Donald Trump Poll News

Michigan voters have concerns about both candidates in the U.S. Senate race and that leads to a tight contest, according to a new Fox News poll.

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has a slim 1-point edge against Republican Mike Rogers, 50-49%, among Michigan likely voters. The survey, released on Wednesday, is the first Fox News Poll this season among likely voters, so a direct comparison can’t be made to previous polls.

Yet among registered voters, the preference is almost identical, 51% El-Sayed vs. 48% Rogers. That’s a reversal since August, when Rogers was ahead by 4 points among registered voters, 51% to El-Sayed’s 47%.

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The analysis below is among likely voters, unless otherwise noted.

More of El-Sayed’s backers feel certain of their choice (87%) than Rogers’ (80%). Overall, 15% say they could switch their pick before voting, including 18% of Rogers’ supporters and 12% of El-Sayed’s.

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Here’s why the race is tight.

Roughly equal numbers of Michiganders say they are extremely concerned Rogers is too close to President Donald Trump (39%) as say El-Sayed’s views are too liberal (36%).

And their favorable ratings are also close: 47% view El-Sayed positively compared to 44% for Rogers. Among registered voters, positive views of El-Sayed increased by 5 points since August while Rogers’ declined by four points.

El-Sayed’s best groups include those that traditionally go Democratic: women, Black voters, and those with a college degree. He’s also ahead with voters under age 45 and the small subgroup of union households.

The groups giving Rogers some of his strongest support include men, rural voters, White evangelical Christians, married voters, and Whites without a college degree.

Both candidates receive near-universal backing from their party. Rogers receives 95% among Republicans, while it’s 93% for El-Sayed among Democrats. In addition, Rogers gets 99% of MAGA Republicans and 88% of non-MAGA Republicans, while El-Sayed garners 98% of DSA Democrats and 90% of non-DSA Democrats. The small number of independents narrowly favor El-Sayed.

This year’s political landscape favors El-Sayed: the Democrats hold a 5-point advantage when voters are asked which party they want to control the Senate, 52% to 47%. But to capitalize on that, he’ll need to consolidate Democratic support after a contentious primary, as 11% of likely voters who backed his primary opponent Haley Stevens say they plan to vote for Rogers.

“The Michigan Senate race is unique in that short-term political forces favoring the Democrats are somewhat offset by concerns about the Democratic candidate,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “The bad news for Rogers is El-Sayed has made progress shoring up Democratic support and has room to grow given voter concerns about the economy.”

Four in ten Michiganders say they are falling behind financially, and they back El-Sayed by 25 points. But the largest share, nearly half, describe their family as holding steady, and they favor Rogers by 13 points, while the small number who are getting ahead prefer Rogers by 36 points.

Still, for 7 in 10 voters, the cost of living will be extremely important to their Senate vote, and they back El-Sayed by 13 points. He also has advantages among the 4 in 10 focused on U.S. policy toward Israel (+8 points) and AI technology (+17 points). Conversely, Rogers is favored by 26 points among the 44% focused on immigration.

Half of Michigan voters consider Trump extremely important to their Senate vote, and they favor El-Sayed by 22 points.

In 2024, Trump won Michigan by less than two percentage points, while Rogers lost to Democrat Elissa Slotkin by less than half a point.

Voter frustration with the administration is a drag on Rogers, as nearly 6 in 10 disapprove of the president’s performance. While 40% approve, not all support Rogers (93%). He remains competitive with support from 19% of Trump disapprovers overall, even as 28% who only “somewhat” disapprove of Trump prefer El-Sayed.

In the gubernatorial race to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat Jocelyn Benson leads Republican John James 54% to 45% among likely voters.

Twelve percent of those backing Rogers in the Senate race cross party lines to favor Benson.

Conducted September 24-28, 2026, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with a sample of 1,203 Michigan registered voters randomly selected from a statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (114) and cellphones (794) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (295). Results based on the registered voter sample have a margin of sampling error of ±2.5 percentage points and for the subsample of 1,028 likely voters it is ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Likely voters are based on a probabilistic statistical model that relies on past vote history, interest in the current election, intention to vote, age, education, race, ethnicity, and marital status. Results among subgroups are only shown when the sample size is at least N=100. 

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

Elon Musk is taking on a new role in the Trump administration, this time helping the Pentagon determine which weapons and technology American troops will need to fight the wars of the future.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that Musk will co-lead Project Meridian, a new Pentagon initiative tasked with looking years and even decades ahead to identify emerging domains of warfare and the capabilities the U.S. military will need to dominate them.

Musk, the former leader of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will lead the effort alongside defense tech billionaire Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich under the direction of War Department Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael.

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“The best forecasters of future conflict do not solely reside inside the Pentagon,” Hegseth said during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico. “There are obvious biases and risks to asking ourselves to both ask the questions and answer them.”

Hegseth said the initiative would begin immediately, and he would meet with Musk, Luckey and Gingrich in a secure site just 200 yards from the stage after his speech.

Project Meridian will have 120 days to “ruthlessly map the trajectory of wars, domains and technologies,” culminating in a public rollout of its findings and a classified annex.

Hegseth described a sweeping mandate that stretches “from under the Earth to beyond the moon.” 

Rather than developing new military strategies or policies, the group will seek to identify “the domains that we must conquer and capabilities we must master” and focus on “discovering, developing and fielding” weapons and systems that could be needed by future generations of American troops.

Musk and Luckey enter the effort with firsthand experience developing technology for the U.S. military. Musk’s SpaceX is a major Pentagon contractor, while Luckey founded Anduril Industries, a defense technology company specializing in autonomous weapons and other advanced military systems.

Their industry experience positions both men to bring an unusually close view of emerging technology and the modern battlefield to the Pentagon’s long-range planning. It could also raise potential conflict-of-interest questions as executives whose companies compete for defense business help identify the capabilities and technologies the military should pursue.

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Meridian was one piece of a broader push announced by Hegseth Wednesday to remake the military around autonomous warfare and rapidly emerging technology.

Hegseth announced the creation of Autonomous Warfare Command, or AUTOWARCOM, a new four-star combatant command with what he described as “service-like authorities” to scale autonomous and robotic capabilities across the joint force.

The War Department will also begin phasing in new occupational frameworks across the military departments to create dedicated career paths for what Hegseth called a new generation of “autonomous warfighters.”

“We should have been thinking about Autonomous Warfare Command ten years ago,” Hegseth said, explaining that Meridian is intended to look far enough ahead to anticipate the next technological transformation before the military falls behind.

The announcements came during the second iteration of what the War Department has dubbed Hegseth’s annual State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

The setting was the same as last year, but the audience was markedly different. Hegseth summoned generals, admirals and other senior military leaders from around the world to Quantico for his first address, where he laid out sweeping changes to military standards, personnel and what he called the “warrior ethos.”

This time, Hegseth addressed a younger generation of military leaders, including top-performing E-6 enlisted service members and O-3 officers from across the force. He called them the military’s “current and future leaders on the front lines” and said the address would become an annual opportunity to assess the state of the force and lay out his vision for its future.

Hegseth used Wednesday’s speech to unveil six new initiatives, ranging from the military’s embrace of autonomous warfare to an effort to make U.S. bases and defense supply chains less vulnerable to foreign disruption.

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The secretary also used the address to deliver some of his most pointed rhetoric yet about his effort to reshape the culture of the military and about the news media.

“We are no longer the woke department or the weak department,” Hegseth said. “No fatties, no trainees, no weirdos, no beardos, no wimps, no radicals. Just warriors.”

Hegseth later accused some journalists of engaging in “partisan activism” that jeopardizes military operations and service members, calling such reporting “fundamentally anti-American.”

“It’s sick. It’s a national betrayal. It’s treason, actually,” Hegseth said.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced plans to build a modern, self-sustaining military fortress, saying the site will be selected through a merit-based competition among governors pitching their states as potential locations.

The megaproject, dubbed the “Next Great American Base,” was unveiled during an address at Marine Corps Base Quantico as part of Hegseth’s six strategies to modernize the military.

The initiative rejects what Hegseth described as the legacy approach to spend heavily on advanced weapons systems while service members live on aging bases with outdated barracks.

“For too long, our military has been bogged down by the same old tired Washington playbook: spending trillions on exquisite weapons systems, while our troops live in aging bases, outdated barracks, and with inadequate infrastructure. That era is over,” Hegseth said.

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“To back up our warfighters, when we bring the troops home, we won’t just reshuffle troops onto legacy posts. We are going to build them beautiful new bases from the ground up,” he added.

The ambitious undertaking will feature a brand-new military installation spanning hundreds of thousands of acres and housing up to 25,000 service members.

“We are talking hundreds of thousands of acres with organic power generation, modern air defenses, and cutting edge technology — a fortress,” he said.

The installation is expected to provide first-class living conditions, high-end training grounds and essential services such as health care and child care, while operating entirely off the commercial grid with independent power sources.

Hegseth added that the base will support President Donald Trump’s executive order on “Beautiful Civic Architecture,” which calls for federal public buildings and military installations to be designed in timeless and classical styles.

“We owe our warriors nothing less than the gold standard,” Hegseth said.

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To determine the site location, the Department of War said it is launching a transparent, merit-based competition in which state governors can pitch their proposals directly to top military leadership at the Pentagon.

The winning state will be chosen based on its ability to remove regulatory hurdles and bureaucracy to speed up construction, while offering the best package of land, community support, top-tier housing, schools and other services.

“The state that cuts the most red tape and offers the best package of land and support will win the historic honor of hosting the most lethal, modern, and beautiful military installation on the planet,” a press release stated.

Pitch deliberations will be recorded and made public to eliminate “political favoritism,” according to the Pentagon.

“No backroom Washington deals. No political favoritism – just a straight-up, merit-based contest to see which state will partner with us to build the most modern, beautiful, and lethal military installation on the planet,” Hegseth said.

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The project is the fourth announcement among six major strategic initiatives unveiled by the secretary.

According to the Department of War, the other initiatives focus on restoring male physical standards and combat roles, improving the comprehensive review of military standards, overhauling complaint processes, reforming senior leadership and focusing on core training and maintenance.

Louisiana Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill is escalating her fight against abortion pills entering states that ban abortions through two lawsuits — one targeting the providers accused of distributing the drugs and another challenging the blue-state laws shielding them from prosecution.

Murrill, along with Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, sued New York, California and Massachusetts at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, alleging their shield laws block cooperation with investigations into abortion-pill providers. The attorneys general also filed a separate lawsuit in Louisiana against more than 30 people and organizations accused of advertising, prescribing, dispensing or shipping abortion pills into their states.

“This is drug dealing and it’s illegal,” Murrill told Fox News Digital. “And we’re going to continue to do everything that we can to enforce the laws in our states.”

The two lawsuits, filed Wednesday, are the latest move in a widening state-by-state fight over abortion. That conflict has grown since the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which struck down Roe v. Wade and gave elected officials the power to set abortion policy in their states.

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Murrill said the Supreme Court case targets the blue states’ legal protections that have thwarted Louisiana’s previous efforts to prosecute out-of-state doctors.

“These shield laws are very comprehensive,” Murrill said, arguing that California and New York prohibit officials from assisting other states seeking to enforce judgments stemming from abortion-related conduct.

Louisiana has already indicted New York physician Margaret Carpenter and California physician Remy Coeytaux over allegations that they prescribed abortion drugs that were sent into Louisiana. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom have refused to extradite the doctors.

The Supreme Court complaint cited Louisiana’s unsuccessful effort to extradite Carpenter, saying Hochul declared there was “no way in hell” she would comply with Louisiana’s request. The filing said New York later strengthened its shield law, including by allowing prescribers of abortion drugs to keep their names off prescription labels.

Newsom similarly rejected Louisiana’s request to extradite Coeytaux in January, saying California would not help other states punish doctors for providing abortion access that is legal in California.

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When Murrill vowed to sue, Newsom responded on X telling her to “Go f— yourself. California will never help you criminalize healthcare.”

“I think that if I sent guns into their states illegally, they would certainly try to come after me,” Murrill told Fox News Digital. “I said specifically at the time that we would be coming for them and we are.”

“We are going to take down those laws using every tool that we have at our disposal,” she continued.

The second lawsuit directly targets what Murrill calls the “pill pipeline.”

The 100-page complaint alleges providers used online questionnaires to obtain information from customers before abortion drugs were mailed into states where their distribution is prohibited. The states allege some organizations openly acknowledged that their conduct violated those states’ laws while relying on shield laws to protect themselves from legal consequences.

Murrill said investigators have conducted controlled purchases and received pills packaged in small bags, sometimes in quantities she said exceeded what would ordinarily be prescribed.

“We’ve seen it for ourselves,” Murrill said. “There’s no supervision, there’s no healthcare, there’s no communication whatsoever. It’s all done online.”

Murrill argued that the system can allow people other than pregnant women to obtain the drugs, pointing to cases Louisiana authorities said involved women being pressured or deceived into taking abortion medication.

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“We have a situation in one town in Louisiana that we’ve documented and investigated where a father did not want his teenage daughter to keep a pregnancy,” Murrill told Fox News Digital. “And so he basically put the medication in a smoothie, forced her to drink it. She did ultimately give birth to that baby at 23 weeks and is still in a NICU fighting for its life.”

The attorney general also said Louisiana wants more help from the Trump administration.

“Obviously we think the FDA could be doing more and we’ve asked them to do that,” Murrill said.

Louisiana has separately challenged federal rules that eliminated an in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser backed the litigation, accusing blue states of using their laws “to obstruct justice” and urging the Justice Department to settle Louisiana’s separate FDA litigation.

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“Democrats’ pro-abortion extremism has brought this country to a crisis point. Abortion activists flagrantly sell dangerous drugs across state lines and women and children pay the price, with more and more survivors of ‘death in a pill’ bravely coming forward,” Dannenfelser said in a statement.

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Fox News Digital reached out to New York, California and Massachusetts’ governors’ offices for comment.

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury had indicted ten lawful permanent residents accused of voting illegally or attempting to do so in multiple Minnesota elections, including the state’s August 2026 primary.

The ten defendants — who are originally from Liberia, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, Bosnia, Germany, Ghana, and Lithuania — allegedly lied to election officials and told them they were U.S. citizens so they could register to vote.

They were accused of voting in the 2022 and 2024 general elections, according to court records.

“Voter fraud erodes the public’s trust in our electoral system, and it’s vital to our democratic process that we do everything that we can to restore that trust,” Blanche said in a press conference announcing the charges. “The most basic way the Department of Justice can accomplish this restoration of trust is by working to make sure the only people voting in an election in the United States are American citizens who are eligible to vote.”

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The 10 defendants were charged separately. They are Bhator Konah Bryant, 61, of Liberia; Edvile Vaidoto Edmunds, 59, of Lithuania; Joshua Frederick Kofi Edzie, 63, of Ghana; Alan Barbu Kargbo, 48, of Liberia; Paul Kras, 78, of Germany; Fadil Rasim Ozegovic, 58, of Bosnia; Aparecido Donizetti Padovan, 62, of Brazil; Chris Adam Pettiquoi, 43, of Liberia; Christian Liam Schenk, 47, of Canada; and Hester Sophia Weihmann, 69, of South Africa.

Bryant appears to be the only defendant who wasn’t charged with voting illegally, only falsely claiming citizenship in 2024 in order to register.

Making a false citizenship claim to vote is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while voting by a noncitizen is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Blanche also expressed frustration that the media has, in his view, not taken the Justice Department’s work prosecuting election fraud cases seriously to this point.

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“I don’t know what the number is that will work for you guys. Whether it’s 106, maybe it’s 120,” he said, referring to a hypothetical number of investigations. “”At some point it has to become meaningful to to the media.”

Blanche said that since President Donald Trump has returned to office, the Justice Department has charged more than 90 people with voter fraud offenses, including 50 illegal immigrants in the past five weeks.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said there have been 10 voter fraud-related convictions and that there are more than 1,600 active investigations into similar conduct across the country.

Mullin did not answer a reporter’s question about how the department plans to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE, to identify voters who may be ineligible ahead of the midterms.

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The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the administration may use the database for voter-eligibility checks while litigation continues. SAVE has historically been used to help government agencies verify whether noncitizens applying for public benefits are eligible to receive them.

States’ use of the SAVE database is voluntary, but federal law generally bars states from conducting systematic voter-roll purges within 90 days of a federal election. With the midterms less than a month away, the Supreme Court’s ruling is expected to have limited immediate impact.

During the same press conference on Wednesday, Blanche also announced that the Justice Department had filed a judicial misconduct complaint with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals against several Minnesota federal judges who spoke with The New York Times about cases the department said were still pending.

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The article, published on Sept. 17, centered on an interview with Judge Patrick J. Schiltz, who said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violated nearly 100 orders from the federal district court in Minnesota during the height of Operation Metro Surge, which saw hundreds of federal agents in the streets of Minneapolis throughout January of this year.

Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, told The Times that the alleged violation of these orders likely came down to incompetence and staffing shortages at the Justice Department.

Blanche said Schiltz airing various complaints about the Trump administration to The Times was a violation of judicial canons and his ethical duties.

“We have asked the Eighth Circuit to conduct an investigation, and in the meantime, we ask that these judges recuse themselves from every case involving DHS, either criminal or civil in nature, because of the obvious bias they have shown in this article,” Blanche said.

Shiltz issued this response to Fox News, “As legal-ethics experts have confirmed, I was acting well within the ethical rules that apply to federal judges in speaking to the New York Times.  Indeed, in February of this year, the Committee on Codes of Conduct issued an advisory opinion to emphasize that federal judges may ‘speak[] and writ[e] on core judiciary matters such as advocacy for the rule of law and judicial independence.’ That is exactly what I did.”

Senate Democrats shut down Republicans’ bid to deal with two key issues for voters heading into the midterms.

Republicans tried and failed to pass a bill that would marry differing policy issues: banning lawmakers from using their insider knowledge to trade stocks and implementing voter ID policy nationwide — the latter of which the GOP has so far failed to accomplish with their SAVE America Act.

The Stop Insider Trading Act cruised through the House earlier this month, where a majority of House Democrats voted against it. Though voters are highly supportive of both, Democrats in the House and Senate argued that the stock trade ban wasn’t strong enough, while the voter ID element was too aggressive.

But the efforts to shut down the votes appear to build on a growing trend ahead of the November midterms — Democrats don’t want to hand Republicans two massive wins going into a must-win election for both parties.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued that Republicans knew the bill would never pass, and that they “designed it that way.”

“They don’t want this bill to become law,” Schumer insisted. “So they put a poison pill in that they knew would tank it.”

“It’s really trickery. Skullduggery,” he added. “If Republican senators really cared about stopping stock trading by members, they wouldn’t have loaded it up with a poison pill voter ID bill, which Senate Democrats have defeated already twice.”

They are two issues, though worlds apart, that have routinely failed to launch in Congress.

Senate Democrats have blocked voter ID and the SAVE America Act — and its several iterations throughout the year — multiple times, while banning lawmakers from trading stocks has largely been stifled by intraparty quarrels on both sides of the aisle.

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Still, they are issues that Americans overwhelmingly support.

A poll from the University of Maryland published in 2023 found that 86% of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum supported banning lawmakers from trading stocks. And a 2025 poll from the Pew Research Center found that 83% of Americans favored “requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote.”

It’s the first of two bills Republicans will try to pass on Wednesday to tackle voters’ concerns heading into the midterms, where President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, and its effect on the economy, could make or break the GOP’s grip on power in both chambers.

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The stock trading bill was pushed by Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., who is in a tightening bid for re-election.

The other bill will create standards for AI companies and data centers to bear the brunt of electricity costs, a key issue that has emerged in this midterm cycle that has candidates in battleground states scrambling to craft policy positions against the hulking, windowless structures.

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That bill is being pushed by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, who is running in one of the most contested races this cycle. Democrats contend that the GOP’s attempt to push through the data center bill is nothing more than a political lifeline for Husted’s campaign.

“Both pieces of legislation strike at the very heart of issues that the American people care deeply about, passionately about,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “And we’ll see if the Democrats are willing to take yes for an answer.”

LEWISTON, MAINE – With just about a month left until the midterm elections, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) told Fox News Digital that fraud is an issue motivating voters to the polls, and in Minnesota, his home state, he thinks the issue could yield some “surprises” at the ballot box.

“Fraud is a lot more important to the U.S. taxpayers than being a Republican or a Democrat,” Emmer said. “People want good government. They want to know that they’re paying for good government, that they are not having their hard-earned taxpayer dollars being siphoned off and stolen and sent out of the country. They’re also asking, why hasn’t anyone called this out and held these people accountable? And I think you’re going to see that at the ballot box on November 3rd.”

Emmer, the House Majority Whip, was in Maine with Republican House candidate Paul LePage, the first stop of his planned 56-district nationwide blitz across the United States rallying voters for Republicans as the party tries to hold on their razor-thin majority in the House against daunting historical and political headwinds.

Emmer’s home state of Minnesota was the epicenter of fraud’s explosion into the national conversation late last year, prompting Gov. Tim Walz to abandon his re-election bid. Emmer expressed optimism that Republicans in Minnesota will resonate with voters on fraud in a state where a Republican hasn’t won a statewide election since 2006.

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“Fraud in Minnesota is the number one issue,” Emmer said. “We’ve got a completely incompetent, I would argue corrupt in some instances, governor and an attorney general who took campaign funds from Somali fraudsters that he was actively trying to protect from getting caught in their fraud. This is a big deal for Minnesotans.”

Emmer said voters are looking for an “honest system that actually works for the people” and not “the criminals” and the Republican candidates for Senate, governor, attorney general, and auditor in Minnesota have all made fighting fraud a central issue of their campaigns.

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“You easily could have Michelle Tafoya being the next U.S. Senator from the state of Minnesota, a republican, you could have Lisa Demuth as the Republican governor and already, the attorney general candidate, Ron Schutz and the state auditor candidate Scott Jensen, the polling showing that they are leading,” Emmer said. “So yes, Minnesota is going to be one of those places where you see surprises. I think you’re gonna see surprises in Michigan as well and other places all across the country.”

Emmer sat down for a roundtable discussion on fraud with LePage, Maine’s former governor running for Congress in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, where the Minnesota Republican railed against the lack of accountability for fraud in his home state.

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“They need to be held accountable and that’s the one thing that’s missing again in Minnesota. You’ve got all of these fraudsters being charged and convicted, not one public official has been charged at all, and that’s got to change, and I hope it changes in Maine and other places, because it’s high time that people be held accountable for ripping off the generous American people,” Emmer told the panel.

The Trump administration has made combating fraud a central focus this year, creating a Justice Department Fraud Division and a White House task force led by Vice President JD Vance. The White House says the task force has uncovered roughly $245.7 billion in fraud since its creation, while also stopping an additional $62.9 billion annually and enforcing $59.1 billion through criminal charges, settlements and penalties.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is fast becoming a central figurehead in the 2026 midterm election cycle, and a polarizing one at that.

Some moderate candidates are shunning the progressive rising star’s endorsement, Axios reported this week, while others in tight races are welcoming her with open arms.

Several Democratic strategists who spoke with Fox News Digital said they were not shocked that some on the left are keeping her at arm’s length.

“It wasn’t especially surprising, like, her numbers with independent voters aren’t always great, and it’s very circumstantial depending upon where you would want to deploy somebody with that type of background and somebody who, you know, a lot of Americans have an impression of already — sometimes positive, sometimes negative,” Mike Nellis, a former political advisor for ex-Vice President Kamala Harris, told Fox News Digital. “I always just encourage people, like, you do what you gotta do, cause it’s hard to play coalition politics.”

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And there are at least two candidates who appear to think the original “Squad” member is more of a liability.

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Cait Conley, who is running to unseat Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., in a district nearby Ocasio-Cortez’s, told CNN’s State of the Union “I’m good” when asked if she would campaign with Democratic socialists like her or New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Conley’s campaign did not return a request for comment by Fox News Digital by publication time.

And Sam Forstag in Montana reportedly removed all mention of Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement from his campaign website. He told Axios, “I don’t intend to be having a lot of folks from out of state campaigning with me over these next 40 days.”

Forstag’s campaign did not return multiple emailed requests for comment by Fox News Digital.

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“In the final days leading up to an election, you want to make your message specific and local and repeatable and national celebrities just don’t help with that,” a veteran Democratic strategist who works on House and Senate campaigns told Fox News Digital.

The strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, said “AOC is more of a celebrity” than most of the other potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders. “I think AOC is one of the few Democrats who has transcended to just culture generally, which makes her visits heavier in the discourse.”

And that celebrity status is being used in other key races. Ocasio-Cortez joined forces with fellow progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders to headline a trio of rallies for left-wing candidate Abdul El-Sayed in July, a couple of weeks before the Democratic Senate primary in the key battleground state of Michigan.

El-Sayed ended up narrowly edging more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., in a nomination battle that highlighted the ongoing battle between the left and the center for the ideological future of the Democratic Party.

While Ocasio-Cortez has yet to return to Michigan since the early August primary, El-Sayed’s campaign says they’d welcome her return to the campaign trail.

“There are a lot of Michiganders who can’t wait to have AOC back in town,” El-Sayed campaign communications director Roxie Richner told Fox News Digital.

AOC BACKS FLORIDA DEM ANGIE NIXON FOR US SENATE: ‘I’M PROUD TO ENDORSE HER’

El-Sayed and former House Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., are facing off in the race to succeed Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. The midterm showdown is a must-hold for the Democrats as they try to win back the Senate majority from the Republicans.

Ocasio-Cortez also appeared in Florida recently alongside far-left Senate candidate Angie Nixon, who is running an underdog campaign against Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla.

A Democratic victory there is a longshot, but Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign trail travels come as speculation mounts about her own future political plans.

The Democratic socialist is widely seen as a potential successor to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., when he is through in the upper chamber. But there’s also buzz about a potential 2028 presidential campaign — something Ocasio-Cortez has not confirmed nor denied.

“I think she’s a unique political talent. She’s clearly got, like, a large group of people in the country who would get behind her, and those are the beginnings of what you need to build an operation to run for president. So I think she’d be stupid not to think about it,” Nellis said. “At the same time, you know, do you take a 5% chance of being the Democratic nominee…or do you take like a much better than fifty-fifty chance of being the next United States Senator from New York? If it were me advising her, I’d probably tell her to run for Senate.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign for comment on the Axios report.

A unanimous federal appeals court ruled Monday that a jury should decide whether Seattle’s DEI initiatives created a racially hostile work environment for a White employee, while emphasizing that federal anti-discrimination law protects workers regardless of race.

The three-judge panel did not rule on whether Seattle’s DEI programs violated the Constitution or federal anti-discrimination law. Instead, it found that the allegations were enough to let a jury decide whether the way the city carried out those initiatives created a racially hostile work environment. The ruling leaves the larger constitutional questions about Seattle’s race-based programs unanswered.

“Workplace training programs designed to address racial barriers are not inherently discriminatory, and nothing in Title VII prohibits employers from either discussing historical and ongoing discrimination against persons of color or seeking to address such discrimination,” wrote Judge Mary Murguia, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.

“Accordingly, race-conscious training programs may violate Title VII when they create a racially hostile work environment.”

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Joshua Diemert, who worked for Seattle’s Human Services Department, alleged that over several years he had been subjected to repeated race-based comments and workplace incidents, including being asked by supervisors what he could contribute “being a straight White male,” being told it was “impossible” to discriminate against White people and being encouraged to give up a leadership role so a person of color could be promoted.

He also attended DEI trainings where speakers allegedly said “White people are cannibals,” that racism is in “White people’s DNA” and that “White people are like the devil.”

Laura D’Agostino, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation who argued the case, said the panel ruled only that Diemert lacked standing and did not decide whether Seattle’s race-based affinity groups and training programs were constitutional.

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“This decision does not give government employers a green light to classify employees by race. The Ninth Circuit expressly reiterated that government racial classifications are constitutionally suspect and subject to strict scrutiny,” D’Agostino said. “It simply concluded that Mr. Diemert had not established the personal injury necessary for the court to reach that constitutional question in his case.”

D’Agostino said the ruling shows that Title VII does not give protections to racial-equity training when it becomes the source of harassment.

“Calling something racial-equity training does not place it outside the protections of federal civil rights law. Employers can address discrimination without creating or tolerating a racially hostile environment for their employees,” D’Agostino told Fox News Digital.

The court ruled the case wasn’t about any one remark or training session. Instead, it concluded a jury should decide whether the alleged comments, DEI trainings and workplace incidents, taken together over several years, created a racially hostile work environment.

“The evidence was sufficiently numerous, frequent, and severe that his hostile work environment claims must be decided at trial,” D’Agostino said.

A spokesperson for the city of Seattle said they are reviewing the decision and discussing potential next steps for the city.

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Ilya Shapiro, of the Manhattan Institute, said the decision leaves constitutional challenges to similar DEI programs on the table despite the standing ruling.

“Although the court affirmed the dismissal of Diemert’s equal-protection claim, it did so because he didn’t present evidence sufficient to show personal injury, not because equal-protection claims aren’t viable,” Shapiro told Fox News Digital.

Shapiro said the “race-conscious” programs are standing on “dubious legal ground.”

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The decision also reinforced that federal anti-discrimination law applies equally to employees regardless of race. Citing the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the panel noted that Title VII “draws no distinctions between majority-group plaintiffs and minority-group plaintiffs.

Eric Wessan, Solicitor General for Iowa, said Monday’s ruling is a major wake-up call for DEI classes and trainings across the country, arguing that they breed hostile work environments.

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“I think the easiest way to think about it is if the same stuff was happening, but he was another race other than White,” Wessan told Fox News Digital. “How obvious would it have been that that was a hostile environment? And I think in this case, the answer is, it would have been pretty obvious.”

“I’m not surprised that the hostile environment claim can go forward. And that’s really important too, because a lot of these DEI policies across the country do create hostile work environments for White employees. And for a long time, there was no pushback against that.”

Independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn repeatedly said his family is “treading water” financially because of rising grocery and gas prices last week, but federal campaign finance records show his campaign has paid more than $500,000 to members of his family since launching his Senate bid.

Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference on Sept. 24, Osborn said, “My family, we’re treading water here, and it feels like every day it’s hard to keep your head above water” because of the economy and rising grocery and gas prices. 

Later that day, during an NBC News interview, he made nearly identical remarks, again describing his family as “treading water.”

Americans for Public Trust, a government ethics watchdog that has previously scrutinized Osborn’s campaign spending, estimates Osborn and members of his family received nearly $480,000 from his campaign and affiliated PACs through the first quarter of 2026. The organization told Fox News Digital that figure does not include additional campaign spending disclosed in Osborn’s second-quarter filing, which was filed in July. Fox News Digital’s review of that filing found additional payments to family members that pushed the total above $500,000.

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The largest share of those payments went to Osborn’s wife, Megan Osborn, who has worked for the campaign since its launch. Campaign finance records also show payments to the candidate’s daughter, Georgia, who Osborn has described publicly as a part-time dancer who still needs help paying her bills. His daughter has been paid by the campaign for work including event staffing and campaign activities, alongside other relatives and entities tied to his family.

Amid the scrutiny, Osborn’s wife stepped away from consulting firms she had a stake in, which were receiving thousands of dollars from Osborn’s campaign coffers, including from his 2024 war chest, even though that campaign was defunct.

“It’s rich for Osborn to be co-opting the real financial pain of Nebraskans when he and his family have been profiting from his campaign since it launched,” Americans for Public Trust Executive Director Caitlin Sutherland told Fox News Digital. “He was all too comfortable using his campaign to enrich his immediate and extended family and only hastily restructured when he was caught. Nebraskans know better than to fall for this type of self-serving behavior.”

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Earlier this year, Osborn and his wife announced they were restructuring how she was compensated by the campaign after Americans for Public Trust filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Osborn had steered campaign funds to relatives through a network of consulting firms and affiliated political action committees. The complaint alleged the payments violated federal campaign finance law, while the Osborn campaign rejected the allegations and argued the payments were for legitimate campaign work.

While paying family members is not illegal, it must be for bona-fide campaign services. Critics have challenged the political expertise and background of Osborn’s wife and other family members. 

As part of the restructuring, Osborn’s wife stepped away from two consulting firms that were receiving campaign payments — including Independent Campaigns LLC, in which she held a one-third ownership stake — and instead became the campaign’s full-time operations manager with a monthly salary.

Osborn told the Omaha World-Herald at the time that his wife had been “instrumental” to the campaign and said he would not let political opponents dictate who ran it.

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But Sutherland argued the restructuring did not resolve the broader questions raised in the complaint.

“Dan Osborn only restructured how he pays his wife after we filed a complaint with the FEC that he was running afoul of campaign finance laws,” Sutherland told Fox News Digital at the time. “However, questions still remain regarding his payments to his daughter, his brother-in-law, and two sisters-in-law, and his control over two federal PACs. Rest assured, Osborn may have changed tactics, but he isn’t off the hook in his attempt to funnel campaign cash to his entire family.”

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger who has touted his working-class bonafides on the campaign trail, is facing backlash from both sides of the aisle over a viral ad that critics are labeling as tone-deaf pandering. 

“If Republicans spend $46 million on these TV ads, who’s gunna be convinced by that?” Jackson is asked in the ad as he sips a boba tea.

Jackson then looks around and smiles before saying “the 1%ers” as a photo of his opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are shown on the screen.

The ad’s caption reads “sips boba tea” alongside a boba and wide-eyed emoji.

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The ad’s post on X was widely mocked by Democrats and Republicans and has been viewed over 2 million times.

“Maine is the oldest median age electorate in the nation,” Democratic strategist Steve Schale posted on X. “I know I’m not a DC strategist but I really, really don’t get it.”

“Troy Jackson needs to win but videos like this are unhelpful and cringey,” liberal influencer Harry Sisson posted on X. “Please change it up! No boba tea!”

“The same people that ran Mallory McMorrow’s campaign into the ground are telling you to do this goofy s—,” left-wing podcaster Kyle Kulinski posted on X. “Just get out there and tell the truth and speak from the heart for economic justice and against war and stop with all this bulls—. C’mon man. You’re smarter than this.”

DEM SENATE NOMINEE BREAKS SILENCE AFTER SUSAN COLLINS’ OFFICE WAS VANDALIZED WITH VULGAR MESSAGE

“It’s a little bit funny to be desperately trying to position as working class masculine male and have gen-z women run your socials like they would run their own personals,” Republican communicator Matt Whitlock posted on X.

“… ,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Southern regional press secretary Reilly Richardson posted on X.

” Weird,” GOP communicator Steve Guest posted on X. “Looks like the first time that Troy Jackson has ever had boba.”

“Boba tea! Just like regular people! ” journalist Chris Cillizza posted on X.

“Want to remind you that Democrats were openly proud of how masculine their Maine campaign was going to be and then they ran this ad,” former Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh posted on X.

Fox News Digital reached out to Jackson’s campaign for comment.

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A recent poll indicates Collins is ahead of her Democratic challenger in a crucial Senate showdown in blue-leaning Maine that could determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

Collins, who is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate, stands at 49% support among likely voters, with former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee, at 46%, with 5% undecided in the New York Times/Siena poll. Collins’ three-point edge is within the survey’s margin of error.

The survey, which was conducted Sept. 15–22, is one of the first to indicate Collins ahead of Jackson since he replaced former Senate nominee Graham Platner in late July.

Platner, a combat veteran and oyster farmer, won the June Democratic Senate primary in a landslide. But a month later he dropped out following an explosive report containing an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated. Platner denied the report but stepped aside. Collins slightly trailed Platner in most polling at the time he ended his campaign.

Jackson, who campaigned alongside Platner earlier this year as he unsuccessfully ran for governor, won a special nominating convention to fill the party’s vacant Senate nomination.

The poll release came as Collins pushed back against a report by ProPublica that the FBI sought to launch a pay-to-play investigation examining Collins and others. The investigation was later dropped and no one working for Collins was charged.

Collins ripped the report as “offensive” and a “partisan hit job” orchestrated by Democrats.

Jackson took to social media to claim that “Susan Collins is blatantly corrupt.”

Collins’ advantage over Jackson in the new survey comes even as 55% of those questioned said they prefer Democrats to control the Senate next year, with 43% saying they’d like the GOP to retain the majority.

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

The U.S. military is scheduled to end its mission in Iraq on Wednesday, bringing to a close a military operation that has lasted more than two decades — despite an ongoing war in Iran sparked earlier this year.

The Iraq mission began with the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and later evolved into a campaign to help Iraqi forces defeat the Islamic State group after the terrorist organization’s rapid rise across Iraq and Syria.

In recent years, however, the remaining U.S. military presence has increasingly served as both a counterweight to Iran’s influence and a frequent target of Iran-backed militias.

The Iraq agreement was reached before the U.S. and Iran entered direct conflict earlier this year and under a different administration and military leadership — leaving the final phase of the withdrawal to unfold in a dramatically different security environment than the one envisioned when the timeline was negotiated.

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The deadline stems from an agreement reached by Washington and Baghdad in 2024 under President Joe Biden to wind down the U.S.-led coalition’s military mission after Iraqi officials concluded their security forces were increasingly capable of handling the fight against ISIS.

It follows the U.S. military’s 2021 departure from Afghanistan, also under the Biden administration, which ended another two-decade American war and left no U.S. troops in the country. The withdrawal, however, was chaotic, widely viewed as ‘botched’ and resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and dozens of civilians.

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The Pentagon declined to confirm to Fox News Digital whether the timeline remains on track or provide details about any continuing U.S. military involvement in Iraq after Wednesday. The Iraqi Embassy did not return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The danger to U.S. forces persisted through the final months of the mission. Army Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, was killed at Erbil Air Base in July during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian attack drone.

About 2,500 U.S. troops had remained in Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition established in 2014 after ISIS seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria. American forces had previously withdrawn from Iraq in 2011 before returning three years later to help Iraqi and partner forces combat the terrorist group.

That threat has since diminished significantly.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessed this summer that ISIS in Iraq “almost certainly remains severely degraded,” focused largely on its own survival and unable to capitalize on instability from the war with Iran, according to the latest Lead Inspector General report on Operation Inherent Resolve.

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper told lawmakers in May that ISIS attacks in Iraq and Syria had fallen 70% since 2023 and were at their lowest level since 2013.

The U.S. mission had already shifted accordingly. Rather than routinely fighting alongside Iraqi forces, American troops increasingly trained, advised and provided intelligence to local forces expected to carry out counterterrorism operations with limited or no direct U.S. involvement.

The Pentagon also began moving the infrastructure for that fight out of Iraq. Operation Inherent Resolve shifted its headquarters to Amman, Jordan, this year, allowing U.S. personnel and assets to redeploy while Iraqi forces assumed greater responsibility for counterterrorism operations.

But the declining ISIS threat has coincided with a different challenge for Baghdad: powerful Iran-backed armed groups that have resisted efforts to surrender their weapons.

US-BACKED EFFORT TO DISARM IRAQ’S IRAN-LINKED MILITIAS HITS SETBACK, EXPERTS SAY

The Iraqi government had initially sought to bring armed groups operating outside state control to heel by the same Sept. 30 deadline. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi argued that the departure of U.S. forces would eliminate a key justification for the militias to remain armed.

Several powerful Iran-backed groups, however, have resisted calls to disarm. Two prominent factions initially agreed to surrender their weapons by the deadline, while other armed groups refused, according to a U.S. government report released this summer.

Baghdad has since pushed back its timeline. Zaidi said last week that the government now aims to complete the process by June 30, 2027, beginning with a 90-day period in which armed groups would halt attacks in exchange for assurances that U.S. forces would not target them. The groups would then gradually surrender their weapons or be brought under state control.

The holdouts remain heavily armed. U.S. military officials said the groups retain rockets, missiles, drones and, in some cases, air defense systems capable of threatening American personnel and facilities across the region.

The DIA reported that Iran-aligned militias launched hundreds of attacks on U.S. forces and diplomatic facilities in Iraq after the war with Iran began.

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That leaves the end of the U.S. mission arriving as the threat that brought American forces back to Iraq has substantially diminished, while Baghdad’s effort to disarm some of the groups that have targeted those forces remains unfinished.

Democrats are pitching themselves as the answer to the economic woes Americans are facing in their pursuit of power in Congress, but they have made a habit of blocking the GOP’s attempts to tackle cost of living issues.

Affordability has become the centerpiece of the Democrats’ campaign messaging heading into Election Day in November, and they’ve wielded it like a political cudgel that left-wing candidates from Michigan to Texas are using to browbeat Republicans.

But in the Senate, it requires cooperation and compromise to tackle those issues, and Republicans say that their colleagues across the aisle have bedeviled that process. They’ll have one last shot Wednesday to address a sliver of the issue with a bill targeting data centers and voters’ pocketbooks, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus are poised to block it.

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“I think right now, the whole thing is just, you know, play politics with all these issues and get to the election,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital. “I think that, you know, what you’re seeing is that this is the party of no, can’t take yes for an answer, and is interested in just trying to politicize everything going into the election.”

When asked if blocking the data center bill, and another that would ban members of Congress from trading stocks, could turn the table on Democrats’ messaging, Thune said “Well, it makes it pretty hard for Democrats to make that argument.”

Democrats don’t believe that blocking the bill from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, would hurt their affordability message, particularly because the legislation lacks teeth — many of the requirements for large-load customers, like data centers, to repay their electricity usage are optional.

Schumer trashed the data center bill as being purely politically motivated to bolster a vulnerable candidate staring down a tough race in November against former Sen. Sherrod Brown, even though only three House Democrats voted against it earlier this month.

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“Because we don’t vote for frauds,” Schumer said when asked why Senate Democrats wouldn’t vote for it. “It’s voluntary. Not a single company has to comply with it.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital that if “you guys do your job and explain that the the bill does nothing,” the political ramifications would be low for Democrats.

“It does nothing, and so people know that, but there’s more political risk for them than for us,” Murphy said.

When asked if there was a concern that shutting the bill down could hamper their best weapon on the campaign trail, Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., told Fox News Digital, “Absolutely not.”

“The American people can see through just the politics of this. They know that this bill is good for Senator Husted, but not necessarily for them, because it’s not — it doesn’t have anything that would actually force change,” Kim said.

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Not all Democrats want to outright kill the GOP’s latest affordability push, however.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., isn’t totally against allowing the legislation to proceed, but he wants a guarantee from Thune that his bill, the Power for the People Act, would get an amendment vote to add some regulatory heft to the measure.

“You want to address the affordability issue, you need to do something real,” Van Hollen told Fox News Digital. “As soon as Senator Thune says he’ll have a vote on Power for the People Act, then for sure, we should go forward.”

It’s not the only attempt at grappling with affordability issues that Democrats have sunk, or at least kneecapped, near the finish line before the midterms.

Republican leaders wanted to get a deal on permitting reform, which would lower costs on energy projects and reform the regulatory process writ large, on the floor during this final sprint before the election, but Democrats walked away from the deal last week.

“I would tell you, all the chemistry, I think, was perfect for getting this deal done,” Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-Okla., who has led the permitting reform push told Fox News Digital. “And that doesn’t happen very often on such a complex issue. So it’s very disappointing.”

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The deal is reportedly back on, but won’t be handled until after the election during Congress’ lame duck period, where several agenda items have been punted that may never see the light of day.

Still, Republicans will need Democrats to get anything post-election, and the track record of bipartisanship over the near two years that they’ve controlled the chamber has ebbed and flowed.

“I mean, we got 53 Republicans, you got to have 60. I’d have busted the filibuster a long time ago and we would’ve had a lot more done,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital. “But we wasted a year and a half of President Trump.”

Democratic Senate candidates Sherrod Brown and James Talarico reportedly headlined a star-studded New York City fundraiser hosted by celebrity jewelry designer Alexis Bittar, whose recent public comments describe the United States as a “s—hole” and characterized the American flag as “a symbol of aggression.”

The fundraiser, held Monday evening in Manhattan, featured contribution levels ranging from $500 to $27,000 and also listed actor Robert De Niro among the high-powered hosts, according to an invitation cited by the Washington Free Beacon.

Bittar’s recent record includes a July interview during which he discussed his concerns about the country’s future, while promoting a documentary centered on “reclaim[ing]” the American flag. 

During the interview, Bittar questioned what Americans were doing to create “the country we want to live in” before adding: “I have three kids, and they’re little, and they’re growing up in this s—hole. So if we don’t do something now, we’re f—ed.”

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The Free Beacon highlighted separate remarks Bittar made about the American flag while discussing the documentary, saying in an interview with Forbes in July 2025 that the American flag had become “a symbol of aggression” during President Donald Trump’s political rise. 

“Thinking about the new administration and what actions I can take to combat their policies. It seemed folks were in shock and experiencing malaise. But I homed in how the flag was co-opted by the right and how did the left let that happen?” he said in the interview. “It’s become such a symbol of aggression, the American flag, like ‘we’re coming for you’ during Trump’s era.”

Bittar has been active in progressive Democratic politics. Gothamist previously reported that he was among the donors who gave the maximum amount to support New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s transition and served on the mayor’s Arts & Culture transition committee. He has also been unafraid of the “socialist” label, the Free Beacon reported. 

“Hey people … it’s voting time!!! Bringing in all the Democrat Socialists!! Let’s change America…!” he said while urging people to go out and vote for various candidates in New York several weeks ago on Instagram.

Bittar also recently hosted a fundraiser for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, while in an August Instagram video with the U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan. Bittar declared that “the traditional Democrats have one foot in the grave” and that “the revolution has begun.”

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Bittar’s jewelry has been worn by celebrities including Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Rihanna, and he has built a high-profile fashion brand while also becoming increasingly active in progressive Democratic politics.

One of Bittar’s past marketing campaigns featured a fictional female serial killer. While speaking with V Magazine about the campaign in December 2025, Bittar said he had “always [been] intrigued by people who kill” and said the project was intended to “raise the bar” for marketing.

“I am always intrigued by people who kill, and I love to trace their own personal history and the trajectories that led them to become killers,” Bittar said. “Meet Amanda Gates … she is the most unlikely new fashion icon.”

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A spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign declined to comment about the fundraiser, while neither Brown nor Bittar returned Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

The U.S. Navy has tapped Boeing to build a new fighter jet that officials say will help American pilots dominate the skies, defeat enemies and come home safely.

The Department of War announced Tuesday that Boeing secured a contract worth more than $20 billion for full-scale development of the F/A-XX, a sixth-generation strike fighter intended to expand the reach of Navy aircraft carriers and eventually replace some of the service’s longtime combat aircraft.

The deal gives Boeing its second sixth-generation fighter program following its selection for the Air Force’s F-47 in 2025, the company said.

“Delivering two advanced fighters in parallel was always our plan, and we invested accordingly. We are ready and able to build multiple concurrent future combat aircraft franchise programs,” Steve Parker, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in a statement.

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The Navy contract includes multiple test aircraft for ground testing, airworthiness evaluations and systems and weapons integration, according to the Department of War.

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“The F/A-XX is a critical pillar in our commitment to maintaining peace through strength. F/A-XX will dominate contested airspace, extend operational reach, and deliver a decisive combat advantage for the warfighter,” Michael P. Duffey, under secretary of war for acquisition and sustainment, said in the announcement.

Duffey called the aircraft a “crucial, non-negotiable investment” in America’s national security and long-term air combat capabilities.

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“We are joining forces with Boeing to field these capabilities rapidly, ensuring our warfighters possess the lethal and highly networked systems required to deter aggression, project undisputed power, and secure absolute air superiority,” he said.

The F/A-XX falls under the Next Generation Air Dominance program. The department said the carrier-based fighter will extend the Navy’s operational reach and work alongside both manned and unmanned aircraft, including Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

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Officials said the fighter will also increase the capability of the unmanned aircraft it teams with.

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao hailed the contract as the beginning of “a new era” for the service.

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“The Sixth-Generation fighter is a generational leap in air superiority and will provide the world’s best aviators with unparalleled capabilities to fight, win, and come home safe,” Cao said.

“We are excited to partner with Boeing, and for our warfighters to continue to dominate the skies and defeat our nation’s enemies.”

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Boeing said the aircraft will bring advances in mission systems and operational reach and capacity, though technical and program details remain classified under U.S. national security and export laws.

“It’s an honor to be selected to produce the Navy’s first sixth-generation platform,” Parker said, adding that the company’s team is “ready to execute this critical program.”

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The company said construction continues on a secure manufacturing facility in St. Louis as it prepares to build multiple aircraft with next-generation capabilities.

“Investment in facilities is just one part of the story; we’re also investing in technology and people so that we can deliver for our customers,” Parker said.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe celebrated the announcement, pointing to the state’s role in building America’s next generation of military aircraft.

“St. Louis is Fighterland, USA!” Kehoe wrote on X. “Proud of this incredible win that further cements Missouri as a critical leader in the future of America’s air dominance, innovation, and national defense.”

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Beginning in the 2030s, the F/A-XX is expected to augment and eventually replace legacy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers, according to the Department of War. It will also operate alongside the F-35C.

During his time as director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., allowed over $1 billion in COVID-19 relief funding to go out the door without required monitoring, records reveal.

The 2022 State of Florida Compliance and Internal Controls over Financial Reporting and Federal Awards flagged the weakness in its annual audit, stating, “FDEM did not monitor the activities of any subrecipients.”

While Fox News Digital is not aware of fraud that may have been committed with those funds, the resurfaced audit casts an unflattering light on Moskowitz as he pursues re-election in one of the country’s most competitive districts.

It also raises questions about oversight efforts for state-level allocations for government funds, an issue Republicans have signaled merits more attention.

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Moskowitz’s FDEM approved $210,562,500 in funding to 39 local government recipients in the 2020-2021 fiscal year from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), according to the audit. The next year, it distributed $1,026,225,200 to 55 locations.

Taken together, the grants add up to $1.23 billion.

“Contrary to Federal regulations, the FDEM did not monitor the activities of CRF subrecipients,” the audit states. “Such monitoring is to include, for example, reviewing subrecipient audit reports and determining whether management decisions are required for any audit findings related to the federal award.”

According to the report, an acceptable level of oversight would normally include inquiries of the recipients as well as checks like onsite evaluations.

“Monitoring of the subrecipient must include reviewing financial and performance reports, following up and ensuring that the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the federal award detected through audits, on-site reviews and other means,” the audit states.

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Notably, Moskowitz wasn’t head of FDEM for the entire 2020-2021 fiscal year. He resigned from the post at the end of April, two months before the end of the fiscal year in June, making him the head of the FDEM for the vast majority of the 2020-2021 audit cycle but not the complete window.

Even so, his congressional opponent, Republican candidate Scott Singer, believes the responsibility lies squarely on Moskowitz’s shoulders.

“When Jared Moskowitz ran a state agency, federal regulators and state auditors found that there was a gross lack of oversight of billions of dollars of taxpayer funds, a lack of reporting, a lack of review of where the funds were going,” Singer said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“And that’s unacceptable, especially with public tax dollars. But it’s not surprising.”

Singer argued the audit echoed earlier questions about Moskowitz’s work involving disaster recovery funds.

He pointed to an incident in 2017, when Moskowitz, as an attorney for AshBritt, a disaster-cleanup company, had renegotiated compensation from the City of Parkland after Hurricane Irma. Disclosure reports showed that he was being paid over $400,000 by the company while also serving as a state legislator.

“When Jared was a state representative, he went to his own city and demanded that they pay more for hurricane cleanup that went to a disaster recovery company that paid him millions,” Singer said.

“We can’t afford people who are continuing to do the same thing. A gross oversight of funds and self-dealing.”

When asked about Singer’s criticisms, Moskowitz’s campaign fired back, stating that the congressman was proud of the work that he did, noting that he had been reappointed to the role by a Republican governor.

“As Director of FDEM, I worked directly for Governor DeSantis and his administration. Florida had one of the best COVID responses in the country,” Moskowitz told Fox News Digital.

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“I left almost a year before this report was issued as I had to leave the agency to be with my dad, who was battling cancer. Governor DeSantis appointed me again to the Broward County commission. To my knowledge, Florida COVID spending has passed the FEMA audit for reimbursements,” he added.

Moskowitz also pointed out that he had received praise from even Republicans for his disaster-related work, including from Singer himself. Moskowitz shared communications between them in which Singer said the state was “in a much better place because of what you’ve done.” Singer also highlighted a second communication from Singer to Moskowitz stating, “seriously, thank you for all of the amazing work you’ve done and all the help you’re providing to our stay [sic].” 

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Having cleared their parties’ respective primaries, Moskowitz and Singer will face off in the Florida general election Nov. 3.

EXCLUSIVE — Andrew Bailey is heading home to Missouri, and the outgoing FBI co-deputy director has a blunt message for anyone suggesting turmoil at the bureau pushed him out.

“This was 100% about my need to get home and raise my four small children,” Bailey told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “I love my kids.”

Bailey, who announced Monday that he is leaving the FBI after just over a year, rejected suggestions that problems at the bureau played a part in his decision. 

KASH PATEL TO TOUT ‘LARGEST’ YEAR-TO-YEAR VIOLENT CRIME DROP IN US HISTORY

“My decision to go home is based solely upon my need to be a parent to my four children,” he said.

He accused some news outlets of spreading “lies” about the reason for his departure and offered a forceful defense of FBI Director Kash Patel amid scrutiny of the bureau’s leadership.

“Any accusation that Director Patel has focused on anything other than fulfilling the president’s promise to make America safe again are bold-faced lies,” Bailey said. “We wake up every day and work early every morning and stay up late, oftentimes without sleep, to ensure mission accomplishment.”

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Patel, in his own statement Monday, said Bailey was leaving to return to his family in Missouri and praised his role in the FBI’s overhaul.

“Andrew’s leadership at the FBI will be missed but we are grateful he answered the call to serve!” Patel wrote. He said Bailey had helped institute “critical reforms” and thanked him for his dedication to the bureau’s mission.

EXCLUSIVE: FBI EXTRADITIONS SOAR AS PATEL RAMPS UP FOREIGN OUTREACH, VOWS ‘NO SANCTUARY’

Bailey had left his post as Missouri attorney general to join the bureau in 2025.

Asked whether anything about the job factored into the timing of his exit, Bailey insisted it did not. He said protecting children had been central to his work as Missouri attorney general and remained a priority at the FBI.

FBI NABS MORE THAN 350 ALLEGED CHILD SEX ABUSE OFFENDERS

According to Bailey, the bureau added 55 agents to child protection efforts and increased the number of victim service providers in field offices nationwide.

During field office reviews, Bailey said he pressed staff on whether the bureau was “fulfilling our moral and legal obligation for victim notification and quality victim services.” He called the FBI’s victim services program “top-notch.”

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Bailey portrayed his time in Washington as part of what he called a “truly historic transformation” of federal law enforcement under President Donald Trump and Patel.

He credited the administration’s creation of homeland security task forces and designation of Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations with helping law enforcement pursue its mission. He also said the FBI had made it easier for state, tribal and local officers to join its task forces, adding more than 2,000 task force officers in a year.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAYS FEDERAL AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED MORE THAN 10,000 SUSPECTED GANG MEMBERS

Bailey also pointed to what he described as a 20% reduction in homicides, more than 5,000 violent offenders arrested by the FBI and thousands of child victims identified and rescued as evidence that the administration’s approach is working.

The outgoing official also said the bureau had seized 3,258 kilograms of fentanyl in one year and arrested more than 4,200 members of foreign terrorist organizations. He cited 11,000 child victims located and identified, without specifying a time period for those latter two figures.

Asked what the public might misunderstand about the FBI, Bailey described the scale of an agency with roughly 38,000 employees and 11,000 armed agents, charged with both criminal investigations and national security work. He said the leadership team had pushed resources from headquarters to field offices, where agents could have a greater impact.

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“We’ve done so much to push resources out of headquarters back to the field where they can maximize their impact,” he said.

PROSECUTOR JOSEPH DIGENOVA RESIGNS FROM DOJ ROLE INVESTIGATING TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBES

Bailey said more than 1,500 positions had been shifted from headquarters to field offices and that reducing layers of approval allowed agents to follow leads more quickly. He said the FBI processed more than 1.8 million DNA samples and reduced its backlog to zero for the first time in bureau history.

Asked about political considerations at the FBI, Bailey said protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution were “the only considerations.” When asked how he protected agents’ ability to follow the facts, he pointed to those staffing and approval changes. He did not address whether he had seen politics influence a specific investigation or personnel decision.

He rejected criticism of Patel’s approach as resistance to change inside an organization accustomed to the status quo. Bailey alleged that the FBI had previously been “weaponized” against Trump and his family and said Patel wanted to return it to its core mission of protecting Americans and upholding the Constitution.

“That is going to anger those sacred guardians of the status quo,” Bailey said.

As for what comes next, Bailey said he expects to return to public service someday, though he did not name a role. He traced a career that took him from the Army and two deployments to Iraq through Missouri state government and the FBI before returning to the reason he is leaving now.

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“I’ve dedicated my life to public service and anticipate that I’ll look to serve again in the future in some capacity,” he said. “But I’m excited right now to get home to the kids and be able to enjoy time with them and their activities.”

The Supreme Court on Tuesday handed the Trump administration an interim victory in its ongoing immigration crackdown, clearing the way for officials to continue deporting illegal aliens to third countries while the justices consider a legal challenge to the policy.

The justices granted the administration‘s request to stay a February ruling from a federal district court in Massachusetts that imposed additional procedural requirements before illegal immigrants could be removed to countries other than their own.

The high court also agreed to hear the administration’s challenge, treating its emergency application as a petition for review and ordering the parties to prepare for arguments during the court’s December session.

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT DEALS BLOW TO TRUMP DEPORTATION AGENDA

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have denied the administration’s request for a stay.

The decision gives the administration the immediate relief it sought as it presses ahead with third-country removals, even as the Supreme Court has yet to decide whether the policy remains.

The dispute centers on the Trump administration’s efforts to remove illegal aliens to third countries. Lower courts have not categorically prohibited those removals but have required procedures intended to give aliens an opportunity to raise claims that they could face persecution or torture in the destination country.

The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court last week, arguing that those requirements were interfering with its ability to carry out removals and disrupting sensitive diplomatic negotiations with countries willing to accept deportees.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S IMMIGRATION PUSH FUELS ICE’S BIGGEST ARREST MONTH IN AGENCY HISTORY

“The order below also undermines our standing abroad,” the administration argued in its filing, according to the ruling. “Finding third countries willing and able to accept aliens is a delicate diplomatic endeavor.”

The government also argued that judicial intervention in those arrangements could cause “significant and irreparable harm to U.S. foreign policy.”

Attorneys challenging their policy pushed back, arguing that the lower court’s ruling did not prevent the administration from conducting third-country removals but instead required the government to provide notice and an opportunity for illegal aliens to raise protection claims before they were sent abroad.

“The judgment does not require release from detention, prohibit third-country removals, or undo existing arrangements,” the challengers argued in their response.

DHS’ TOP LAWYER THREATENS PENALTIES FOR ATTORNEYS CLOGGING ASYLUM SYSTEM

They alleged that illegal aliens removed without meaningful notice or an opportunity to raise country-specific protection claims had faced “prolonged and arbitrary detention, beatings and sexual assault, disappearance, and chain refoulement.”

Tuesday’s order puts the February district court judgment on hold while the Supreme Court considers the case. The stay will remain in effect until the high court sends down its judgment.

The decision gives the administration the immediate relief it sought as it presses ahead with third-country removals, even as the Supreme Court has yet to decide.

“For the third time in 18 months, the Supreme Court has been called upon to stay the same local district judge’s campaign to halt the Trump Administration from removing illegal aliens including many of the worst-of-the-worst criminals to countries willing to receive them,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.

“The President will stop at nothing in his effort to make America safe again,” Bis added. “Today’s ruling from the Supreme Court yet again affirms the lawfulness of the President’s homeland security agenda.”

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The court directed its clerk to establish a briefing schedule allowing the case to be argued during its December 2026 argument session.

FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration is seeking to disrupt with a sweeping set of sanctions a sprawling Sinaloa cartel network accused of corrupting Mexican officials just across the U.S. border.

Los Mayos, a powerful faction of the Sinaloa cartel, and its U.S.-born leader are accused of funneling fentanyl and drug money through California and hiring hitmen to kill rivals on American soil.

The Treasury Department, according to material exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital ahead of their public release on Tuesday, will sanction 21 individuals and 25 entities in a crackdown against Los Mayos and their alleged illegal activity within U.S. borders.

The targets of the sanctions include Ismael Zambada Sicairos, known as “Mayito Flaco,” a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen born in Anaheim, California, whom Treasury describes as the “undisputed head” of Los Mayos.

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The action lays out how one of Mexico’s most powerful cartel factions allegedly maintains its grip on two critical trafficking corridors along the U.S. border — through political and police corruption, money laundering and violence that Treasury says has extended into Southern California.

It also exposes what Treasury describes as deep cartel penetration of government and law enforcement in Baja California, the Mexican state bordering California.

The Treasury says Sinaloa-linked “narco-corruption has reached the highest levels” of the state government, alleging that the ex-husband of Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda used his political influence to protect cartel operations and that a former Mexicali public security chief accepted bribes to allow the cartel to exert control over municipal police.

The allegations shed new light on a controversy that erupted last year when the U.S. revoked the visas of both Ávila and her then-husband, Carlos Torres Torres.

The State Department revoked Torres’ U.S. visa in May 2025 over what Treasury now describes as his “cartel affiliation and work on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel.” Olmeda’s U.S. visa was also revoked around the same time, though U.S. officials did not publicly disclose a reason for the action against her.

The Department of War also played a role in the effort through Joint Interagency Task Force-Counter Cartel, which works with federal law enforcement, intelligence agencies and Treasury to identify cartel financial and facilitation networks.

“These sanctions reflect the impact of sustained interagency collaboration and intelligence fusion in identifying and disrupting the networks that enable violent transnational cartels,” Brig. Gen. Maurizio Calabrese, director of JIATF-Counter Cartel, told Fox News Digital.

Calabrese said the task force contributed analysis and operational insight on cartel-linked financial and facilitation networks to support the broader effort behind the sanctions.

POTENTIAL SECURITY THREAT PROMPTS US TRAVEL SUSPENSION FOR BORDER CITY ON ALERT

Treasury also alleges the cartel’s reach extended directly into California.

Lorenzo Castillo Maldonado, an associate in Mayito Flaco’s network, allegedly hired hitmen on the cartel leader’s orders to kill rival cartel members in Southern California. Another part of the network allegedly worked with complicit Southern California money exchanges to collect bulk cash from U.S. drug sales and move the proceeds back to Mexico.

The sanctions are aimed in part at disrupting Los Mayos’ grip on the Tijuana and Mexicali “plazas,” strategic corridors Treasury says the cartel uses to move fentanyl and other narcotics into the U.S.

“Today’s action underscores that no cartel kingpin, corrupt Mexican government official, or financial facilitator is beyond the reach of Treasury’s authorities,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “Our message is clear: the Trump administration will identify and disrupt any cartel actor who threatens our security or the integrity of our financial system.”

The designations effectively cut the targets off from the U.S. financial system, blocking property and assets under U.S. jurisdiction and generally barring Americans from doing business with them. Foreign financial institutions that knowingly facilitate significant transactions for sanctioned individuals could also face U.S. sanctions.

At the center of Tuesday’s action is Mayito Flaco, who Treasury says has emerged as the undisputed leader of Los Mayos following the July 2024 arrest of his father, longtime Sinaloa cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia.

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El Mayo’s arrest set off a violent struggle between Los Mayos and Los Chapitos, the Sinaloa faction led by sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Treasury says the two factions remain locked in a costly internal war that has forced both sides to rebuild their leadership and alliances.

Mayito Flaco, 44, was born in Anaheim in 1982 and later filed a U.S. name change to Fernando Sicairos Aispuro, according to Treasury. He was federally indicted in California in 2014 on drug trafficking and money laundering charges and remains a fugitive in Mexico.

The Treasury says he now commands Los Mayos’ drug trafficking, murder, extortion, corruption and kidnapping operations.

The sanctions also target Torres’ brother, Luis Alfonso Torres Torres, whom Treasury accuses of collecting bribes and laundering illicit funds through companies and political campaigns.

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Former Mexicali Public Security Director Pedro Ariel Mendivil Garcia is also being sanctioned. The Treasury alleges Mendivil accepted bribes from Los Rusos leader Juan Jose Ponce Felix, known as “El Ruso,” in exchange for allowing the cartel to exert control over municipal police, facilitate drug trafficking and carry out enforcement operations.

Reported guidance directing some ICE offices to pull back on arrests of illegal immigrants without criminal histories triggered backlash from policy hawks, raising questions whether the Trump administration is sending conflicting signals on enforcement.

The guidance was rescinded within hours, and Trump told Fox News there had been no change in an enforcement posture that prioritizes — but is not limited to — the “worst first.” The verbal guidance had been relayed to ICE field offices around the country, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, though it remains unclear who initially issued the instruction.

Administration officials later characterized it as a misunderstanding rather than a formal policy change, and new guidance reaffirming there had been no change in enforcement policy was sent within hours. The episode nevertheless reinforced concerns among some immigration hawks who say recent public messaging from administration officials has suggested a narrower approach to interior enforcement than Trump campaigned on.

Mike Howell, a leader of the Mass Deportation Coalition and president of The Oversight Project, argued public criticism helped force the reversal but said the episode also fit what he views as a broader pattern of mixed messaging from DHS on interior immigration enforcement.

“[The guidance] was walked back, allegedly, which is great, and I think it was in large part walked back because people spoke out very, very loudly,” Howell said, while adding there is a troubling undercurrent to some of DHS’ messaging on the greater matter:

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As an example, Howell pointed to a tweet from DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin posted one day before the ICE guidance news broke, in which the secretary said the department was “not conducting worksite operations in Kansas” but was targeting criminal illegal immigrants and those facing removal.

The post followed ICE operations in Kansas that prompted complaints from Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said DHS had failed to coordinate with local authorities during operations in cities including Liberal.

“I’ve never seen a secretary put anything like that in writing,” Howell said. “[If it were] an Obama or Clinton or Biden DHS secretary, we would have called for impeachment if they said that.”

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Asked to put a finer point on it, Howell stated outright: “If Mayorkas tweeted that, I would have immediately called for his impeachment: for flagrant admission that they are not enforcing the laws and faithfully executing them — It was amnesty by another means.”

Howell emphasized that he was not calling for Mullin’s impeachment, but using the comparison to underscore how seriously he views any pullback from broad immigration enforcement.

He further argued that shifting signals are unfair to rank-and-file ICE agents who served during the Biden administration.

It remained unclear who originated the guidance, but Fox News was told it was a “misunderstanding” and that the person responsible would likely face reprimand.

A source told Fox News Digital on Sunday evening that the order “definitely went out” and that some immigrant-heavy Republican districts have seen anger over family members being caught up in worksite-enforcement removals. The source pointed to Kansas as an illustration.

“This type of ping-pong is deeply unfair to ICE, the men and women there tasked with actually deporting these people,” he said. “They watch the news, they read X, they see these mixed signals and it’s affected operations.”

EXCLUSIVE: DHS SECRETARY MULLIN SLAMS SANCTUARY POLITICIANS AS ATTACKS ON ICE OFFICERS SKYROCKET

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis pushed back, saying Trump has been clear that “no one is off the table.”

“DHS continues to deliver results for the American people including the most secure border in history and three straight months of a record number of ICE arrests,” she said, citing more than 3 million deportations thus far.

An ICE report also put arrests-per-month at a record high of 51,000 in August, while a source familiar confirmed that ICE guidance that went out was a “miscommunication” and not from the top.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tighter immigration controls, said the situation is uniquely instructive because it comes at a time when factions of the Republican Party are at odds, whether silently or not, over the immigration enforcement issue.

“All of this comes on the backdrop of conflicting goals and messages within the administration on immigration,” he said.

Krikorian said the administration may have contributed to that confusion by repeatedly emphasizing its focus on the “worst of the worst,” even as officials including border czar Tom Homan have said immigrants without criminal records are not exempt from enforcement.

“The administration does need to get its story straight internally so that they can then present a consistent message externally,” Krikorian said.

He argued the larger unresolved issue is worksite enforcement, which he said is critical to encouraging self-deportation but creates political tension between business interests seeking labor and working-class Republicans demanding tighter enforcement.

Republican donors who favor the “loose labor market” that low-wage migrants bring clash with the working-class Republican bloc demanding tighter labor markets and stricter enforcement, Krikorian said.

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Krikorian said he had hoped Trump or Mullin would clarify after the Kansas controversy that the administration was not “randomly” cracking down on employers, but conducting worksite enforcement based on intelligence about businesses employing illegal immigrants.

Several Republicans, including Marshall and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., have criticized aspects of the administration’s immigration push ahead of the midterms. Krikorian argued that conflicting signals could also carry political consequences with Trump voters focused on enforcement – citing competing pressures between big-business and the base.

“You don’t tweet out that you’re not doing what voters want you to do,” he said.

Krikorian praised the administration’s border policies but argued interior and worksite enforcement create more complicated political tradeoffs for the Trump coalition.

After the Wire report broke, DHS responded in part “this is false. No one is off the table.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Salazar and DHS for further comment.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.