass surveillance as that is already illegal. What we are talking about is allowing our warfighters to use AI without having to call @DarioAmodei for permission to shoot down an enemy drone swarms that would kill Americans.”

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“It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision. But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider,” Amodei said in a statement sent on Thursday to Fox News Digital. “Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters — with our two requested safeguards in place. Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions. Our models will be available on the expansive terms we have proposed for as long as required.”

“We remain ready to continue our work to support the national security of the United States,” he added.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday designated Iran as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention, calling for Americans currently in Iran to “leave immediately.”

“When the Iranian regime seized power 47 years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini consolidated his control of power by endorsing the hostage taking of U.S. embassy staff,” Rubio wrote in a news statement. “For decades, Iran has continued to cruelly detain innocent Americans, as well as citizens of other nations, to use as political leverage against other states. This abhorrent practice must end.

“President Trump issued an Executive Order to Protect U.S. Nationals from Wrongful Detention Abroad last fall and Congress subsequently enacted the Countering Wrongful Detention Act of 2025, authorizing the Department to designate Iran as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention,” he added.

Rubio said if Iran does not stop, the U.S. will be forced to consider “additional measures,” including a potential geographic travel restriction on the use of U.S. passports to, through, or from Iran.

“The Iranian regime must stop taking hostages and release all Americans unjustly detained in Iran, steps that could end this designation and associated actions. We encourage it to do so,” he continued. “No American should travel to Iran for any reason. We reiterate our call for Americans who are currently in Iran to leave immediately.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

A Bill Clinton-appointed federal judge is among several drawing criticism for continuing to order the release of some of the 650 illegal immigrants arrested by ICE in “Operation Country Roads.”

In one case that drew public attention, Judge Joseph Goodwin of the Southern District of West Virginia granted the release of Salvadoran national Anderson Jesus Urquilla-Ramos, a decision the man’s attorney told Bloomberg Law “reinforces that immigration enforcement must operate within constitutional limits.”

In his order, Goodwin lashed out at ICE agents’ masks and warrant-free arrests, saying “antiseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening.”

Goodwin characterized DHS’ behavior as an “assault on the constitutional order [and] what the Fourth Amendment was written to prevent,” according to WVMetroNews, and permitted habeas corpus — or a detained defendant’s ability to challenge his confinement.

In Goodwin’s order releasing Yuri Aroca and Arley Valenzuela, he lambasted their detention following a traffic stop along the West Virginia Turnpike near Pax, W.V.

“I am not blind to the practical demands of immigration enforcement, including cooperation between state and federal authorities, but the Constitution presupposed restraint as the default of lawful authority,” he wrote in his ruling.

Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.V., who represents the southern half of the state, did not hold back in her response to the situation:

“If Judge Goodwin experienced even 1% of the threats and harassment that ICE officers receive, he might have had the courage to make a ruling based on the law and not his personal political agenda,” Miller said.

“Thankfully, he, his family, and his home are free from the fear of doxxing and danger coming from the radical leftists — our ICE agents are not as fortunate.”

Miller said masking protects ICE agents from those who want to harm them and keeps their families out of the “crosshairs of the mobs that continue to terrorize our cities.”

FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOWN LARGE PARTS OF TRUMP MASS DETENTION POLICIES FOR MIGRANTS

Operation Country Roads netted hundreds of illegal immigrants from Charles Town in the north to Beckley in the south, and many of the cases fall within the Charleston-based Southern District of West Virginia.

Moore Capito, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, defended the state’s partnership with federal law enforcement in comments to Fox News Digital.

“We in the Southern District of West Virginia have the most committed and cooperative law enforcement partners that you will find,” Capito said.

“Day after day, they are on the front lines working to keep our communities safe. Our officers take precautions to protect themselves and their families from retaliation, the same way members of the judiciary rely on institutional protections every day.”

Capito said his office will continue to support law enforcement while responding to several petitions, adding that the cases involving the now-released individuals are ripe for appeal.

In one of his orders, Goodwin wrote that “no specific danger has been identified that required these agents to be masked for this arrest,” a statement the White House took particular exception to.

“ICE officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them because of dangerous, untrue smears from elected Democrats,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital.

“ICE officers wear masks to protect themselves and their families from being doxxed. ICE officers act heroically to enforce the law and protect American communities with the utmost professionalism. Anyone pointing the finger at law enforcement officers instead of the criminals is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens,” she said.

An Obama-appointed judge, Irene Berger, who also recently blunted a key tenet of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “MAHA” agenda, ordered the similarly reasoned release of a noncitizen big-rig driver detained at the Ghent Toll Plaza on the turnpike.

Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.V., who represents the northern half of the state, including Jefferson County, where local law enforcement collaborated with ICE to quickly remove suspects from the streets, agreed with Miller that judges should understand the dangers faced by agents.

“ICE agents are being doxxed and their families are being attacked by radical leftists just for doing their jobs,” Moore told Fox News Digital.

“We’ve seen time and again what violent leftists are capable of, and our ICE agents should never be subjected to this terrible treatment.”

FEDERAL JUDGE RELEASES FOUR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CONVICTED OF MURDER, SEX CRIMES FROM ICE CUSTODY

Moore called Goodwin’s ruling “shameful” and said it puts ideology above protecting American families.

“I am grateful to the brave ICE agents who are doing their duty to defend America,” he said. Gov. Patrick Morrisey shared the sentiment.

“We stand with President Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and we are confident that as these cases move through the justice system, the court will find that the protection and safety of federal agents is constitutional,” Morrisey told Fox News Digital.

“We also stand firmly with ICE. The safety of law enforcement officers is paramount.”

Morrisey said that threats of doxxing, targeted harassment and violence are “very real.”

“There is a clear need to protect those who serve,” he said, disagreeing with the tact from the bench.

“These men and women put themselves in harm’s way to enforce the law, and we will always stand alongside our fellow officers.”

Some released individuals named President Donald Trump as a defendant, signaling the federal government would be the party to appeal. Others listed West Virginia corrections official Christopher Mason, ICE Director Todd Lyons and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Asked about the cases and what next steps might be, a Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that concerns over agents’ tactics and masking have been “reaffirmed” through a recent California court case.

“Laws banning federal agents from wearing protective masks are unconstitutional,” the spokesperson said.

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“This Department of Justice is focused on law and order, public safety, and will not tolerate any violence directed toward law enforcement officials working tirelessly to keep Americans safe, despite the best efforts of activist judges who’d rather see violent illegal criminals walk free.”  

Fox News Digital reached out to the rest of West Virginia’s delegation — Sens. Jim Justice II and Shelley Moore Capito — for comment.

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President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he is “not happy” with the way Iran is negotiating.

“I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have. So I’m not thrilled with that. We’ll see what happens, we’re talking later. We’ll have some additional talks today. But, no, I’m not happy with the way they’re going,” Trump said.

The president also told reporters that he had yet to make a final decision on striking Iran, something that many have speculated could occur in the near future.

When answering a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy, Trump acknowledged that if the U.S. strikes Iran, there is a possibility of a long-term conflict sparking in the Middle East.

“I guess you could say there’s always a risk. You know, when there’s war, there’s a risk in anything both good and bad,” Trump said. 

The president then spoke about operations against Iran under his first and second terms, such as the assassination of Gen. Qassim Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, and last summer’s Operation Midnight Hammer. He said that “everything’s worked out” so far.

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

An appellate court found on Wednesday that Texas can enforce a law regulating drag shows in public places and in the presence of minors, scrapping a lower court order that had enjoined the state from doing so.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reaffirmed its November ruling, saying Texas can enforce the 2023 law regulating “sexually oriented performances.” The two-judge panel said only one plaintiff in the case had standing and sent the lawsuit back to the lower court to reevaluate the plaintiff’s First Amendment claim.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is a candidate for Senate, framed the decision as a “major win” in a statement on social media.

“I successfully defended a law protecting children from being exposed to sexually illicit content at erotic drag shows,” Paxton said. “I will always work to shield our kids from exposure to erotic and inappropriate sexually oriented performances.”

The lawsuit, brought by numerous self-described LGBTQ organizations, centered on a state Senate bill that defined sexually oriented performances as visual performances that feature a nude person or sexual conduct and “[appeal] to the prurient interest in sex.” Under the law, a person could be prosecuted for causing a performance to occur in the presence of minors.

Judge Kurt Engelhardt, an appointee of President Donald Trump, authored the opinion and was joined by Judge Leslie Southwick, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.

The judges found that most of the plaintiffs, including a nonprofit called Woodlands Pride, did not have standing to bring First and Fourteenth Amendment challenges to the law because the groups’ performances were benign and therefore did not fall under the Texas law.

The judges said, however, that a group called 360 Queen Entertainment did engage in performances, sometimes in the presence of minors, and therefore had standing.

APPEALS COURT SAYS TEXAS CAN ENFORCE DRAG SHOW BAN, SUGGESTS NOT ALL DRAG SHOWS VIOLATE STATE LAW

“Based on the evidence introduced at trial, 360 Queen’s performances arguably include proscribed conduct,” Engelhardt wrote. “The owner described one performance where a drag queen, who was wearing a ‘very revealing’ breastplate, pulsed the breastplate in front of people and put the breastplate in people’s faces.”

Sometimes those performances were visible to children, Engelhardt noted.

The panel ordered the district court to evaluate whether 360 Queen was right to claim the Texas law violated its free speech rights under the First Amendment.

In a statement, Brian Klosterboer of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said the 5th Circuit effectively deemed some drag performances “family-friendly” but that the law, which will go into effect in March, still had perceived constitutional problems.

“The law’s vague and sweeping provisions still create a harmful chilling effect for drag artists and those who support them, while also threatening many types of performing arts cherished here in Texas, from theater to ballet to professional wrestling,” Klosterboer said.

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In 2023, Judge David Hittner, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, found Texas’ law was unconstitutional. It is “not unreasonable” to think it could affect activities like live theater or dancing, Hittner found.

Last November, the 5th Circuit vacated that order. On Wednesday, it reaffirmed that decision and denied the plaintiffs’ request to rehear their appeal.

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