Donald Trump Poll News

The Virginia state Senate on Friday greenlit a constitutional amendment that would clear the way for the Democrat-controlled legislature to redraw the state’s U.S. House maps ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

The move by state senators, following a similar vote on Wednesday in the state House, was the final step needed to send the amendment to Virginia voters. If the ballot measure is approved this spring, the legislature, rather than the current non-partisan commission, would redraw the state’s congressional maps through 2030.

Virginia is the latest battleground in the ongoing high-stakes battle between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats to alter congressional maps ahead of November’s elections. And Virginia Democrats, who currently control six of the state’s 11 U.S. House districts, are aiming to draw up to four additional left-leaning seats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) called Friday’s development “a critical step in giving Virginia voters the opportunity to ensure they have fair and equal representation in Congress.”

THE NEXT BATTLEGROUNDS IN THE HIGH-STAKES MAP FIGHT

And charging that “Donald Trump and Republicans are doing everything they can to rig the midterms in their favor through unprecedented mid-decade gerrymandering,” DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene argued that “Virginians — not politicians — will now have the chance to vote for a temporary, emergency exception that will restore fairness, level the playing field, and stand up to extremists seeking to silence their voices.”

But the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus accused the state Senate Democrats of passing “a partisan gerrymandering amendment to entrench their party in power.”

And the Republican National Committee (RNC) called it a “power grab.”

“This is just the most recent example of Democrats’ multi-decade campaign to gerrymander in every state where they gain power,” RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels argued in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This is exactly why red states are fighting back to level the playing field after years of states like Illinois, New York, and California drawing their districts to disenfranchise Republicans.”

STUNNING SETBACK FOR TRUMP IN REDISTRICTING WARS

Virginia Democratic lawmakers have indicated they will release a proposed map later this month.

And on Thursday, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit titled “Virginians for Fair Elections” launched, to urge voters to vote in favor of the redistricting ballot measure.

Aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterms, Trump last spring first floated the idea of rare but not unheard of mid-decade congressional redistricting.

The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP’s razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Trump’s first target was Texas.

BIG WIN FOR TRUMP AS SUPREME COURT GREENLIGHTS TEXAS’ NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP

When asked by reporters last summer about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.”

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map.

But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill, energized Democrats across the country.

Among those leading the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

California voters in November overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that temporarily sidetracked the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and returned the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature.

That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps.

The fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California.

Republican-controlled Missouri and Ohio, and swing state North Carolina, where the GOP dominates the legislature, have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push.

And Florida Republicans, in a move pushed by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers are also hoping to pick up an additional three to five seats through a redistricting push during a special legislative session in April.

In blows to Republicans, a Utah district judge late last year rejected a congressional district map drawn up by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the midterms.

And Republicans in Indiana’s Senate in December defied Trump, shooting down a redistricting bill that had passed the state House.

But Trump scored a big victory when the conservative majority on the Supreme Court greenlit Texas’ new map.

Other states that might step into the redistricting war are Democratic-dominated Illinois and Maryland and two red states with Democratic governors, Kentucky and Kansas.

Hovering over the redistricting wars is the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in Louisiana v. Callais, a crucial case which may lead to the overturning of a key provision in the Voting Rights Act.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

If the ruling goes the way of the conservatives on the high court, it could lead to the redrawing of a slew of majority-minority districts across the county, which would greatly favor Republicans.

But it is very much up in the air — when the court will rule, and what it will actually do.

FIRST ON FOX: Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno is demanding answers from a Toledo county commissioner after the official compared ICE officers to terrorists, which Moreno suggested could violate his oath of office.

“Since December 2025, these agencies have changed from a legitimate agency to a terrorist group,” Commissioner Pete Gerken said earlier this week as the Lucas County Board of Commissioners voted against enforcing a grant providing funding to DHS.

In a letter to Gerken, obtained by Fox News Digital, Moreno called the vote “incoherent and perilous” and labeled Gerken’s comments as antithetical to the oath he swore as commissioner.

“Your irresponsible rhetoric and decisions are wholly inconsistent with the duties that you swore a constitutional oath to uphold,” Moreno wrote. “In fact, it is your legal responsibility, for example, to ‘work with all county elected officials and with judges to assure that they are properly funded to perform their statutory duties.’ Ohio Revised Code 3.07 states that ‘any person holding office… in this county… who refuses or willfully neglects to enforce the law or to perform any official duty imposed on him by law… is guilty of misconduct in office.’”

MEET THE MINNESOTANS KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THAT WALZ, DEMS NEVER HELD NEWS CONFERENCES OR VIGILS FOR

According to the letter, Toledo Public Schools are facing an estimated $70 million budget deficit, while the Lucas County sheriff has requested a $6.57 million budget increase to address staffing shortages. Moreno argued that rejecting federal assistance under those circumstances was “particularly confounding” and harmful to county residents.

Moreno, elected to the U.S. Senate in 2024, also accused Gerken of doubling down on his remarks rather than apologizing, citing the commissioner’s public statement that he did not believe the county should accept money from “an organization that has delegitimized itself.”

‘WORST OF THE WORST’: ICE ARRESTS CHILD PREDATOR, VIOLENT CRIMINALS AMID SURGE IN ANTI-AGENT ATTACKS

In the letter, Moreno warned that rhetoric labeling federal law enforcement officers as “terrorists” contributes to real-world violence, pointing to attacks on ICE and Border Patrol personnel and a surge in assaults against federal agents nationwide.

“Your disgusting declaration and decision not to fund critical criminal justice and safety infrastructure in Lucas County is not only an embarrassment,” Moreno wrote, “but will likely lead to more violence against law enforcement personnel.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The senator also accused Gerken of hypocrisy, noting that the commissioner had previously urged then-President Trump to be “respectful toward the local community,” while now publicly disparaging federal officers who “sacrifice so much to uphold our laws and keep our communities safe.”

Ultimately, Moreno asked Gerken to respond to a series of questions in the next five days that include how much of Lucas County’s budget comes from federal funds, whether calling federal law enforcement “terrorists” is consistent with his duties, and whether county residents benefit from refusing federal assistance.

Fox News Digital reached out to Gerken for comment. 

As elected Democrats across the country continue to lash out against ICE agents in the aftermath of the shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis, DHS told Fox News Digital this week there has been a 1,300% increase in assaults against agents and an 8,000% increase in death threats.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe was in Venezuela’s capital of Caracas Thursday to meet with acting President Delcy Rodríguez and other top officials, a U.S. official told Fox News Friday. 

The meeting unfolded about two weeks after the Trump administration carried out a military operation capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. 

A U.S. official told Reuters Ratcliffe met with Rodriguez under the direction of President Donald Trump “to deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship.” 

The two discussed intelligence sharing, economic stability and the need to guarantee that Venezuela is no longer a “safe haven for America’s adversaries, especially narco-traffickers,” Reuters added.

TRUMP SIGNALS LONG ROAD AHEAD IN VENEZUELA IN HIS BOLDEST INTERVENTIONIST MOVE YET

On Wednesday, Trump said he had a call with Rodríguez and later described her as a “terrific” person. 

“This morning I had a very good call with the Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. We are making tremendous progress, as we help Venezuela stabilize and recover,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 

MARIA CORINA MACHADO DETAILS GIFTING TRUMP NOBEL PEACE PRIZE DURING WHITE HOUSE VISIT

“Many topics were discussed, including Oil, Minerals, Trade and, of course, National Security. This partnership between the United States of America and Venezuela will be a spectacular one FOR ALL. Venezuela will soon be great and prosperous again, perhaps more so than ever before!” 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The same day, Rodríguez announced her government will continue to release prisoners detained under the rule of Maduro in an initiative she touted as a “new political moment,” according to The Associated Press. 

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancey and Bonny Chu contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump on Friday said there wasn’t a reason, in the present, to invoke the Insurrection Act, as agitators continue to clash with federal immigration authorities carrying out enforcement operations in Minneapolis. 

Trump was departing the White House when he was asked about the 1807 law, which he threatened to invoke earlier this week. 

“I believe it was Bush, the elder Bush, he used it, I think 28 times,” Trump told reporters. “It’s been used a lot. And if I needed it, I’d use it. I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it. It’s very powerful.”

The law allows the president to deploy the military to suppress rebellions and enforce federal laws. It would grant Trump the authority to federalize the National Guard and deploy active duty forces to restore order. It would temporarily override the Posse Comitatus Act, which normally restricts the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. 

MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CHIEF SAYS IF RHETORIC KEEPS ESCALATING ‘WE ARE HEADED TOWARDS YET ANOTHER TRAGEDY’

The law reportedly hasn’t been invoked since the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which began after four police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King.

Despite Trump’s threat, some Republicans are resistant to the idea of using the centuries-old law. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., seemed to downplay Trump’s threat, placing his hope in local law enforcement’s ability to “settle things down.”

“Hopefully the local officials working with not only the federal law enforcement, ICE and other agencies, but also the local law enforcement officials will be able to settle things down,” Thune told reporters.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., cast doubt on whether it would be appropriate to invoke the act, according to The Hill.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., also expressed her concerns about the move, saying that the administration needs to be “very careful,” The Hill reported.

In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said “Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists” that have been seen violently confronting federal officers are “highly paid professionals” in many cases.

“The Governor and Mayor don’t know what to do, they have totally lost control,” he wrote. “If, and when, I am forced to act, it will be solved, QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY! President DJT.”

WHITE HOUSE BLAMES DEMOCRATS FOR ICE VIOLENCE AS MINNEAPOLIS ERUPTS, INSURRECTION ACT THREAT LOOMS

Fox News Digital has reached out to the offices of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. 

Trump has accused Walz, Frey and other local leaders of inflaming tensions and has blamed dangerous rhetoric for the doxxing and violence directed at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. 

On Thursday, he threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if the violence continued in Minnesota. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP 

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
 

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey accused the Trump administration Friday of unleashing “political retribution” and an “invasion” on the state of Minnesota through federal immigration enforcement activity. 

The remarks come as lawmakers gathered in the Minnesota Senate Building in St. Paul for a hearing titled, “Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Deadly Assault on Minnesota.” Tensions remain high in Minnesota following last week’s shooting death of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. 

“What we are witnessing right now is unprecedented. There is no modern precedent for this level of federal overreach, violence, lawlessness carried out in the name of immigration enforcement,” Omar said. 

“This is not routine enforcement. This is not about public safety. This is not even about immigration. This is about political retribution,” she continued. “The president said it himself this week. It is increasingly clear that the entire purpose of these actions is to provoke chaos and fear in order to justify invoking the Insurrection Act and expand the president’s ability to rain terror upon American cities who do not vote for him.”

PROTESTERS CLASH WITH FEDERAL OFFICERS AFTER ANOTHER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS

‘What we’re seeing on our streets is unnecessary abuses of force. This is an invasion for the sake of creating chaos by our own federal government to interrupt the daily lives of tens of thousands of people,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey later said. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday afternoon, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “ICE officers are facing a 1300% increase in assaults against them because of dangerous, untrue smears from elected Democrats.”

“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 added.

President Donald Trump first warned Thursday that he would invoke the Insurrection Act if people in Minnesota don’t obey the law and continue attacking federal agents there. He told reporters on Friday that the Insurrection Act was not needed amid anti-ICE unrest “right now” but said he could invoke the law if needed in the future.

DHS ARRESTS ARMED MAN WITH EXTRA AMMUNITION FOR ASSAULTING FEDERAL OFFICER AT LATE-NIGHT MINNEAPOLIS RIOT

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

“In Minnesota, the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals. The Governor and Mayor don’t know what to do, they have totally lost control, and our currently being rendered, USELESS! If, and when, I am forced to act, it will be solved, QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY!” the president wrote Friday in another post on the matter.

Trump’s warnings came after a second ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis in recent days. An ICE agent shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela in the leg in Minnesota after a shovel attack during an ambush, federal officials said.

“This administration has unleashed a paramilitary force into our neighborhoods, terrorizing families, escalating enforcement, and now killing a U.S. citizen in our state,” Omar said at one point in the hearing Friday. “And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our office has received numerous reports of deeply questionable arrests. Individuals detained without explanation, without warrants, without access to counsel, and in many cases, without any discernible lawful basis at all.”

“We have heard of agents pushing people because they look Latino or Somali, forcing them into car accidents where they smash windows, cut seatbelts, carry people away. Abandoned cars with broken windows have become a normal sight of daily life in the Twin Cities,” she continued. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“They have deliberately blurred the lines between public safety threats, legal immigration and U.S. citizens, creating an enforcement campaign so indiscriminate that citizens are being swept up, arrested and carried away to this detention facilities. In Minnesota, dozens of U.S. citizens have been taken into custody and released hours later. We have yet to see charges materialize, because, in nearly all instances, no federal charges are possible,” Omar said. 

President Donald Trump‘s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, said Friday that prosecutors in both the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York Attorney General’s Office “pressured and coerced” him into delivering testimony tailored to securing convictions against Trump.

Cohen, who was a key prosecution witness in two New York cases against Trump, accused New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of pursuing evidence aimed at Trump, saying prosecutors were uninterested in testimony that didn’t fit their narrative.

“I felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony that would satisfy the government’s desire to build the cases against and secure a judgment and convictions against President Trump,” Cohen wrote in a post on Substack.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Office of the New York State Attorney General and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for comment.

APPEALS COURT HANDS TRUMP LEGAL WIN, ORDERS REVIEW OF HUSH MONEY CASE OVER PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY

Cohen, who was Trump’s personal lawyer for many years, said he was writing as a federal appeals court considers the president’s request to move his hush money case to federal court for further review.

The former Trump fixer testified in a civil case brought by James’ office in 2023, where Trump was found liable for fraudulently inflating his assets to obtain favorable loan terms. He also took the stand in Bragg’s case in 2024, where Trump was ultimately found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Cohen accused both James and Bragg of using their high-profile cases to elevate their careers, claiming they sought credit as officials who “took down Trump.”

TRUMP FILES ‘POWERHOUSE’ APPEAL IN ‘POLITICALLY CHARGED’ MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY CASE

“They blurred the line between justice and politics; and in that blur, the credibility of both suffered,” he wrote.

Cohen said that both before and during the trials, prosecutors made it clear they were only interested in testimony from him that would convict Trump.

“When my testimony was insufficient for a point the prosecution sought to make, prosecutors frequently asked inappropriate leading questions to elicit answers that supported their narrative,” he said.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to several crimes, including tax evasion, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. He described cooperating with authorities while incarcerated, saying he sought sentence relief and felt compelled to provide testimony fitting prosecutors’ narratives with the hope that his sentence would be reduced.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“You may reasonably ask why I am speaking out now. The answer is simple. I have witnessed firsthand the damage done when prosecutors pick their target first and then seek evidence to fit a predetermined narrative,” Cohen said, while noting that he was not writing in defense of Trump.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) delivered good news for America’s troops Friday, confirming that the one-time $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” paid to service members in December 2025 is completely tax-free, allowing troops to keep every dollar of the bonus.

In a Friday release, the Treasury Department and the IRS said that “supplemental basic allowance for housing payments” made to members of the uniformed services in December 2025 “are not to be included in income by those who received the payments; they are not taxable.”

The agency said federal tax law specifically excludes from gross income a “qualified military benefit,” adding that basic allowances for housing payments fall under that category and therefore are not subject to federal income taxes.

The confirmation caps off President Donald Trump’s pre-Christmas announcement that nearly 1.5 million U.S. service members would receive a special “Warrior Dividend” in recognition of their service and to commemorate roughly 250 years since the nation’s founding.

CONGRESS UNVEILS $900B DEFENSE BILL TARGETING CHINA WITH TECH BANS, INVESTMENT CRACKDOWN, US TROOP PAY RAISE

“And the checks are already on the way,” Trump said during a Dec. 17, 2025, primetime address from the White House, crediting tariffs and recently passed GOP spending and tax legislation for funding the payments. 

“Nobody deserves it more than our military. And I say congratulations to everybody,” he added.

According to the IRS, Congress appropriated $2.9 billion in legislation enacted last July to supplement the basic allowance for housing payable to members of the uniformed services, with the one-time $1,776 payments funded by that appropriation.

The IRS said the supplemental payments were made primarily to active-duty service members in pay grades O-6 and below, along with eligible Reserve Component members as of Nov. 30, 2025, across the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Space Force.

TRUMP SIGNS ‘MEDAL OF HONOR ACT’ TO RAISE PENSIONS FOR AMERICA’S MILITARY HEROES

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson welcomed the tax treatment in remarks carried by Pentagon News, saying the ruling ensures the money reaches military families directly.

“The tax-free Warrior Dividend places $1,776 directly in the hands of our warfighters and their families,” Wilson said. “The department is proud to recognize their sacrifice.”

During his December address, Trump also pointed to what he described as a turnaround for the armed forces under his leadership, citing record enlistment and contrasting it with what he called historically poor recruitment numbers under the previous administration.

“What a difference a year makes,” Trump said.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the dividend reflects a broader push to improve quality of life for military families.

“This Warrior Dividend serves as yet another example of how the War Department is working to improve the quality of life for our military personnel and their families,” Hegseth said. “All elements of what we’re doing are to rebuild our military. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The Department of War and the Internal Revenue Service did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment. 

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

President Donald Trump is celebrating an increase in funding for healthcare focused particularly on rural communities across the country, a move was made possible by cutting “waste, fraud and abuse from Medicaid.”

“As part of the Great Big Beautiful Bill, we’ve increased … funding for the healthcare by an unprecedented $50 billion. That’s rural healthcare. Nobody thought that was going to happen,” Trump said during a roundtable Friday.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act directs half of the rural health funding to be distributed evenly among all 50 states, with the remaining funds allocated based on state-specific factors, including the condition of rural hospitals.

TRUMP ROLLS OUT ‘GREAT HEALTHCARE PLAN,’ URGES CONGRESS TO SLASH COSTS FOR AMERICANS

“We increased funding for rural health care by an unprecedented, record-setting $50 billion over five years, which will benefit Americans in all 50 states, and this was made possible by cutting massive waste, fraud and abuse from Medicaid and reinvesting those funds to revitalize hospitals in our cherished rural communities,” he added.

SPEAKER JOHNSON EKES OUT HEALTHCARE BILL VICTORY AFTER HOUSE GOP OBAMACARE REBELLION

The roundtable, which included Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, was aimed at promoting the Trump administration’s Great Healthcare Plan, which was announced during a White House press briefing Thursday.

Some have described the proposal as an effort by Trump to shape Republican messaging ahead of the 2026 midterm elections as the party tries to hold onto its slim majorities in the House and Senate.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

In its fact sheet on the plan, the White House highlighted several main points, including lowering drug prices, lowering insurance premiums, holding insurance companies accountable and maximizing price transparency. Trump touched on several of the elements of the plan during the roundtable and said that hospitals that accept Medicaid and Medicare will be required to prominently post prices so that patients are aware of the cost of their care.

During the roundtable Friday, Trump implored Congress to enact the Great Healthcare Plan, but the president said he was confident Republicans would back it.

Fox News has learned federal prosecutors are investigating both Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for allegedly impeding law enforcement efforts in the blue state.

Two sources familiar confirmed the probe, though no additional details about the investigation have been publicly released.

Sources said the investigation is in early stages, and it is unclear if it will result in any criminal charges.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News the duo’s anti-ICE rhetoric was teetering on a federal crime.

“When the governor or the mayor threaten our officers, when the mayor suggests that he’s encouraging citizens to call 911 when they see ICE officers, that is very close to a federal crime,” Blanche said.

Bondi added on X, “A reminder to all those in Minnesota: No one is above the law.”

PROTESTERS CLASH WITH FEDERAL OFFICERS AFTER ANOTHER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS

Walz responded to the news by accusing the Trump administration of “weaponizing the justice system.”

“Two days ago, it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly,” Walz wrote in an X post. “Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.”

Frey also weighed in on social media, asserting he “will not be intimidated.”

“This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, local law enforcement, and residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our city,” Frey wrote on X. “I will not be intimidated. My focus remains where it’s always been: keeping our city safe.

Frey’s office told Fox News Digital they have not yet heard from the federal government.

“America depends on leaders that use integrity and the rule of law as the guideposts for governance,” Frey’s office wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Neither our city nor our country will succumb to this fear. We stand rock solid.”

“America depends on leaders that use integrity and the rule of law as the guideposts for governance. Neither our city nor our country will succumb to this fear. We stand rock solid.”

Both Democrat leaders have encouraged anti-immigration enforcement protests following the death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot Jan. 7 by a federal agent while allegedly blocking an ICE operation in Minneapolis.

The White House’s Rapid Response 47 team criticized Walz following a statewide address Wednesday, where he called for ICE agents to be prosecuted.

“Help us establish a record of exactly what’s happening in our communities. You have an absolute right to peacefully film ICE agents as they conduct these activities,” Walz said. “So, carry your phone with you at all times. And if you see these ICE agents in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record.

“Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity. But to bank evidence for future prosecution.”

Frey called for peace on Wednesday, just days after telling ICE to “get the f— out” of the city. 

OMAR, MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR ACCUSE TRUMP ADMIN OF UNLEASHING ‘POLITICAL RETRIBUTION,’ ‘INVASION’ WITH ICE ACTIVITY

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News that Walz, Frey and other Democratic leaders have “done nothing but turn up the temperature, smear heroic ICE officers, and incite violence against them—all in defense of criminal illegal aliens.”

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday warning he would invoke the Insurrection Act if Minnesotans continue aggression toward federal agents.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote in the post.

WHITE HOUSE BLAMES DEMOCRATS FOR ICE VIOLENCE AS MINNEAPOLIS ERUPTS, INSURRECTION ACT THREAT LOOMS

The Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy the military to suppress rebellions and enforce federal laws, has not been invoked since the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

If invoked, National Guardsmen could be deployed to carry out domestic law enforcement.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman-Diamond contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would press to restore funding cut by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and even add to the original amounts.

Schumer made the comments when he was asked Thursday if he would work to replenish funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at a forum held by the Center for American Progress.

“If you look at the budget we’re working on right now, we restore most of the cuts. And even go higher than previous years on many of the programs that DOGE slashed,” Schumer said.

SENATE QUIETLY WORKS ON BIPARTISAN OBAMACARE FIX AS HEALTHCARE CLIFF NEARS

“We have worked really hard and gotten bipartisan support to increase these amounts and undo a lot of the cuts which are essential.”

He did not describe which specific programs he hopes to supplement. 

Lawmakers have not yet released a final text for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill for 2026. The Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed a plan that would increase its fiscal year 2026 funding by $5 billion over fiscal 2025 levels.

Since the Trump administration began making cuts through DOGE, Democrats like Schumer have largely condemned them, calling them an attack on government resources and services.

HOUSE GOP TENSIONS ERUPT AFTER MODERATE REPUBLICANS’ OBAMACARE ‘BETRAYAL’

Republicans, by contrast, have framed the effort as a way to remove waste, fraud and abuse. According to the DOGE website, the group believes it has eliminated $215 billion in waste.

Republicans made $115 billion of those spending reductions official through a bill passed last year.

Since then, lawmakers have not advanced another rescissions package, a bill that helps lawmakers fast-track spending reductions at the request of the president.

Republicans like Aaron Bean, R-Fla., chairman of the House DOGE Caucus, say the GOP’s cost-cutting efforts are still ongoing in the background.

“DOGE is still alive,” Bean told Fox News Digital in December. “We’re going to get it rocking. I think that will come down the road.”

Bean noted that several pressing issues have captured Congress’ attention in the last few months.

CONGRESS FLEES TOWN AS HEALTH CARE PREMIUMS SET TO EXPLODE FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS IN JANUARY

“I think, you know, the shutdown set everybody back a little bit. These credits, with the budget, with everything,” Bean said, referring to the COVID-era Obamacare tax credits that were at the heart of the 2025 government shutdown.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees did not immediately respond to a request for a response to Schumer’s statements.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem declared Friday that America’s border is the “most secure” in history, pointing to an eighth straight month of zero parole releases.

In a post on X, Noem touted newly released Customs and Border Protection (CBP) numbers for December 2025, praising President Trump and frontline law enforcement for delivering historic results.

“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and the dedication of DHS law enforcement, America’s borders are safer than any time in our nation’s history,” Noem wrote. “What President Trump and our CBP agents and officers have been able to do in a single year is nothing short of extraordinary.”

CBP reported zero parole releases in December, compared to 7,041 released along the southwest border in December 2024 under the Biden administration.

TRUMP HAS MADE THE BORDER SECURE AGAIN — BUT NOW THE HARD PART BEGINS

“Once again, we have a record low number of encounters at the border and the 8th straight month of zero releases,” Noem said. “Month after month, we are delivering results that were once thought impossible: the most secure border in history and unmatched enforcement successes.”

According to CBP, total nationwide encounters from October through December fell to 91,603, the lowest ever recorded at the start of a fiscal year and 25% below the previous record low set in 2012.

December alone saw just 30,698 encounters nationwide, a 92% drop from the Biden-era peak of 370,883 and the lowest December total on record, according to the federal agency.

THE NEW HIGH-TECH TOOL TRUMP IS USING TO SECURE OUR BORDER

Along the southwest border, Border Patrol recorded just 21,815 apprehensions in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, marking a 95% drop compared to the Biden administration’s first-quarter average, CBP noted.

Border Patrol agents made 6,478 apprehensions in December along the southwest border, marking a 96% decrease from the Biden administration’s monthly average and fewer than what agents encountered in just four days in December 2024. 

Border patrol agents averaged 209 apprehensions per day during the month, compared to Biden-era levels that exceeded that number every 1.5 hours, CBP wrote.

“Our agents and officers have set a new standard for border security, achieving historic results that speak for themselves,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement.

NEW DATA REVEALS BORDER CROSSINGS REACH RECORD LOWS AMID TRUMP ADMIN’S CRACKDOWN

CBP also seized 39,030 pounds of illicit drugs nationwide in December. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“The men and women of CBP are demonstrating what’s possible through unwavering commitment and effective enforcement and will continue to ensure the safety and security of our nation’s borders every single day,” Scott added.

FIRST ON FOX: A new initiative to “Make Housing Great Again” led by conservative influencer Benny Johnson and the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) has a plan on how to make housing more affordable for Americans.

In November, conservative influencer Benny Johnson and AFPI announced a new ‘Make Housing Great Again’ initiative, which has also tapped former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson and developer Michael Burkentine to help advise. 

Johnson brings a massive following to the initiative and also has a stake in the matter himself, considering he is a young father, AFPI pointed out when asked to explain the decision to select Johnson as the initiative’s co-chair and national spokesperson. This week, the initiative unveiled a list of concrete policy goals it will pursue, which it believes will make the American Dream of owning a home more attainable for all.

“Housing affordability has reached a crisis point in America, with a 167% increase in home prices in the past half-century. The result of more expensive homes is the delay of a significant life milestone: homeownership,” the MAGA housing initiative’s policy white paper points out. “The America First vision of housing affordability is to restore the American Dream to what it once was. By taking a pragmatic and targeted approach to the affordability crisis these proposals will increase the housing supply, provide direct relief to home buyers, bring prices down, and, ultimately, allow all Americans to obtain the cornerstone of the American Dream: a place to call their own.”

TRUMP OPENS DOOR TO LIZ WARREN ON CREDIT CARD RATES AS GOP WEIGHS AFFORDABILITY FIGHT 

Incentivizing deregulation at the local level via market-driven solutions, efforts to reduce construction costs, the implementation of tax benefits for first-time home buyers, expanding economic “opportunity zones,” and reducing foreign housing demand are among several of the concrete policy goals the new MAGA housing initiative said it will be prioritizing.

As home prices have risen, wages are not keeping pace, the blueprint pointed out, highlighting that the median household income in the United States increased 99.7% between 2000 and 2024, while the median sale price for a single-family home increased by 150.1% during the same period. Additionally, the median age of first-time home buyers today is 40-years-old, compared to just four years ago when it was 33-years-old. 

The ‘Make Housing Great Again’ policy report cited low supply due to “excessive” regulations, immigration-induced demand spikes, high mortgage rates, and record debt burdens among young Americans, as factors causing the American Dream of owning a home to be less attainable:   

To combat these roadblocks, the new MAGA housing initiative says it will focus on supply-side deregulation and financial incentives aimed at the local level. The initiative points out that regulations imposed by local governments often preclude the federal government from setting national-level mandates to deregulate, but through HUD it can incentivize localities to expand their housing supply by tying federal housing benefits to deregulation efforts.

WHITE HOUSE ‘LASER FOCUSED’ ON AFFORDABILITY AS TRUMP SOFTENS TARIFF STRATEGY

Furthermore, to encourage localities to undertake deregulatory actions, the initiative will push the Trump administration to offer “concrete benefits” to home builders and buyers, such as a “Working Families Housing Fund” which the initiative coined the “Targeted Regional U.S. Middle-Class Prosperity Fund,” or “TRUMP Fund” for short. The TRUMP fund would invest in professionally managed housing funds designed to help provide financial assistance for middle-income, working-class families in the 80% to 120% median income for their area. However, in order for people to be eligible, communities must show they have taken steps to reduce barriers to building, the initiative suggests. 

The “Make Housing Great Again” initiative also sees boosting the number of workers in skilled trades as an avenue to reduce overall construction costs. Experts estimate that the skilled labor jobs in the construction industry have recently been short by around 350,000 workers month-over-month. The National Association of Home Builders estimates the industry will need to hire nearly 723,000 workers per year just to keep pace with demand and close a nationwide housing gap of 1.5 million homes.  

“There are numerous opportunities at the state and federal levels to increase interest in and access to careers in the skilled trades,” the report argues. “By increasing interest in skilled trades and reducing barriers to entry, it is possible to increase the pipeline of workers entering skilled trades and, by extension, reduce the costs of building new homes.”

A new and revamped version of “Opportunity Zones,” which is essentially a federal tax incentive intended to spur local investment in low-income areas, is also among the policy plans AFPI and Johnson’s new MAGA housing initiative has in mind. The plan is to create “Opportunity Zones Plus” that would create an even higher-tier benefit for housing that is constructed in designated communities that meet certain affordability criteria. 

Providing direct benefits to home buyers, such as through tax-advantaged savings plans, a family formation mortgage credit for young couples trying to have kids, and a new fixed 30-year mortgage rate for first-time home buyers supplemented by HUD, were among the policy prescriptions as well.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Another major touchpoint for improving housing affordability by the initiative includes reducing the housing demand among foreign nationals. According to the “Make Housing Great Again” white paper, foreign investors bought $56 billion worth of homes during a 12-month period between 2024 and 2025, with 47% of those foreign buyers purchasing property for use as a vacation home or rental. Foreign buyers also reportedly pay in cash at a much higher rate than American home buyers.

In an effort to help protect young home buyers, the initiative also plans to focus on “cracking down on predatory lending” practices and setting guardrails for this industry. Congress can effectuate this change by capping the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) lenders are allowed to set at 36% for most consumer borrowing, payday loans and credit card interest. According to the report, similar policies have been implemented for the military community.    

“The average first-time home buyer in America is now 40-years-old. 40. years. Old. That is far beyond the optimal age to get married and start a family,” Johnson told Fox News Digital after the initiative was launched in November. “The fight for homeownership is a fight for the survival of our culture and civilization. Young Americans cannot build families without homes, and a nation without families cannot survive. The American Dream is dying before our eyes. This is a generational betrayal, and we must reverse it for our children and for their future. This was the final policy priority of Charlie Kirk. We will deliver and save the American Dream.”

Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

A Reagan-appointed federal judge assailed the Trump administration’s effort Thursday to deport certain pro-Palestinian protesters and academics at major universities, describing the actions as unconstitutional and “targeted” efforts to chill free speech — a characterization that prompted fierce pushback from the administration. 

U.S. District Judge William G. Young used a remedies hearing in Boston Thursday to take aim at Trump, whom he accused of acting “illegally” and “intentionally” in targeting noncitizen pro-Palestinian academic protesters on college campuses — an effort the judge described as illegal and targeting certain groups.

In response to the remarks, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital that it’s “bizarre that this judge is broadcasting his intent to engage in left-wing activism against the democratically elected President of the United States.”

A senior DHS official also blasted the remarks from the Boston-based federal judge. 

FEDERAL JUDGE LAUNCHES SCATHING BROADSIDE OF TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO DEPORT PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS

Young ruled in September that the actions in question violated the First Amendment and had scheduled Thursday’s hearing with the intent of crafting a remedy to protect the noncitizens in question from being deported, or having their immigration status changed barring certain circumstances.

But what transpired instead was largely a stunning dressing-down of top Trump officials, including the president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. 

“I find it breathtaking that I have been compelled on the evidence to find the conduct of such high-level officers of our government — cabinet secretaries — conspired to infringe the First Amendment rights of people with such rights here in the United States,” Young said Thursday. “These cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.”

The most searing remarks of the day, however, were reserved for Trump. 

Young said Trump has continued to disregard the First Amendment in an “appalling” capacity, likening his actions to those of an “authoritarian” leader. 

“We cast around the word ‘authoritarian,'” Young said. “I don’t, in this context, treat that in a pejorative sense — and I use it carefully — but it’s fairly clear that this president believes, as an authoritarian, that when he speaks, everyone, everyone in Article II is going to toe the line absolutely.”

Young used the rest of the hearing to tick through a rough outline of an order he plans to finalize and publish next week, which will enumerate the conditions under which administration officials can amend the immigration status of the academic groups in question.

He also said he planned to make public a large amount of the materials used as evidence in the case, despite the administration’s request that the materials be sealed.  

Trump and his senior advisors have adopted a “fearful approach” to freedom of speech to “exclude from participation everyone who doesn’t agree with them,” Young said.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BAN FOR ALL INFANTS, TESTING LOWER COURT POWERS

Lawyers for the administration argued that the actions were part of their fight against antisemitism, including on college campuses, and had argued that the individuals in question were “pro-Hamas.”

Young in September sided with the plaintiffs — the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association — in ruling that the Trump administration’s actions violated the First Amendment.

Trump’s “palpable misunderstanding that the government simply cannot seek retribution for speech he disdains poses a great threat to Americans’ freedom of speech,” he said then. “It is at this juncture that the judiciary has robustly rebuffed the president and his administration.” 

Still, Young said Thursday he planned to issue an order with a more narrowly tailored form of relief for students than the lawyers had sought and would not grant them the blanket injunction they had sought. 

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, fired back at the judge in a statement Thursday to Fox News Digital.

“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,” she said.

Representatives for the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA

It’s not the first time Young has raised eyebrows for his sharp criticisms of the president.  

Young in June ruled that the Trump administration acted illegally when it slashed funding for NIH research grants and issued an injunction for the funding to be restored. 

He also used the order to describe the cuts as “appalling” evidence of what he described as “racial discrimination” and “discrimination against the LGBTQ community.” 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

The Supreme Court later ruled 5-4 to lift the injunction, and two justices took the opportunity to chastise Young, to some degree, for the manner in which he went about issuing the opinion. 

President Donald Trump signaled why he’s held off on military strikes on Iran amid nationwide protests after claiming the country had canceled executions for hundreds of Iranians. 

When asked if Arab and Israeli officials “convinced” him to not strike Iran, Trump told reporters Friday he convinced himself and cited the canceled hangings. Trump also expressed similar sentiments on social media Friday. 

“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Friday. 

The statement echoes what White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday about the canceled executions. She maintained that all options remained on the table when it comes to dealing with Iran.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES ‘FINAL’ 25% TARIFF ON COUNTRIES DOING BUSINESS WITH IRAN REGIME

“What I will say with respect to Iran is that the president and his team have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences,” Leavitt told reporters Thursday. 

“And the president received a message as he revealed to all of you and the whole world yesterday that the killing and the executions will stop. And the president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted.” 

It’s unclear from Trump’s post if he was referring to the 800 executions that were already canceled or whether there have been two consecutive days when 800 executions have been called off. 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on how many executions have been canceled or whether military strikes are completely off the table now. 

Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for the Islamic Republic of Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations for additional comment but did not immediately receive a reply.

Protests broke out across Iran in December 2025 in response to the country’s economic hardships as well as a referendum against Iran’s theocratic regime.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

More than 2,000 people — including at least nine children — have died in the recent protests, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported Tuesday. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Friday issued a warning to the Trump administration that interim Venezuela President Delcy Rodríguez does not represent the views of the people.

“I want to insist on this: Delcy Rodriguez, yes, she’s a communist. She’s the main ally and representation of the Russian regime, the Chinese and the Iranians, but that’s not the Venezuelan people and that’s not the armed forces, as well,” Machado said while addressing a crowd at an event organized by the Heritage Foundation.

Machado said that the situation was complex as allies of Nicolás Maduro continued to do “dirty work” after his capture by the U.S. on Jan. 3. However, the opposition leader said that she is “profoundly confident” that there will be an orderly transition of power.

VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MARÍA CORINA MACHADO PRESENTS NOBEL MEDAL TO TRUMP DESPITE INSTITUTE BAN

The opposition leader’s comments came amid reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Rodriguez in Caracas.

Ratcliffe and Rodriguez reportedly discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and the need to ensure that Venezuela would no longer be a “safe haven for America’s adversaries.” 

MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION

On Wednesday, Rodriguez, a Maduro ally who served as his vice president, announced that the government would continue the release of political prisoners detained under Maduro in an initiative she touted as a “new political moment,” according to The Associated Press.

Just days before Rodriguez made the announcement, the interim government freed at least four U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela, marking the first known release of American prisoners since Maduro was ousted in a U.S. military operation earlier this month.

While speaking at the Heritage Foundation event, the opposition leader vowed that Venezuela would become “the best ally the United States has ever had in the Americas.” Machado said that she believes Venezuelans are cohesive and joined by shared values but have been forced by the regime to make difficult choices and suffer severe hardships.

Following the capture of Maduro on Jan. 3, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela temporarily, though he did not detail further plans regarding transfers of power.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump, who met with Machado on Thursday, has yet to back the opposition leader and has even expressed doubts about the amount of support she has among the people of Venezuela. Despite not having his clear support, Machado praised Trump and emphasized the critical role that he and his administration would play in the future of Venezuela.

“The only thing I want to assure the Venezuelans people is that Venezuela is going to be free and that’s going to be achieved with the support of the people of the United States and the president, Donald Trump of the United States,” Machado told the crowd at the Heritage Foundation event.

She also commented early in her remarks that the Venezuelan people were grateful for Trump and his team’s historic mission to capture Maduro. Machado said that it “took a lot of courage” to pull off the operation.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin is getting hammered by Republicans for comparing the United States under President Donald Trump to Iran’s Islamic theocracy, accusing both of showing “authoritarian behavior.”

The comments from Martin came amid protests in Minneapolis and across the nation in the wake of last week’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old Minnesota woman and mother of three by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and in the midst of a wave of massive demonstrations against Iran’s cleric-controlled government in recent weeks.

“From Tehran to my birthplace of Minneapolis, people are rising up against systems that wield violence without accountability. In Iran, brave protestors confront a far-right theocratic regime that crushes dissent and denies basic freedoms,” Martin wrote. 

The DNC chair, a former longtime Minnesota state party chair, first made the comparison in a social media post last Sunday.

DNC CHAIR’S CONTROVERSIAL COMPARISON SPARKS BACKLASH

He added, “Here at home, tens of thousands are marching after the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good — demanding justice, transparency, and an end to an unchecked federal force that takes lives and tears families apart. Solidarity across borders means opposing authoritarian power everywhere and defending the right to live free from fear and state violence.”

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally in the Senate and a longtime proponent of a muscular U.S. foreign policy, bashed Martin.

“Number one, Ken Martin is a worthless piece of crap,” Graham charged in an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.” “Can you imagine this guy fighting for freedom? To compare President Trump and the Trump regime to the ayatollah means you got the worst case of Trump derangement syndrome in the world. Go to hell.” 

The DNC chair, reacting to Graham’s attack, claimed the senator is “a sniveling coward and a Trump bootlicker who hasn’t had a strongly held conviction in decades. I will wear his condemnation as a badge of honor.”

And in an MS NOW interview earlier this week, Martin argued that “people are very concerned that basic rights and human rights in this country are being violated by its own government … this is now who we should be as America, but it’s unfortunately who we’ve become under this administration.”

DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST CALLS OUT PARTY FOR ‘OPPOSE FIRST, THINK LATER’ RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S CAPTURE OF MADURO

But RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels claimed Friday in a statement to Fox News Digital that “this is a desperate ploy from a man who drove the DNC into financial ruin and political irrelevancy. Ken Martin is so unhinged that he’s comparing Tehran to Minneapolis and encouraging violent obstruction of federal law enforcement.”

Democrats are energized, thanks in large part to their pushback against Trump and his sweeping and unprecedented moves in his first year back in the White House. And Martin’s controversial comments appear to be getting a thumbs up from his own party.

“I think everyone is giving Ken a pass because he is from Minnesota and Minnesota has not been able to catch a break recently,” a DNC committee member who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News Digital. “So this is very raw, very personal, and very hurtful for him.”

VOTERS SHARPLY SPLIT ALONG PARTY LINES OVER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNESOTA

Asked about Martin’s comparison, DNC committee member and longtime Democratic strategist Maria Cardona told Fox News Digital, “Ken Martin is not comparing Iran’s autocracy to Trump’s America. He is comparing Iran’s autocracy to Trump’s autocracy, specifically the absolute immunity Trump has given these lawless ICE agents, their lack of training, their being hired without background checks, and the $50,000 bonuses that guarantee that those ICE agents out there have no interest in and have no idea how to follow the law and how to properly and lawfully track down violent criminal undocumented immigrants.”

And veteran Democratic consultant Joe Caiazzo, asked about Martin’s comments, charged that “from the rhetoric deployed to policies enacted, and executive orders issued, it’s clear Donald Trump would love to be a dictator.”

A source at the DNC told Fox News Digital “everyone is supporting the general gist of what he is saying.” Meaning, a spokesperson for the rival Republican National Committee (RNC) argued on Friday that Martin is “unhinged.”

POLL: AMERICANS GIVE THUMBS DOWN TO POSSIBLE U.S. STRIKE ON IRAN

The conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal editorial board, in an opinion piece, criticized Martin.

“Overwrought rhetoric on domestic affairs is one thing. Yoking a false image of U.S. authoritarianism to the freedom struggle in Iran is morally obtuse. It’s a slur against his own country,” the board wrote in an opinion piece. “It also undermines the Iranian people, who count on the U.S. and call desperately for its help, to say that America is yet another murderous tyranny, comparable to their own. Mr. Martin essentially told Iranians that the U.S. is on the side of their regime.”

After Martin’s comparison sparked fiery backlash on social media, he doubled down.

“If comparing the U.S. to Iran makes you angry, ask why. Killing protesters. Crushing dissent. Kidnapping and disappearing legal citizens. Ignoring courts. Threatening critics. Terrorizing communities. That’s authoritarian behavior—anywhere. If you’re rushing to defend it, maybe the problem isn’t the comparison. Trump keeps pushing it, Americans aren’t buying it, and Minneapolis won’t be silent,” Martin said in an additional post on X.

PROGRESSIVE TALK TO ‘ABOLISH ICE’ SPARKS FRESH DIVIDE AMONG DEMOCRATS

The trio of national polls released this week indicated that a majority of Americans give a thumbs down to how ICE is carrying out Trump’s push for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented migrants. But there’s a wide partisan divide, with Republicans supportive of ICE and the president.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Cardona emphasized that “Trump and ICE are losing public opinion over this, as a majority of Americans know that this should not happen in the United States of America.”

And Martin, in his appearance on MS NOW, argued that “if Donald Trump thinks what he’s doing in Minneapolis is going to improve his poll numbers, I think he has another thing coming.”

Meanwhile, in Iran, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports at least 2,677 people have been killed in the protests. Other reports say the death toll is over 3,000, with the real number likely to be significantly higher. 

The protests against Iran’s dire economic conditions, which have rapidly escalated in recent days, are seen as some of the most violent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed the current system of clerical rule.

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign recently received almost $10,000 from the California-based office of a top Beijing law firm that has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, a Fox News Digital investigation found.

A filing that was released this week reveals that Swalwell’s campaign received $9,999 from the DeHeng Law Offices PC on Dec. 30 and said that the office is based in Pleasanton, Calif. The law firm’s website reveals that this office is their “Silicon Valley Office” and appears to only have one lawyer who works there.

Keliang “Clay” Zhu, who donated $5,000 to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign this past November and previously donated over $10,000 to his House campaigns, is a partner at the law firm and is the only name listed for the “Silicon Valley Office,” according to their website.

A Fox News Digital review revealed that the law firm was founded as the China Law Office, which was a subsidiary firm established by the CCP’s Ministry of Justice in the early 1990s before being renamed the DeHeng Law Offices in 1995. While the firm, which has over two dozen offices in China, portrays themselves as independent, the firm and its lawyers continue to have longstanding cooperation with the Chinese government’s departments and major state-owned enterprises.

NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS SOUND ALARM OVER CCP-LINKED LAND OWNERSHIP NEAR US MILITARY BASES: ‘UNTHINKABLE’

Zhu, who is originally from China, touts several examples of how he has helped Chinese state-owned enterprises and other Chinese companies get a foothold in the United States, according to his bio. For example, he touts representing an “investment fund of a major state-owned enterprise in acquiring majority shares in one data analytics software company in the Silicon Valley,” which he valued at $100M. 

Another bio touts how he “has assisted Chinese companies and funds to complete more than $9 billion investments in the fields of chips, unmanned vehicles, new energy, artificial intelligence, industrial automation, and biopharmaceuticals in the United States.”

“On behalf of Chinese enterprises, he has negotiated with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Treasury and other organizations for many times and achieved compliance plans, which greatly reduced the compliance risks for Chinese clients in the United States,” the bio continued.

His bio also says he helped advise “a governmental investment fund from Shenzhen for its compliance with CFIUS regulations in the U.S.” and represented “WeChat users in a historic lawsuit that sued President Trump and successfully stopped his WeChat ban in 2020.”

At the time, Trump’s first administration sounded the alarm over WeChat and said the “data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information” and was concerned that the CCP would use data to stalk dissenters or control messaging inside the United States, such as launching disinformation campaigns. Similar efforts to restrict WeChat have occurred in countries like Australia and India, according to the White House.

SWALWELL THREATENS TO REVOKE DRIVER’S LICENSES OF MASKED ICE AGENTS OPERATING IN CALIFORNIA

Zhu also has a history of fighting against state-level legislation aimed at preventing China’s foreign land grab in the United States. 

After a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit intended to stop a Texas law banning Chinese nationals from owning or leasing land in the state, Zhu described the legislation as “unfair, unconstitutional and un-American,” according to AsAmNews, a daily news site focused on Asian-American and Pacific-Islander communities. Zhu similarly expressed disfavor with a Florida law meant to prevent individuals from countries that are foreign adversaries to the United States, such as China, from buying up land.

National security experts have sounded the alarm about China increasingly buying up farmland, property near military bases and other land near places of strategic value, which has been matched with state-level legislation in places like Texas, Florida, Arizona and more.   

“All Asian Americans will feel the stigma and the chilling effect created by this Florida law, just like the discriminatory laws did to our ancestors more than a hundred years ago,” Zhu said in 2023 about an anti-land grab bill, according to a press release from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. “We shall not go back.” 

Michael Lucci, a top China expert and the State Armor Action founder and CEO, sounded the alarm over the donations and called for Congress to reform the “campaign finance laws to define donations made on behalf of foreign adversaries to be bribes.”

“Congressman Swalwell must finally stop playing footsie with America’s foremost adversary: Communist China. First was his fiery romance with Fang Fang, a CCP spy, and now he’s caught taking campaign checks from Communist China’s favorite big law firm,” Lucci told Fox News Digital. “Congress must fix this problem by reforming campaign finance laws to define donations made on behalf of foreign adversaries to be bribes, and to impose criminal penalties upon those who make such donations. And Congress should go further by altogether prohibiting the acceptance of payment for any lobbying or other influence work on behalf of an American adversary, as the State of Texas did last year.”

Meanwhile, several of the firm’s China-based partners have a history of working in Chinese politics, largely through the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which is a “key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation” under the leadership of the CCP, according to the CPPCC website, and is a crucial tool of the United Front strategy to influence U.S. policy.

For example, Zhixu Wu, who is a “Director and Senior Partner” of the Kunming, China-based office of DeHeng Law Offices, is a member of the “Standing Committee of the 13th Kunming Committee of the CPPCC” and a member “of the 12th Yunnan Committee of the CPPCC.” His bio also says he was previously awarded in 2017 with “the title of ‘Excellent League Member’ for the second assistance event of the National Lawyers Service Group,” which was approved by the “Eight Bureau of United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee, Guidance Department of Lawyer’s Notarization Work of the Ministry of Justice.”

Degang Zheng, a senior partner in the Shenzhen office, also touts his ties to the CPPCC, saying in his bio that he is a “Member of the Executive Committee” of the CPPCC’s Shenzhen chapter. Hongli MA, a senior partner in the Hangzhou office, says he was recognized for “Three consecutive years of outstanding CPPCC members in Binjiang District, Hangzhou in 2014, 2015, 2016.”

Li Wang, another top attorney and the chief global partner of the Beijing office, touts how she “has served as general legal counsel for scores of Ministries of the PRC, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises and institutions.” Her bio also says she is the “Commissary of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Beijing Committee” and the “Chairman of Belt & Road Service Connections.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Swalwell’s ties to China have come under scrutiny before, particularly after Chinese national, Christine Fang also known as “Fang Fang,” gained special access to him and his campaign. She was deemed by U.S. officials to be part of a counterintelligence effort linked to China meant to influence and get close to U.S. political figures.

Swalwell has repeatedly claimed he cut off ties as soon as U.S. intelligence officials warned him of the threat and a congressional ethics investigation into the matter eventually found no wrongdoing on Swalwell’s behalf. However, he was ultimately removed by Republicans from his post on the House Intelligence Committee, with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy citing Swalwell’s past run-in with a suspected Chinese spy.

Lucci told Fox News Digital that Swalwell should commit to halting any further dalliances with America’s foreign adversaries, and re-donate the funds he received from DeHeng Law Offices and Zhu “to an organization that fights the evils of communism.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell and Zhu for comment on this story, but did not hear back by publication.

Newly elected Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson was forced to pay a $250 fine by a citywide ethics commission after she failed to adequately disclose more than $10,000 in contributions that Wilson’s parents made to her campaign. 

Following her election victory in November, Wilson defended taking her parents’ money to help assist her mayoral run, claiming in an interview to CNN that it made her more “relatable” to voters. The money, Wilson said, went to help her pay for childcare. 

The City of Seattle’s Ethics and Elections Commission found last month that the money Wilson got from her parents constituted “campaign contributions” and indicated corrective action was warranted in order to avoid creating an avenue for future candidates to circumvent campaign finance laws. In the letter, Jessica Pisane, indicated that the fine was only $250 because what occurred was “a novel issue” not seen before the commission.

SEATTLE ORDER TO STOP DRUG ARRESTS ‘CREATING HAVOC’ FOR PEOPLE FENDING OFF ADDICTS SURVIVING ON THEFT: EXPERT

The fine Wilson was forced to pay by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission was first reported by Seattle-area conservative radio host Jason Rantz.

“It’s the first time it has arisen in a City election campaign,” Pisane pointed out, adding that Wilson also refunded money to her parents that exceeded the contribution limits Wilson was expected to abide by. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Wilson’s team for comment but did not receive a response.  

“Campaigning for office is stressful,” Wilson said following her election victory amid questions about her parents’ contributions. “Seattle is one of the most expensive cities in the country, our childcare is off-the-charts expensive and, honestly, I think that a lot of people of my generation, and younger and older, found it very relatable that during this stressful campaign my parents chipped in to help pay for the cost of their granddaughter’s daycare.”

Wilson said during her campaign that the cost of childcare was about $2,200 per month for her and her reportedly unemployed husband.

SEATTLE’S SOCIALIST MAYOR-ELECT KATIE WILSON OPEN TO MEETING WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP

Prior to moving to Seattle in 2004, Wilson lived in upstate New York. After graduating from high school in Binghamton, Wilson studied physics and philosophy at Oxford University, thanks to financial assistance from her parents living in New York once again. Wilson left Oxford debt-free, which she credits to her parents. However, she also left without a degree, dropping out just six weeks before her graduation.

Before earning her new mayoral salary, Wilson was getting paid by the nonprofit she founded in 2011, the Transit Riders Union. She began collecting paychecks from the group in 2019. Before that, Wilson worked a series of odd jobs, including barista, boatyard worker, apartment manager, lab technician, baker, construction worker and legal assistant.

Tax records show that Wilson brought in $72,669 in 2022 as the president of the Transit Riders Union. There are no records of Wilson’s salary for 2023 or 2024, reportedly due to the fact the nonprofit changed tax preparers recently, according to PubliCola. The IRS does not require nonprofits to disclose salaries of employees making under $100,000 per year.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Meanwhile, in a financial statement to the city upon declaring her candidacy for mayor, Wilson reported earning between $60,000 and $99,000. She also reported income “less than $30,000” from PubliCola, The Urbanist and The Stranger, respectively, for work as a “columnist” for the left-wing online news outlets.

As Seattle mayor, Wilson will make well into the six-figures, according to pay records of past mayors. Wilson has been compared to socialist firebrand Zohran Mamdani, campaigning on policy proposals like those by the self-avowed socialist mayor of New York City. This includes, through her support of a “Solidarity Budget” which would have cut the Seattle police force by 50% and other defund the police positions, Wilson has been compelled to walk back support for government-run grocery stores, calls to tax the wealthy, and a proposal to “Trump-proof” the city of Seattle.

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.

Despite President Donald Trump’s past efforts to shut it down, Republicans passed a spending package that includes $643 million for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), choosing legislative unity over a fight that could have derailed the must-pass spending bill. 

The move underscored the GOP’s ongoing struggle to pursue party objectives while also crafting legislation that can unite Republicans amid razor-thin margins in the House of Representatives.

The funding goes toward radio, internet, television and broadcasting grants in the Middle East. The item passed both chambers of Congress this week as part of this year’s National Security, Department of State and Related Programs Act (NSRP).

Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., one of the legislators who worked on the NSRP, said the final number came about from talks with Kari Lake, a senior advisor for the agency with close ties to the president.

DHS AT CENTER OF PROGRESSIVE REVOLT AS HOUSE ADVANCES $80B SPENDING PACKAGE

“She seemed to me like we’re on the same team on this,” Alford said when asked about those conversations. “I continue to communicate with her often and look forward to working with her as she tries to right this program and get it back to its original intent.” 

At the outset of his second term, Trump issued an executive order shuttering the USAGM, the parent organization of Voice of America, claiming that the organization had a clear bent against Republican principles and didn’t serve the country’s domestic interests. However, when courts ruled that the administration lacked the power needed to remove its congressionally approved funding, the agency remained in place.

Despite the continuation of its funding, Alford believes Republicans took a step toward the president’s wishes, noting that the NSRP bill trims the agency’s budget.

DEMOCRAT TAKEOVER FEARS RISE AS GOP CLINGS TO SLIM HOUSE MAJORITY

“I think the cuts that we’re making, which is a 25% reduction, is a significant step forward to meeting what Kari Lake wants as well. I’m hoping that we can do even more in the 2027 appropriations bill,” Alford said.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who voted to advance the NSRP funding bill and its provision on USAGM, said he personally wants to see the funding eliminated.

“I would prefer that the federal government funds zero,” Higgins said moments before Wednesday’s vote. “We support the president’s executive actions and his executive orders, and we endeavor to codify them. We just don’t have extra money to spend on things.” 

“But I’m not going to let something like that stop me from supporting the larger measure,” he added. 

Higgins, a member of the fiscally conservative House Freedom Caucus, said Republicans must pick their battles carefully amid a razor-thin, two-seat majority in the House, following the retirement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and the sudden death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., earlier this month.

Republicans will continue to face questions about how to pursue party priorities in the coming weeks as they work through the year’s remaining spending legislation. 

“We don’t have the luxury of just casually opposing our own bills. It’s just so tight, man. So, our goal is to pass our legislation — especially when you’re faced with the alternative of a government shutdown,” Higgins said, noting the consequences that would follow if Congress were to fail to pass spending legislation.

Currently, Republicans hold just a two-seat majority in the chamber.

CONGRESS ROLLS OUT $80B SPENDING BILL AS DEMS THREATEN DHS FUNDING AMID SHUTDOWN FEARS

When asked whether Democrats had pressed to include the USAGM funding in the NSRP package, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., did not describe the conversations but noted the package had resulted from bipartisan negotiations.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“How things get into these appropriations bills in this climate — all we do is advocate and leverage whatever we have. Some days you’re the bug, some days you’re the windshield,” Quigley said.

The NSRP, having cleared both chambers of Congress, now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz warned Iran during an emergency meeting of the Security Council that President Donald Trump “is a man of action” who has “made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter.” 

Waltz said Thursday that, “We all have a responsibility to support the Iranian people and to put an end to the regime’s neglect and oppression of the Iranian nation.” 

Iran has been plunged into turmoil amid recent anti-government protests, with the death toll from those being at least 2,677, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency told The Associated Press. 

“Colleagues, let me be clear. President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations. He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter. And no one should know that better than the leadership of the Iranian regime,” Waltz added. 

Waltz’s remarks came as Gholam Hossein Darzi, the deputy Iranian ambassador to the U.N., accused the U.S. of trying to destabilize the Islamic Republic.

TOP IRANIAN GENERAL THREATENS TO ‘CUT OFF’ TRUMP’S HAND OVER POTENTIAL MILITARY STRIKES

“Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people and claims of support for human rights, the United States regime is attempting to portray itself as a friend of the Iranian people, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilization and military intervention under a so-called humanitarian narrative,” Darzi said. 

Waltz dismissed the claim, telling diplomats at U.N. headquarters on Thursday that Iran’s leaders are “afraid of their own people.” 

“I would like to address the allegation put forward by the regime that these inspired protests are somehow a foreign plot to give a precursor to military action. Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before, and therefore is putting forward this lie because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets,” Waltz said.

IRAN ALLEGEDLY AIRS 97 ‘COERCIVE CONFESSIONS’ AMID RECORD-BREAKING NORTH KOREA-STYLE INTERNET BLACKOUT

“They are afraid. They’re afraid of their own people. Iran says it’s ready for dialogue, but its actions say otherwise. This is a regime that rules through oppression, through violence, and through intimidation, and has destabilized the Middle East for decades. Well, enough is enough,” he added. 

“The regime’s dereliction of duty to its own citizens is what has put the ayatollahs in the positions they are in today with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, protesting in the streets after decades of neglect and abuse. So everyone should ask themselves, everyone sitting here today, how many people are dead?” Waltz also said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Trump and his team “have communicated to the Iranian regime that if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences.” 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“And the president received a message as he revealed to all of you and the whole world yesterday, that the killing and the executions will stop. And the president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted. And so the president and his team are closely monitoring this situation, and all options remain on the table for the president,” she added.