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President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that Iran is “negotiating on fumes” and that the regime thought they could outwait him when it comes to reaching a deal to end the war. 

Trump, speaking during a Cabinet meeting about three months after the launch of Operation Epic Fury, said Iran “very much” wants to reach an agreement. 

“So far they haven’t gotten there. We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be, we will be. Either that or we’ll have to just finish the job,” the president warned. 

“But their navy has gone, as I’ve said a thousand times, their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Everything’s gone and they’re negotiating on fumes. But we’ll see what happens. Maybe we have to go back and finish it. Maybe we don’t,” he continued. 

LIVE UPDATES: TRUMP SAYS ‘NOBODY’S GOING TO CONTROL THE STRAIT,’ OR ‘WE’LL HAVE TO BLOW THEM UP’

The president also said Iran’s economy “is in freefall” with surging inflation and money that “has no value.” He mentioned, “They’re just going back to the internet because they’re getting clobbered,” referencing reports on Tuesday that Internet access in Iran was partially being restored following a lengthy blackout.

“They thought they were going to outwait me, you know, ‘We’ll outwait him, he’s got the midterms.’ I don’t care about the midterms. Look what happened last night. That was the prelude to the midterms,” Trump added. 

IRAN AND HOUTHI TERROR PROXY FACING RED SEA THREAT FROM PRO-US AFRICAN NATION

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I’m doing that for the world. I’m not doing it just for us. And we’ve had great support from other nations, by the way. We don’t need it at all. But we’ve had great support from other nations,” Trump also said. “The problem is you always get the support when you don’t need it. When you need it, you don’t get the support. With Operation Epic Fury, our warriors are ensuring that the world’s number one state sponsor of terror never obtains a nuclear weapon. And they won’t.” 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, following Trump, that diplomacy remains the first option for resolving the war with Iran.

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“There’s an agreement to be made. We want that to be made. I think there’s been some progress and some interest. And we’ll see over the next few hours and days whether progress could be made,” Rubio said during the Cabinet meeting. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth added, “Whether it is through the efforts of your negotiators that they ensure that they never have a nuclear weapon, or we have to go back to the War Department to finish the job that way, we’re prepared to do that.” 

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the Trump administration’s newly declassified UAP files are exposing years of strange aerial sightings that government agencies failed to seriously dig into — even if the records do not point to recovered alien remains or ships. 

“What’s being surfaced isn’t crashed ships or alien bodies, but real unexplained phenomena,” Isaacman told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday. 

The disclosures come after the Trump administration released two waves of declassified UAP files as part of a broader transparency effort directing agencies to search internal databases for decades-old reports involving unexplained aerial activity after years of public skepticism surrounding government secrecy and UFO investigations. Officials say additional file releases from agencies including the CIA could soon follow.

TRUMP ADMIN RELEASES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FILES DOCUMENTING UFOS, ‘EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE’

Isaacman framed the disclosures less as proof of extraterrestrial life than as a public test of unexplained evidence, saying modern cameras, military sensors and newly released government records are giving Americans more material to examine than ever before.

“Everybody’s got a camera phone, a doorbell camera. Every military aircraft flying has a million sensors,” Isaacman said. “You’re gonna pick up things. Pick up things that flew at a different angle, you know, across the lens that maybe if you had a better angle on, you’d be like, oh, that’s a balloon, or that might be a missile in a combat region. But because we caught it at an angle, it’s an unexplained phenomenon.”

Isaacman said the biggest surprise was not evidence of extraterrestrials, but how little attention federal agencies had historically given to unexplained aerial records, calling the renewed disclosure effort under the Trump administration “citizen science.”

UFO INSIDER CLAIMS US HAS BODIES OF 4 DIFFERENT ALIEN SPECIES FROM DOWNED SPACECRAFT IN GOVERNMENT CUSTODY

“Government agencies really didn’t take this quite as seriously in the past until President Trump put out the tweet, basically giving an order to government agencies and going out and saying, look, this time you better go through the files, you better start searching your databases and bring things up,” said Isaacman.

“I think the president has really got government agencies now taking this seriously, to go look at the files and bring the data to light, and he’s putting it all out for everyone to analyze,” he added. “This is citizen science right now. Take a look at our files, tell us what you think.”

The newly surfaced material includes infrared footage from 2023 that appears to show a U.S. F-16 shooting down a diamond-shaped object over Lake Huron, along with reports documenting unexplained aerial objects spotted near military operations in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Greece and other parts of the Middle East. The records also include astronaut and NASA-related accounts from the Apollo and Gemini eras describing strange lights and unidentified objects observed in space.

UFO EXPERT SAYS TRUMP’S DECLASSIFICATION COULD EXPOSE POSSIBLE ‘COVER-UP’ SPANNING DECADES

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration is directing agencies to revisit long-buried UAP records in the name of transparency, while Isaacman said additional “big file tranches” from intelligence agencies could soon become public.

“There’s nothing I’m aware of in terms of alien bodies or spaceships,” Isaacman said. “But observations from decades past — from some of our adversaries and potentially some of our allies — essentially saying, ‘We saw something, we documented it, and we kept it buried in a file somewhere,’ are now being made public.”

The documents also contain testimony from intelligence officers and military pilots who said they could not explain encounters they witnessed during operations and training exercises.

Isaacman said he personally believes life likely exists elsewhere in the universe and argued that searching for it remains central to NASA’s long-term mission.

“I think if we go and bring samples back from Mars, you’ve got better than a 90% chance of former microbial life,” he said.

DECLASSIFIED APOLLO MISSION UFO FILES CHALLENGE LONG-RUNNING MOON LANDING CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Isaacman also pointed to Saturn’s moon Titan and Jupiter’s moon Europa as locations scientists believe may contain conditions capable of supporting microbial life or biosignatures — chemical indicators associated with living organisms.

“Things that could indicate perhaps that there was microbial life there or some other form there of which it changes the whole equation from surely there is life out there somewhere to what if it’s everywhere,” said Isaacman.

Isaacman also argued that broader public disclosure could help reduce skepticism at a time when advances in artificial intelligence and digital manipulation are making it increasingly difficult for people to distinguish authentic footage from fabricated material.

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“I would say that some of the most interesting data that NASA has provided as part of the UAP disclosure was taken on the surface of the moon from Apollo 12 and 17,” he said. “You can’t be a moon landing denier and also believe that those photos captured unexplained phenomenon.”

Officials say additional UFO and UAP files will continue to be released in future batches as part of the administration’s ongoing disclosure effort.

PLANO, Texas – Supporters at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s election night watch party in Plano said Tuesday they were firmly behind the Republican Senate candidate long before President Donald Trump endorsed him.

Inside a Marriott hotel ballroom, attendees balancing plates of brisket and nachos told Fox News Digital they viewed Trump’s late endorsement as helpful, but not the driving force behind Paxton’s support.

Instead, many pointed to his legal battles against the Biden administration, his conservative credentials and his years as a prominent figure in Texas politics.

Trump’s endorsement, which came exactly a week before Tuesday’s runoff election against Republican Sen. John Cornyn, added fresh momentum to one of the nation’s highest-profile GOP contests. The race has stretched on for more than a year and became the most expensive Senate primary in U.S. history.

MAGA TRIUMPH: TRUMP ALLY KEN PAXTON DEFEATS CORNYN IN BITTER TEXAS GOP PRIMARY WAR

Several supporters said they believed Paxton had already built deep loyalty among Texas conservatives well before Trump formally backed his campaign.

“I was at the rally when Trump endorsed Paxton, and honestly, I felt like he already had the support,” said Lisa Full of McKinney, Texas. “I don’t think the endorsement changed much for most people because we were already behind Paxton. It may have helped with some voters, but the majority of people I talked to were already supporting him.”

Full, who said she knows Paxton through church, also argued that many Republican voters had grown frustrated with Cornyn over the years and were eager for a serious challenger to emerge.

“Texans have been very unhappy with Cornyn for a very long time,” Full told Fox News Digital. “We just couldn’t get rid of him because nobody strong would run against him. This is probably the first real hope we’ve had of Cornyn not getting it.”

‘PUT US DOWN FOR KEN PAXTON’: TEXAS VOTERS ENERGIZED AHEAD OF SENATE RUNOFF

Other supporters pointed to Paxton’s legal fights with the Biden administration as a major reason they backed his Senate bid.

“He’s helped with big pharma, immigration, border security, education and so many other issues,” Cindy Patterson of Richardson, Texas, told Fox News Digital. “He kept us sane during the Biden administration and he won most of the cases against some of the crazy stuff the administration was pushing.”

Christie Grubbs, a schoolteacher attending the event, echoed similar sentiments, saying she supports Paxton because of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his battles with the Biden administration.

As supporters celebrated Paxton’s victory Tuesday night, some were already turning their attention toward the general election and a possible showdown with Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a rising progressive figure in Texas politics.

Talarico has drawn national attention for his sharp criticism of Republicans and strong social media presence.

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Many attendees at the Plano watch party expressed confidence that Paxton’s conservative record and close ties to Trump would resonate more strongly with Texas voters in a head-to-head matchup in November.

“I welcome it, I love the contrast between Paxton and Talarico,” John Montes, a magician performing card tricks for guests at the watch party, told Fox News Digital.

“I mean he’s a wacko,” Montes said of Talarico.

PLANO, Texas – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, after trouncing longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn to capture the Republican Senate nomination in the right-leaning Lone Star State, credited the 11th hour support he landed from President Donald Trump for his win.

“The president’s endorsement is the most valuable endorsement in this country,” Paxton said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital minutes after delivering his victory speech in Tuesday’s primary runoff election.

The brute force of the president’s endorsement power and the immense grip he has on the Republican Party was once again on display in the Texas showdown, but his heavy hand could cause repercussions as the party tries to hang onto its slim House and Senate majorities in the November midterms.

That’s especially the case in Texas, where Paxton now faces off against state Rep. James Talarico — a rising star in the Democratic Party — in a general election race that is among a handful that may decide if the Republicans hold their 53-47 majority in the upper chamber.

WATCH: WHAT PAXTON TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL MINUTES AFTER WINNING THE REPUBLICAN SENATE NOMINATION

Tuesday night’s major headline was Trump successfully flexing his political muscles to exert payback on Republicans who defy him, and testing the power of his endorsements in GOP nomination races.

TRUMP-BACKED NOMINEES DOMINATE PRIMARY CONTESTS AS PRESIDENT TIGHTENS PARTY VICEGRIP

The Texas runoff election was held three weeks after Trump’s purging of five state senators in Indiana’s primary who opposed his push for congressional redistricting. That was just a week-and-a-half after the president pushed to oust Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — who, five and a half years ago, voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. Trump was also instrumental this month in sending vocal GOP critic Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky down to defeat in his re-election bid.

After sitting on the sidelines for months in the more than year-long Cornyn-Paxton battle, which broke records as the most expensive Senate primary in the nation’s history, Trump gave a last-minute endorsement of Paxton last week.

“Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,” Trump wrote in a social media post exactly a week before election day in the Lone Star State.

And Trump said that “John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough.”

MAGA MUSCLE: PAXTON, TRUMP, BIG WINNERS IN TEXAS SENATE RUNOFF SHOWDOWN

Pointing to the senator’s past criticism of him, Trump added, “John was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination, and then, the Presidency.”

Cornyn, in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff, emphasized his support for the president and his agenda.

“President Trump has called me a friend and a good man, and we’ve worked with him closely for both terms of office,” the senator said.

Cornyn, who was supported by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, repeatedly argued that if Paxton was the GOP’s nominee, the party would be forced to spend millions of dollars to keep the seat from flipping and that Republicans down-ballot will suffer.

That’s because Paxton has faced a slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered him over the past decade and that Democrats are sure to use against him in the general election. In 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton, but he was eventually acquitted of all charges by the state Senate.

Paxton is also currently dealing with a very messy divorce, with his wife citing “biblical grounds” based on “recent discoveries” as she filed last year to end their marriage.

“He’s gotten more and more emboldened as he’s gotten away with all the scandal and mischief that now is very well known, but were he to be the nominee and be exposed to general election voters, especially independents, I think it’s going to be a very rocky time,” Cornyn predicted.

And pointing to Talarico, who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising during the first three months of this year, the Texas senator said, “There will be an incredible tsunami of Democratic funds coming in against Paxton, were he the nominee. Conversely… if I am the nominee… we’ll be able to shoulder the burden pretty much on our own. I won my last general election by 10 points. I think I can do similarly against somebody who’s as far left and radical as James Talarico.”

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

Talarico’s campaign wasted no time in posting a mug shot of Paxton on social media after Tuesday’s victory, noting: “He was indicted on 3 felony counts for investment fraud. He was reported to the FBI by his own staff for bribery. He was impeached by his own party for corruption.”

“Now he’s the Republican nominee for US Senate in Texas. Together we will stop him,” the Talarico campaign vowed.

Public opinion polls indicate a very competitive showdown between Paxton and Talarico – as Talarico tries to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a U.S. Senate election in Texas.

Democrats see Paxton’s victory as an early Christmas gift.

“It’s a brand new day and I think what Democrats are seeing for the first time in almost three decades is a bright light in a dark place that we have been in this state,” Texas-based Democratic strategist Dallas Jones told Fox News Digital.

Some Republicans are concerned that Trump’s putting his thumb on the scales in key GOP Senate primaries could be a flashback to 2022, when then-former President Trump flexed his muscles in the GOP primaries, with some of his picks, including Georgia’s Herschel Walker, falling short in the midterms, as Republicans failed to win back the Senate.

“Trump got his way in most of the primaries in 2022 also. Didn’t portend great results in the general election,” vocal Trump critic and GOP consultant Sarah Longwell posted on social media Tuesday night.

Veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News Digital that “the president has shown that he puts personal loyalty over political considerations even when it puts a safe seat at risk.”

And pointing to this year’s midterms, when the GOP as the party in power will face traditional headwinds as well as an extremely challenging political climate, Ryan said, “That’s the situation Republicans find themselves dealing with heading into what should be a challenging midterm election.”

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But Williams emphasized that “the Republican Party is Trump’s party, and if you cross him, he’ll hit back at you ten times as hard and defeat you. He’s getting better at this as time goes on. His grip on the party has increased, not decreased.”

“Anybody at this point who doesn’t understand this will be out of a job if they cross the president,” he added.

A House Democrat drew backlash from across the political spectrum after appearing to soften his criticism of Graham Platner, Democrats’ presumptive Maine Senate nominee.

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., initially sparked outrage on the left when he denounced Platner’s Nazi-linked tattoo and said, “I hope Maine voters agree with me.” 

But after clarifying he was not endorsing Platner’s opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine — while also backing away from his earlier call for Maine voters to oppose Platner — Auchincloss found himself under fire from both sides.

Platner has faced mounting scrutiny since disclosing last year that he once had a black skull-and-crossbones tattoo, which he said he got while drinking on leave during a Marine deployment in Croatia and did not recognize at the time as a Nazi symbol.

GRAHAM PLATNER BLAMES NAZI TATTOO ON MILITARY ‘CULTURE,’ DRAWS BACKLASH FROM GOP VETERANS

“Susan Collins is a rubber stamp for the worst admin in history. Claims that I would endorse her, implicitly or otherwise, ignore my track record supporting Democrats to take back both chambers,” Auchincloss wrote on social media Tuesday. “As I said months ago, I find Platner’s Nazi tattoo and his commentary about it personally disqualifying. If it were me, I’d vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary.”

“Regardless of what happens in Maine, Democrats need to take back the Senate, and I’ll keep working hard to make it happen,” he added. 

Leftist journalist Peter Beinart griped, “This is totally incoherent. The race is between Platner and Collins.”

“If @JakeAuch opposes them both, then he doesn’t care if Maine elects a Democratic senator,” he went on. “And if he doesn’t care if Maine elects a Democratic senator, he doesn’t care very much about Democrats taking the Senate.”

Progressive commentator Rachel Bitecofer mocked Auchincloss, a Jewish Democrat, for focusing on Platner’s tattoo resembling a Nazi design instead of discussing what she described as “actual policy Nazis” in the Republican Party.

“We need to take back the Senate, but don’t vote for the D because I want to pretend a tattoo and not positions make him a Nazi while we are facing actual policy Nazis,” Bitecofer wrote.

Tommy Vietor, a Platner ally and co-host of the influential Democratic Party-aligned podcast “Pod Save America,” questioned whether Auchincloss’ objections to Platner could be solved by having a heart-to-heart with him.

“Have you called or met with him to discuss it?” Vietor said.

WARREN SAYS HER ‘KIND OF MAN’ IS LEFT-WING SENATE HOPEFUL ROCKED BY NAZI-TATTOO, REDDIT CONTROVERSIES

Conservatives, meanwhile, accused Auchincloss of caving to the left after his initial criticism of Platner.

“It only took 24 hours for you to bend the knee to the Nazi tattoo guy?” Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Trump-aligned Article III Project, wrote on social media. “Your ancestors are rolling in their graves.”

“You’re a real profile in courage, dude,” Republican communicator Tim Murtaugh said of Auchincloss.

Conservative journalist Curtis Houck mockingly wrote, “Well, well, well, look who’s back with their tail between their knees.”

Houck compared Auchincloss’ comments to Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who similarly faced backlash after breaking with Democrats on transgender issues following the 2024 election.

Moulton has since pivoted to toeing the party line on transgender rights amid his Senate run in deep-blue Massachusetts.

Fox News Digital reached out to Auchincloss for comment before publication.

TOP OFF-THE-WALL REDDIT POSTS HAUNTING GRAHAM PLATNER’S MAINE SENATE BID

Auchincloss was among a handful of Democrats to call on Platner to exit the Democratic primary after the Senate hopeful disclosed his Nazi-linked tattoo on an episode of “Pod Save America” in October 2025. 

The far-left candidate backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee after Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, suspended her campaign ahead of the June 9 primary.

Platner, 41, wore the tattoo for nearly two decades after getting it in 2007 while inebriated with fellow Marines in Split, Croatia.

He has since covered up the design and has repeatedly claimed he was not aware of the symbol’s Nazi origins. 

CNN and Jewish Insider reported that Platner knew about the design’s affiliation with the Nazi SS.

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Platner has come under fierce criticism for since-deleted Reddit posts as recently as 2021 in which he called himself a communist, said White rural Americans are “actually” racist and stupid and argued that all law enforcement officials are “bastards,” among other deleted messages.

He also discussed masturbating in portable toilets and mocked a Purple Heart recipient who was shot multiple times in combat in since-deleted posts, Fox News Digital first reported.

Collins is widely viewed as the most vulnerable GOP incumbent running for re-election and the battleground race is likely a must-win for Democrats if they are to retake Senate control during the midterm elections.

FIRST ON FOX: Americans for Public Trust, a conservative watchdog organization, filed a complaint with the Missouri Attorney General asking the state to investigate whether the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and Stop the Ban violated Missouri’s foreign-influence ballot-measure law, Fox News Digital has learned.

The Switzerland-based Oak Foundation gave the ACLU Foundation a $2 million unrestricted grant to be spent over the course of two years beginning in 2025, according to a financial disclosure. Then, in early 2026, campaign finance records show that the ACLU Foundation donated $500,000 to Stop the Ban, a political committee working to oppose a ballot measure in Missouri that would ban most abortions in the state. 

Missouri is part of a slate of GOP-led states that, in 2025, passed laws aimed at preventing foreign funds from making their way into the political process. The legislative effort was inspired by reporting that money linked to Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss had made its way to a major Democratic-aligned nonprofit that was spending large amounts of money to sway state ballot referendums.

FOREIGN BILLIONAIRES FUNNEL $2.6B TO US ADVOCACY GROUPS TO INFLUENCE POLICY, WATCHDOG REPORT CLAIMS

“The ACLU is aware of and compliant with this Missouri campaign finance law,” a spokesman for the organization told Fox News Digital.

A federal court wrote in 2025 that a Kansas campaign finance law, which is similar to the foreign influence law in Missouri, prevents organizations funded by foreign nationals from donating to domestic nonprofits that themselves donate to political committees, even though the paper trail between foreign nationals and domestic nonprofits is “one step removed.” 

The Oak Foundation is primarily funded by the wealth of British billionaire Alan Parker. His family retains seats on its board of trustees.

Americans for Public Trust (APT) argued that the ACLU Foundation donating to Stop the Ban shortly after receiving funds from the Oak Foundation constitutes a violation of Missouri’s Foreign Influence in Ballot Measures Act, which became law in August 2025. 

“The ACLU Foundation has become a bastion of foreign money, unceremoniously opening its coffers to millions in Swiss-based funding, and, subsequently, to an unknowable degree of influence that comes along with it,” the group wrote in its complaint. “At a minimum, the ACLU Foundation and Stop the Ban demonstrate reckless disregard for the newly enacted requirements of the Act, and, at worst, they demonstrate willful evasion of a law designed to keep foreign money out of Missouri politics.”

BOMBSHELL REPORT SHOWS FOREIGN CHARITIES DUMPED BILLIONS INTO US POLITICAL ADVOCACY GROUPS, ‘ERODE’ DEMOCRACY’

Stop the Ban and the Oak Foundation did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Missouri voters will decide on a proposed constitutional amendment that would repeal the state’s 2024 abortion-rights amendment and allow lawmakers to restrict access to abortion on election day 2026. The measure would ban most abortions but allow exceptions for rape and incest under 12 weeks, medical emergencies and fetal anomalies, while also prohibiting gender transition procedures for minors.

Stop the Ban is the primary committee opposing the ballot measure. 

Under Missouri law, organizations donating to political committees such as Stop the Ban must attest that they received less than $10,000 in the four years prior to their contribution from “prohibited sources.” Missouri defines “prohibited sources” as “contributions from or expenditures by a foreign national made with the intent to use such funds to influence an election on a ballot measure.”

SWISS BILLIONAIRE HANSJÖRG WYSS RECENTLY POURED OVER $60M INTO PROPPING UP LEFT-WING GROUPS AND CAUSES

Stop the Ban, similarly, was required by state law to attest that it had not “directly or indirectly” received financial support from a foreign national during its fundraising period. 

In addition to funding from the Oak Foundation, the ACLU has also received millions of dollars in donations from philanthropies linked to by Wyss, the Swiss billionaire.

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APT is requesting that Missouri’s attorney general open an investigation to probe “whether, and to what extent, the ACLU Foundation and Stop the Ban may have evaded Missouri’s Foreign Influence in Ballot Measures Act.”

“Given the substantial evidence in our complaint, and Attorney General Hanaway’s work to end foreign interference in Missouri, we have full confidence the state will take swift action against both organizations,” APT executive director Caitlin Sutherland told Fox News Digital. “This is yet another illustration of why every state should have laws on the books banning foreign money in ballot campaigns.”

President Donald Trump lashed out at former President Joe Biden late Tuesday after his predecessor sued the Justice Department to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts tied to the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents.

“A Crooked Politician!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social while sharing a Just the News article about Biden’s lawsuit against the DOJ.

Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday in an effort to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of the former president’s interview with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer that were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur during his classified documents investigation.

Biden’s lawyers said in the lawsuit that the Justice Department plans to release the files to Congress and the conservative Heritage Foundation after previously arguing that they were exempt from disclosure under federal public records law.

BIDEN REPEATEDLY SAYS ‘I DON’T REMEMBER’ REGARDING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS IN NEWLY RELEASED HUR INTERVIEW AUDIO

According to the filing, Biden’s attorneys argued that disclosure would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.”

“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” Biden’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. “And when the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure.”

At issue in the case are audio recordings and transcripts of Biden’s interviews at his home in 2016 and 2017 with Zwonitzer, who worked with Biden on his two memoirs.

BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEW

The files were scrutinized by Hur as part of his investigation into Biden’s improper retention of classified documents from his time as a senator and vice president.

Hur’s yearlong investigation resulted in a 345-page report that questioned Biden’s age and mental competence but recommended no criminal charges against the then-81-year-old. Hur said he found insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute a case in court.

Biden has separately fought the release of audio from his interview with Hur. The House in 2024 voted to hold then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over that audio after the White House asserted executive privilege.

Transcripts of Biden’s interviews with federal prosecutors were released last year. While Biden insisted he treated classified information seriously, the transcripts showed he was at times fuzzy about dates and details and said he was unfamiliar with the paper trail for some of the sensitive documents he handled.

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Republicans have argued Biden was being given a pass by his own Justice Department and that Trump had been unfairly victimized by prosecutors. Democrats, meanwhile, emphasized Biden’s cooperation with investigators and contrasted it with the criminal case against Trump, who was accused of refusing to return classified documents requested by the National Archives that were stored at his Florida estate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: California nursing homes with unionized staff received lower average federal quality ratings than facilities without confirmed union presence, according to a new report. 

“Union presence in a CMS-certified registered home appears to lower its CMS rating by almost 10 percent,” a new report published by the Center for Union Facts (CUF), a right-of-center organization critical of organized labor, reviewed by Fox News Digital found. 

The Department of Health and Human Services, through its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, scores nursing homes on a five-star scale based on how well they perform on health inspections, the number of staff present relative to patients, how much care patients are provided and the overall quality of care residents receive. 

The CUF analysis of federal CMS nursing-home ratings found that California facilities with unionized staff received ratings roughly 10% lower on average than facilities without a union presence, even after the study controlled for median county household income.

TOP UNION CALLS COPS ON ITSELF TO ORCHESTRATE ‘CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE’ STUNT AT GOP OFFICE: SOURCE

Non-union facilities averaged 3.17 stars, compared with 3.02 for unionized facilities, 2.96 for SEIU-unionized facilities and 2.86 for facilities represented by SEIU Local 2015, which represents long-term care workers in California nursing homes and home-care settings, according to the report. After accounting for the income of the surrounding area, CUF found that unionization corresponded to a rating decrease of roughly 0.3 stars. 

CUF argued the ratings gap warrants scrutiny of the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) role in California long-term care, pointing to prior allegations about the union’s internal culture and workplace disputes as a possible explanation for the discrepancy in ratings. 

The report does not establish that union representation caused the lower ratings. Some studies have found that unionization at healthcare facilities does improve patient outcomes.

UNION RACKED UP MASSIVE TAB ON SWANK DC HOTEL STAY TO BATTLE TRUMP — AND STILL LOST

“Overall, it is difficult to say for certain that unionization is the direct cause of these lower ratings, but this is hardly an isolated trend,” the CUF report stated. “A previous, similar report by the Center for Union Facts found that hospitals unionized with the SEIU had a star rating that was almost a full star lower (out of five stars) compared to non-union hospitals.”

CUF identified unionized facilities by reviewing union materials, online publications and National Labor Relations Board union-election records dating back to roughly 2006, according to the report. Facilities with no identified evidence of unionization were treated as non-union during the analysis.

The report pointed to California labor unions’ past “history of abuse of their members,” including Chaquan May, a former long-term care worker and plaintiff in a Freedom Foundation-backed lawsuit against SEIU Local 2015.

May alleged in a sworn statement that union representatives coerced her and other workers in 2023 into signing membership forms, including by keeping them in a room until everyone signed. 

“We’re waiting for everyone to sign … no one is leaving until everyone signs,” May quoted one union representative reportedly saying at the time. 

The SEIU did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital additionally reached out to May’s attorneys and CMS for additional comment.

CELEBRATE AMERICAN WORKERS — NOT UNION BOSSES — ON LABOR DAY

CUF also argued that the potential for union-led strikes could negatively impact care for nursing home residents.

“Bad policy ideas and bad leadership are a dangerous combination,” CUF communications director Charlyce Bozzello told Fox News Digital. “It’s not just workers who can pay the price — it’s our most vulnerable loved ones. This new data raises a serious question: would you trust your grandmother in an SEIU-organized facility?” 

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The report comes as California’s long-term care system is under federal scrutiny. CMS deferred more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding tied to the state’s in-home support services program — a move California officials have condemned as unlawful and harmful to vulnerable residents but federal officials deem necessary to root out fraud.

The SEIU has historically been a major supporter of the Democratic Party. During the 2024 presidential election, for instance, the union spent tens of millions of dollars in independent expenditures and contributions to help Democrats win elections, in addition to spending a purported $200 million on internal voter mobilization efforts to support liberal candidates for that cycle.

A previous Center for Union Facts report found that SEIU-unionized hospitals in California also received lower ratings from CMS.

As Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, emerged as a key intermediary in negotiations tied to the escalating Iran crisis, Washington once again found itself relying on a country that American officials have spent decades accusing of playing both sides in the war on terror.

Munir has emerged as a key intermediary in negotiations aimed at preventing renewed conflict with Iran, placing Pakistan — despite decades of accusations involving Taliban safe havens, nuclear proliferation and Osama bin Laden — back at the center of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East.

The latest negotiations have again exposed one of the biggest contradictions in U.S. foreign policy: Washington keeps turning to Pakistan even after years of tension, distrust and accusations that elements of the country’s security establishment supported militant groups fighting American troops.

ISLAMABAD DENIES SHELTERING IRAN JETS, TRUMP PRAISES PAKISTAN’S MEDIATION AS ‘ABSOLUTELY GREAT’

Pakistan’s renewed diplomatic role has come under heightened scrutiny — and exposed divisions among Republicans — after allegations that Iranian military aircraft may have been moved into Pakistani territory during the recent conflict, claims Islamabad has denied.

“I don’t trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said May 12. “If they actually have Iranian aircraft parked in Pakistan bases to protect Iranian military assets, that tells me maybe we should be looking for somebody else to mediate.”

Trump, however, publicly praised Pakistan’s leadership the same day.

“They’re great,” Trump told reporters May 12. “I think the Pakistanis have been great. The field marshal and the prime minister of Pakistan have been absolutely great.”

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir have been helpful mediators, and the United States is grateful for Pakistan’s efforts to bring an end to the conflict. When Iran’s nuclear threat is removed for good, the entire world will be safer and more stable,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

Where Pakistan burned the US

Pakistan has long occupied an uneasy place in American foreign policy.

The nuclear-armed country borders both Iran and Afghanistan, maintains deep ties across the region’s security landscape and has historically been viewed by U.S. officials as too strategically important to fully isolate.

Even critics who accuse Pakistan of double-dealing acknowledge Washington has struggled to disengage from Islamabad because of the country’s nuclear arsenal, geographic position and influence over regional militant networks.

But distrust between Washington and Islamabad deepened dramatically after U.S. forces killed bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011 — a military town located near the country’s premier military academy.

“The fact that we had to do that operation without Pakistani support speaks volumes as to how much we trusted them,” Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of the Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital.

Critics and former U.S. officials long questioned whether Pakistani intelligence could have been unaware of bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad, though Pakistan has repeatedly denied knowingly sheltering him.

Analysts say Pakistan’s military establishment also spent years viewing Afghanistan through the lens of its rivalry with India, seeing a Taliban-friendly government in Kabul as a form of strategic leverage against Indian influence in the region.

“They view Afghanistan as strategic depth,” Roggio said.

Analysts say Pakistan’s security establishment historically differentiated between militant groups targeting Pakistan itself and groups viewed as useful against India or in Afghanistan — a strategy critics argue led Islamabad to tolerate or maintain ties with some Taliban-linked and anti-India groups even while cooperating with U.S. counterterrorism operations after 9/11.

Pakistani officials also have argued the country paid a heavy price for aligning with Washington after 9/11, pointing to years of suicide bombings, insurgent attacks and instability inside Pakistan itself.

Pakistan’s defense minister recently acknowledged the country had done “dirty work” for the U.S. and the West during decades of regional conflict, arguing policies tied to the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan and the post-9/11 era ultimately destabilized Pakistan itself.

Roggio argued Pakistan’s security establishment spent years publicly cooperating with Washington while simultaneously tolerating or supporting Taliban-linked groups fighting American troops in Afghanistan.

PAKISTAN FLIP FLOPS ON TRUMP NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINATION AFTER LESS THAN 24 HOURS

“Pakistan supported the Taliban knowing that they were killing Americans,” he said.

Pakistan’s latest diplomatic role has also drawn renewed scrutiny after allegations that Iranian military aircraft may have been moved into Pakistani territory during the recent conflict — claims Islamabad has denied.

Pakistan’s nuclear history has fueled concern in Washington for decades as well. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the architect of Pakistan’s nuclear program, later admitted operating a proliferation network that transferred nuclear technology and expertise to countries including Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Counterterrorism analysts and former U.S. officials have long warned that al Qaeda operatives and affiliated groups continued finding sanctuary in parts of Pakistan’s tribal regions even after the 9/11 attacks, though the scale of those networks remains debated.

Pakistani officials have long denied supporting terrorist organizations and argue the country has itself suffered heavily from Islamist violence, including attacks by ISIS-K and the Pakistani Taliban. Islamabad also has denied allegations that Iranian military aircraft were sheltered inside Pakistan during the recent conflict.

Why Trump is betting on Pakistan again

More than a decade after the bin Laden raid shattered trust between Washington and Islamabad, Pakistan’s military leadership has again emerged as a critical diplomatic channel for Washington — this time during the escalating crisis involving Iran.

Trump increasingly has engaged Munir directly in recent weeks, reinforcing longstanding perceptions that Pakistan’s military — rather than its civilian government — remains the country’s dominant power center.

Munir, a former intelligence chief, has leveraged Pakistan’s longstanding relationships across the region to position himself as a channel between Washington and Tehran.

Roggio argued Pakistan is also attempting to rehabilitate its international image by presenting itself as a stabilizing force in the region.

“They’re trying to present an image of being a purveyor of peace in the region,” he said.

Earlier rounds of diplomacy tied to the Iran conflict were also hosted in Islamabad, elevating Pakistan’s role as a regional intermediary.

Pakistan and Qatar appear to have emerged as complementary diplomatic channels rather than competing ones during the latest negotiations involving Iran.

Analysts say Pakistan’s military leadership has increasingly positioned itself as a political and security intermediary between Washington and Tehran, while Qatar has remained central to the more formal diplomatic and financial dimensions of regional negotiations.

Qatar, which hosted negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban that led to the 2020 Doha agreement laying out the framework for the eventual U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, has again emerged as a central diplomatic channel as talks intensified over the weekend.

Pakistan also played a behind-the-scenes role in those negotiations, reflecting Washington’s longstanding reliance on Islamabad’s ties to the Taliban leadership during the Afghanistan war.

Critics of the Doha agreement argued it sidelined the U.S.-backed Afghan government while strengthening the Taliban ahead of its return to power in 2021.

Pakistan’s relationship with the Taliban also has become increasingly strained since the group returned to power in Afghanistan. Pakistani officials have accused Taliban authorities of failing to stop militants launching attacks into Pakistan from across the border, and Islamabad has threatened military action against some groups operating near Afghan territory.

The divide over Pakistan reflects a broader debate that has shaped U.S. foreign policy for decades: whether Washington’s strategic need for Islamabad outweighs longstanding concerns over the country’s relationships with militant groups and regional adversaries.

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More than a decade after the bin Laden raid shattered trust between Washington and Islamabad, Pakistan has once again become a diplomatic channel the U.S. appears unable — or unwilling — to avoid during one of the region’s most volatile crises.

Texas redistricting claimed a longtime Democratic incumbent Tuesday, as Rep. Christian Menefee defeated Rep. Al Green in a Houston-area runoff that forced two sitting House Democrats into the same race.

Rep. Al Green, one of Congress’ most vocal Trump antagonists, lost his Democratic runoff Tuesday to fellow Texas Rep. Christian Menefee after redistricting scrambled Houston-area congressional lines.

The race for Texas’ solidly Democratic 18th Congressional District was an incumbent-on-incumbent Democratic clash, with Green and Menefee both trying to preserve their places in Congress after redistricting altered the congressional districts around Houston.

In Texas, it is mandated by law that if no candidate has captured a majority of the vote during a primary, the race will head to a runoff election. Menefee received 46% of votes and Green 44.2% following the early-March primary.

Green has been among President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics in Congress, pursuing impeachment charges on multiple occasions against him during both of Trump’s terms. Green has been kicked out of Trump’s State of the Union addresses multiple times as well for standing up and protesting amid the speech.

Following the close March primary, Fox News Digital caught up with Green on Capitol Hill, during which the longtime congressman cited $1.5 million in spending against his campaign by the crypto-industry as a major driver behind the closeness of his race. 

At the same time, Green slammed Menefee, over his alleged lack of experience and failure to show up for votes early in his congressional career following his tenure as an attorney.

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Meneffee is a fresher face in Washington who ran on bringing a new face to Congress to combat Trump and Republicans.

“A former commercial litigation lawyer from a military family, Mr. Menefee had been mentioned as a potential statewide candidate. His decision to run for Congress instead underscored what many Democrats have acknowledged: that the prospects for breaking the Republican hold on state politics in Texas appeared dim for Democrats in the short term,” Menefee said in a post to his website last March.

Menefee will take on Republican Ronald Whitfield in the November general election, though Menefee is strongly favored in the heavily-Democratic Houston-area district.

Fox News Digital’s Leo Briceno contributed to this report.

PLANO, TX – President Donald Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are the big winners in the Lone Star State’s bitter Republican Senate primary battle, which has spanned for more than a year and became the most expensive Senate primary in history.

Paxton, who was endorsed by Trump just one week ago, convincingly defeated longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn in Tuesday’s runoff election for the Republican nomination.

Paxton now faces off against state Rep. James Talarico — a rising star in the Democratic Party — in the general election in a race that is among a handful that may decide if the Republicans hold their slim 53-47 majority in the Senate. Talarico, who topped progressive star Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a vocal Trump critic, in the March primary, is trying to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate election in Texas.

Cornyn, speaking to reporters after the race was called, said, “I’ve always supported the Republican ticket, and I intend to do so again in this general election.”

TRUMP FLEXES MAGA MUSCLE IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE SHOWDOWN IN TEXAS

Paxton, in his victory speech, delivered an olive branch to the senator and his supporters.

“I want to thank John Cornyn for his service to this state. John has dedicated much of his life to serving Texans. He’s worked diligently for years to help Texas and for that spirit of service to the Lone Star State and our nation, I’m very grateful,” Paxton said.

And Paxton, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital moments after he left the stage, said, “We need to come together as a Republican Party. I think John Cornyn will be a part of that. I think his voters will be too.”

Trump targeted Cornyn as “VERY disloyal” as he backed Paxton, a major Trump ally and MAGA firebrand, in the final days of the runoff campaign. The ballot-box showdown in right-leaning Texas served as the latest test of Trump’s immense grip over the Republican Party and the strength of his endorsements in GOP nomination races.

The runoff election was held three weeks after Trump’s purging of five state senators in Indiana’s primary who had opposed his push for congressional redistricting, a week and a half after the president helped to oust Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — who, five and a half years ago, voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial — and one week after Trump was instrumental in sending vocal GOP critic Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky down to defeat in his re-election bid.

After sitting on the sidelines for months, Trump last Tuesday backed Paxton.

“Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,” Trump wrote in a social media post last Tuesday.

Paxton, pointing to Trump, told supporters that “when everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen. Instead, President Trump gave me his complete and total endorsement.”

And Paxton told Fox News Digital after his victory that “the president’s endorsement is the most valuable endorsement in this country. I’m grateful to have it.”

Paxton on Tuesday night quickly turned his fire on Talarico, charging in his speech that “James Talarico is a threat to everything we hold dear in this state and in this country. He’s a threat to our security and our safety. He wants open borders and even said a welcome mat should be at our southern border.”

And he told Fox News Digital that “James Talarico doesn’t belong in Texas. We cannot let him be the center of the state of Texas. He fits in California, he does not fit here.”

Looking to the general election showdown, Paxton said, “I think we’re going to try to highlight what he actually believes, because the people of Texas need to know what his views are, and whether they are going to support those views. The only way where they can know what he’s really about is to let people know what he said.”

Paxton has faced a slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered him over the past decade. In 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton, but he was eventually acquitted of all charges by the state Senate.

And Paxton is dealing with a very messy divorce, with his wife citing “biblical grounds” based on “recent discoveries” in filing last year to end their marriage.

Talarico’s campaign, posting a mug shot of Paxton on social media, noted: “He was indicted on 3 felony counts for investment fraud. He was reported to the FBI by his own staff for bribery. He was impeached by his own party for corruption.”

“Now he’s the Republican nominee for US Senate in Texas. Together we will stop him,” the Talarico campaign vowed.

The two heated rivals topped a crowded field of contenders in the early March primary, with Cornyn edging Paxton. But since neither cleared the 50% threshold, the nomination race headed into overtime.

Trump, in backing Paxton, said that “John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough.”

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Pointing to the senator’s past criticism of him, Trump added, “John was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination, and then, the Presidency.”

Cornyn, in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff, emphasized his support for the president and his agenda.

“President Trump has called me a friend and a good man, and we’ve worked with him closely for both terms of office,” the senator said.

Paxton, who grabbed significant national attention the past dozen years by filing lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administrations, disagreed.

“John Cornyn fought Trump on the border. And you can go back over about a decade and see that he was not for the border wall,” Paxton charged in an interview on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show.”

CONTENTIOUS REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY IN TEXAS HEADED INTO OVERTIME

Paxton also argued that the senator “fought the president’s re-election. He fought him in 2024, said his time had passed, and he fought him in 2016. So this is not a pro-Trump guy. I don’t know if we could be more different on the Republican issues than John Cornyn and me. So there is a vast difference between the two of us.”

Cornyn pushed back.

“I don’t know how much more with him I could be than 99.3% of the time,” the senator told Fox News Digital.

“I want him to be successful. I want America to be successful, and I want Republicans to be successful. But you know, in the end, as I said, Texans are the only ones going to be able to make a choice, and I think Texans can be pretty independent,” Cornyn added.

Cornyn, who was supported by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, repeatedly argued that if Paxton was the GOP’s nominee, the party would be forced to spend millions of dollars to keep the seat from flipping and that Republicans down-ballot will suffer.

“He’s gotten more and more emboldened as he’s gotten away with all the scandal and mischief that now is very well known, but were he to be the nominee and be exposed to general election voters, especially independents, I think it’s going to be a very rocky time,” the senator predicted.

TRUMP OWNS THE GOP – BUT WILL REPUBLICANS PAY A PRICE IN THE MIDTERMS?

And pointing to Talarico, who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising during the first three months of this year, Cornyn said, “There will be an incredible tsunami of Democratic funds coming in against Paxton, were he the nominee. Conversely… if I am the nominee… we’ll be able to shoulder the burden pretty much on our own. I won my last general election by 10 points. I think I can do similarly against somebody who’s as far left and radical as James Talarico.”

While Paxton shifted his ads to target Talarico in the wake of the Trump endorsement, Cornyn and allied groups continued to blast Paxton.

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“I don’t think anybody could honestly argue that we haven’t fought hard to make the case here,” Cornyn said of his campaign.

And he emphatically said he had “worked too long and too hard to help build the Republican Party in Texas, and in the United States Senate, and to keep Texas the envy of the nation when it comes to opportunities and pursuing the American dream, to let that go, to squander it, and let it go without a fight.”

Fox News’ Luke Trevisan and Philp Bodinet contributed to this story

Republican veteran strategist Tom Sell defeated populist, MAGA-style candidate Abraham Enriquez in a primary runoff race in a Texas congressional district known as one of the most conservative in the country.

Sell, a Republican strategist with years of agricultural consulting experience, beat Enriquez on election night, earning () percent of the vote in the solid red 19th Congressional District in West Texas.

A fifth-generation West Texan and businessman, Sell styled himself as an “America-first” “champion for rural America.”

He was endorsed by several key House Republican leaders, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Sell also earned endorsements from younger congressional Republicans, Reps. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.

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Meanwhile, Enriquez, a young candidate who cast himself as the anti-establishment contender in the race, earned ()% of the vote.

Enriquez, who founded the conservative Hispanic outreach organization Bienvenido, ran on a “pro-Trump,” America-first platform. He was endorsed by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Turning Point Action, and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

President Donald Trump did not make an endorsement in the race.

HOUSE CANDIDATE PREDICTS HISTORIC RISE OF ‘NEW GENERATION’ IN CONGRESS AS PARTIES TARGET KEY DEMOGRAPHIC

District 19, which includes vast swaths of West Texas, including Lubbock and Abilene, is considered a Republican stronghold. As a result, Sell’s primary victory virtually guarantees he will succeed outgoing Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, who is retiring from Congress.

Arrington, 53, had been endorsed for re-election by Trump, but he decided not to run again. In a statement announcing his decision, Arrington said, “I have a firm conviction, much like our founders did, that public service is a lifetime commitment, but public office is and should be a temporary stint in stewardship, not a career.”

TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN REVEALS HE WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION IN 2026

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Sell will face Democratic candidate Kyle Rable, an Army Reserve officer who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

DALLAS — Texas Democratic voters selected state Rep. Vikki Goodwin as their nominee for lieutenant governor Tuesday night, defeating Marcos Vélez in the party’s primary runoff and setting up a November showdown against Republican incumbent Dan Patrick.

The contest became a test of what direction Texas Democrats want to take in the general election.

Goodwin, who took office in 2019, campaigned on boosting public school funding and teacher pay, expanding Medicaid, investing in water infrastructure and repealing Texas’ abortion ban.

Meanwhile, Vélez, who worked in Texas refineries and is a member of the United Steelworkers union, centered his campaign on property tax relief, raising the minimum wage and affordability measures aimed at working families and seniors.

‘PUT US DOWN FOR KEN PAXTON’: TRUMP ENDORSEMENT ENERGIZES TEXAS VOTERS AHEAD OF RUNOFF

The lieutenant governor’s office presides over the Senate, controls the chamber’s agenda, appoints committee chairs and can break tie votes — powers that give the position major influence over which bills reach the governor’s desk.

The lieutenant governor also helps craft the state budget as co-chair of the Legislative Budget Board and serves on the Legislative Redistricting Board, which redraws political maps if lawmakers fail to do so.

Polls closed across Texas at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with turnout expected to be significantly lower than during the March primary election.

TRUMP FLEXES MAGA MUSCLE IN TEXAS SENATE RUNOFF CLASH BETWEEN CORNYN AND PAXTON

During his decade as lieutenant governor, Patrick has pushed the Legislature steadily to the right and built a strong network of Republican allies within the Senate. Political observers say his defeat in November would create a major power vacuum in Texas Republican politics and significantly reshape dynamics inside the Legislature.

Still, while the lieutenant governor currently holds sweeping authority, much of that power comes from Senate rules approved at the start of each legislative session.

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If a Democrat were to win office in November, the Republican-controlled Senate could move to rewrite those rules and reduce the lieutenant governor’s powers, potentially altering how the chamber operates.

Trump-backed Republican Jon Bonck won the GOP runoff Tuesday for Texas’ 38th Congressional District, putting him on track to succeed Rep. Wesley Hunt in a solidly Republican Houston-area seat.

Bonck defeated Shelly deZevallos, a pilot and president of the West Houston Airport, after finishing far ahead of the March primary field but falling just short of the majority needed to win the nomination outright.

He led the first round with 47.7% of the vote, while deZevallos advanced to the runoff with 18.6%, according to Ballotpedia’s results from the early-March primary contest.

TRUMP’S SHADOW LOOMS OVER TEXAS RACE AS HUNT ACCUSES CORNYN OF BETRAYAL

Bonck will advance to face Democrat Melissa McDonough in the November general election, though Republicans are expected to be heavily favored in Texas’ 38th Congressional District, with Cook Political Report rating the Houston-area seat Solid Republican.

The race became an open-seat contest after Hunt, who was first elected in 2022, opted against seeking another House term and instead launched a U.S. Senate bid.

Bonck graduated from Louisiana State University in 2009 with a degree in biochemistry, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is currently a mortgage industry manager in the Houston area.

TEXAS DEM NOMINEE JAMES TALARICO INVOKES FAITH TO DEFEND ABORTION RIGHTS, ‘THE BIBLE IS SILENT ON ABORTION’

Endorsed by President Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Bonck campaigned as a Christian conservative, family man and described himself on his campaign website as “not a political celebrity” but rather a “servant leader.” He also touts endorsements from Reps. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, on his campaign website.

In a candidate questionnaire, from earlier this month ahead of the runoff, Bonck listed affordability, immigration and public safety as the three biggest challenges facing the Houston-area district he is hoping to represent.

Meanwhile, he said putting America first “means securing the border, stopping blank checks to foreign countries, cutting waste and regulation, lowering costs, and empowering families.”

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Bonck also added that government “should get out of the way so small businesses can grow and parents can lead their children’s education and healthcare decisions.”

President Donald Trump’s endorsed House Republican candidate for Texas’ 35th Congressional District is projected to win his race against longtime San Antonio state lawmaker John Lujan.

Carlos de la Cruz, an Air Force veteran, is the brother of Trump ally Rep. Monica de la Cruz, R-Texas, in a nearby district.

The de la Cruzes could be the next in a rare historical line of siblings serving together in the House of Representatives.

One of America’s first congressional leaders served with his brother as well.

Inaugural House Speaker Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania served alongside Rep. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania in the 1780s and 1790s.

HOUSE CANDIDATE PREDICTS HISTORIC RISE OF ‘NEW GENERATION’ IN CONGRESS AS PARTIES TARGET KEY DEMOGRAPHIC

The three Washburn brothers — Israel of Maine, Elihu of Illinois and Cadwallader of Wisconsin — all served together in the 1850s and 1860s, while more recently sisters Loretta and Linda Sanchez — both California Democrats — found themselves in the same chamber in the early part of this century.

De La Cruz and Lujan are competing for the newly redrawn district, which is currently represented numerically by “Squad” member Rep. Gregorio Casar of the Austin area.

Casar, however, chose to run in an adjacent district that encompasses part of his current district after that officeholder, fellow Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, elected not to run for re-election contingent on Texas’ new map passing legal muster.

The new district stretches south to San Antonio and is considered much more Trump-friendly than in past elections.

Lujan originally won the March primary 33%-27% over De La Cruz, who finished second and advanced to Tuesday’s contest.

De La Cruz was deployed to the Middle East and Mexican border, and also has the endorsement of both his sister and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

WATCH: HOUSE DEMS UNLOAD ON TEXAS DEMOCRAT OVER ‘DEMENTED’ ANTISEMITIC COMMENTS

Lujan is a longtime state lawmaker with deep familiarity in the district, while the real controversy is on the Democratic side of the ticket.

Democratic primary candidate Maureen Galindo, who lost Tuesday night, received nationwide backlash, including from her own party, for floating the idea of using an ICE detention center in her district to instead imprison wealthy “Zionists.”

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The rhetoric and plans were called out as grossly antisemitic by Democrats ranging from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the far left to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Democrats from New York City.

Democrats are still reportedly bullish on their prospects in the more Trump-friendly seat, which is also majority Hispanic, come November.

A Republican state senator who spotlighted his support for President Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda is one step closer to succeeding Ken Paxton as Texas attorney general.

State Sen. Mayes Middleton on Tuesday defeated Rep. Chip Roy, one of the most conservative members of the U.S. House, for the Republican attorney general nomination in Texas, the Associated Press reports.

The ballot-box battle between Roy and Middleton, the president of an independent oil and gas company, turned bitter and expensive, and partially became a test of which candidate was more of a fighter for Trump and his America First and MAGA movements.

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Middleton, who edged Roy in the March primary, dished out roughly $17 million of his own money to back his campaign. But Roy, a former Texas assistant attorney general and former chief of staff to conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, received a late surge in fundraising from major backers.

“We’ve gotten the financial support necessary to compete with my self-funder opponent, who’s got his inheritance money that he can just spend,” Roy highlighted in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff.

Roy argued that Middleton’s lack of courtroom experience would make him a poor attorney general.

“Having been the first assistant attorney general makes me ready on day one, but it’s also that I’ve been a prosecutor, I’ve been in court, I’ve sat in front of a judge, stood in front of a judge, argued cases, and he has never done any of those things. And we think those things should matter,” Roy emphasized.

TED CRUZ ENDORSES CHIP ROY FOR TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: ‘NO ONE BETTER’

Middleton pushed back, questioning Roy’s conservative credentials and running ads claiming Roy’s “betrayed MAGA” as he pointed to the times the congressman has broken with Trump over policy.

“Chip Roy is someone that has spent a decade fighting the president. He actually said President Trump committed impeachable conduct on the House floor,” Middleton told Fox News Digital. “Instead of spending 10 years fighting President Trump, what have I done? I’ve spent 10 years fighting to defeat the left, which is what matters the most in this race.”

TEXAS REP CHIP ROY ANNOUNCES RUN FOR STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO REPLACE KEN PAXTON

But Roy, in response, said, “Everyone knows that I’m a longtime defender and supporter of the president’s agenda, of the America First agenda, the MAGA agenda, but I’m also an independent thinker who will stand up and make the case.”

And pointing to Middleton, Roy charged, “MAGA is not something you just buy. My opponent thinks you can buy the brand.”

Middleton returned fire, arguing, “Chip Roy is putting out there that he is a top ally to President Trump when the exact opposite is the case.”

Trump stayed neutral in the runoff showdown.

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Middleton will likely face Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson, who came close to clinching his party’s nomination in the primary. Johnson was facing off against former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.

Paxton decided against seeking re-election, as he ran for the Republican Senate nomination against longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn.

Alex Mealer, an Army combat veteran and energy executive backed by President Donald Trump, is one step closer to winning election to the House.

Mealer defeated state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Texas, in a GOP primary runoff election for a Houston-based congressional seat Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

The matchup in the solidly Republican district was another test of Trump’s endorsement power, which has proven to be decisive in several high-profile races this year. 

The president endorsed Mealer shortly before the first round of voting in March, during which she emerged as the top vote-getter with 36% of the vote.

TRUMP-BACKED CANDIDATE WINS CROWDED GOP PRIMARY IN BATTLE FOR VACANT HOUSE SEAT

Mealer notably received a boost from the conservative Club for Growth, which is frequently one of the top spenders in GOP primaries. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also backed her campaign.

Because Mealer did not secure a majority of the vote, the race went to a runoff election against Cain, who came in second and notched 31% of the vote.

Cain has served in the Texas House of Representatives since 2017 and was endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas. He is viewed as one of the most conservative members of the state legislature and has touted endorsements from the National Rifle Association (NRA), Concerned Women for America, Young Republicans of Texas and the Texas Homeschool Coalition PAC, among other Republican-aligned groups.

HOUSE DEMOCRAT WHO HAS REPEATEDLY TRIED TO IMPEACH TRUMP HEADS TO RUNOFF ELECTION AMID TIGHT PRIMARY

The primary winner will face environmental activist Leticia Gutierrez in the general election. 

The newly redrawn seat is widely expected to flip to Republican control and is rated noncompetitive by the Cook Political Report. Trump would have carried the district by nearly 20 points in 2024.

Republicans redrew the Democratic-heavy seat last year as part of a GOP-friendly gerrymander that effectively ousted Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, from the district he had represented for more than two decades.

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Green ultimately chose to challenge Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Texas, for Houston’s lone Democratic seat, which also went to a runoff election Tuesday.

Mealer narrowly lost a bid for Harris County Judge in 2022 against Judge Lina Hidalgo. She also received the president’s backing during that campaign.

Justice Clarence Thomas accused California and Washington of undermining federal immigration and trucking safety standards after a deadly Florida highway crash, blasting the Supreme Court on Tuesday for refusing to hear a case Florida had “nowhere else to bring.”

Florida alleged the two blue states improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in violation of federal standards requiring English proficiency and lawful immigration status for certain commercial drivers, arguing the policies created a public safety threat on American roads.

Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, said the Supreme Court had a constitutional obligation to hear the dispute because lawsuits between states can only be brought before the high court.

“If this Court does not exercise jurisdiction over a controversy between two States, then the complaining State has no judicial forum in which to seek relief,” Thomas wrote.

FLORIDA AG ANNOUNCES PROBE OF SANCTUARY JURISDICTIONS THAT GIVE TRUCKING LICENSES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Thomas argued that Florida’s allegations against Washington and California were serious because failing to follow federal commercial licensing laws can create dangerous road conditions and, he said, has contributed to deadly crashes.

Thomas pointed to the fatal Florida highway crash involving truck driver Harjinder Singh, who he said “could not read the road signs,” and argued Florida deserved a chance to pursue its claims.

Singh received CDLs from both California and Washington.

EXCLUSIVE: CAMERAS CAPTURE TRUCKERS UNABLE TO READ ROAD SIGNS, ANSWER BASIC QUESTIONS DURING FLORIDA CRACKDOWN

“An illegal alien who cannot read English road signs cannot drive an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer,” Thomas wrote. “Federal law and regulations prohibit States from providing commercial driver’s licenses to applicants unless they pass a driver’s test, sufficiently understand the English language, and show appropriate immigration status.”

Florida filed the lawsuit directly with the Supreme Court under the Court’s original jurisdiction, which gives the justices the sole authority to hear disputes between states.

Thomas said that while the court may be able to exercise discretion in ordinary appeals, lawsuits between states are different because the Constitution gives the Supreme Court exclusive jurisdiction over them.

FLORIDA AG ASKS SUPREME COURT TO ALLOW IT TO CONTINUE ENFORCING CONTROVERSIAL IMMIGRATION LAW

“We have no more right to decline the exercise of jurisdiction which is given, than to usurp that which is not given,” Thomas wrote.

Thomas accused the Supreme Court of failing to abide by the Constitution when it declines to hear disputes between states.

“This Court has adopted a discretionary approach to its exclusive original jurisdiction based on policy judgments that are in conflict with the policy choices that Congress made in the statutory text,” Thomas wrote.

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He argued that if Florida, California and Washington were separate countries instead of U.S. states, a dispute over one government allegedly allowing dangerous drivers into another’s territory could create serious diplomatic tension and would likely be handled through international courts or other government action.

“By entering the Union, States agree to instead have such disputes resolved by this Court.”

The issuance of commercial drivers’ licenses came under scrutiny by the Transportation Department last summer following several deadly crashes involving illegal immigrant truck drivers. Last September, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced new rules imposing stricter criteria for non-citizens seeking a CDL. He also threatened to pull federal funding from California for keeping CDLs active for people found to be ineligible by the Trump administration.

“Secretary Duffy is laser-focused on restoring integrity to America’s trucking industry by ensuring truck drivers on our roadways are qualified and vetted,” a spokesperson for the Transportation Department told Fox News Digital. “The Department is going after every link in the chain to root out bad actors, fraudsters and chameleon carriers who put American families at risk.”

As voters head to the polls today in Texas, GOP Sen. John Cornyn is warning the longtime red state is “at risk” of Democrats pulling off a historic upset for a critical Senate seat.

Cornyn’s primary race against challenger Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton finally comes to a head in today’s runoff election. After what has been a particularly bruising primary, Cornyn expressed his worry that Republicans stand to lose a seat that would be devastating for the party’s hopes of retaining a majority in the upper chamber.

Speaking with Fox News Digital ahead of Election Day, Cornyn touted Texas as “the most conservatively governed state in the country,” making it a “land of opportunity and where the American dream is still very much alive.”

“But I think all of that’s at risk, depending on how this primary runoff turns out, because I think Ken Paxton’s flaws and the baggage he brings to the general election are going to be exploited up to the fullest by James Talarico and by Democrats,” he said.

SENATOR JOHN CORNYN RESPONDS TO TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT OF KEN PAXTON

Whoever emerges Tuesday night will have to face state Rep. James Talarico, a Democratic rising star who many in the party believe has broad enough appeal to finally flip the state for the first time in over two decades.

Cornyn expressed worry about Talarico’s fundraising abilities, citing the $27 million he raised in the first quarter of the year. He asserted that if Paxton wins, “there will be a tsunami of money coming into the state from outside.”

He also asserted that “it’s not only that Senate seat he [Paxton] puts at risk, it’s also all the down-ballot races, state legislative races, local races, like the judges and the like.”

“We haven’t elected a Democrat in statewide office since 1994 in Texas,” he said. “President Trump is not running, so the Senate race will be at the top, and I believe that I will be in a better position to help provide a significant margin, a winning margin, not only in my case, but also to help everybody down ballot.”

“I don’t think the attorney general can do that because of the significant baggage he brings into the race, which jeopardizes success from the top to the bottom,” he said.

Paxton has faced a slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered him over the past decade. In 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton, but he was eventually acquitted of all charges by the state Senate.

TRUMP FLEXES MAGA MUSCLE IN TEXAS SENATE RUNOFF CLASH BETWEEN CORNYN AND PAXTON

The attorney general is also dealing with a very messy divorce, with his wife citing “biblical grounds” based on “recent discoveries” in filing last year to end their marriage.

Despite this and Cornyn’s status as a longtime fixture of the Republican Party, it is Paxton who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump.

“Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Trump said, “John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough.” Pointing to the senator’s past criticism of him, Trump added, “John was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination, and then, the Presidency.”

Cornyn, in turn, emphasized his support for the president and his agenda, telling Fox News Digital, “President Trump has called me a friend and a good man, and we’ve worked with him closely for both terms of office.”

Paxton, who grabbed significant national attention the past dozen years by filing lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administrations, disagreed.

ON EVE OF REPUBLICAN SENATE RUNOFF ELECTION, GOP SEN JOHN CORNYN TELLS FOX NEWS DIGITAL ‘TEXANS CAN BE PRETTY INDEPENDENT’

“John Cornyn fought Trump on the border. And you can go back over about a decade and see that he was not for the border wall,” Paxton charged in an interview on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show.”

Paxton also argued that the senator “fought the president’s reelection. He fought him in 2024, said his time had passed, and he fought him in 2016. So, this is not a pro-Trump guy. I don’t know if we could be more different on the Republican issues than John Cornyn and me. So, there is a vast difference between the two of us.”

Cornyn pushed back.

“I don’t know how much more with him I could be than 99.3% of the time,” the senator told Fox News Digital.

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“I want him to be successful. I want America to be successful, and I want Republicans to be successful. But you know, in the end, as I said, Texans are the only ones going to be able to make a choice, and I think Texans can be pretty independent,” Cornyn added.

Fox News Digital reached out to Talarico for comment.

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. grabbed a pair of black North American racer snakes with his barehands as his wife Cheryl Hines watched on in apparent horror in a video Kennedy Jr. posted to his X account Tuesday.

“Honey, honey… why?” Hines yelled as Kennedy Jr. cornered the reptiles on Oz’s patio.

Kennedy Jr. then crouched down and lunged at the frenzying creatures, struggling for a moment before grasping the pair by their tails.

Throughout the roughly 50 second video the serpents repeatedly bit Kennedy Jr., who appeared unfazed. “Black snakes, they’re biting me,” he said while revealing a wry smile.

ACTRESS CHERYL HINES CLASHES WITH ‘THE VIEW’ OVER HER HUSBAND RFK JR’S RECORD SERVING AMERICANS

The snakes continued to nip at Kennedy Jr.’s hands while wife Cheryl chimed in “you are nuts.”

“Bobby, please! Bobby, Bobby, please,” Hines pleaded as Kennedy proudly displayed his trophies.

Kennedy Jr. was clearly amused, posting the photo to his X account with the caption “Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz’s patio.”

While Hines expressed dismay, it was likely not her first time watching her husband wrangle wild creatures, as the HHS Secretary has a long and documented history of herding feral beasts.

RFK JR TARGETED BY ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP AFTER DEAD WHALE HEAD STORY RESURFACES

In addition to being an avid falconer, Kennedy Jr. has manhandled a wide assortment of creatures. News wires lit up in 2024 after the former environmental lawyer admitted to dumping a bear carcass in Central Park.

In another wild tale, Kennedy Jr. allegedly cut the head off of a dead whale, strapped it to the hood of his car and drove it from a Massachusetts beach to Mount Kisco, New York.

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While the black snake duo repeatedly bit Kennedy Jr. during his short video, they don’t pose nearly as much of a risk to the 72-year-old as a bear might.

The creatures are, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, nonvenomous and harmless to humans. They will, however, “readily bite to defend themselves,” the museum wrote. The museum also added (as Kennedy Jr. found out) “virtually all bites occur when the snakes are intentionally molested.”