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The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Tennessee law banning gender-transition treatments for adolescents in the state is not discriminatory.

At issue in the case, United States v. Skrmetti, was whether Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1, which “prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow ‘a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex’ or to treat ‘purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,'” violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the law in question is not subject to heightened scrutiny “because it does not classify on any bases that warrant heightened review.”

All three liberal justices notably dissented in the case.

SUPREME COURT APPEARS DIVIDED OVER STATE BANS ON GENDER TRANSITION ‘TREATMENTS’ FOR MINORS

That law in question prohibits states from allowing medical providers to deliver puberty blockers and hormones to facilitate a minor’s transition to another sex.

It also targets healthcare providers in the state who continue to provide such procedures to gender-dysphoric minors – opening these providers up to fines, lawsuits and other liability. 

The court’s ruling comes after many other states have moved to ban or restrict medical treatments and procedures for transgender adolescents, drawing close attention to the case. During the oral arguments, justices on the Supreme Court appeared reluctant to overturn Senate Bill 1, with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggesting that state legislatures, rather than courts, are best equipped to regulate medical procedures. 

The Constitution leaves such questions “to the people’s representatives,” Roberts said, rather than to nine justices on the Supreme Court, “none of whom is a doctor.” 

SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRANSGENDER YOUTH TREATMENTS IN LANDMARK CASE

Justice Samuel Alito cited “hotly disputed” medical studies on the alleged benefits of such medical treatments. He also referred to other research from Great Britain and Sweden that reported on the negative consequences teens experienced after undergoing gender transition treatments.

Alito told the government’s attorney that those studies “found a complete lack of high-quality evidence showing that the benefits of the treatments in question here outweigh the risks.” 

“Do you dispute that?” Alito asked during oral arguments.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, however, countered with evidence from underage individuals that were denied treatment.

“Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don’t they? I think some attempt suicide?” she said. “The state has come in here and, in a sharp departure from how it normally addresses this issue, it has completely decided to override the views of the parents, the patients, the doctors who are grappling with these decisions and trying to make those trade-offs.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are the petitioners in the case, representing the parents of three transgender adolescents and a Memphis-based doctor who treats transgender patients. 

The Biden administration had previously joined the petitioners in the case via a federal law that allows the administration to intervene in certain cases certified by the attorney general to be of “general public importance.” 

LGBTQ+ ADVOCATES, FAMILIES SUE TRUMP ADMIN FOR ENDING FUNDING OF TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE UNDER 19

However, the Trump administration notified the Supreme Court in February that the government would be changing its stance on the constitutionality of the law, saying the Tennessee law does not violate the equal protection clause. 

Also at issue was the level of scrutiny that courts should use to evaluate the constitutionality of state bans on transgender medical treatment for minors, such as SB1, and whether these laws are considered discriminating on the basis of sex or against a “quasi-suspect class,” thus warranting a higher level of scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. 

That was another focus of the oral arguments in December, as petitioners and respondents battled for more than two hours over the level of scrutiny that the court should apply in reviewing laws involving transgender care for minors, including SB1. 

Tennessee argued then that its law can still withstand even the test of heightened scrutiny, contending in a court brief that it does have “compelling interests” to protect the health and safety of minors in the state and “in protecting the integrity and ethics of the medical profession.”

SUPREME COURT CAN TAKE MASSIVE STEP IN PREVENTING TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS WITH HISTORIC HEARING

The high court’s decision comes at a time when transgender rights are a hotly contested topic. 

President Donald Trump cracked down on the issue almost immediately after being sworn in to his second White House term in January.

Just weeks after his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order preventing biological men from competing in women’s sports.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” was signed on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. It prohibits schools and colleges that receive federal funds and are subject to Title IX from allowing transgender-identifying biological men onto women’s sports teams and into women’s locker rooms and restrooms. 

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If such institutions fail to comply with the order, they could become subject to investigations and lose federal funds.

The Trump administration’s policies on transgender rights have inevitably become the targets of legal challenges launched by advocacy groups, medical organizations and individuals who claim they are discriminatory. 

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

EXCLUSIVE: Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts is leading the charge with Democrat Sen. John Fetterman to codify oversight on foreign countries buying American farmland.

The bipartisan Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvements Act seeks to implement recommendations published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in January 2024, which found the AFIDA was ill-equipped to combat foreign ownership of American agricultural land. 

“Communist China is our greatest geopolitical threat,” Ricketts told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview, adding, “This is a way for us to improve the disclosure that’s going on with regard to the purchase of this agricultural land, so we can take other action if necessary to make sure we’re not giving Communist China the opportunity to buy agricultural land.”

The bill’s proposal comes as two Chinese nationals – a University of Michigan post-doctoral research fellow, Yunqing Jian, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology student Chengxuan Han – were held in federal custody after they were accused of smuggling biological materials into the United States.

RICKETTS, FETTERMAN TEAM UP FOR CRACKDOWN ON CHINA’S ATTEMPTS TO PURCHASE US FARMLAND

The suspects have been charged with “smuggling a fungus that has been described as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme,” interm U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Jerome Gorgon said in a statement. 

AFTER UKRAINE’S SURPRISE DRONE ASSAULT ON RUSSIA, NEW ATTENTION DRAWN TO SENSITIVE SITES STATESIDE

The fungus causes a “head blight,” described as a disease of wheat, maize, rice and barley, and is responsible for billions of dollars of economic losses throughout the world each year, according to the Department of Justice. If ingested by humans, the substance can cause vomiting, liver damage and “reproductive defects in humans and livestock.” 

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration is focused on “keeping our homeland secure” through enhanced border screenings. 

“Protecting America’s food supply and national security remains a top priority. Last week’s smuggling attempt by Chinese nationals of Fusarium graminearum, a dangerous crop-destroying fungus, posing a significant bioterrorism threat, only highlights this imperative to combat this threat,” McLaughlin said. 

“That could potentially be very damaging to agriculture,” Ricketts told Fox News Digital. “We also know that Chinese nationals have been trying to steal our biotechnology with regard to agriculture. They’ve also been crashing gates of bases. Supposed Chinese tourists have been flying drones around bases. Of course, the Chinese flew a surveillance balloon over our country when the Biden administration just let that happen.”

Ricketts said China has been aggressively buying American agriculture, “which is why we need to have a heightened sense of vigilance around protecting our homeland.”

Foreign investors own over 40 million acres of agricultural land in the United States, and between 2010 and 2021, Chinese ownership of American agricultural land increased from 13,720 acres to 383,935 acres, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

“It’s not just about the number of acres that they own, but the fact that they own it around Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota or Fort Liberty in North Carolina. They’re buying it around sensitive military installations,” Ricketts said. 

The bill, also co-sponsored by Sens. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, John Cornyn of Texas, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, requires AFIDA reporting for foreign persons holding more than 1% interest in American agricultural land.

The AFIDA Improvements Act aims to increase information-sharing between the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and the USDA. It also requires updates to the AFIDA’s handbook and establishes a deadline for USDA to set up an online AFIDA system. 

Based on the GAO’s recommendations, the bill seeks to update the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to better equip the USDA to combat foreign adversaries’ ownership of American agricultural land. 

“We are at the most dangerous point in our history right now since World War II,” Ricketts said. “We have to be investing in our military. We have to be supporting our friends around the world that are pushing back on these dictators. Communist China is one of them.”

Additionally, the bill comes as conflict in the Middle East reaches a boiling point between Iran and Israel, reigniting concerns about national security. Israel successfully coordinated attacks against Iran from inside the country, and Ricketts pointed to Ukraine’s success in targeting a Russian air base. 

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“What Ukraine was able to do against Russia with their operation that destroyed some of their strategic bombers, and they placed trucks with drones close to an air base and had those drones attack their squadrons. We could be vulnerable to the same thing if China did that here. They’ve owned farmland close enough to our air bases to be able to launch a drone strike. That should be very concerning to us,” Ricketts said. 

Ricketts added that American farmland should not be a “tool that our adversaries, like Communist China, can use to attack us from inside our own country.”

There has been little movement on the bill since it was just recently introduced. That is largely because Senate Republicans are narrowly focused on advancing Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline.

Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita and Alex Miller contributed to this report. 

Louisiana state Sen. Blake Miguez announced a U.S. Senate bid, declaring in a campaign video that he is “running for the U.S. Senate because Bill Cassidy sucks.”

The video highlights old footage of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, noting that he voted to convict President Donald Trump. Cassidy voted to convict after the House impeached Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. 

However, the Senate vote happened after Trump left office, and it ultimately fell short of the threshold necessary for conviction.

“Today, I’m announcing my candidacy for the United States Senate,” Miguez declared in a Tuesday post on X that features the campaign video. “I’m running because the American Dream is worth fighting for – and DC phonies forget that. Bill Cassidy betrayed our state, our President, and our principles.

“As your next Senator, I won’t bend. I won’t break. I’ll stand with President Trump. And I’ll never stop fighting to put America First. Bill Cassidy had his shot. He missed. I won’t,” the Republican state lawmaker’s post reads.

TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ CRACKS DOWN ON BIDEN’S STUDENT LOAN ‘SCHEME,’ TOP REPUBLICAN SAYS

Cassidy campaign press secretary Ashley Bosch asserted in a statement to Fox News Digital that the senator will win regardless of who throws their hat into the ring.

“Anyone can join this race, but it won’t change the outcome —Senator Cassidy will win,” Bosch said in the statement. “He’s a proven conservative fighting alongside President Trump to secure our southern border, unleash American energy, and put America First. Senator Cassidy is fighting to protect our values and delivering real results for Louisiana.”

LOUISIANA RACETRACK ICE RAID NETS MORE THAN 80 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS DURING WORKSITE ENFORCEMENT OPERATION

Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming, who is also targeting Cassidy for ouster, announced a U.S. Senate bid last year.

The Bayou State’s next U.S. Senate election will be held in 2026.

WHO IS JOHN FLEMING, THE FREEDOM CAUCUS FOUNDING MEMBER CHALLENGING GOP SEN BILL CASSIDY?

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Cassidy has served in the Senate since 2015. He previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives, and before that, in the Louisiana state Senate.

FBI Director Kash Patel took to social media on Tuesday to condemn a former Coast Guard officer who was arrested for allegedly threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump, which Patel claimed resulted, in part, from a “destructive” Instagram post shared earlier this year by his predecessor, former FBI director James Comey. 

“This is a guy who threatened President Trump’s life using the ‘86 47’ language,” Patel said of Peter Stinson, the former Coast Guard official who was charged with making threats to kill the president. Stinson, who served from 1988 to 2021 in the Coast Guard – where he held roles as a sharpshooter and FEMA instructor – will appear in federal court for the first time on Wednesday.

Stinson appears to have made multiple, graphic threats against President Donald Trump, according to court documents, including 13 references to the “86 47” message shared in a now-deleted Instagram post by former FBI director James Comey. 

Comey in May posted a photo of shells arranged in the sand with the number “86 47” on Instagram. The post, which he deleted hours later, prompted backlash, including from Trump himself, and sparked at least two interviews with the Secret Service, as Comey later detailed.

COMEY CLAIMS HE HAD NO ‘DARK INTENTION’ WITH ’86 47′ SEASHELL POST, ISN’T SCARED OF TRUMP

The former FBI director has said in multiple public interviews since that he did not have any dark intentions in sharing the photo and that his wife had associated it with her time as a restaurant server to mean taking something off the menu. 

According to Merriman Webster, “86” is slang that can mean “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” Trump, of course, is the 47th president. 

“I regret the distraction and the controversy around it,” Comey said of the incident on MSNBC. “But again, it’s hard to have regret about something that, even in hindsight, looks to me to be totally innocent.” 

Comey is not currently under investigation for the post and has said that neither he nor his wife, who was with him at the time, believed it had any nefarious meaning.

Still, the Comeys’ repeated public statements and his compliance with Secret Service personnel have done little to assuage some Trump administration officials, including Patel, who now has Comey’s former job. 

“Tragically, this case was predictable,” Patel told Fox News Digital on Tuesday in regard to Stinson’s alleged threats. 

FLORIDA MAN THREATENS TO ASSASSINATE TRUMP, DESTROY NEW YORK WITH MISSILES IN 911 CALLS: REPORT

“When former Director Comey first pulled his destructive Instagram stunt, it forced the FBI to pull numerous agents off of critical portfolios, taking key personnel away from important initiatives protecting the American people to deal with an overwhelming number of copycats following Comey’s lead and posting threatening messages against the president of the United States,” Patel said.

“Thankfully, law enforcement did excellent work preventing a potential violent actor, and we’ll continue to be on guard,” he added.

Stinson is a Northern Virginia resident, and while it is unclear to what degree Stinson was influenced by the Comey Instagram post or the resulting media coverage of it, court documents show that many of Stinson’s threats were posted long beforehand, including in the run-up to Election Day and during the 2024 presidential campaign. 

Stinson, a “self-identified” member of Antifa, made at least one threat appearing to invoke the July 13 assassination attempt against Trump while he campaigned in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Those secret service agents moved very slowly,” Stinson said in a post at the time. “They left him in the open way to (sic) long. A missed opportunity will not come around again. They will teach this to future agents as a failure to protect and act.” 

FEDERAL GRAND JURY INDICTS MAN FOR THREATENING TO ASSASSINATE TRUMP AFTER REELECTION

In February, Stinson posted on his X account, “Sure. This is war. Sides will be drawn. Antifa always wins in the end. Violence is inherently necessary.” 

The most recent post referenced in the document was published on BlueSky on June 11, when Stinson allegedly wrote, “When he dies, the party is going to be yuge.”

Comey did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Patel’s remarks nor on any role that the Instagram post in question may have inadvertently played in the case.

News of Stinson’s arrest comes after a federal grand jury indicted a San Bernardino County, California, man just weeks earlier for allegedly threatening to assassinate then-President-elect Donald Trump after he was elected to a second White House term.

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“This defendant is charged with threatening the life of our President – a man who has already survived two deranged attempts on his life,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time.

“The Department of Justice takes these threats with the utmost seriousness and will prosecute this crime to the fullest extent of the law,” Bondi added.

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margoli contributed to this report.

Gov. Tim Walz has condemned the assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband as politically motivated, but questions remain about the suspect’s political affiliation. 

The Democrat Minnesota governor immediately denounced what he said “appears to be a politically motivated assassination,” following the attacks Saturday morning.

Vance Luther Boelter, 57, is charged with killing Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, in separate incidents early Saturday morning.

Lawmakers from Minnesota and across the United States have since joined Walz in condemning the violent attacks. Politicians and authorities have been clear that Saturday’s attack was politically motivated, but they have been less clear about the suspect’s political preferences.

MINNESOTA LAWMAKER SHOOTING SUSPECT HAD CACHE OF WEAPONS, HIT LIST IN VEHICLE, COURT DOCUMENTS SHOW

U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said Monday that Boelter’s primary motive was “to go out and murder people” as authorities announced the suspect’s capture on Monday after a two-day manhunt. 

“Now, they were all elected officials,” Thompson said. “They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it’s just way too speculative for anyone that has reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues.”

MINN. GOV THANKS LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR BRINGING HOUSE SPEAKER’S ALLEGED KILLER TO JUSTICE AFTER TWO-DAY MANHUNT

Boelter now faces federal charges after officials arrested him in Sibley County on Sunday night. He is charged with two counts of stalking, two counts of murder and two counts of firearm-related crimes. Boelter is also facing second-degree murder charges filed in Hennepin County. 

“Political violence has no place in this country,” Alvin M. Winston, FBI Minneapolis special agent, said during a press conference on Monday. 

While Thompson said it was too early to identify specific political motivation, he said, “This was a political assassination.”

“It’s only the most recent example of violent political extremism in this country,” Thompson added, in light of two assassination attempts on President Donald Trump last year, the attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their home in San Francisco in 2022, and the shooting of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., at the annual Congressional Baseball Game in 2017, to name a few.

Records reveal Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota, where voters don’t list party affiliation.

Boelter was previously appointed to Minnesota’s Workforce Development Board by two governors, according to Fox 9. 

The suspect was reportedly appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, in 2016, and then re-appointed by Walz in 2019 as a private sector representative to the council. He previously served on the same board as Hoffman before his term expired in 2023.

Friends and former colleagues interviewed by the Associated Press described Boelter as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and attended Trump rallies. 

Paul Shroeder, who has known Boelter for years, told AP, “He was right-leaning politically but never fanatical, from what I saw, just strong beliefs,” and added, “It seemed to be just that he was a conservative Republican who naturally followed Trump.”

A Fox News search found no results for individual contributions to federally registered political committees. 

According to Boelter’s LinkedIn page, he has a purported extensive security background, including as CEO of Red Lion Group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is also listed as the director of Praetorian Guard Security Services, a security firm his wife reportedly filed to create, according to the company’s website. 

Several AK-47-style firearms were recovered from Boelter’s vehicle during the investigation, along with a pile of “No Kings” flyers, reflecting anti-Trump administration protests that erupted across the country this weekend. 

Walz had planned to speak at a “No Kings” rally in St. Paul on Saturday before the assassination. 

Authorities also found a manifesto that listed the names and addresses of other public officials. About 70 names were found in the manifesto, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Officials said the list also included the names of pro-abortion politicians, abortion rights advocates and information about health care facilities.

“There were some abortion-rights supporters, I believe, on the list. But again, there was dozens and dozens and dozens of names on, you know, hundreds of pages of documents that were recovered with his writings on them,” Thompson said. 

Boelter’s roommate told the New York Post that he had conservative political views but rarely talked about politics and didn’t seem overtly political.

“He was a Trump supporter. He voted for Trump. He liked Trump. I like Trump,” his lifelong friend, David Carlson, said. “He didn’t like abortion.”

Carlson told the New York Times that Boelter had been experiencing financial and mental health challenges, and that Bolter “just gave up on life for some reason.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, Carlson woke up on Saturday to a text from Boelter that he was “going to be gone for a while” and “may be dead shortly.” 

“I thought he was going to do self-harm,” Carlson said. “I didn’t think he was going to do anything like this.” 

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Walz continued to denounce the violence during a press conference Monday. 

“A moment in this country where we watched violence erupt. This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences.”

And Walz added in a statement that we “cannot become numb to this violence,” adding we are a “deeply divided nation.”

Walz’s office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry. 

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace, Michael Dorgan, Julia Bonavita, Audrey Conklin, Peter D’Abrosca and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report. 

Senate Republicans are steadily moving along in their quest to advance President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” but some remain dissatisfied with one of the most crucial portions of the package.

The Senate Finance Committee unveiled its portion of the budget reconciliation package Monday night that deals directly with making the president’s first-term tax cuts permanent and the more controversial proposed changes to Medicaid, niche tax issues and Biden-era green energy subsidies.

Senate Republicans met behind closed doors to get a crash course on the bill, and some left distraught over provisions they hoped they would see on the cutting room floor. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., can only afford to lose three votes in the upper chamber.

SENATE PANEL NAVIGATES DELICATE COMPROMISES ON MEDICAID, TAXES IN LATEST CHUNK OF TRUMP’S MEGABILL

And due to the nature of budget reconciliation, which allows lawmakers to skirt the filibuster, he can’t count on Democrats, who would demand serious changes to the broader legislation, to help get the package across the line.

The changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate, which were a stark departure from the House GOP’s version of the bill, particularly ruffled feathers among Republicans who have warned not to make revisions to the healthcare program that could shut down rural hospitals and boot working Americans from their benefits.

“I want changes,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said. “I’m still not satisfied with where we are on Medicaid.”

‘IT’S WRONG’: HAWLEY WARNS SENATE GOP NOT TO BOOT AMERICANS FROM MEDICAID IN TRUMP MEGABILL

The Senate Finance Committee went further than the House’s freeze of the provider tax rate, or the amount that state Medicaid programs pay to healthcare providers on behalf of Medicaid beneficiaries, for non-Affordable Care Act expansion states, and included a provision that lowers the rate in expansion states annually until it hits 3.5 percent.

To date, 41 states and Washington, D.C., have opted into the Medicaid expansion program. The idea behind the changes to the provider rate taxes was to help pay for Trump’s mammoth bill in part and discourage the remaining states from opting into Medicaid expansion.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., argued, for a state like his dotted with rural hospitals, that the bill “is not a good development” for their survival. 

BLUE STATE REPUBLICANS THREATEN REVOLT AGAINST TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ IF SENATE CHANGES KEY TAX RULE

“I mean, it’s really not,” he said. “And in order to pay for increased subsidies for the Green New Deal? I mean, it just baffles me.”

The Senate’s version of the tax package does add more flexibility to green energy tax credits than the House’s, an issue pushed for by a handful of Senate Republicans who wanted to see the truncated phase-out of the credits in the House bill slowed down.

Senate Republicans met with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Medicaid tweaks in the bill. Oz said the White House did “not believe” changing the provider tax would influence the ability of hospitals to stay viable. 

“In fact, the provider tax and the state-directed payments are often used to pay institutions that have the best connections to the government of the state, not necessarily the hospitals that need the help the most,” he said. “It is important that we clean up this system.”

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., sought to extinguish anger among his colleagues, noting that Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Senate leaders were still working on what the final product would look like.

“Everybody’s got an opinion, and I think it’s gonna be that way right up until we vote,” he said.

Fiscal hawks were not pleased with the bill, either.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has stumped for a return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic era spending, a gouge to federal spending that would be trillions of dollars more than the rough goal of $2 trillion in spending cuts that some Senate Republicans are eying.

He believed there was “no way” that the current parts of the broader reconciliation package could be fixed and stitched together by the Senate GOP’s self-imposed July 4 deadline.

“The problem is it just simply doesn’t meet the moment,” he said.

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But Crapo cautioned he and lawmakers were still working out the kinks and that a resolution to his colleagues’ issues could still be found.

“All I can say is that we will work it out,” Crapo said. “We have to work that out, not only among our colleagues in the Senate, but with the House and with the White House.”

A key House Republican says Israel will continue to have bipartisan support from Congress as its conflict with Iran worsens tensions in the Middle East.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said when asked about a hypothetical supplemental funding package in the event the crisis became a prolonged conflict. 

“There’s very, very, very strong bipartisan support, in particular Republican support, for Israel, and I think again, what we are seeing is Israel doing what they need to do to protect themselves from literally being wiped off the face of the planet.”

He also commended President Donald Trump as having handled the volatile situation “brilliantly so far.”

LIVE UPDATES: ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT

ISRAEL AIRSTRIKE HITS IRANIAN STATE TV BUILDING

The Florida Republican chairs the House Appropriations Committee panel responsible for overseeing foreign aid and State Department funding.

The National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs subcommittee was key to Congress crafting emergency foreign aid packages to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine last year — all of which passed Congress with varying degrees of bipartisan support.

Diaz-Balart said he had not spoken with House leaders about the issue, noting most lawmakers were away in their home districts tending to their constituencies this week.

He added, “I’ve actually had informal conversations with members.”

He declined to say how those members felt about supplemental Israel funding, however, telling Fox News Digital, “I can’t speak for others, but I will tell you that there is a very strong appetite from me to make sure that Israel has all the help that it needs in order to finish the job that it’s doing.”

Meanwhile, he and his fellow subcommittee members have also been crafting their appropriations bill for the next fiscal year coming on Oct. 1.

“We’re going to do what we’ve been consistently doing, is just, we’re going to be helping Israel. And if there is a need to do more, obviously you’re going to see strong support, whether it’s in the appropriation… bills, or if we need a supplemental, I think you would see strong bipartisan support,” he said.

Last year, the House authorized just over $26 billion in emergency U.S. funding for Israel, humanitarian aid in the region, and shore up American military operations. The bill passed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 366 to 58 vote — an increasingly rare occurrence for major legislation in the current political climate.

Twenty-one House Republicans and 37 Democrats voted against the measure at the time.

But since then, Democrats have continued to grow increasingly critical of Israel’s war in Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative government.

At the same time, there’s been a growing skepticism of foreign aid among the House GOP — particularly with the national debt climbing toward $37 trillion.

ISRAELI LEADER SAYS TRUMP WAS MARKED FOR DEATH BY IRANIANS

Diaz-Balart, however, was still optimistic that a hypothetical aid package could pass if brought up in Congress, when asked about both of those factors.

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Israeli officials said Iran was dangerously close to having a nuclear weapon when its military launched an attack on Tehran that killed the Islamic regime’s top military figures and hit nuclear sites in and around the capital.

Since then, both sides have exchanged rocket fire, with fatalities reported on both sides.

Fox News Digital reached out to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., for comment on the possibility of supplemental funding to Israel.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was taken to the hospital on Tuesday after suffering an allergic reaction, according to a DHS spokesperson.

She was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital.

It is unclear what triggered the event.

NOEM DISMISSES JEFFRIES’ WARNINGS AS DHS CONSIDERS ARRESTS OF DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS AFTER ICE FACILITY CLASH

Noem is said to be alert and recovering.

Bruce LeVell, former Executive Director of President Donald Trump‘s National Diversity Coalition, took to social media to send Noem well wishes.

“My dear friend @Sec_Noem, our fearless Secretary of Homeland Security, was just rushed to the hospital,” LeVell wrote on X. “My heart is with her during this challenging time, but I know her strength and determination will shine through. Please join me in keeping Kristi in your prayers for a swift and full recovery. 

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“She has been tirelessly spearheading @realDonaldTrump initiative to uphold law and order and utilize ICE to keep our country safe from criminals. Let’s stand strong for her, just as she’s stood strong for America.”

Charlie Kirk, Founder and CEO of Turning Point USA asked his followers to “Pray for Kristi.”

A majority of Californians oppose providing healthcare coverage for adults who are in the United States illegally, despite the Golden State currently offering it.

The Public Policy Institute of California survey revealed that 58% opposed and 41% of those polled were in favor of the policy. The move took effect last year to allow people to enroll in Medi-Cal, the state version of Medicaid that takes taxpayer dollars, “regardless of immigration status.”

According to the pollster, a majority of those surveyed used to support the idea from 2015-2023.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE COSTS IN BLUE STATE TRIGGERS INTENSE BUDGET DEBATE

The Medi-Cal program went insolvent this spring, as it required billions in loans to keep it afloat. The governor’s office proposed changes like an “enrollment freeze” and a $100 monthly payment for “individuals with certain statuses” on Medi-Cal.

However, some of those changes are unlikely to move forward in the Democratic supermajority legislature, according to CalMatters. According to the legislature’s budget proposal, Democratic leadership is backing possibly creating a $30 monthly payment instead of $100 for those with “unsatisfactory immigration status” beginning in 2027, which would make some changes to the “enrollment freeze” that could start in 2026.

The legislature also proposes scrapping the governor’s proposed $2,000 asset limit pitch for Medi-Cal participants and instead would bring it back to $130,000.

NEWSOM PROPOSES FREEZE ON ALLOWING ADULT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO JOIN CALIFORNIA’S MEDICAID PROGRAM

Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, told Fox News Digital that the percentage of Californians opposing providing healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants may be even higher.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“This debate is not about ‘Should we provide healthcare to illegals or not?’ because that’s a false question. The bigger question is, should we provide free taxpayer funding to illegal immigrants and not have enough money and jeopardize services for citizens who are the neediest among us relying on Medicare?” DeMaio said. “That’s the real debate. And this poll doesn’t even capture that.”

“The Democrat position is a lot worse than this poll even suggests,” he continued.

Newsom’s office previously attributed the issues with Medi-Cal to broader economic concerns.

LAWMAKERS REVEAL WHETHER AMERICANS SHOULD PICK UP THE MEDICAID TAB FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

“Governor Newsom proposed adjustments in the 2025-2026 budget that will allow California to preserve our commitment to immigrant communities, protect coverage for millions of Californians, and preserve the strength of our values and health care system,” Elana Ross, deputy communications director for Newsom’s office, told Fox News Digital. “To be very clear, these proposals are the results of a $16 billion Trump Slump and higher-than-expected health care utilization.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the California Latino Legislative Caucus about the poll. The caucus has continuously raised concerns about the impact of Medi-Cal reform on immigrants.

On the federal level, the reconciliation bill currently in Congress could also impact states that provide Medicaid coverage to illegal immigrants. 

Biden-appointed U.S. Judge Julia Kobick issued a ruling Tuesday to temporarily block the Trump administration’s move to only allow two genders, male and female, on U.S. passports.

In line with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump proclaiming the U.S. only recognizes two genders, the Department of State eliminated the “X” designation on passport applications and suspended a policy allowing people to identify as the opposite sex or as intersex or nonbinary.

The move was widely reported by media outlets as “targeting transgender” people. In April, Kobick, who is a federal judge for the U.S. District of Massachusetts, ruled to block the policy with regard to six people who sued the administration over it. 

Her Tuesday ruling extended her previous ruling to temporarily suspend the policy for all Americans.

‘GROW UP’: NEWSOM SLAMS TRUMP AFTER DOJ RULES IT CAN STRIP BIDEN-ERA PROTECTIONS FROM CA LANDS

Kobick stated in her ruling that the suit against the Trump administration’s policy is likely to succeed because she finds that it discriminates on the basis of sex, is “arbitrary and capricious” and “rooted in irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans.”

Kobick wrote that “transgender and non-binary people who possess passports bearing sex markers that conflict with their gender identity and expression are… significantly more likely to experience psychological distress, suicidality, harassment, discrimination, and violence” and that “obtaining gender concordant identity documents is part of the standard of care for treating gender dysphoria.”

The judge wrote that the policy would cause transgender individuals to “experience anxiety and psychological distress or fear for their safety if they were required to travel with passports bearing a sex designation corresponding to their sex assigned at birth, largely because they would effectively ‘out’ themselves every time they presented their passports.”

NEW RESISTANCE BATTLING TRUMP’S SECOND TERM THROUGH ONSLAUGHT OF LAWSUITS TAKING AIM AT EOS

Trump’s order, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” directed executive agencies to “recognize two sexes, male and female,” saying, “these sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

Though Kobick stated in her ruling that the government failed to demonstrate that the policies are substantially related to an important government interest, Trump’s executive order states that “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being” and that “the erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system.”

NPR SUES TRUMP WHITE HOUSE OVER EXECUTIVE ORDER TARGETING PUBLIC MEDIA

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“Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have increasingly used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women, from women’s domestic abuse shelters to women’s workplace showers. This is wrong … Basing Federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself,” reads the order.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a Democrat, has been released after being held for only a few hours for allegedly assaulting an immigration official on Tuesday. 

While Lander, who is running for mayor of New York City, is now being held up as a hero by many progressives, some say his arrest was more political theater than activism.

Joe Borelli, a former New York City councilman and GOP political operative, told Fox News Digital that he believes Lander’s arrest was a “staged event.”

“Election day is a week from today, and early voting has begun. Make no mistake, the purpose was to get the headlines that he’s getting,” said Borelli. “It’s instant name recognition and establishing even stronger liberal bona fides.”

ICE BREAKOUT IN NEW JERSEY SYMPTOM OF DEMOCRATIC ‘CHAOS’ ACROSS THE COUNTRY, LOCAL GOP LEADER SAYS

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Borelli likened Lander’s arrest to the recent arrest of Newark Democrat Mayor Ras Baraka and the detaining of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who were both detained for allegedly disrupting different federal events.

“This is the playbook for lefty politicians who want to make a get-a-headline. They try to get arrested, they get arrested and then fake outrage over getting arrested,” he said.

He went on to say that Lander’s arrest was part of a “coordinated plan” that “not only benefits Brad Lander but also Zohran Mamdani, who he has cross-endorsed.”

New York City works on a ranked choice voting system, allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference and select multiple candidates.

DEM SENATORS PROPOSE BILL TO PUNISH EL SALVADOR FOR ‘COLLUSION’ WITH TRUMP

“So any momentum Brad gets helps that left-leaning faction led by Zohran at the expense of Cuomo,” explained Borelli, adding that “the real loser is the taxpayers.”

Lander was arrested by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents on Tuesday after allegedly assaulting a federal officer.

Video footage of Lander’s arrest appeared to show him hanging onto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as they escorted a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, repeatedly asking officials if they had a judicial warrant.

“I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant,” Lander said in the video. “Where is it? Where is the warrant?”

Hours later, Lander walked out of the federal courthouse where he was being held. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a news conference outside the courthouse that the charges against Lander had been dropped, though the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said it is “continuing to investigate” Lander’s actions.

In response to the incident, a DHS spokesperson said, “Our heroic ICE law enforcement officers face a 413% increase in assaults against them—it is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment.”

“No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences,” said the spokesperson.

DOJ SUES NEW YORK FOR SANCTUARY POLICY ‘UNDERMINING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT’

Speaking after his release on Tuesday, Lander said, “I’m grateful to hear that the charges are not being brought. But if they are, I’ve got a lawyer. I don’t have to worry about my due process rights.”

Lander accused the Trump administration of “stripping” illegal immigrants of their due process rights.

During the press conference outside the federal building, Lander said: “This is a critical time to have a mayor who will stand up to ICE and stand up to Donald Trump and insist on due process and the laws of this city. This is a sanctuary city. I was proud to cosponsor those laws. And I’m going to show up and defend them.”

He thanked the several other New York City Democratic mayoral candidates who protested his arrest and took aim at former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is the leading candidate for New York City mayor, saying, “New Yorkers deserve better in a mayor than Andrew Cuomo.”

WATCH: AOC BLAMES TRUMP FOR LA RIOTS, SAYS HIS ADMINISTRATION ‘OWNS THIS’

“I am very grateful to the other mayoral candidates who came out here to call for my release … and I really hope New Yorkers will elect one of us,” said Lander.

New York Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt responded to the incident by telling Fox News Digital that “anyone who obstructs or assaults law enforcement officials – including attention-hungry politicians – deserves to be arrested.”

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William O’Reilly, a New York Republican political consultant, also chimed in, telling Fox News Digital that he believes “Lander is just the latest idiotic New York City progressive getting arrested for supporting lawbreakers.”

“More than half of the Democratic mayoral field is running on a platform of defying U.S. immigration law. That’s all responsible voters should need to know,” said O’Reilly.

Lander’s office and campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.

Former Virginia State Del. Jay Jones secured the Democratic nomination for Virginia attorney general.

The Associated Press projected that Jones has won the Democratic primary and will challenge incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares this November. 

Miyares was elected attorney general in 2021 alongside Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is term-limited this year, and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican gubernatorial nominee. All three Republicans flipped Democratic seats during the statewide elections in 2021, and Democrats are seeking to regain control of Virginia later this year. 

President Donald Trump’s name did not appear at the top of the ticket during Virginia’s primary on Tuesday, but his sweeping second-term agenda took center stage up and down the ballot. 

TRUMP FACTOR: ELECTIONS IN THIS KEY STATE ARE SEEN AS A PARTIAL REFERENDUM ON THE PRESIDENT

Miyares, the first Hispanic American to be elected to a statewide office in Virginia and the first child of an immigrant to be attorney general, has been supportive of Trump’s agenda in Virginia – whereas Democratic attorneys general across the United States have led the judicial challenge to Trump’s executive authority. 

TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT BUT PRESIDENT INFLUENCES TUESDAY’S HIGH-STAKES PRIMARY

Jones and his competitor, Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor, both tried to capitalize on primary voters’ anger over the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal government, including massive layoffs through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

Jones, a former assistant attorney general, identified his top campaign issue as protecting Virginia from the Trump administration. 

“Donald Trump is waging an unprecedented assault on Virginia communities, jobs, and even civil rights,” Jones included in a statement on his campaign website. 

Jones applauded how attorneys general have stepped up to defend Americans by suing the Trump administration to unlock federal funding and reject executive overreach, “but here in Virginia, MAGA extremist Attorney General Jason Miyares has put politics first and refused to join in the effort to defend against unconstitutional and un-American Trump policies.”

Public safety, lowering costs through corporate accountability, protecting civil and constitutional rights and preserving the right to abortion were among Jones’ additional campaign promises. 

Taylor’s campaign focused on public safety, protecting abortion rights, lowering costs, preventing gun violence and building Virginia’s economy to support the middle class. 

Taylor’s first campaign ad featured images of Trump buying a Tesla at the White House and Elon Musk holding up a chainsaw at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). 

“I’m running for Attorney General to beat back Trump and Musk,” Taylor said. 

Virginia’s elections will be used by political pundits and politicians as a bellwether for competitive midterm elections expected in 2026. They are an early opportunity to gauge how Americans are responding to Trump’s second term, and see how they might vote next year when a congressional majority is on the line. 

Virginia is one of two gubernatorial elections in the United States this year, along with New Jersey, which held their primary election last week. 

Commonwealth Republicans broke a 12-year losing streak to the Democrats when they swept the elections for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general in Virginia four years ago. 

But Republicans haven’t won the commonwealth in a White House contest since 2004.

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Trump lost the state by six points in last November’s presidential election, which was a four-point improvement from his 2020 defeat.

Still, Republicans are expected to face an upward battle in November. With only one exception since 1977, the party that holds the White House has lost Virginia’s gubernatorial election. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

A federal judge found Tuesday that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was in civil contempt of court over her ruling to pause a new state law making it a crime for people living in the U.S. illegally to enter the state.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered on April 29 that Uthmeier show cause on “why he should not be held in contempt or sanctioned” for violating a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the court, though Williams ultimately decided he was unable to convince her otherwise.

“If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump’s agenda on illegal immigration, so be it,” Uthmeier said Tuesday in a post on X.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation into law in February that made it a misdemeanor for illegal immigrants to enter the state as part of President Donald Trump’s push to crack down on illegal immigration.

FEDERAL JUDGE SLAPS HOLD ON NEW OKLAHOMA IMMIGRATION LAW

But on April 4, Williams issued a 14-day TRO in response to the law, following a lawsuit filed by the Florida Immigrant Coalition and other groups. She then extended the TRO another 11 days after learning the Florida Highway Patrol had arrested over a dozen people, including a U.S. citizen.

The court said on April 18 that Florida law enforcement officers were bound by the TRO, preventing them from enforcing the criminal immigration law.

The court also ordered the attorney general to provide notice to all law enforcement officers, which Uthmeier initially complied with.

STAY IN YOUR LANE: FLORIDA AG FIRES NEXT VOLLEY AGAINST JUDGE HALTING STATE IMMIGRATION LAW

But on April 23, he sent a follow-up letter telling the law enforcement community that “no judicial order…properly restrains you from” enforcing the immigration law, adding that “no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes your agencies from continuing to enforce” the statute.

As a result, the court required Uthmeier to show cause as to why he should not be held in contempt for violating the TRO.

FLA. AG TO REBUFF JUDGE WHO ORDERED HALT TO STATE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT: ‘THE COURT HAS OVERSTEPPED’

Following his response, the court opined that litigants cannot change the meaning of words as it suits them, ruling that Uthmeier was in contempt of the court’s April 18 order to provide the TRO to law enforcement officers regarding the enforcement of the immigration law.

As such, the court ordered Uthmeier to file bi-weekly reports detailing arrests, detentions or law enforcement actions when it comes to the immigration law prohibiting undocumented immigrants from entering the state of Florida, with the first being filed by July 1.

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If any arrests had been made under the law, Uthmeier was ordered to notify the court about the details of the arrests.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., doesn’t envision, nor want, the U.S. military becoming directly involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran, but that hinges on whether the Islamic Republic rejoins the negotiating table.

“Dismantling Iran’s nuclear program is what this is all about,” Thune told Fox News Digital from his office in the Capitol. “And that can happen one of two ways. It can happen diplomatically — voluntarily — or can happen via force.”

‘ANOTHER ENDLESS CONFLICT’: DEMOCRAT ECHOES TRUMP’S ANTI-WAR STANCE AS MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS ESCALATE

Thune’s comments come as questions and concerns swirl on Capitol Hill among lawmakers about whether the U.S. will take a bigger, more direct role in the burgeoning conflict in the Middle East. There are active conversations among senators about what role Congress should play in whether to thrust the U.S. into an armed conflict or if that power should be ceded to the president. 

“The Israelis may not have the military capability to do everything that’s necessary,” he continued. “If the Iranians are smart, they’ll come to the table and negotiate this in a way in which they choose to end or disavow their nuclear program.”

Israel and Iran traded missile strikes for a fifth day following the Jewish State’s late-night strike last Thursday, where critical infrastructure that would aid Iran in its pursuit of creating a nuclear weapon was damaged or destroyed. Notably, Israel has been unable to damage the heavily fortified Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. 

‘ALL-IN’: GOP LAWMAKERS DIVIDED ON US INVOLVEMENT AS TRUMP PUSHES IRAN FOR DIPLOMATIC END

Bipartisan resolutions requiring that Congress gets to weigh in and take a vote on going to war with Iran and disavowing an armed conflict entirely have circulated this week, while some lawmakers believe that the U.S. should go all in to snuff out Iran’s nuclear capabilities and back up Israel as fighting rages.

President Donald Trump has so far refused to say whether the U.S. would use direct military force to prevent Iran from creating or obtaining a nuclear weapon, and he has continued to urge Iranian leaders to negotiate a nuclear deal.

Still, the president met in the White House’s Situation Room on Tuesday with his National Security Team after leaving the G7 Summit in Canada early.

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS CRITICIZE ISRAEL’S DEFENSIVE STRIKES AGAINST IRAN’S NUCLEAR SITES

Ahead of that meeting, he said on his social media platform, Truth Social, “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.” In that same post, he noted that the U.S. was aware of where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was “hiding,” but was not prepared to strike, “at least not for now.”

But Thune was more cautious, and contended that “we’ll wait and see what they do.”

“I think right now, they’re definitely on their heels,” he said. “Their command and control has been taken out. Nobody knows who’s really in charge.”

“We’ll see. If they’re smart, they’ll come to the table.”

However, he hoped to see Iranians begin to rise up against the Ayatollah and believed that’s when the “seeds of change” would begin to appear. He also noted that there are “a lot of things here that suggest to me, this may be that moment in time that we haven’t seen since 1979,” a reference to the Iranian Revolution that saw the overthrow of the monarchy in Iran and the subsequent creation of the Islamic Republic. 

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Asked whether lawmakers would put forward a supplemental spending package to further aid Israel, Thune said, “We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.” But he envisioned that if one were necessary, it would be dealt with after the budget reconciliation process, when lawmakers work to fund the government during fiscal 2026 appropriations.

“I think, for right now, everybody is wishing the Israelis success and, again, hoping that the U.S. doesn’t have to get further involved, but realizing what’s at stake, and not only for Israel but for the region and the world,” he said. 

Department of Justice attorneys asked a federal judge on Tuesday to reject anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil’s request for authorities to release him or transfer him from an immigration detention center in Louisiana to one in New Jersey.

The government attorneys said the courts do not have the authority to intervene with the executive branch’s decision to detain a noncitizen who is in removal proceedings. 

“Congress authorized detention of aliens and gave the Executive significant discretion in that regard,” they wrote.

The attorneys also said that logistically speaking, the Trump administration could not transfer Khalil even if it wanted to. Khalil had asked a judge on Monday to release him from ICE detention in Jena, Louisiana, on bail while his case proceeds or to transfer him to the Elizabeth, New Jersey, facility, which is closer to his wife, newborn and legal team.

FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS ATTEMPTED DEPORTATION OF ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL MAY BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL

The DOJ attorneys cited an ICE official’s affidavit, which revealed that the ICE facility in Elizabeth had 355 detainees, meaning it was over capacity by 51 people.

“ICE retains discretion to detain Khalil where it so chooses,” the attorneys wrote. “Additionally, factual considerations counsel against transferring Khalil to Elizabeth. Simply, the facility is over capacity.”

Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was arrested in March outside his apartment at Columbia University. An immigration judge deemed him removable based on a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that said Khalil’s anti-Israel activism on campus ran counter to the United States’s foreign policy interests. Rubio cited a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to justify his finding.

Khalil’s case has garnered enormous attention from First Amendment advocates, who have argued the government is chilling free speech by revoking the green card of a noncitizen who outspokenly and aggressively opposes the Israeli government amid its offensive in the Gaza Strip and its escalating conflict with Iran.

Judge Michael Farbiarz, a Biden appointee, denied Khalil’s initial request to release him from detention while he continues to fight his removal from the country in federal court.

ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL POSTS $1 BOND AFTER FEDERAL JUDGE RULES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CAN’T DETAIN HIM

Farbiarz agreed with Khalil and his supporters that Rubio’s justification for revoking Khalil’s green card was likely unconstitutional. But the judge noted that the Trump administration also cited a second reason for Khalil’s removal that has not been adjudicated: that Khalil filed an incomplete green card application.

The Trump administration alleged that in addition to Khalil’s advocacy amounting to foreign policy defiance and antisemitism, Khalil’s allegedly fraudulent application was grounds for his removal.

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Khalil, who was born in Syria but has Algerian citizenship, left off the government application form that he was a member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest, and he failed to disclose other places he worked, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in 2023, according to the DHS.

The DHS alleged that Khalil “procured his legal status through ‘fraud or by willfully misrepresenting a material fact,’” in violation of immigration laws.

The White House said President Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are closely aligned on Iran after the president recently declared he did not “care” what Gabbard had to say during previous Senate testimony after she argued Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. 

Gabbard dismissed concerns Iran was building a nuclear weapon during March testimony before the Senate, just months before Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iran directly in response to Israeli intelligence showing Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a short span of time. 

Trump was asked about Gabbard’s testimony while traveling back to Washington Monday evening from the G7 summit in Canada, and the president said he didn’t “care” what Gabbard had to say in previous testimony and saying he believes Iran is close to building a nuke. 

HOW CLOSE WAS IRAN TO A NUCLEAR WEAPON BEFORE ISRAEL’S STRIKE ON TEHRAN?

“You’ve always said that you don’t believe Iran should be able to have a nuclear weapon,” a reporter asked Trump while aboard Air Force One Monday. “But how close do you personally think that they were to getting one?” 

“Very close,” Trump responded.

“Because Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon,” the reporter continued. 

Trump shot back, “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.”

When Gabbard appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March, she delivered a statement on behalf of the intelligence community that included testimony that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon. 

“Iran’s cyber operations and capabilities also present a serious threat to U.S. networks and data,” Gabbard told the committee March 26. 

The intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003,” she said. 

“We continue to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program,” she added at the time. “In the past year, we’ve seen an erosion of a decades-long taboo in Iran on discussing nuclear weapons in public, likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision-making apparatus. 

“Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons. Iran will likely continue efforts to counter Israel and press for U.S. military withdrawal from the region by aiding, arming and helping to reconstitute its loose consortium of like-minded terrorist actors, which it refers to as its axis of resistance.

“Although weakened, this collection of actors still presents a wide range of threats, including to Israel’s population. U.S. forces deployed in Iraq and Syria, as well as U.S. and international military and commercial shipping and transit.”

TRUMP FACES CRITICAL DECISION AS MIDDLE EAST TEETERS ON BRINK OF WAR 

A White House official told Fox News Digital Tuesday afternoon Trump and Gabbard are closely aligned and that the distinction being raised between Gabbard’s March testimony and Trump’s remarks that Iran is “very close” to getting a nuclear weapon is one without a difference. 

The official noted that Gabbard underscored in her March testimony that Iran had the resources to potentially build a nuclear weapon. Her testimony in March reflected intelligence she received that Iran wasn’t building a weapon at the time, but that the country could do so based on the resources it amassed for such an endeavor. 

A senior U.S. intelligence official who works with Gabbard told Fox News Tuesday there is no daylight between the intelligence Israel and the United States have both received on Iran’s uranium enrichment program. 

“Everyone is saying the same thing,” the official said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s estimation earlier in June that Iranian stockpiles included 60% enriched uranium that could become 90%. 

Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iran Thursday evening after months of attempted and stalled nuclear negotiations and subsequent heightened concern that Iran was advancing its nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared soon after that the strikes were necessary to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.”

EXPLOSIVE NEW INTELLIGENCE REPORT REVEALS IRAN’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM STILL ACTIVE

He added that if Israel had not acted, “Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.” 

Dubbed “Operation Rising Lion,” the strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure and killed a handful of senior Iranian military leaders.

Gen. Michael Kurilla, the U.S. Central Command chief, also said June 10, ahead of Israel’s strikes, that Iran has the materials to build a nuclear weapon within one week. 

“It is estimated that current stockpiles and the available centrifuges … are sufficient to produce (Iran’s) first 25kg of weapons-grade material in roughly one week, and enough for up to ten nuclear weapons in three weeks,” he said, according to a previous tweet posted to the White House’s Rapid Response X account.

TRUMP THREATENS IRAN OVER NUKES AS DNI GABBARD CLAIMS TEHRAN IS NOT BUILDING BOMBS

Gabbard notably was not invited to Camp David earlier in June, before Israel’s strike on Iran, when Trump huddled with military leaders and top Cabinet officials at the presidential retreat in Maryland. Gabbard had scheduling issues at the time due to the activation of the National Guard in California as violent riots broke out in response to the Trump administration’s immigration raids in Los Angeles, but she was not invited, Fox News learned. 

Officials such as Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did join the talks, Fox Digital previously reported. 

Gabbard, however, was present Tuesday in the White House’s Situation Room, where Trump was monitoring the flaring Middle East clashes. 

Conflict between Israel and Iran has intensified since Thursday. Iran said Israel’s initial strikes were a “declaration of war” and subsequently launched its own strikes on Israel, which have rocked residential communities and killed residents.

Trump had repeatedly urged Iran to make a deal on its nuclear program, but the country pulled out of ongoing talks with the U.S. scheduled for Sunday in Oman. 

TRUMP MEETS WITH NATIONAL SECURITY TEAM AS ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT ESCALATES

“Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign,” Trump posted to Truth Social Monday evening, when he abruptly left an ongoing G7 summit in Canada to better focus on the Israel–Iran conflict. “What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” 

On Tuesday, Trump announced the U.S. now has “complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” adding in another post that Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei’s location had been determined. 

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“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump posted Tuesday afternoon. “He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” 

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report. 

An appellate court will hear arguments Tuesday in California over Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of illegally deploying the National Guard to quell anti-immigration enforcement protests and riots in Los Angeles County.

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is set to decide whether Trump can continue to use thousands of National Guard members and hundreds of Marines to guard parts of the county.

The panel comprises two Trump appointees and one Biden appointee.

Hours after a lower court judge ruled in favor of Newsom last week and found that Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s deployment of National Guard soldiers was illegal, the three judges temporarily paused that decision.

JUDGE MULLS TRUMP’S AUTHORITY OVER NATIONAL GUARD, WARNS US IS NOT ‘KING GEORGE’ MONARCHY

The panel will now decide if it wants to extend that pause.

In court papers, Department of Justice attorneys said Trump and Hegseth were using the military in California strictly to protect federal personnel and federal buildings.

They said the provision of Title 10 that Trump cited in a proclamation when he federalized the National Guard allows presidents to activate the soldiers without a governor’s consent.

Newsom fiercely opposed Trump federalizing guard members, and attorneys for California argued that the decision exacerbated the unrest and led to exponentially more rioting incidents. The attorneys said that regardless of the severity of the rioting, it did not “remotely” meet the criteria required under the Title 10 provision.

TRUMP TELLS JUDGE HE DOES NOT NEED NEWSOM’S PERMISSION TO CRACK DOWN ON RIOTERS, DEPLOY NATIONAL GUARD

“As the district court found based on the record evidence, the circumstances here do not remotely amount to a ‘rebellion or danger of a rebellion’ or a situation that renders the President ‘unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States,’” the attorneys wrote.

Since June 7, Trump has federalized 4,000 National Guard members and enlisted 700 Marines to offer support in California as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials carry out raids and arrest allegedly illegal immigrants, including dozens with criminal records.

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An ICE official said in an affidavit that National Guard members have been “essential” to providing extra support around the 300 N. Los Angeles Federal Building, which has been the sight of frequent protests and unrest since the immigration raids began.

“Prior to the National Guard’s deployment, rioters and protestors assaulted federal, state, and local law enforcement officers with rocks, fireworks, and other objects. They also damaged federal property by spray painting death threats to federal law enforcement officers,” the ICE official wrote.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned “rogue state actors” who are not cooperating with ICE and federal immigration enforcement that they may be on the hook to clean up their own mess.

With riots and fires continuing to break out in Los Angeles, along with confrontational demonstrations in other cities around the country, Duffy suggested political leaders should work better with the Trump administration.

“The USDOT will not fund rogue state actors who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,” Duffy said Monday.

“And to cities that stand by while rioters destroy transportation infrastructure — don’t expect a red cent from DOT, either.

ACTING ICE DIRECTOR SAYS AGENCY WILL ‘RAMP UP’ RAIDS IF SANCTUARY JURISDICTIONS DON’T COOPERATE

“Follow the law, or forfeit the funding.”

One such state that could be characterized by Duffy’s remarks is California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom continues to spar with the Trump administration over its federalization of the California National Guard and its response to mayhem in the streets of America’s second-largest city.

“Our Nation’s ICE Officers have shown incredible strength, determination, and courage as they facilitate a very important mission, the largest Mass Deportation Operation of illegal aliens in history,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social in a message that Duffy cited in distributing his own warning.

“Every day, the brave men and women of ICE are subjected to violence, harassment, and even threats from radical Democrat politicians, but nothing will stop us from executing our mission, and fulfilling our mandate to the American people.”

CHICAGO MAYOR CALLS ICE RAIDS ‘TERRORISM’, SAYS TRUMP’S AMERICA APPEARS AS IF ‘CONFEDERACY WON’

According to the message cited by Duffy, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City may be ignored by USDOT.

“I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our great and patriotic law enforcement officers to focus on our crime-ridden and deadly inner cities, and those places where sanctuary cities play such a big role,” Trump said on his social media platform Sunday. 

“You don’t hear about sanctuary cities in our heartland.”

Additionally, Duffy said in April that federal grants come with the obligation to adhere to federal law.

“It shouldn’t be controversial – enforce our immigration rules, end anti-American DEI policies, and protect free speech. These values reflect the priorities of the American people, and I will take action to ensure compliance,” he said.

Newsom spokesman Daniel Villaseñor rebuffed Duffy’s messaging, saying, “Contrary to misinformation, California communicates and coordinates with federal immigration authorities when it involves individuals convicted of serious crimes.”

“Since Gov. Newsom took office, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has coordinated the transfer of over 10,588 individuals — including murderers, rapists, and other violent offenders — into ICE custody,” Villaseñor added.

The spokesman said Sacramento has and will continue to follow state and federal laws and added that Newsom’s efforts have twice been upheld by the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“[This] reflects an important balance to support community safety and effective policing, as well as keeping local resources focused on preventing and solving crime.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has continued to criticize Trump and ICE for its actions in the Windy City.

Johnson said the federal government is acting as if it is essentially based in 19th Century Richmond rather than 21st Century Washington.

“There should be no question to what our country would look like had the Confederacy won – we’re seeing it on full display,” Johnson said.

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New York Mayor Eric Adams struck a different tone, however, telling “Fox & Friends” his office and the NYPD are instructed not to allow people to “impede federal authorities from taking their actions — and that’s just what we were able to accomplish.

“So, if you were those who were sitting in the roadway, blocking trucks, blocking pedestrians or blocking parents from wanting to go to the job … it’s not going to happen in the city.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told CNN Trump doesn’t understand how connected immigrant labor is to her city’s workforce.

“The disruption and the fear that has been caused by the raids has really had a devastating effect and has been a body blow to our economy,” Bass said while discussing the protests.

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