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Thirty days after the U.S. and Iran entered a two-month negotiating period intended to produce a final peace agreement between the two countries, they appear closer to a widening war than to a diplomatic breakthrough.

Friday marks the halfway point of the 60-day window established under the June 17 memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, which called for negotiations for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, sanctions and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Friday marks the halfway point of the 60-day window established under the June 17 memorandum of understanding deal between the U.S. and Iran, which called for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, sanctions and freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

But the first half of that period has been marked by repeated Iranian attacks on commercial vessels, hundreds of U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets and retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the region, and President Donald Trump declaring the ceasefire “over.”

VANCE REVEALS TRUMP LESSON GUIDING IRAN DEAL STRATEGY AS TEHRAN FACES 60-DAY DEADLINE

The Trump administration also has withdrawn one of the most significant concessions it offered Iran under the agreement — a temporary waiver allowing Iran to sell oil — and restored a naval blockade that had been lifted after the memorandum was signed.

With only 30 days remaining, the administration is increasingly relying on military and economic pressure in an effort to bring Iran back to substantive negotiations before the window closes. Failure would leave the two sides without a clear diplomatic path to address Iran’s nuclear and missile programs or restore safe passage through one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

Trump nevertheless said Thursday that Iran had made a fresh overture to the U.S.

“We received a call just as I was coming here, and they want to meet,” Trump said during a Fox News interview Thursday.

“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle,” he added in remarks later that day. “We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off.”

The Iranian mission to the United Nations could not immediately be reached for comment on the status of negotiations.

The White House referred to press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments in a news briefing Thursday: “Iran  very much continues to talk to the United States of America and expressed that they want to make a deal with us because they are suffering devastating blows. On behalf of our United States military. The reason and this is important for the American people to understand the reason for the recent strikes over the course of the last several days is because  Iran  violated the memorandum of understanding that we struck with them.”

The agreement initially provided Iran with an immediate economic incentive to remain in the process. On June 22, the Treasury Department issued a general license authorizing the production, delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil, petrochemicals and petroleum products through Aug. 21.

TRUMP’S $300B IRAN INVESTMENT FUND MAY BE ‘CLOSE TO IMPOSSIBLE’ DUE TO IRGC SANCTIONS LAW, EXPERT WARNS

But the administration revoked that authorization less than three weeks later after Iran attacked three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

A U.S. official said at the time that the agreement was “entirely performance-based” and warned that Iran would receive benefits only if it demonstrated “good behavior.”

“Iran’s actions in the strait were wholly unacceptable to the United States and will be met with consequences,” the official said. “Our negotiators continue to work in good faith toward a final deal.”

TRUMP THREATENS TO EXPAND STRIKES ON IRAN, SAYS POWER PLANTS ARE NEXT TO GO: ‘HIT THEM HARD’

Iran accused Washington of violating the memorandum, arguing that Tehran was complying with its obligations by managing passage through the strait. Iranian officials blamed shipping companies for using routes that had not been coordinated with Tehran.

Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, argued that Washington and Tehran entered the negotiating period with fundamentally different objectives.

“The U.S. saw it as an opportunity to get a long-term agreement,” Roman told Fox News Digital. “The Iranians saw it as an opportunity to rearm.”

Roman said the renewed fighting suggests the administration now views military pressure as a prerequisite for diplomacy.

“You have to hit them hard before you get an agreement,” he said.

Former Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper, however, questioned whether an expanded bombing campaign would force Iran to change course.

“I’m not confident that if we picked up the bombing the way we did months ago and sustained it for a period of time, that that would have a big change,” Esper told the Financial Times.

Esper instead argued for “comprehensive” economic pressure backed by international support, though he acknowledged that approach would require time and impose costs on American consumers.

“How do you pressure them?” Esper said. “One option is you resort to full military onslaught. The other one is you strangle them economically.”

Esper said the strategy would require “time, patience (and) discipline” and could mean higher gasoline prices in the short term.

The sanctions reversal coincided with a dramatic expansion of U.S. military operations against Iran.

The fighting resumed within days of the agreement and accelerated sharply in early July after Iran attacked commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM said U.S. forces subsequently struck more than 300 Iranian targets over three nights, including air defenses, missile and drone sites, coastal radars and naval capabilities.

The campaign has since expanded deeper into Iran.

The sixth consecutive night of U.S. strikes marked a new phase in the campaign, with roads, bridges and military bases around Bandar Abbas among the targets, Fox News has learned. The strikes were aimed at cutting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces off from resupply routes and further isolating them around the strategic port city, which is central to Iran’s ability to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. also reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports and disabled the Curaçao-flagged tanker Belma after CENTCOM said it ignored warnings while sailing toward Iran’s primary oil-export terminal.

Iran has responded with missile and drone attacks against countries hosting U.S. forces across the Gulf. On Friday, an Iranian strike damaged a major power and desalination plant in Kuwait, while Qatar, Bahrain and other regional states reported additional incoming attacks.

“All the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran” if the United States carries out those attacks, Iranian military spokesman Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari said in remarks carried by Fars news agency.

“Under no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extraregional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added, calling the waterway Iran’s “invincible red line.”

Despite the escalating threats, Trump has continued to argue that a diplomatic resolution remains possible.

“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle,” Trump said Wednesday. “We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off.”

One potential sign that communication remains open came Wednesday, when Iran allowed U.S.-Iranian citizen Dena Karari to leave the country after preventing her departure since December 2024. Trump thanked Iran for what he described as a “gesture of goodwill.”

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Salvaging the agreement would now require the two sides to move beyond preliminary contacts, halt the widening cycle of retaliation and return to negotiations over the nuclear, missile and sanctions issues at the heart of the memorandum.

The next 30 days will determine whether the renewed military pressure creates leverage for that diplomacy — or ensures the negotiating window closes with the United States and Iran again at war.

Fox News’ Jen Griffin contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the White House is searching for a “vandal proof material” following alleged damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.

“The Reflecting Pool, so badly damaged by Deranged Vandals, has been emptied as the massive slash gets repaired. We got it through the great July Fourth Weekend. What kind of animals would do such a thing?” the president wrote on Truth Social.

“We are looking for a Vandal Proof material, but such a thing should not have been necessary. The Scum in Court will hopefully be prosecuted to the MAX,” Trump added.

There have been multiple arrests in relation to the alleged vandalism of the basin, with Trump saying in late June that “they took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete,” and that “they also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the pool.”

LINCOLN MEMORIAL REFLECTING POOL DRAINED AGAIN AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RESUMES REPAIRS

Trump ordered a restoration project for the Reflecting Pool earlier this year as part of his effort to refurbish D.C. landmarks ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The project was later beset by an algae bloom, and sections of the new blue coating began peeling from the bottom of the pool.

FORMER US OLYMPIAN DAVID HEARN INDICTED IN ALLEGED REFLECTING POOL VANDALISM

According to court documents, U.S. Park Police responded to a report of damage at the Reflecting Pool on June 9. Investigators said caulk had been spread over foam sealant that had been cut with a “sharp knife or razor,” the newly applied surface coating had been damaged, and roughly 70 fence post caps had been thrown into the pool.

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn was also indicted on a felony destruction of property charge following his arrest in connection to a June 19 incident at the landmark.

Hearn denied damaging the pool, saying he stopped on a bike ride and touched a loose piece of the peeling blue coating “to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen.”

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Hearn, 67, has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Fox News Digital’s Ryan Canfield, Michael Sinkewicz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

After Democrat Tim Walz doubled down on his move to pardon a foreign child rapist prior to his deportation, the State Department took another swing at the Minnesota governor in an escalating back-and-forth.

The Minnesota Board of Pardons, comprised of Walz, state Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, granted clemency to Laotian national Tou Lue Vang, 42, on June 10. Vang was scheduled to be deported from the United States before the pardon.

“Governor Walz’s pardon of a convicted foreign sex offender was a grave and unconscionable betrayal of the very people he is supposed to defend,” State Department Assistant Secretary Dylan Johnson told Fox News Digital.

WALZ, MINNESOTA BOARD OF PARDONS CLEARS CONVICTED ILLEGAL ALIEN CHILD SEX OFFENDER FACING DEPORTATION

“Walz’s plot to sacrifice the safety of Americans on the altar of open borders was thwarted by Secretary Rubio. Now this foreign criminal will never harm another American,” he continued.

Vang was convicted for repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl between 2002 and 2004, and told authorities after he was arrested that “it is a cultural thing… to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked Vang’s visa earlier this month, and he was deported back to Laos.

Walz defended the clemency move in a Tuesday press conference, contending that deportation of a convicted child rapist did not make the U.S. safer.

“Did that make us any safer?” Walz questioned. “Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable? Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day?”

TIM WALZ OFFERS STRANGE DEFENSE FOR PARDONING CONVICTED CHILD RAPIST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEPORTED

Still, Walz admitted that Vang’s crimes were “horrific.”

The State Department raked Walz over the coals for downplaying Vang’s crimes.

“Walz sides with foreign criminals. Secretary Rubio sides with the American people,” Johnson told Fox News Digital of the governor’s remarks. “Walz wants open borders. This administration ended the era of mass migration. Walz endangered the American people. Secretary Rubio protected them.”

EXPOSED DOCS REVEAL WHY TIM WALZ BOARD AWARDED REPEAT CHILD RAPIST PARDON: ‘NO FUTURE’

Upon last week’s announcement that the State Department had skirted Walz’s pardon and deported Vang anyway, Rubio scolded Walz for granting Vang clemency in the first place.

“Americans should never have to live in fear that foreign sex predators — shielded from deportation by their own elected officials — could endanger them or their children,” he told Fox News Digital

“That’s why I terminated his legal status in the United States,” he continued. “Vang has now been removed from our country and will never pose a threat to any American ever again.”

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At the time of Vang’s pardon, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) feared that the move would shield the criminal illegal alien from deportation.

“Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said at the time.

“These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting.”

A company where the husband of Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is a partner was selected for a nearly $2 billion deal to build a new courthouse in Springfield, Massachusetts — a decision now being challenged in court by rejected bidders who allege conflicts of interest tainted the process.

Conan Harris, who has been married to the Massachusetts Democrat for more than a decade, is a partner with John Barros in CoJo Real Estate, which is part of the Liberty Junction team selected in early July for the 40-year courthouse lease, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs allege Barros’ role as interim executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) created a conflict of interest because several members of that agency’s board also serve on the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, the state agency that selected Liberty Junction.

The lawsuit also described Harris as having “deep conflicts,” but its most detailed allegations center on Barros’ leadership role at the MCCA, another state agency.

‘CONFLICT OF INTEREST’: JUDGE WHO AXED TRUMP NAME FROM DC LANDMARK TIED TO ANTI-TRUMP CONSPIRACY THEORY

Pressley, a member of the “Squad,” was not accused of any wrongdoing by the plaintiffs, and there is no evidence she was involved in the bidding process to rebuild the aging Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse.

Records show the bidding process formally began June 30, 2025, when DCAMM released its request for proposals for the Springfield courthouse project.

The plaintiffs argued that when Barros became the head of the MCCA on Jan. 14, 2026, he did not disclose his participation in the courthouse bidding process to the State Ethics Commission.

The lawsuit also said the Liberty Junction proposal was not updated to indicate that Barros had been appointed to a leading role on the MCCA.

RED-STATE AUDITOR REPORTS ‘EXPLOSION’ OF FRAUD TIPS AS HE TARGETS STATE EMPLOYEES ‘RACKING UP’ TAXPAYER WASTE

Massachusetts law generally bars state employees from having a direct or indirect financial interest in state contracts, unless they qualify for an exemption, such as by making required disclosures to the State Ethics Commission and not participating in the contracting agency’s work.

Fox News Digital reached out to Barros and Harris for comment.

Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, defended the bidding process in a statement to reporters this week, saying that the city of Springfield deserves a new courthouse and calling the current building “sick.”

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“This was a competitive procurement process. It was a competitive bid, and the project that was chosen was the one that cost the taxpayers the least. I stand up for taxpayers. I’m all about supporting whatever is going to cost the taxpayers the least amount of money, as somebody who wants to protect taxpayer dollars,” Healey said on Wednesday, according to WWLP-TV.

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance told the Boston Herald on Tuesday that the Healey administration should “immediately pause this deal, release the relevant procurement records, conflict disclosures, scoring documents, and communications, and allow these allegations to be fully reviewed.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Healey’s office for comment.

Following a week of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle stops making national headlines, a federal special agent working in deportations revealed why vehicle stops are a “very important” part of the agency’s operations.

After the second ICE officer-involved shooting in a week took place in Maine on Monday, agents nationwide were given guidance to pause vehicle stops until further notice. That guidance, however, was overruled by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, who called vehicle stops “one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools.”

Though controversial, the agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said vehicle stops are actually the preferred tactic for many officers, because they are safer for both law enforcement and the subject than home apprehensions, and they allow more time to identify the target than street apprehensions.

Perhaps most notably, while vehicle stops have been widely criticized, the agent explained that they decrease “collateral” arrests, which they said are the apprehension of illegal immigrants who were not the target of the operation but were “at the wrong place at the right time.”

“[Vehicle stops] lead to a higher success rate in apprehending the target that they [ICE officers] are looking for and not getting the collateral. The collateral is the person that we’re not looking for, but we encounter, and they deem them as having no legal presence and/or illegal; therefore, they are going to have an admin arrest done on them.”

ICE RESUMES NATIONWIDE TRAFFIC STOPS UNDER NEW POLICY REQUIRING BODY CAMERAS

The agent said vehicle stops are a “daily” part of ICE’s operations. They described the stops as a critical “tool in the toolbox” for federal officers working on deportation operations.

Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow on border security and immigration at the Heritage Foundation, explained that vehicle stops have become increasingly “crucial” due to growing operational risks.

“When you have to go to someone’s house, we’ve seen how difficult that can be if they don’t want you in. You need warrants, and if you’re breaking down doors, chances of somebody getting hurt are significantly higher,” he said.

“What they’re trying to do is find people and take them into custody in the calmest, quietest, safest manner possible,” Hankinson continued. “So, ideal is when local law enforcement and police presence will honor ICE detainers, and they’ll hand them over at prisons when they’re finished their sentence or their hearing or whatever it is. But when they release particularly violent criminals into the city, they will go to ground, they’ll hide, they’ll hide in places where they’re hard to find. And so, it is easier to stop them in their vehicle when they are going from A to B than it is to try to pick them up in a building with doors that are locked.”

At the same time, Hankinson called out groups using the possibility of danger in these operations to push for an end to all enforcement operations.

DOJ ACCUSES MARYLAND OF ‘ACTIVE AND DELIBERATE EFFORT’ TO PREVENT DEPORTATIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: LAWSUIT

“They will pretend that what they really want is safety and that they just don’t want anybody getting hurt. But if you scratch the surface, you realize that’s not actually their goal. If we were able to carry out deportations in 100% perfect safety and security, they would still oppose it.”

In a social media post this week, Trump wrote, “We CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”

The president reasoned that the announced DHS policy shift would be “playing right into the criminal’s [sic] hands.”

Addressing federal agents directly, he then said, “ICE, be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.”

The agent said that Trump’s reversal was a “huge” boost for ICE officers. The agent also noted that despite the reversal, new training on vehicle stops and how to respond to dangerous situations is already being administered to many officers operating in the field. They said that, especially given the increase in often adversarial public attention, they would “welcome” even more training for officers on vehicle stops.

“Any time you take a tool out of the toolbox, it is going to create challenges for [agents] to do their job in a more efficient way,” the agent said.

HARRIS CALLS FOR ICE PROBE AFTER MAINE SHOOTING AMID RENEWED ‘BORDER CZAR’ CRITICISM

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“In other words, if I’m encountering them on a sidewalk, and they see me, and they can get in the car and leave, that’s what they’re going to do. And I don’t have any recourse, or our team will not have a recourse to go after him and stop him,” the agent said. “We’d have to hope he stops or, God forbid, he crashes into something and causes property and/or bodily harm to someone else, a third party.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone; I really don’t,” they said. “I think any sane person would be in agreement with me to say, ‘Hey, let’s look at how we can do this safer for everybody.'”

China pushed back Friday after President Donald Trump accused Beijing of “working to influence the results” of the 2020 presidential election, describing his accusation as “entirely fabricated.”

Trump said in a primetime speech Thursday night that “in mid 2018, China was working to influence the results of the U.S. midterm elections and later the results of the 2020 presidential election itself.”

Trump said in a primetime speech Thursday night that newly released documents “show CIA reporting explicitly stated, and I quote, in mid 2018, the Chinese Communist Party’s policy was to leverage all domestic and foreign elements that were opposed to the U.S. president in an effort to reduce the U.S. president’s votes and make him resign or prevent his reelection.”

“The reason they wanted me to lose is because they knew I was wise to them,” Trump added, while also accusing members of the U.S. intelligence community of operating a “shadow government” to allegedly conceal evidence of China’s efforts to influence U.S. elections.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Friday said “the relevant allegations by the U.S. are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China.”

“We have no interest in interfering in US elections and have never done so,” Jian said.

‘SHADOW GOVERNMENT’: TRUMP CLAIMS INTEL COMMUNITY BRAGGED ABOUT HIDING CHINESE MEDDLING

Asked whether this might affect the expected visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S. in September, the spokesperson replied: “As I just said, we urge the U.S. to stop making an issue of China in its elections and do something conducive to China-U.S. relations.”

Trump did not claim China changed votes or altered election results. Instead, he argued Beijing engaged in an influence campaign aimed at shaping U.S. public perceptions.

Trump said intelligence officials kept significant reporting out of his presidential briefings and highlighted an email in which a National Security Agency analyst allegedly wrote, “We have deliberately massaged our one pending [presidential daily brief] to avoid any direct links to the election.”

“Those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” Trump claimed. “They did not disclose (it) to me as president or to anyone else.”

Trump used the disclosures to press Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, casting the newly released intelligence as evidence that lawmakers must tighten federal election rules before the midterms.

SENATE FACES ‘COME-TO-JESUS’ MOMENT ON TRUMP’S ELECTION PRIORITY UNDER GOP’S NEW PLAN

The SAVE America Act passed the House in February but stalled in the Senate in March, when a 53–47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance it. Trump urged Americans to call their senators and representatives and demand its passage “without delay.”

The Trump administration also announced Thursday it will drastically shorten visas for foreign journalists in the U.S. to 240 days, down from years, and cut those for Chinese journalists to only 90 days.

China’s Foreign Ministry called the decision “discriminatory” and said it would affect the work of Chinese media in the U.S.

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“China urges the U.S. to immediately revoke its discriminatory policies targeting Chinese journalists and effectively safeguard their lawful rights and interests in the U.S.,” Jian said during a daily briefing in Beijing.

He added that “China reserves the right to take reciprocal countermeasures.”

Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House GOP leaders are scrambling to approve a sprawling budget reconciliation package packed with defense and election integrity priorities, but Republican lawmakers in both chambers are pouring cold water on the process.

The intraparty skepticism, including concerns over the lack of spending offsets, is throwing the ambitious timeline into doubt. And the move to attach the SAVE America Act to the process has already turned off some of its GOP opponents.

“If we keep on layering layers of complexity, like another bogus attempt at the SAVE Act, then we’re never gonna get it done,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said.

When asked if it included the legislation if he would vote “no,” Tillis said, “Absolutely.”

SENATE FACES ‘COME-TO-JESUS’ MOMENT ON TRUMP’S ELECTION PRIORITY UNDER GOP’S NEW PLAN

“And I’ll slow other things down, too,” the retiring senator said. “It’s a waste of time. It’s an exercise of futility, and those are the only positive things I can think of to say about it.”

Still, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has voiced confidence that both chambers can approve a budget blueprint — the first step in the complex reconciliation process — before lawmakers leave Washington for the August recess. The House Budget Committee advanced the budget plan Thursday, teeing up floor consideration as soon as next week.

But across the building, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that Johnson’s assurance was, “news to me.”

Thune acknowledged the desire to push both defense funding and the SAVE America Act through the party line process, but warned of consequences that could appear along the way.

“Again, the question is $60 billion worth the risk of putting something like that on the floor, and all the other harm that could potentially come from that,” Thune said.

The truncated timeline comes as the House is expected to leave for August recess by the end of next week, while the Senate will depart Washington, D.C., the first week of August. Some in the upper chamber argue that lawmakers shouldn’t go home if their work isn’t done.

“If we don’t get this done, we’re gonna to — I think we’re gonna have to stay,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital.

The Trump administration is also providing backup to reconciliation 3.0’s proponents.

The White House sent an internal memo to Hill offices Thursday expressing support for House Republicans’ $95 billion budget framework, which would allocate $73 billion in defense and intelligence funding among other provisions in a forthcoming bill.

“Congress must pass this budget resolution—without modification—immediately,” the document said in part.

Several Republicans told Fox News Digital they believe that will be a tough sell.

TRUMP’S VOTER ID BILL CATCHES UNLIKELY BREAK AS MCCONNELL REMAINS SIDELINED

California Rep. Kevin Kiley, an independent who caucuses with Republicans, told Fox News Digital he is “skeptical” about a third reconciliation bill.

Kiley said he is concerned that the $73 billion in defense funding could be spent with little congressional oversight.

“This is really our opportunity here for the House to assert itself when it comes to directing the resolution of this conflict on acceptable terms,” the California lawmaker said, referring to the war with Iran.

Kiley also said he opposes the budget reconciliation process because it intentionally cuts out Democrats from negotiations and said lawmakers should be relying on the normal appropriations process.

He voted against Republicans’ $72 billion immigration enforcement funding package earlier this year in part because the measure lacked buy-in from Democrats.

Fiscal hawks in both chambers have griped that the budget blueprint does not direct Congress to cut any spending — a move that would almost certainly increase budget deficits and contribute to the national debt.

“I think you got to pay for it,” Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told reporters Thursday.

The lack of spending offsets was met with a cold reception in the upper chamber as well.

“Our national debt is a runaway train. The next reconciliation bill should be fully paid for,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who lost re-election to a Trump-backed challenger, wrote on social media Thursday.

Burlison also said he does not support Republicans’ strategy of using a $10 billion funding pool to distribute grants to incentivize states to implement elements of the SAVE America Act, including citizenship verification and voter ID requirements.

He added that he could be convinced to vote for the budget framework if GOP leaders are able to force Democratic-led states to implement those provisions.

“To me, it’s not worth it if it’s weak language,” he continued. “You have huge incentives in Obamacare, and you still have 11 states that rejected hundreds of millions of dollars to expand Medicaid. So it’s nothing for states … if we’re going to just throw a few million bucks their way.”

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Complicating matters is whether Trump would even sign a reconciliation bill that didn’t include the entirety of the SAVE America Act, given how much he has pushed Republicans to pass the whole thing.

“I know, I know,” Thune told Fox News Digital. “That’s a good question. If you get the answer, let me know.”

Progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will parachute into battleground Michigan’s campaign trail this weekend to boost Abdul El-Sayed, the far-left candidate they’re supporting in a crucial Democratic Senate primary.

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez will make three campaign trail stops with El-Sayed, a former Wayne County Health Department director who is facing off for the party’s nomination against Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate lawmaker backed by longtime Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and the establishment.

After victories by far-left and socialist candidates over more moderate contenders in deep-blue congressional districts in New York City and Colorado last month drew national attention, Michigan is now the latest battleground in the high-stakes fight between the left-wing and the center-left establishment for the future of the Democratic Party.

“What you’re seeing here are the two opposing forces of the Democratic Party. Both candidates offer very different visions of what the party and the country should look like,” veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital. “The stakes are monumentally high because Democrats have to hold this seat in November.”

SWING STATE POLL SPELLS TROUBLE FOR FAR LEFT AS SCHUMER BACKED CANDIDATE SOARS

The winner of the Aug. 4 Democratic primary will take on former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who is on a glide path to the GOP nomination, in the key midterm Senate faceoff to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

The rare open Senate seat is a top Republican target in the midterms, as well as a must-hold for the Democrats as they aim to win back the Senate majority from the GOP, which currently controls the chamber with a slim 53-47 margin.

The showdown in Michigan became a two-way race a couple of weeks ago, after progressive state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, once the third major Democrat in the primary, suspended her campaign.

McMorrow, who has seen her national profile expand in recent years and was running as a progressive in an ideological space between El-Sayed and Stevens, exited the race after failing to keep pace with her two main rivals.

Stevens held a seven-point lead over El-Sayed earlier this week in a Detroit News/WDIV poll conducted after McMorrow dropped out and following a debate last week between the two candidates.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S CIVIL WAR HITS PRIMARY DEBATE STAGE

El-Sayed, who, if elected, would make history as the nation’s first Muslim senator, is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for Medicare-for-all a major component of his campaign.

The far-left candidate has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is a vocal critic of Israel amid its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians. And El-Sayed, who served as a top surrogate on Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has vowed not to accept PAC donations.

Schumer and the party establishment view Stevens as more electable than El-Sayed, who has sparked controversy with his past comments. They worry that El-Sayed as the party’s nominee would jeopardize the Democrat-controlled Senate seat by pushing the party too far to the left in a state that President Donald Trump carried two years ago by just over one percentage point.

Earlier this week, Peters, who to date had stayed neutral in the race to succeed him, endorsed Stevens.

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The primary showdown has become combustible.

“If you want your politics dictated by AIPAC or Chuck Schumer, then I’m not your guy,” El-Sayed said during last week’s debate, arguing the Democratic Party would not change if it continued to elect leaders who take money from corporations.

Stevens countered by accusing El-Sayed of benefiting from Republican efforts to boost him in the primary. “What my opponent needs to answer is, why is the GOP spending thousands of dollars to prop up his campaign, saying that he will make Mike Rogers the next U.S. senator?” Stevens said.

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

The primary clash is also expensive, with outside groups spending big bucks to flood the campaign trail with ads.

The biggest spending is United Democracy Project, a political action committee aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The group reports spending nearly $15 million in support of Stevens and against El-Sayed.

“This race is not between Abdul and Haley Stevens. It is Abdul vs. AIPAC,” Sanders argued in a social media post. “A billionaire-funded Super PAC shouldn’t determine American elections or foreign policy. Let’s support Abdul.”

A victory by El-Sayed over Stevens in the primary would give the far left a major win on a statewide stage, and further boost their momentum in the battle for the Democratic Party’s future.

But Matt Bennett, one of the leaders at the Third Way, a leading center-left Democratic organization, warned against placing too much emphasis on the results in Michigan, as he pointed to other factors in the race.

“I don’t think that even if El-Sayed wins, that means the national party is moving dramatically to the left, as the left will insist if that happens,” he told Fox News Digital. “Some of this is idiosyncratic. There’s a huge Arab American population in Michigan. The Israel issue is more resonant there than it is in other places. And candidates matter.”

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Caiazzo, a veteran of Sanders’ two presidential campaigns, also urged caution.

“I think it’s really important for Democrats not to read into these primaries as any sort of directional change within the party. Every single election happens under a different set of circumstances,” he said.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital his Republican colleagues are right to be troubled that the Justice Department spied on lawmakers to aid former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations.

“I think we need to have more facts. Look into it. Republicans are rightly concerned about the possible breach of norms and improper access to email,” Blumenthal told Fox News Digital Wednesday.

The GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee released a trove of documents Tuesday showing that Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump included the Department of Justice collecting text messages between 44 members of Congress, among them Republicans and Democrats, and White House staff. 

The messages were purportedly related to Smith’s probe of the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol and Trump’s storage of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

TODD BLANCHE EXPOSES HOW AGGRESSIVE BIDEN DOJ TARGETED LOW-LEVEL MAR-A-LAGO EMPLOYEES

Other Democrats were less willing than Blumenthal to lend credence to Republican concerns regarding how Smith carried out his investigation.

“I’ve got no comment on that. If you want to talk about the news of the day, I will,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., told Fox News Digital, referencing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing. Booker was among the lawmakers who had their text messages seized by the Justice Department.

Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; and Patty Murray, D-Wash., all declined to comment on the issue when approached by Fox News Digital.

DEM SENATOR’S STUNT GOES SIDEWAYS AFTER GOP LAWMAKER TORCHES HIM AT IMMIGRATION HEARING

Blumenthal’s remarks mark a rare note of bipartisan concern over Smith’s handling of politically sensitive communications, even as other Democrats avoided weighing in on the GOP-led probe. The new documents have intensified Republican scrutiny of whether Justice Department safeguards failed during highly consequential investigations into Trump, while raising fresh questions about how far prosecutors went in accessing lawmakers’ private communications.

“I think Jack Smith is a political hack. I think that’s why the Justice Department, under President Biden, picked him,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital. 

“Everybody knows he’s a political hack. He never should have been near power. He shouldn’t be near power now because he can’t exercise it objectively or non-emotionally.”

JACK SMITH THRUST BACK INTO SPOTLIGHT AT BLANCHE HEARING OVER EXPOSED SENATORS’ MESSAGES

The Judiciary Committee claims the lawmakers’ messages were reviewed in a way that runs afoul of DOJ protocol.

A “filter team” was supposed to review the communications before Smith’s investigative team could look at them, according to the documents. Contractors managing document review software for the filter team, however, failed to properly set up permission guardrails, allowing the investigative team to examine documents that had not been screened, according to a letter sent to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, by the DOJ.

“He honestly believes he’s smarter and more virtuous than the American people. He’s not, and that’s what got him in trouble,” Kennedy told Fox News Digital in reference to Smith.

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After the Senate Judiciary Committee released the documents on Tuesday, multiple Republican lawmakers alleged that Smith perjured himself by answering “no” to a question from a congressional lawyer about whether he requested text messages from lawmakers as part of his investigation.

“I don’t know whether it was misleading. I just, I really haven’t followed it,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told reporters regarding the allegations against Smith.

The White House on Thursday condemned as “a disgrace” a Trump administration teleprompter operator accused of betting on President Donald Trump’s speeches, saying he has been placed on paid administrative leave amid a federal investigation.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the matter and condemned the staffer’s alleged conduct during Thursday’s White House press briefing.

“Obviously, I’m aware of the report. The president is, too. I spoke with him about it,” Leavitt said. “He believes it’s deeply unfortunate and, frankly, a disgrace.”

TRUMP KEEPS ‘REALLY BIG’ ADDRESS UNDER WRAPS AS WHITE HOUSE SAYS ‘NOBODY KNOWS’ WHAT HE’LL REVEAL

Leavitt said the employee has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation and confirmed a different teleprompter operator would handle Trump’s speech Thursday evening.

ABC News first reported that federal investigators with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission found a White House staffer — identified by sources as Gabriel Perez, Trump’s teleprompter operator since 2016 — allegedly made tens of thousands of dollars by betting on the contents of Trump’s speeches through the prediction market Kalshi.

“The White House has strict ethics guidelines that we expect all staffers and officials to follow,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News when asked about the report. “The staffer in question is fully cooperating with the CFTC.”

A CFTC spokesperson told Fox News the agency “can’t confirm or deny an investigation.”

The case began after Kalshi’s surveillance systems flagged a series of unusual trades in March involving markets tied to words and phrases expected to appear in Trump’s public remarks.

HEGSETH ANNOUNCES JOINT TASK FORCE WITH DOJ TO PROSECUTE LEAKS TO JOURNALISTS ‘WITH THE FULL FORCE OF THE LAW’

Kalshi said the trades stood out because they did not follow typical trading patterns and also drew complaints from market makers through the platform’s whistleblower channels. After reviewing account information, the company said it identified the trader as a federal employee who worked as a White House teleprompter operator.

Kalshi said it froze the account before the trader could withdraw most of the alleged profits, leaving more than $90,000 on the platform while the matter was referred to federal regulators.

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“Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC after an exchange investigation,” Robert DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, told Fox News. “We have been assisting regulators on this matter and provided evidence we collected, as we do in any referral.”

Kalshi said the markets involved common words and topics expected to appear in presidential speeches — including country names, economic terms, campaign language and social issues — rather than classified or otherwise sensitive information. The company added it has worked with the CFTC for months as the investigation has continued.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers across the country have been told they can resume traffic stops under new guidance issued Thursday, but only if at least one officer involved is wearing a body camera, sources tell Fox News.

The guidance comes after the White House publicly confirmed Thursday that ICE vehicle stops are continuing. 

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin are “on the same page” that traffic stops remain “a necessary tool” for ICE agents carrying out the administration’s deportation campaign.

“Vehicle stops are a necessary tool that ICE agents need in order to continue their deportation campaign of the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals from our country,” Leavitt said. “With respect to body cameras, I know there’s been some questions about that in recent days. Over half of all ICE field offices now do have body cameras.”

ICE ARRESTS RECORD 238 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN ONE DAY DURING SOUTH TEXAS ENFORCEMENT OPERATION

The new directive means officers without access to body cameras are not authorized to conduct traffic stops. Body cameras have not yet been deployed to every ICE field office after the rollout began in the agency’s largest cities.

The policy is expected to continue limiting the number of ICE traffic stops that can be conducted nationwide until the rollout is complete, a process sources say is expected to take roughly two more months.

“ICE will ensure each arrest team has an individual wearing a body camera,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. “Ensuring all of our ICE law enforcement officers have body cameras nationwide is a top priority for DHS — especially given the increase in attacks against our law enforcement, including a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them and a 3,300% increase in vehicle attacks. 

SEN ERIC SCHMITT SEEKS TO END BIRTH TOURISM, REVOKE CITIZENSHIP FOR BABIES OF FOREIGN DIPLOMATS

“This is especially needed because the media and sanctuary politicians consistently spread smears about our law enforcement.”

The spokesperson added, “The process of purchasing and issuing body-worn cameras to all of our ICE field offices was interrupted by the Democrats’ multiple government shutdowns. Body cameras have been deployed to more than half the field offices with the remaining half expected to receive them in less than 60 days.”

Leavitt likewise said Thursday that more than half of ICE field officers are now equipped with bodycams, and that the remaining offices are expected to receive them within 60 days. 

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She attributed the slower-than-expected rollout to what she described as Democrats’ decision to shut down DHS for several weeks.

The guidance marks the latest operational change for ICE as the agency expands its use of body cameras while resuming a key immigration enforcement tactic under President Donald Trump’s second administration.

The Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to clarify “birthright citizenship,” but a Republican senator is taking up the mantle of Congress to rework the 14th Amendment, while calling for the Trump administration to revoke citizenship of babies born to foreign diplomats.

“The 14th Amendment confers American citizenship upon persons born in the United States while ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., wrote in a letter Thursday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

“For more than a century, statutory law, judicial precedent, and executive-branch policy have recognized that foreign diplomats’ children born in the United States are not ‘subject to [its] jurisdiction’ and therefore do not acquire citizenship at birth.

“Indeed, even though the majority in Trump v. Barbara wrongfully expanded birthright citizenship to cover the children of illegal aliens and temporarily present aliens, it too recognized that the children of diplomats do not acquire birthright citizenship.” 

‘IT’S INSANE’: GOP SENATOR SAYS SUPREME COURT BIRTHRIGHT RULING HANDS CHINA A CITIZENSHIP LOOPHOLE

Schmitt’s letter requests the State Department and DHS investigate “illegal grants of citizenship documentation to foreign diplomats’ children, implement policies and procedures to prevent it from occurring in the future, identify the individuals who have illegally procured citizenship documentation in this manner, and revoke those individuals’ illegally procured citizenship documentation.”

The demand comes two days after Schmitt introduced the American Citizenship Act, legislation that would limit birthright citizenship to children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

“SCOTUS got birthright citizenship dangerously wrong,” Schmitt wrote on X. “I’m filing the American Citizenship Act to start the process of restoring the 14th Amendment’s original meaning.

“My bill restores the original understanding to prevent birthright citizenship for illegal aliens and tourists.”

TRUMP BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP FIGHT COMES ROARING BACK WITH ‘INVADERS’ PLAY AFTER KAVANAUGH ROADMAP

The Supreme Court ruled June 30 in Trump v. Barbara that children born in the U.S. to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. The decision blocked Trump’s executive order seeking to deny citizenship to those children.

Schmitt’s bill is aimed at reopening the fight through Congress.

“American citizenship is sacred — our nation, and its people, are bound together by the values and freedoms our forefathers fought a revolution to secure,” Schmitt wrote in a statement Tuesday, when he introduced the American Citizenship Act.

“But the Supreme Court’s erroneous interpretation of the 14th Amendment last month degraded the meaning of that citizenship by extending it to children born to illegal or temporary aliens — including ‘birth tourists’ — who come to our country in violation of our laws. 

“That is an egregious departure from the original meaning of the 14th Amendment.”

TRUMP’S SCOTUS PREDICTION TAKES ON NEW WEIGHT AHEAD OF BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP RULING

The Thursday letter focuses on a narrower category: children of foreign diplomats. Federal policy has long treated children born in the U.S. to accredited foreign diplomatic officers as outside the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship guarantee because their parents are not fully subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says such children do not acquire citizenship at birth, though they may register for lawful permanent residence.

Schmitt argued that despite the rule, foreign diplomats’ children have still been able to obtain birth certificates, Social Security numbers and other documents that can be used to claim U.S. citizenship. His letter said agencies lack adequate safeguards to flag when a newborns’ parents are foreign diplomats before citizenship-related documents are issued.

“Foreign diplomats’ children using improperly procured citizenship documentation to illegally claim citizenship degrades the meaning of American citizenship, undermines our sovereignty, and threatens our national security,” Schmitt wrote.

Schmitt urged the State Department and DHS to investigate the scope of what he called improper grants of citizenship documentation, prevent future issuance, identify those who received the documents and revoke documentation that was unlawfully obtained. His letter cited public reporting and legal scholarship to claim that potentially thousands of diplomats’ children may have received citizenship records, despite not being citizens at birth.

Schmitt, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, has made birthright citizenship a central focus after the Supreme Court decision. He previously announced plans for a constitutional amendment and led an amicus brief backing Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.

Civil liberties groups have sharply opposed efforts to restrict birthright citizenship. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which challenged Trump’s executive order, argued the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born in the U.S. and said no president can rewrite that constitutional protection.

Schmitt, however, said the court’s ruling strengthened the case for congressional action.

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“I introduced the American Citizenship Act to restore that original meaning, challenge the Supreme Court’s decision, protect the sacred bond of American citizenship, and honor the legacy of our nation’s patriots who fought to protect what it means to be an American,” Schmitt’s statement concluded.

“It would restart our fight in the courts for sanity in birthright citizenship. While the Supreme Court’s decision threatens to destroy American citizenship, I am fighting to defend it.”

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

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., declined to weigh in on the latest scandal to hit a member of his party, instead focusing on his planned diatribe against President Donald Trump’s primetime address Thursday.

The New York Post reported that Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., engaged in sexual relationships with at least two Democratic House staffers who did not work for him while he was a member of the House. According to House rules, members are not barred from having relationships with staffers who work outside their office.

Sources told the outlet it was believed the relationships happened while the lawmaker was unmarried.

ETHICS PANEL CLEARS GALLEGO AS LUNA DECLARES, ‘ONCE A CREEP, ALWAYS A CREEP’

When asked to weigh in on the latest scandal involving Gallego, Schumer mentioned his planned speech railing against Trump’s scheduled address on foreign interference in the 2020 election Thursday night and told Fox News Digital, “I’m not — I’m focused on this right now.”

It’s the latest bad headline to hit Gallego, who has been in the conversation for a 2028 presidential bid. The Post reported that Gallego admitted to the two relationships, which were both with aides to Texas Democrats.

When asked by reporters about the allegations, Gallego said, “I’m not going to engage in gossip.”

‘DISTURBING’ ALLEGATIONS AGAINST UNNAMED SENATOR UNDER REVIEW IN WAKE OF SCANDALS ROCKING CONGRESS

Gallego’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Gallego has come under scrutiny for his relationship with former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned from the House earlier this year after being accused by several women of sexual assault, rape and harassment.

Swalwell has vehemently denied the allegations.

Gallego moved to quickly distance himself from Swalwell and argued their tight-knit relationship “clouded my judgment,” regarding rumors that swirled about the ex-lawmaker for years in Washington, D.C.

He also reportedly hired former President Joe Biden’s former deputy press secretary to handle crisis communications in the ensuing fallout from Swalwell and a now-dismissed Senate Ethics probe.

SENATOR GALLEGO SAYS LONGTIME FRIENDSHIP WITH SWALWELL ‘CLOUDED MY JUDGMENT’ AS RUMORS SWIRLED IN DC

That probe, which centered on a complaint from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., that alleged Gallego committed sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations, was tossed out by the Senate Ethics Committee last month.

Gallego said in a statement at the time that the Ethics Committee’s decision “reaffirms what I have said about these accusations from the beginning: they were right-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists like Anna Paulina Luna, the White House and their allies.”

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Luna quickly weighed in on the latest allegation, charging on X, “‘Conspiracy theories,’ right, [Sen. Ruben Gallego]?”

“Time to resign. Glad people are going on record about this creep,” she said.

President Donald Trump accused members of the U.S. intelligence community Thursday night of operating a “shadow government” to allegedly conceal evidence of China’s efforts to influence U.S. elections, seizing on newly declassified emails that he says reveal a bitter internal dispute about how Beijing’s activities should be characterized.

Trump did not claim China changed votes or altered election results. Instead, he argued Beijing engaged in an influence campaign aimed at shaping U.S. public perceptions.

Trump claimed intelligence officials kept significant reporting out of his presidential briefings and highlighted an email in which a National Security Agency analyst allegedly wrote, “We have deliberately massaged our one pending (presidential daily brief) to avoid any direct links to the election.”

“Those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” Trump claimed. “They did not disclose (it) to me as president or to anyone else.”

TRUMP RELEASES DECLASSIFIED ELECTION INTELLIGENCE, SAYS IT REVEALS ‘SHOCKING VULNERABILITIES’

Trump used the disclosures to press Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, casting the newly released intelligence as evidence that lawmakers must tighten federal election rules before the midterms.

“Most importantly, addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE America Act,” Trump said. “These reforms are urgently needed to stop the vulnerabilities that I’ve mentioned.”

The SAVE America Act passed the House in February but stalled in the Senate in March, when a 53–47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance it. Trump urged Americans to call their senators and representatives and demand its passage “without delay.”

REPUBLICAN SAYS TRUMP’S TOP ELECTION PRIORITY ‘DEAD’ IN SENATE AS GOP FRACTURES AHEAD OF MIDTERMS

The legislation would require documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections, photo identification to vote and ongoing state efforts to identify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls. Absentee voters would be required to submit a copy of an eligible photo ID when requesting a ballot and again when returning it.

Trump also called for eliminating mail-in voting except in cases of illness, disability, military deployment or travel. The current text of the SAVE America Act does not include that prohibition — it permits absentee voting subject to identification requirements.

Trump urged Americans to call their representatives and demand the bill’s passage “without delay.”

The newly released emails show that analysts disagreed over whether any alleged Chinese influence operations and intelligence collection should be explicitly linked to elections. After the NSA analyst described “massaging” the President’s Daily Brief, other intelligence officials questioned the decision, with one writing that “the mind boggles” and another calling the approach “highly irregular.”

One official alleged the intelligence community was “deliberately avoiding mentioning a connection to elections for non-substantive reasons,” according to a November 2020 email. That official sought to reconnect the intelligence to the election-security assessment and prevent what another described as an “analytic objectivity mistake.”

The documents, however, do not establish Trump’s broader allegation of a politically motivated conspiracy. Instead, they portray competing intelligence assessments over whether China’s actions amounted to an effort to influence the presidential contest or a broader campaign focused on U.S. policies, public opinion and issues important to Beijing.

Trump went further Thursday, claiming an FBI official wrote that she was running a “shadow government” to prevent the China intelligence from becoming public.

The Chinese embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Trump directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Justice Department, FBI and CIA Thursday to investigate why the intelligence was withheld, fire anyone found to have participated in a cover-up and pursue criminal charges “if appropriate.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in response to the address: “Americans heard the president once again repeat claims about our elections that have been investigated for years and repeatedly rejected by the Intelligence Community.”

President Donald Trump addressed the nation Thursday evening on “free and fair” elections, announcing the declassification of critical intelligence that reveals, as he said, “shocking vulnerabilities” related to “hacking, exploitation and foreign interference.”

“This vital information is for many years been covered up and hidden from you,” Trump said. “The American people are beautiful, our great American people. But that all changes right now.”

Documents were posted to the White House website during the president’s speech.

The speech came as his administration has aggressively pushed policies, legislation and executive orders to secure U.S. elections. Leading up to the address, Trump teased that his speech would be “big news.” Trump touted his new Trump Accounts and spoke about how his administration has lowered drug prices, reduced crime, and strengthened the border – with the main focus on securing American elections.

“The documents we will release starting tonight have been gathered by the White House Government Transparency Taskforce, a great group of people, along with the staff of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, supported by our top intelligence agency chiefs, who have all personally reviewed the findings we are presenting this evening and fully confirmed their authenticity,” Trump said Thursday.

TRUMP KEEPS ‘REALLY BIG’ ADDRESS UNDER WRAPS AS WHITE HOUSE SAYS ‘NOBODY KNOWS’ WHAT HE’LL REVEAL

TRUMP THREATENS TO EXPAND STRIKES ON IRAN, SAYS POWER PLANTS ARE NEXT TO GO: ‘HIT THEM HARD’

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is taking heat after state flag status records showed flags at full-staff despite a White House proclamation directing U.S. flags flown at half-staff nationwide in remembrance of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., through Saturday evening.

“This is probably the most political [Trenton administration], and she’s only been there six months — probably the most political governor I’ve served with in the last 25 years,” New Jersey state Sen. Joe Pennacchio, R-Boonton, told Fox News Digital Thursday. He formally requested the governor lower the flags earlier this week after Graham’s death.

A Trenton source confirmed that flags at the Capitol remained at full-staff as of midday Thursday. A New Jersey Department of State website tracking flag status also indicated “all flags full-staff” on Thursday.

SEN LINDSEY GRAHAM DEAD AT 71 AFTER ‘BRIEF AND SUDDEN’ ILLNESS, OFFICE SAYS

Sherrill, whose office did not respond to multiple requests for comment, appeared to be one of a handful of Democratic state leaders to ignore the White House’s proclamation.

Neighboring Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro both reportedly ordered flags lowered, along with leaders of California, Colorado, Maryland,

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger did not appear to issue half-staff orders either because each state’s official flag status remained “full-staff” as of Thursday. Fox News Digital reached out to both governors for comment.

Pennacchio told Fox News Digital that, after inaction from Sherrill on lowering the flags, he crafted a formal request.

Pennacchio said honoring people like Graham should be nonpartisan because Graham was a respected public figure and a decades-long U.S. Air Force veteran and someone who also exuded a bipartisan nature, particularly on key votes like confirmations of Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.

“My request was very respectful. It wasn’t partisan at all,” he said, noting that Sherrill is also a veteran.

Pennacchio said Graham would speak about the importance of putting politics aside in important moments like this, recounting that the South Carolinian defended his aisle-crossing confirmation votes by saying his advise-and-consent role was to consider whether a nominee is qualified regardless of party.

KAGAN RECALLS LINDSEY GRAHAM’S VOTE THAT HELPED SEAL HER SUPREME COURT CONFIRMATION

When Sherrill was in Congress, she represented Pennacchio’s state Senate district. He told Fox News Digital he had hope for bipartisanship with Sherrill because the two offices worked very well together on intergovernmental constituent services.

Sherrill’s decision not to lower flags also ran counter to one of New Jersey’s other most prominent Democrats, Sen. Cory Booker, who recorded a video honoring Graham.

In his video, Booker spoke of how, as a freshman senator, he was told by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., that Graham would be a good bipartisan colleague to work with on criminal justice reform.

Booker recounted walking up to Graham and breaching the topic, and Graham jokingly admonished him that he was in a South Carolina primary with a “bat—- crazy” opponent and that he can’t even be seen with Democrats.

Graham said Booker should come back to him after the election, and he did.

“True to his word, [Graham] rolled up his sleeves and he went to work,” Booker said, adding that their collaboration ended in the passage of the First Step Act.

Booker did not respond to a request for comment on this story, but Pennacchio said he appreciated the Democrat’s gesture.

“Senator Booker is as partisan as they come, but he did the right thing and put his partisanship aside,” Pennacchio said. “The death of one diminishes a little bit of all of us.”

Another New Jersey figure who did speak out after Graham’s passing was Rep. Christopher Smith, a Republican representing the Jersey Shore and the Garden State’s longest-serving congressman.

MAJORITY LEADER THUNE: LINDSEY GRAHAM WAS THE GOP’S GLUE, BINDING US TOGETHER WITH COURAGE AND GRACE

“Lindsey Graham was an indefatigable and courageous fighter for the right to life, human rights, liberty and freedom,” Smith said earlier this week.

“He was articulate and persuasive and brought both incisive candor and humor to debate. He was a national treasure and will be deeply missed. My wife, Marie, and I offer our deepest condolences to his family.”

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Fox News Digital also reached out to Booker’s counterpart, Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., for comment on the situation.

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“Our nation has long understood that when a public servant passes away after a lifetime of service to the American people, we come together and honor them with dignity and respect. New Jersey should not be the exception,” Pennacchio said.

FIRST ON FOX – The Department of Homeland Security told election officials in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania a preliminary review found what could be more than 256,000 noncitizens registered to vote across the four states, according to letters obtained by Fox News Digital.

In the four letters dated Friday, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the department compared publicly available voter registration records with federal immigration data and uncovered thousands of potential matches. He asked state election officials to work with DHS to verify the identities before taking any action.

According to the letters, DHS estimates there may be as many as 190,832 noncitizens registered to vote in California, 35,152 in New Jersey, 15,903 in Nevada and 14,576 in Pennsylvania. 

The department said it found 81,336 California registrants, 19,497 New Jersey registrants, 8,576 Nevada registrants and 8,594 Pennsylvania registrants whose names, dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers match noncitizens in DHS records.

DHS PLANS COSTLY CRACKDOWN ON STATES THAT DON’T COOPERATE ON ELECTION SECURITY

Many noncitizens are legally issued Social Security numbers, including lawful permanent residents, people authorized to work in the United States and certain visa holders. DHS said it used Social Security numbers as one of several identifiers in matching voter registration records with federal immigration records.

The letters describe the findings as a preliminary review.

“The most efficient way to ensure the accuracy of our findings is to work collaboratively on identity verification,” Mullin wrote. DHS said it is prepared to provide immigration records under federal law to help states determine whether those individuals are eligible to remain on the voter rolls.

DHS DIRECTS ICE TO DEPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO VOTE IN AMERICAN ELECTIONS UNDER NEW DIRECTIVE

Mullin said ensuring that only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections is essential to protecting election integrity, writing that “allowing just one non-citizen to vote cancels the vote of one U.S. citizen.” 

He added that states maintain voter registration rolls while the federal government maintains the immigration records needed to verify citizenship.

The letters ask the secretaries of state to contact DHS by July 24 so the department can begin sharing records and assisting with the verification process ahead of future federal elections.

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California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, New Jersey Secretary of State Dale Caldwell and Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital requests for comment.

The letters come as the Trump administration continues pushing states to work more closely with federal agencies on election security and voter eligibility, arguing that access to federal immigration records can help states maintain accurate voter rolls.

Several Republican senators challenged the credibility of the testimony of a former Biden Justice Department official during the second day of the Todd Blanche confirmation hearing, pointing to the part she played in the clemency granted to 37 death row inmates.

Democrats called Elizabeth Oyer, the former U.S. pardon attorney at the Department of Justice, a nonpolitical position she served from April 2022 until March 2025 when then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche fired her, which she argued was politically motivated.

While Democrats cast the former pardon attorney as evidence Blanche had politicized the Justice Department, Republicans argued her recommendations to commute the sentences of federal death row inmates undermined her credibility.

Blanche, who has served as acting attorney general since April 2, did not publicly disclose the reasoning for Oyer’s firing, but she claimed it was because she refused to recommend that actor Mel Gibson, who serves as a special envoy to Hollywood for President Donald Trump, have his gun rights restored. The Justice Department denied this as the cause for her firing.

TRUMP’S AG NOMINEE RACKS UP MASSIVE SUPPORT AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘REAL RESULTS’

In her opening testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, Oyer mentioned Blanche’s handling of the Epstein files and Ghislaine Maxwell’s reassignment to a lower security prison as among the main reasons Blanche should not become attorney general.

“At the end of the day, the priority of this DOJ is protecting powerful men, even when it comes at the expense of vulnerable women,” Oyer testified Thursday.

But Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.; and Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, hammered Oyer over an internal memo from Nov. 4, 2024, in which she recommended that Attorney General Merrick Garland advise President Joe Biden to consider commuting the 40 remaining federal death sentences. Biden went on to commute the death sentences of 37 of those recommended.

“You have no credibility to talk about Todd Blanche. You have none,” Schmitt said. “You’ve come here, you deny basic facts. You recommended the commutation of murderers. You gave no quarter at all or any time to the victims of these brutal murders. So, again, I can’t believe you’ve been called here by the other side. But I’m glad we’ve had an opportunity to expose your hypocrisy.”

A report from the Justice Department found that Oyer’s 73-page memorandum only dedicated three paragraphs to address the grievances of the victims’ families.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES IT’S READOPTING THE FIRING SQUAD AS A MEANS OF EXECUTION

Earlier in the hearing, Hawley pointed out some of the notorious federal death row inmates whose death sentences Oyer recommended be commuted to life in prison. Among them was Dylan Roof, who was convicted in the June 17, 2015, mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where he killed nine Black parishioners during a Bible study. Biden ultimately declined to pardon him.

“You said that actually Roof is not a compelling candidate for clemency, but you recommended it anyway,” Hawley said, referring to Oyer’s memorandum. “Why? Because he suffered from anxiety. You said, ‘Right, he suffered from anxiety’. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the family of his victims might suffer a little bit of anxiety because he marched into their church and murdered them in cold blood, because he was an incredible racist and he wanted to get on TV?”

Hawley then turned to Oyer’s recommendation to commute the death sentence of Robert Bowers, who was convicted of 63 federal charges stemming from the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting, which killed 11 Jewish worshipers. Biden also did not commute Bowers’ sentence.

“This guy killed people just because they’re Jews,” Hawley said. “A jury recommended that he be sentenced to death, and you substituted your judgment for theirs, and now he’s going to live. Are you proud of that?”

“Sir, what I am proud of is the fact that I took my job as pardon attorney extremely seriously,” Oyer said in response.

“I think your judgment is astoundingly terrible. I’m amazed that this side of the aisle has called you.” Hawley responded.

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But Grassley pointed out that Oyer also recommended commuting the death sentence of Jorge Avila-Torrez. Torrez was on federal death row for convictions for the stabbing deaths of two young girls in Illinois, the murder of Navy Petty Officer Amanda Snell at a Virginia military base and the abduction and rape of a University of Maryland graduate student.

He pressed Oyer on the pardon recommendations she made. Oyer refused to answer, invoking the president’s executive privilege.

“You can’t even tell me if you contacted the victim’s family?” Grassley asked. “You can’t say yes or no to that?”

Oyer said that all the death row inmates who received clemency will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

“These are absolutely horrific cases,” Oyer said. “And every one of the individuals you mentioned will remain incarcerated for the rest of their lives, most likely in a maximum security prison facility.”

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., condemned his Republican colleagues’ line of questioning with Oyer later in the hearing.

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“I just want to start off by saying, Miss Oyer, I hold you in the highest esteem and respect, especially what you’re doing now as a private citizen,” Booker said. “You use a platform to educate people about the law. 

“It is technical, but yet accessible. And the badgering you just endured, it should be completely unacceptable. You were asked to comment on things you didn’t have before you. The treatment here, to me, is just outrageous. And I apologize on behalf of the United States Senate.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office and Oyer for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: An Illinois Angel Mom whose daughter died after a tragic encounter with an illegal alien last year revealed to Fox News Digital details of a conversation she had with President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee that convinced her he’s the man for the job.

“I immediately felt so pulled towards him,” Jennifer Bos said, speaking about Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “You get a certain energy from people, and he is just the kindest… He listened to my story very intently, and you could just see his mind ticking like, ‘what are we going to do about this?'”

Bos’ daughter, Megan Bos, was just 37 when she was found dead in April 2026, stuffed in a garbage can and soaked in bleach, 51 days after she disappeared. An illegal alien from Mexico, Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, was charged with several felonies in relation to Megan’s death after her body was found on his property.

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Mendoza-Gonzalez is accused of abuse of a corpse, two counts of concealing the death of a person and obstructing justice. He claims Megan overdosed, and insists he had nothing to do with her death.

Due to Illinois’ sanctuary policies, Mendoza-Gonzalez walked free after an initial hearing, infuriating Jennifer. He was tracked down and re-arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Indiana in July 2026, just days after Jennifer shared her tragic story with Trump when they crossed paths at an anti-fentanyl bill signing.

Jennifer and her husband are now raising Megan’s daughter, who was five years old when her mother died.

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Though, as Jennifer noted, there is nothing Blanche can do to help her family specifically, since her daughter has already tragically died, she is confident the attorney general nominee understands the plight of Angel Families everywhere.

“We’re trying to make a difference for people who haven’t been touched by this kind of tragedy, who haven’t been touched be the violence that can be from an illegal immigrant,” Jennifer said.

She said she thinks Blanche, placed as acting attorney general after Pam Bondi’s ouster, is “being true to the job he’s supposed to do.”

“I trust that he’s doing the right thing for the right reasons,” she continued.

Jennifer testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee just 24 hours after Democrats on the committee attempted to shred Blanche’s credibility, and paint him as a personal yes-man for Trump.

She told Fox News Digital those same Democrats have completely ignored families whose lives have been forever altered by the death of a relative at the hands of an illegal alien, including hers. She didn’t speak to any Democrats on the panel before her Thursday testimony.

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“You know, before President Trump came into office, Angel Families were inconvenient truths,” she said. “They didn’t want to acknowledge the damage that was being done by having open borders and by having people here illegally, that they couldn’t track, they couldn’t identify.”

She described Republicans and independents as “welcoming,” and said they’re always open to meetings and helping Angel Families tell their stories.

Jennifer came face-to-face with her own senator, Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who is the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, during Thursday’s hearing.

“I was very frustrated listening to my own senator when he addressed me directly, giving his apologies, because all I could think of was, you know, I’ve been out in the public, I’m everywhere, I have been for the last year and a half, yet never once has he said anything to me, reached out to me or anything of the like,” said Jennifer.

She said the issue of illegal alien crime is “very nonpartisan,” noting that it can happen to anyone regardless of political ideology and expressing disappointment that both sides of the political aisle can’t come together to solve the problem.

Jennifer did say that Durbin approached her to chat after the hearing, and that she is hopeful the pair can collaborate on solutions in the future.

During the hearing, Jennifer said Blanche is listening to Angel Families, and that they’re “being taken seriously.”

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“I’m asking the committee not to wait until another mother is sitting where I am, confirmed Todd Blanche,” she said. “He is a leader who will uphold the law, honor victims, confront dangerous criminal organizations, and fight to give other American families the safety and lasting protection that came too late for mine.”

“I couldn’t save my daughter. But Todd Blanche as attorney general, he might save yours because next time, it could be your child. It could be your family. It could be you.”

The Trump administration is opening civil-rights investigations into the University of Connecticut and the University of Minnesota after receiving complaints alleging the schools are operating dorm programs that may be steering students into campus housing services based on race.

The complaints, filed by the Equal Protection Project and obtained by Fox News Digital, accuse UConn of operating three allegedly discriminatory housing programs — ScHOLA²RS House, BSOUL House and La Comunidad Intelectual — promoted toward Black male, Black female and Hispanic students. A separate complaint against the University of Minnesota Twin Cities names four programs — Huntley House, Charlotte’s Home, CASA SOL and Tsev Hmoob — that allegedly are promoted toward Black male, Black female, Hispanic and Hmong American students. 

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the programs potentially violate the Fair Housing Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and constitutional equal-protection guarantees by steering students toward or away from dormitory housing programs – which also include student support services – based on race, color or national origin, even when the universities say the programs are “open to all.”

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“Unlawful discrimination cannot be allowed to poison American communities or separate members of our next generation —especially in college and university housing,” Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Every student has the right to learn and live in an educational environment free from illegal and divisive DEI. Unlike the Biden Administration, the Trump Administration does not play favorites. Every American deserves the law’s protection, and any institution of higher education that engages in unlawful housing discrimination will be held accountable.”

Both universities denied engaging in discriminatory housing practices.

A University of Minnesota spokesperson told Fox News Digital the school wasn’t aware of the probe from HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, but argued the school’s programs are compliant with “federal regulations, guidelines and anti-discrimination laws.” HUD confirmed to Fox News Digital it sent notice of the investigation to the university ahead of publication. 

“The University’s Living Learning Communities are open to all students, regardless of race or ethnicity, which is clearly stated on our website,” the spokesperson said. “The University is diligent in its compliance with federal regulations, guidelines and anti-discrimination laws.”

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However, the Equal Protection Project’s complaint cited by HUD appeared to anticipate UMN’s defense, arguing that the school’s “open to all” disclaimer does not resolve the alleged problem because the university still “expressly defines and markets” the residential communities around race or ethnicity. 

“Such perfunctory non-discrimination language does not cure the racial steering violation,” the complaint says.

The complaint points to UMN materials describing Huntley House as a community “designed for Black men,” Charlotte’s House as “designed for Black women,” CASA SOL as “designed for Latinx students” and Tsev Hmoob as “designed for Hmong American students,” all of which provide housing and programmatic benefits including peer mentoring, academic support, community events and shared residential space for selected students.

The complaint also alleges UMN added its “open to all” language to at least three of the programs sometime after March 17, 2026, based on internet archive history, and argues that the late-added disclaimer does not cure the alleged violation. Instead, the complaint says, the added language suggests the university was aware its race-based descriptions and opens them to legal liability.

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Meanwhile, UConn also denied discriminating in campus housing.

“UConn does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, or any other aspect of identity, including in our on-campus housing,” a university spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

“UConn is home to nearly 20 different interdisciplinary living and learning communities within on-campus housing, all of which are organized around students who may have similar interests, backgrounds, or academic pursuits, including the three that were specifically named,” the spokesperson continued. “However, these communities are open to all students and no student is denied access to these communities based on their identity.”

But the Equal Protection Project complaint cited by HUD in conjunction with its new probe argues that UConn’s housing programs, which also offer student support services, may still amount to unlawful racial steering even if students outside the named groups are not formally barred. 

UConn’s housing descriptions for ScHOLA²RS House, BSOUL House and La Comunidad Intelectual, the complaint alleged, have been promoted in a manner that could signal to other students that the housing programs are not intended for them. The complaint points specifically to the schools’ promotional materials and social media posts, arguing the housing the programs’ titles, descriptions and imagery are likely to steer non-Black or non-Hispanic students away from applying, regardless of whether UConn intended to discriminate.

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“This information steers individuals (‘ordinary readers’) towards and away from dormitory housing based on these preferences in violation of the FHA,” the complaint against UConn states, adding that the allegation holds “even if UConn in fact has no discriminatory intent.”

The complaint highlights how UConn’s learning communities allow students to live together while participating in shared academic courses, mentoring and co-curricular programming, and says the named programs also promote support including academic and social or emotional support, research opportunities, professional development, seminar courses, events and shared community space.

“When parents entrust their children to universities, they expect these institutions to cultivate independent thinkers who will engage with life’s permanent questions, pursue truth, beauty, and goodness, and carry forward the great intellectual, moral, and cultural inheritance of Western civilization,” Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor told Fox News Digital. 

“Too often, however, these young Americans arrive on campus only to be steered toward racially segregated housing arrangements that divide students, create unequal experiences, and betray the core principles of a classical liberal education,” he concluded. “We will fully investigate the allegations against the University of Connecticut and the University of Minnesota to determine if they are, in fact, violating the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”