Donald Trump Poll News

Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed faced roughly an hour of pointed questions Tuesday over his ties to controversial streamer Hasan Piker, his views on Israel, campaign money and his socialist ties after his Republican rival Mike Rogers declined to participate in a scheduled debate in Detroit Tuesday night.

El-Sayed offered one of his most explicit condemnations yet of Piker’s controversial rhetoric, declined to give a yes-or-no answer when pressed on U.S. recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and pushed back on questions about his relationship with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) during the wide-ranging conversation with the moderator.

Rogers did not attend Tuesday’s event after declining the station’s invitation earlier in the day, leaving El-Sayed to field questions from moderator Roop Raj, viewers and members of the studio audience. 

FOX 2 said both campaigns were invited on Aug. 5, the day after Michigan’s primary, and that El-Sayed quickly accepted, while Rogers did not formally decline until the morning of the Tuesday debate due to objections over Raj serving as the moderator, arguing he was biased.

EL-SAYED’S LIBERAL AGENDA CLASHES WITH MUSLIM VOTERS WHO BACK HIM ANYWAY: ‘MALE VERSION’ OF ILHAN OMAR

On Tuesday evening, Raj pressed El-Sayed on whether he could “completely, 100%” disavow offensive comments Piker had made. The question came just two days after El-Sayed resisted questioning about Piker during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

“Absolutely,” El-Sayed responded to Raj about disavowing Piker’s controversial comments, before specifically addressing the streamer’s recent remarks about Jewish Americans.

“When Hasan made these comments about Jewish Americans and Jewish Michiganders, I disavowed them entirely,” El-Sayed said.

EL-SAYED DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM HASAN PIKER AFTER DISTURBING REMARKS ABOUT JEWISH AMERICANS

El-Sayed went further Tuesday when Raj continued pressing him, saying there were “many, many things” Piker has said that he disagreed with and specifically pointing to the streamer’s comments about 9/11 and Jewish Americans. Still, El-Sayed defended his decision to engage with Piker, arguing that speaking with someone does not amount to endorsing all of that person’s views and saying he wanted to offer Piker’s millions of followers “a pathway back into our politics.”

Meanwhile, El-Sayed declined to give a yes-or-no answer when pressed on whether the United States should continue recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, instead saying he believes “in equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination for Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike.”

“People ask this question about the right of the state that actually exists to exist, but I never get asked about the right of the state that does not exist to exist,” he continued. “I don’t get asked about whether or not the state that exists has a right to use our tax dollars to do heinous things. I don’t get asked about whether or not the kids in Detroit have a right to their tax dollars, so I just think the premise of the question is built around trying to ask people to agree to the current status quo that we have seen become a deeply unstable, deeply violent equilibrium.”

ABDUL EL-SAYED PROTESTED AGAINST ‘EX-TERRORISTS’ WHO CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY, UNEARTHED REPORT REVEALS

At another tense point, El-Sayed accused Rogers of trying to turn the race into a “culture war” focused on El-Sayed’s ethnicity and Muslim faith. The accusation came as El-Sayed bypassed a direct answer on whether he would return campaign contributions from individuals affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Fox News Digital previously reported that El-Sayed’s campaign received more than $115,000 from at least 41 individuals who worked for, previously worked for or held leadership roles with CAIR, which has faced longstanding controversy over alleged ties to Hamas and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator by federal prosecutors in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case. CAIR has also been designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and formally designated or labeled as such in Florida and Texas.

MICHIGAN SENATE HOPEFUL CALLS AIPAC DONATIONS ‘LEGALIZED BRIBERY,’ REMAINS SILENT ON OTHER DONATIONS

El-Sayed defended the organization as a civil rights group and accused Rogers of trying to make the election “about the color of my skin or how I pray.”

The exchange came after El-Sayed repeatedly criticized Rogers over his own campaign funding, accusing the Republican of being beholden to corporations. El-Sayed also questioned Rogers earlier in the event over his attendance at American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) fundraisers while discussing Israel.

“I believe in an America that is big enough for all of us: Mike Rogers, Donald Trump, JD Vance,” El-Sayed said Tuesday night. “They believe that some people are more American than others. They think that if you pray a different way, your family comes from a different place, that somehow there’s an asterisk on your American identity.”

Raj, the moderator, followed up, noting that, “JD Vance is the father of the children to an Indian-American,” and adding that the “second lady is an Indian woman who came to this country.”

EL-SAYED’S HASAN PIKER PROBLEM FOLLOWS HIM TO DEM CONVENTION AS JEWISH VOTERS BREAK RANKS

“I think there is diversity amongst that party,” he said.

El-Sayed also pushed back Tuesday night when he was questioned about his relationship with the DSA and whether he shares significant values with the group.

“I’m not a part of the organization,” El-Sayed responded before defending his view of capitalism and arguing that corporate consolidation, rather than government regulation, poses the greater threat to free markets.

“We don’t live in capitalism. We live in corporatism,” he continued. “You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that people deserve health care. You don’t have to be a socialist to believe that we need good roads.”

El-Sayed has repeatedly rejected the socialist label and described himself as a capitalist. The DSA did not endorse his Senate campaign, though prominent democratic socialists have supported, or have been affiliated with his candidacy. CBS News reported last month that El-Sayed said he was not part of DSA but believed the group’s supporters should be welcomed into the Democratic Party’s coalition.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital previously reported that El-Sayed spoke at six events held by DSA chapters between 2017 and 2020, including a 2019 fundraiser where he served as a keynote speaker. Socialist organizers have also described El-Sayed as a “longtime friend of Detroit DSA,” while El-Sayed told the Wall Street Journal in July that he was “not technically or practically DSA.”

The candidates are scheduled to meet Oct. 8 at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids and again Oct. 21 at WXYZ in Detroit ahead of the November general election.

A colossal crypto regulatory package backed by President Donald Trump stumbled in the Senate, and another shot is unlikely.

The Clarity Act failed to move through a key procedural hurdle on Tuesday, serving proponents of the bill, including major players in the cryptocurrency industry and the White House, a major blow in their pursuit of folding the novel currency into the nation’s web of financial regulations.

Democrats dealt the bill a mortal blow, but a handful of Republicans with outstanding concerns, including Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., were not assuaged, either. And with little time left on the Senate’s calendar and major bills piling up ahead of the midterm elections, the bill’s biggest backers believed that the Clarity Act might end up back on the shelf.

REPUBLICANS TARGET TRUMP’S CRYPTO EMPIRE WITH NEW PLAN, DEMS SAY IT FALLS SHORT

“I think we’re done. It’s over,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., the bill’s primary architect, said. “Because we’ve been working on this bill for over a year. And we’ve given them over 120 of their requests and that’s enough.”

When asked if the bill would come back to the floor, Lummis said, “Nope.”

A midnight hour update was made to the bill to try and pull anyone on the fence off to at least let the package move forward. But it wasn’t enough. And negotiations ran until the very end, just before the vote opened. 

DEMOCRATS HAND TRUMP ONE POWER THEY SPENT YEARS FIGHTING

The issues with the package were many and varying among Democrats and Republicans. Several Senate Democrats were not satisfied with the ethics language baked into the Clarity Act that sought to slow the Trump family’s rapidly growing crypto empire.

That’s because Trump’s income between 2024 and 2025 erupted by about 250% — from just over $620 million to about $2.2 billion.

And much of that increase is attributed to his various holdings and ventures in crypto, which are run by his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, according to the president’s financial disclosure forms reviewed by Fox News Digital.

“We could talk a lot about it,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said of his vote against the bill. “But the simple thing is, it allows the corruption of the president to continue.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who was working with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., to strengthen the ethics provision in the package, told Fox News Digital, “We were actually getting very, very close, and at the last minute, the banking staffer from [Sen. Tim] Scott’s office came in and just said, ‘negotiations are over.’”

“And so, I don’t know what happened. You know, we were getting to the point where we were probably going to be able to pass, at least get the motion to proceed, move forward, and then, again, an ethics amendment vote,” Gallego said. 

“But I think they got scared with the fact that they had to take an ethics amendment vote. And that’s why they killed it. They pulled it at that last minute, so it’s bulls—. We were negotiating at the end. At the end of the day, they cared more about protecting the president’s right to grift than trying to get a good bill on digital currency.”

Others didn’t believe that the language dealing with foreign money laundering had enough teeth.

“I have not seen the kind of engagement yet from the Republican side when it comes to countering terrorist financing and cartel financing that would get me to a yes,” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said. “I’m still engaged. I didn’t get on board with the GENIUS Act till the very last vote.”

TRUMP’S $5,000 DIVIDEND CHECKS WOULD COME WITH A MAJOR CATCH UNDER GOP SENATOR’S PLAN

Still, some lawmakers argued they should at least move forward with the bill to tweak it as needed.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, was still undecided before the vote. He was worried about how bringing crypto into the fold could affect deposit yields at community banks and guardrails on the currency being “diverted for criminal purposes,” but he argued the bill could be strengthened if they moved forward.

“What we used to do around here is something called legislate,” Cornyn said. “You know where you’d actually vote to get on the bill, but then you amend it, and then you decide whether you’re going to support it on the back end.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The bill’s failure does open up the Senate to speedily move to other legislative priorities, like Sen. Ted Cruz’s, R-Texas, college sports bill to add protections to student-athletes and slow the big money train ripping through collegiate athletics.

“We committed to ensure that we got a vote on college sports,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “So we’ll see if we have 60 [votes]. I don’t know the answer for sure to that yet. I hope we do.”

The U.S. has weapons orbiting Earth that can be used to defend American forces from attacks in space, the Air Force secretary revealed this week in a rare public acknowledgment of capabilities the Pentagon has largely kept secret.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said Monday that the Space Force now has “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action,” but declined to say what the weapons are, how they work or when they were deployed.

The carefully worded disclosure marks a shift in how openly the U.S. military talks about weapons in orbit as China and Russia develop their own capabilities to disrupt, disable or destroy satellites.

TRUMP TO TRANSFORM SPACEFLIGHT FROM SPECTACLE TO STATUS QUO TARGETING 3 LAUNCHES PER DAY

“Is there any question in the room, by anybody, about whether or not the Chinese or Russians have been developing these sorts of weapons?” Meink told reporters after his remarks at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland — right outside of Washington, D.C.

“For over a decade, we’ve been talking about the fact, and we have expressed concern, that the Chinese and Russians were developing weapons for space,” he continued. “We need to focus on making sure we can protect ourselves operating in that environment.”

Exactly what the U.S. has put into orbit remains a mystery.

The U.S. has previously discussed placing weapons in space, including plans to deploy space-based interceptors capable of destroying incoming missiles as part of President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system.

But Meink’s disclosure goes a step further: The Space Force already has weapons in orbit for “space control,” a mission aimed at protecting U.S. access to space and, if necessary, denying an adversary the ability to use it.

The Pentagon has historically revealed little about the weapons developed for that mission, with publicly known U.S. counter-space capabilities largely based on the ground.

“What the U.S. is going for is a wow factor here,” Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital. “Wow. The U.S. has never talked about space weapons like this before.”

“That’s really what is exceptional and newsworthy about this revelation,” Swope said. “The U.S. is saying we’re putting weapons in space to make sure that our adversaries can’t use space, or to make sure that we can continue to use space.”

Meink appeared to make clear that the ambiguity surrounding the weapons is intentional. He told reporters his language was “very well thought out” and declined to say whether the systems are kinetic or non-kinetic. Kinetic weapons physically strike or destroy a target — think bombs, bullets and missile — while non-kinetic systems can disrupt or disable it without blowing it up — like cyber attacks or radio jams.

“There are a lot of factors that roll into how we talk about these things,” Meink said, explaining that publicly revealing a capability can contribute to deterrence while disclosing too much about it can undermine that advantage.

“We’re not going to talk about the specifics of what we’re doing, whether we’ve tested it, not tested it, or anything else,” he said. That leaves a wide range of possibilities.

Fox News Digital did not hear back from the Space Force when reached for details of the weapon.

INSIDE AMERICA’S LASER REVOLUTION AS THE MILITARY NEARS BIG BATTLEFIELD BREAKTHROUGH

Swope said “space control weapons” could encompass everything from kinetic systems capable of firing missiles or projectiles at another satellite to jammers that interfere with satellite communications or lasers designed to temporarily overwhelm imaging sensors.

“We really don’t have enough information to know precisely which one of these types of capabilities we’re talking about,” Swope said. “It’s really anybody’s guess what type of weapon we’re talking about.”

FATAL AIR AMBULANCE CRASH EXPOSES GROWING GPS DANGER FACING US FLIGHTS

But whatever the Pentagon has deployed, putting a weapon in orbit rather than launching it from Earth could offer one potentially significant advantage: speed and surprise.

A weapon launched from Earth toward a satellite could potentially give an adversary warning that an attack was underway. A capability already positioned in orbit could dramatically shorten that window.

“Maybe something measured at dozens of minutes could be compressed into just mere minutes,” Swope said.

“And you wouldn’t have any indication that maybe a jammer was turned on, on the satellite, other than all of a sudden your signal is being interfered with,” he added.

“If you can act fast without your adversary knowing, if you can have surprise, that gives you a strategic or an asymmetric advantage in combat,” Swope said. “And having systems in orbit do just that.”

Even observing the spacecraft itself may offer few clues about what it can do.

“Space is a very transparent place,” Swope said, noting that governments and civilian observers can track where satellites are, how fast they are moving and what orbits they occupy.

“But what you’ll see often is, oh, it’s a satellite,” he said. “It’s a lot of technology with solar panels and antenna on it. And you don’t really know much beyond that.”

A satellite equipped to jam another spacecraft’s signals, for example, might look much like an ordinary communications satellite.

“Any signal can be a jamming signal,” Swope said. “It just depends on if it’s the one you want to receive, or the one that someone’s trying to use to jam you.”

The concept of weapons operating in orbit is not new. Swope pointed to the Soviet Union’s work on co-orbital anti-satellite weapons dating to the 1960s. Russia has continued developing counterspace capabilities, including systems designed to operate in orbit near other satellites.

China has also developed and tested technologies that could threaten spacecraft, including satellite-servicing and debris-removal systems that have legitimate civilian uses but could potentially be repurposed to interfere with another satellite.

Other forms of interference are already widespread.

“When we talk about jamming and spoofing and cyberattacks against space systems, these happen all the time, both from Russia and China and other countries like North Korea and Iran,” Swope said. “There is so much jamming and spoofing happening around the world right now, it’s almost ubiquitous.”

Those attacks can target systems such as GPS and satellite communications without physically destroying a spacecraft.

That distinction could become critical during a conflict. Jamming, spoofing or cyberattacks may remain below the threshold that prompts a major military response, while physically destroying a satellite could represent a significant escalation.

“If you drop a bomb on a satellite ground station or you shoot a missile at a satellite in space, that’s a big difference,” Swope said. “That’s a huge escalation.”

The stakes are particularly high because modern U.S. warfare is deeply dependent on space-based systems for communications, navigation, intelligence, missile warning and targeting.

“Space is an enabler of joint operations,” Swope said. “We can’t do military operations the way that we do them today without satellites, without systems in space.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

China increasingly faces the same dependency, making control of space potentially decisive in a conflict between the two powers.

“Whoever has space and can deny that to their adversary has a huge asymmetric advantage in a conflict,” Swope said.

“China depends on space as well, and their use of space for joint operations looks very much like the United States,” he added. “Both countries, I would go so far as to say, depend on space to conduct military operations on Earth.”

The Trump administration announced new visa restrictions Tuesday targeting foreign nationals in South Africa who it says are responsible for race-based discrimination, uncompensated land seizures or inciting imminent violence against racial and ethnic minorities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the policy under a provision of federal immigration law allowing him to deem foreign nationals inadmissible when their entry into the U.S. could have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.

The restrictions will target foreign nationals who are responsible for, or complicit in, enacting or implementing laws or policies that the State Department says enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination or the incitement of imminent violence against minority ethnic or racial groups in South Africa.

RUBIO UNVEILS VISA RESTRICTIONS TARGETING CYBERCRIME NETWORKS

Rubio sharpened the administration’s criticism of the South African government in a post on X announcing the restrictions Tuesday.

“As @POTUS has made clear, the South African people are being failed by a government that is destroying its economy through an obsessive pursuit of racial grievance against the Afrikaner minority,” Rubio wrote.

Rubio accused South Africa‘s government of failing to adequately address rural crime, what he described as “violent and dehumanizing rhetoric,” and discriminatory policies targeting Afrikaners and other minority groups.

RUBIO PUSHES BACK ON INDIA’S CONCERNS OVER US VISA CURBS, SAYS POLICY MUST BE ‘AMERICA FIRST’ UNDER TRUMP

“Those responsible for these injustices have no place in the United States,” Rubio wrote.

Family members may also be subject to the restrictions, according to the State Department.

The announcement marks the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s dispute with the South African government over its treatment of Afrikaners and other minority populations.

‘NARCO-TERRORIST’ FAMILY MEMBERS TARGETED IN RUBIO’S LATEST VISA CRACKDOWN

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 directing federal agencies to halt aid to South Africa to the extent permitted by law and directing the State and Homeland Security departments to prioritize humanitarian relief for Afrikaners who the administration says are victims of racial discrimination.

The order specifically cited South Africa’s Expropriation Act and accused the government of enabling the seizure of Afrikaner agricultural property without compensation, along with pursuing other discriminatory policies.

Rubio said Tuesday that the administration does not believe South Africa has adequately addressed its concerns.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The new restrictions are being imposed under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, according to the State Department.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

A handful of House Republicans rebuked President Donald Trump’s operation in Iran on Tuesday, joining Democrats to pass a resolution aimed at reining in the commander-in-chief’s war powers.

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., introduced the war powers resolution that was backed by 14 of his fellow House Democrats, including Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo, and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. But it was Republicans who helped put the legislation over the edge.

Seven House Republicans joined all 213 voting Democrats to pass the measure in a 220 to 204 vote late on Tuesday night. Opponents of the bill were 203 House Republicans and Rep. Kevin Kiley, I-Calif., who caucuses with the GOP.

“I’ve been consistent on that since the war powers provision expired after 60 days of engagement,” Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning ahead of the vote.

REP TOM BARRETT: IT’S UP TO CONGRESS TO PREVENT ANOTHER ENDLESS AMERICAN WAR

Republicans who voted to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran have long argued that it’s on Congress to declare war, not the White House. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 generally allows a president to engage U.S. forces in hostilities for up to 60 days without congressional authorization, with an additional 30-day withdrawal period under certain circumstances. Supporters of the resolution argue that period has already expired.

The Trump administration has argued the president is acting within his constitutional authority as commander in chief and has defended the continued military operation against Iran, saying the resolution would improperly restrict the president’s ability to protect U.S. forces and national security interests.

The war in Iran has become a political lightning rod in the current midterm election season, dividing Republicans and providing political fodder for Democrats who have accused Trump of getting into another “forever war.”

The conflict has also been blamed by some lawmakers and analysts for higher prices at the gas pump, which is expected to be a top issue for voters.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS OPPOSE THE IRAN WAR, SEE PROLONGED COMMITMENT

It also pushed Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a well-known critic of Trump’s foreign entanglements, to try to force a vote on impeaching Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

But the vast majority of Republicans still stand by the president and insist he is well within his authority.

“The president has done a good job managing all this,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital. “We need to stand with the president right now and with the Iranian people. And the president’s done what he promised the American people, that he wasn’t going to let them have a nuclear weapon.”

REPUBLICANS BREAK WITH TRUMP TO REBUKE IRAN WAR — BUT IT WON’T CHANGE POLICY

The Senate passed a similar resolution in June of this year, also with several Republicans defecting against Trump.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

But even if an identical bill passes both chambers, Trump has indicated he opposes such legislation, meaning it would likely face a presidential veto if it gets to his desk.

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico said in a resurfaced 2024 interview that the United States was “backsliding” on democracy and suggested Americans should look to countries in Western Europe for “inspiration.”

Talarico made the remarks during a June 2, 2024, appearance on “The Weekend Show” with Anthony Davis on the MeidasTouch Network, well before becoming the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas.

“We haven’t lived up to the promise of democracy,” Talarico said. “And of course, some countries are farther along than others, and sadly, here in America, where that experiment started, we are backsliding.”

“And that troubles me greatly,” he continued. “But all of us still have so much more work to do to create a true democracy.”

TALARICO MAKES STUNNING CLAIM ABOUT WHY HE THINKS TEXAS ELECTIONS AREN’T ‘FREE AND FAIR’

Talarico added that Americans should look to other countries, “especially in Western Europe,” for inspiration about “how to continue with this experiment and ultimately reach that goal of a true democracy, of a beloved community.”

The clip drew fresh attention on social media this week, including from Elon Musk, who responded with a single word: “No.”

Asked about the resurfaced remarks, Talarico’s campaign defended the candidate’s comments.

“James agrees with the majority of Texans that America is the greatest country in the world, Texas is the greatest state in the union, and we should always fight for a more perfect union,” JT Ennis, a spokesperson for the Talarico campaign, told Fox News Digital.

Talarico, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian, entered the national spotlight earlier this year after defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, for the Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate nomination. He is facing Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the general election.

SHOCK POLL: TALARICO TIES PAXTON IN TEXAS SENATE RACE, THREATENING GOP STRONGHOLD

Republicans have repeatedly highlighted Talarico’s past remarks during the campaign, including his statements that he thinks of himself as a Christian who “hates Christianity,” that “God is nonbinary” and that there are six biological sexes. 

Talarico’s campaign previously responded to criticism of the Christianity remark by saying he is a devout Christian who is criticizing what he views as the misuse of Christianity to justify hate, violence and greed.

In July, the conservative political action committee Lone Star Liberty criticized Talarico as an “America-laster” after the Democratic Senate nominee called the American flag a “complicated symbol.” Talarico’s campaign responded at the time that he believes the flag represents “freedom, opportunity, and hope.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

A Democratic stalwart cruised to a primary victory in Delaware on Tuesday, including fending off an opponent with an anti-Trump name.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., easily held on against a small field of primary challengers and clinched the Democratic nomination for Senate in a race for a third term that he’s expected to win in November, and he did it while besting an opponent with an unusual name: E. No-Trump Hansen.

Hansen, formerly known as Eric Hansen, a former business executive, ran on a platform of curbing presidential power. His solution to President Donald Trump’s “worst impulses” was to pass legislation that would limit presidential power to “restore real checks and balances, and root out corruption and self-dealing.”

RAUCOUS PRIMARY SEASON REACHES FINAL ACT IN DEEP-BLUE STRONGHOLD, KICKSTARTING SPRINT TO NOVEMBER

“The name E. (Eric) No-Trump Hansen isn’t a gimmick — it’s his complete commitment to positive change,” his campaign website said.

Hansen told local outlet WHYY that he changed his name to reflect his opposition to Trump.

“Trump has said he’ll go after his critics by any means available,” Hansen said. “He will go after me, but I’m willing to bear that risk anyway — because the alternative is letting things get worse for Delawareans.”

MCCONNELL RETURNS AFTER MONTHS-LONG ABSENCE FOR CRUCIAL VOTE

A statement of candidacy filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) showed that Hansen officially began campaigning under his new moniker in July. Previously, Hansen ran as a Republican in 2024 and scored the GOP nomination.

He ultimately lost to Sen. Lisa Blunt-Rochester, D-Del.

Meanwhile, Coons’ victory over Hansen, Jeff Appelhans and Mary Louve tees up a November challenge against either Mike Katz or John Shulli.

REPUBLICAN CAVALRY ARRIVES FOR KEN PAXTON AS BIG-BUCKS TEXAS OFFENSIVE OPENS CASH FLOODGATES

And Coons, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has history on his side. The lawmaker first entered Congress to replace then-Sen. Joe Biden, who was tapped by former President Barack Obama to be his running mate.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

He won his first full term in 2014 and has maintained his grip on the position ever since. The First State hasn’t sent a Republican to the upper chamber since 1966, when former Sen. J. Caleb Boggs lost re-election.

Boggs was ousted by a 29-year-old Biden, cementing Delaware as a deep-blue stronghold for decades to come.

Former Democratic state lawmaker Mike Katz won Delaware’s Republican Senate primary Tuesday, sending the state’s GOP-backed candidate into a November fight against the Democratic nominee for a seat Republicans have not won in more than three decades.

Katz defeated retired Army colonel John Shulli in the two-way Republican primary and will face three-term Democratic Sen. Chris Coons in the Nov. 3 general election.

Katz, a pediatric anesthesiologist and business owner, previously served in the Delaware state Senate as a Democrat after winning election to the chamber in 2008. He represented the state’s 4th Senate District until losing his re-election bid in 2012.

RAUCOUS PRIMARY SEASON REACHES FINAL ACT IN DEEP-BLUE STRONGHOLD, KICKSTARTING SPRINT TO NOVEMBER

The anesthesiologist has crossed party lines during his political career. Katz ran for U.S. Senate in 2024 as the Independent Party candidate, finishing third behind Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester and Republican Eric Hansen with about 4% of the vote. 

He later registered his 2026 Senate candidacy as a Republican, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Katz entered Tuesday’s contest as the Delaware Republican Party’s endorsed candidate. His campaign has focused on lowering the cost of living, reforming health care, protecting jobs in Delaware, and reducing federal spending, according to his campaign website.

SUPREME COURT REJECTS TRUMP BID TO REVIVE STRICT MAIL-BALLOT RULES BEFORE MIDTERMS

Katz characterized his move to the Republican Party as an alignment with long-held beliefs rather than a shift in his political views, telling FOX 29 that re-registering as a Republican “was not a change in principle” but an alignment with principles he had held for decades.

“Our campaign is building a coalition. A coalition of Republicans, Independents and Democratic voters to win this race in November to defeat Chris Coons,” Katz told supporters in an ad ahead of Tuesday’s primary.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Katz will attempt to snap a decades-long losing streak for the party in Delaware Senate races. The GOP has not won a U.S. Senate election in the state since Republican Sen. William Roth won re-election in 1994.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., claimed Tuesday that “for the first time this summer,” the majority of people arrested by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “pose absolutely no threat to public safety.”

Speaking during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on immigration enforcement, Jayapal argued the Trump administration has increasingly focused its immigration enforcement on immigrants without criminal convictions or pending criminal charges rather than those with criminal records.

“For the first time this summer, the majority of people that DHS arrested were people who pose absolutely no threat to public safety, and the number of people with criminal convictions who are arrested by ICE actually decreased — decreased, not increased,” Jayapal said. 

HOMAN CONFIRMS ‘CRIMINAL’ INVESTIGATION INVOLVING ILHAN OMAR, SAYS HE KNOWS ‘THINGS ARE GOING ON’

She argued the administration’s enforcement priorities are making communities “less safe.”

“That’s because when DHS expends all of its energy to go after parents, longtime friends, neighbors, when [Homeland Security Investigations] agents who are supposed to investigate serious crime and human trafficking are instead being moved to street sweeps and riding along with local police for random traffic stops, we are less safe, not more safe.”

Jayapal’s comments echoed claims her office made in a Sept. 1 press release, which said ICE data showed “the majority of people they arrest have zero criminal charges or convictions” and that arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions or pending criminal charges had increased 770%.

Independent analyses of ICE data have likewise found that while overall ICE arrests reached record highs during the summer, the share of people arrested without criminal convictions or pending criminal charges also increased.

Her remarks come as the Trump administration has touted record immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump.

ILLEGAL CONVICTED OF ASSAULTING HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS THOUGHT HE WAS FREE — THEN DHS DROPPED THE HAMMER

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested nearly 51,000 illegal immigrants nationwide in August, according to DHS, marking the highest monthly total on record.

“The hard-working men and women of DHS continue to break records as they defend the homeland and protect the American people,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement.

Mullin added, “For the third straight month, ICE set a new record for the highest number of illegal aliens arrested in a single month, nearly 51,000. This is promises made and promises kept in action. Under President Trump’s leadership, ICE is working around the clock every day to arrest and deport illegal aliens from American communities.”

DHS also highlighted August arrests of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes including murder, child pornography and sexual assault of a minor.

MORE THAN 100 HAITIAN IMMIGRANTS WITH VIOLENT OFFENSE AND SEX CRIME CONVICTIONS DEPORTED: DHS

According to DHS, more than 3 million illegal immigrants have left the United States since Trump returned to office.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

A spokesperson for DHS and Jayapal could not immediately be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and two fellow agitators entered the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room 2272 today, wearing camera-ready T-shirts supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Communist Party of Cuba, turning themselves into a live demonstration of the “Trojan horses” for foreign influence that lawmakers had gathered to examine.

At 2:39 p.m., about 30 minutes into the hearing’s start, after Benjamin carefully photographed their T-shirt slogans appearing on the TV screen behind the witnesses, staffers on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia had had enough, and Capitol Hill police officers escorted Benjamin and her fellow agitators out of the room, as they protested their ejection for staging their trademark CodePink antics.

For lawmakers, CodePink’s camera-conscious performance underscored the central point of the hearing: that protest theater, messaging and social-media content can function as parts of foreign influence operations.

“It’s really about theatrics,” Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., later told Fox News Digital. “They’re using it not to affect policy, but really to enrich themselves because they use that then to go out on social media, to try to whip other people up, to help donations, to help get volunteers, help get some of those other folks, and to really try to go and disrupt our – not just our sense of government and processing government – but society.”

HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE FOREIGN ‘TROJAN HORSES’ AS SINGHAM SCRUTINY WIDENS

The hearing, “Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America,” focused on the network of nonprofits, media outlets and activist groups that are promoting the interests of foreign governments and pro-communist ideologues, like Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. tech tycoon who lives in Shanghai, supporting the Chinese Communist Party. According to a Fox News Digital investigation, Singham has pumped $278 million into a far-left network of groups that have pushed anti-America, pro-China propaganda, including CodePink, which has received $1.33 million from Singham.

Outside the hearing room, Benjamin refused to answer questions from Fox News Digital about the Singham funding, and instead slipped into the hearing room with her fellow activists and positioned themselves behind the witnesses in seats that get maximum TV exposure.

Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, spotted Benjamin immediately and, in a tense back-and-forth with her, said “I’m telling Medea Benjamin that she should try to stop shilling for a communist tyranny.”

Standing on the committee hearing room floor, Benjamin defended herself as “anti-war,” and denied any direction from the Chinese Communist Party.

CUBA BUILT COVERT NETWORK INSIDE AMERICA THROUGH SPIES, ACTIVISTS AND UNIVERSITIES, STATE DEPT ALLEGES

During opening remarks, Huizenga took direct aim at actors he said are tied to U.S. adversaries attempting to influence the American public, including Singham, CodePink and Marxist influencer Hasan Piker.

“We are here today because America’s adversaries – China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia – are conducting covert influence campaigns to shape American thought and society through lies and censorship. These countries have one shared goal: to weaken the United States of America,” Huizenga

“A prominent example of these adversary efforts is Neville Roy Singham, who lives in China and uses his wealth and relationships with the CCP to provide millions of dollars and personnel to extremist groups like CodePink, the People’s Forum, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation to destabilize American society and promote communist ideology,” he continued.

A hub for pro-communist organizing in New York City, People’s Forum has received $22.44 million from Singham.

The first to testify, Gonzalez said a “red-green” alliance of far-left groups working with Islamist organizations channel money through intermediary organizations and donor funds before directing funds toward U.S.-based groups that organize protests and produce political messaging.

Gonzalez pointed to Cuba and China’s influence operations as the basis of a “sustained campaign of subversion against the United States.”

He described BreakThrough News as a media platform that amplifies demonstrations and promotes narratives aligned with Beijing, while arguing that the network’s causes — including Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, the environment and social justice — provide a constantly changing set of rallying points. BreakThrough BT Media runs BreakThrough News and has received $1.098 million from Singham, according to Fox News Digital’s reporting.

The testimony also focused on Singham’s connections in Shanghai. Gonzalez cited research saying Singham shares premises with Maku Cultural Communication, a Chinese communications firm that promotes a favorable image of China, and was photographed attending a Chinese Communist Party strategic communications workshop in 2023. Gonzalez also pointed to connections between Singham-funded organizations and Chinese state-linked academic and media institutions.

POWER COUPLE OF CHAOS: HOW A TYCOON AND ACTIVIST BUILT A ‘REVOLUTIONARY BASE’ AT THE HOUSE OF SINGHAM

Singham and CodePink have denied that the organization takes direction from the Chinese government. Singham has said he is guided by his own political beliefs, while Benjamin has said CodePink receives no money from the Chinese Communist Party. No criminal charges have been filed against Singham or the organizations in connection with the allegations.

Soon after, Sam Lyman, head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, presented the network as one of three overlapping channels of influence: Chinese state media and online campaigns, nonprofits supported by Singham, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Marxist-Leninist organization that works closely with CodePink, People’s Forum and BreakThrough News. Lyman said Singham-funded groups had echoed Chinese messaging on artificial intelligence, data centers and U.S. technology policy, while the Party for Socialism and Liberation organizers helped mobilize opposition to data-center projects across the country.

In the gallery, CodePink’s Benjamin stared at her phone, scrolling through messages.

Lyman said his research identified 21 campaigns linked to the Party for Socialism and Liberation in 14 states that contributed to data-center moratoriums, a permanent ban and the rejection or cancellation of several projects. He estimated that campaigns in which the Party for Socialism and Liberation played a role had delayed, reduced or blocked proposed AI infrastructure investment across the country. He cautioned, however, that opposition to data centers isn’t entirely manufactured and that many Americans had genuine concerns about electricity costs, environmental effects and local development.

Finally, among the Republican witnesses, Matthew Johnson, senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank, described the Singham network as an intermediary layer that translates themes associated with Beijing — including anti-imperialism, environmental harm, militarization, inequality and opposition to U.S. power — into activist language for American audiences.

HASAN PIKER CALLS HAMAS ‘FAR MORE MODERATE,’ DISMISSES TERROR GROUP’S BRUTAL RULE IN GAZA

His testimony identified the People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, Tricontinental, CodePink and the communist ANSWER Coalition as part of the broader ecosystem. Tricontinental Ltd. is a Massachusetts-based think tank led by a friend of Singham’s, Vijay Prashad, who led a session on the future of Marxism at Singham’s wedding to Evans. Singham provided $16.76 million to Tricontinental.

“Beijing cannot simply command an American university, company, journalist, think tank or activist,” Johnson said. “It must gain access and cultivate relationships within institutions that shape perception, expertise and decision-making.”

Democratic minority lawmakers called Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, to the hearing as their witness. His opening remarks offered a dissenting opinion to the other witnesses, criticizing President Donald Trump for accepting a plane for Air Force One from Qatar and taking aim at Trump’s family’s business dealings with nations abroad.

The phrase “Trojan horse” comes from the ancient Greek story in which soldiers concealed themselves inside a wooden horse presented as a gift to the city of Troy. Once the horse was brought inside the city, the soldiers emerged and opened the gates to the invading army.

FACEBOOK CO-FOUNDER DUSTIN MOSKOVITZ’S ‘EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM’ NETWORK TIED TO AI REGULATION PUSH

In modern foreign influence operations, lawmakers used the “Trojan horse” metaphor to describe seemingly legitimate people, organizations, media outlets, nonprofits or cultural initiatives that can provide hidden access for a foreign power’s interests. The concern is that a foreign government, foreign intelligence service, wealthy foreign actor or proxy may use that structure to gain access to American audiences, political debates, institutions, policymaking or elections.

After the last witness spoke, about 30 minutes into the hearing, Huizenga briefly suspended proceedings while U.S. Capitol Police approached Benjamin and her fellow agitators.

“We do have some folks who have not verbally disrupted the committee as of yet,” Huizenga said. “This has been deemed to be a protest by the clerk because of the nature of the shirts and what is happening.”

The shirts were still visible on the official feed of the hearing behind the witnesses.

Video from inside the hearing room shows a Capitol Police officer approaching Benjamin at her seat and asking her to leave. Benjamin complied but protested.

As the activists huddled outside with Capitol Police officers, ranking member Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., objected to the removal, saying the activists were “exercising their freedom of speech by wearing T-shirts” and “certainly were not being disruptive.”

CHINA EXPERT WARNS BEIJING WANTS AMERICANS — NOT THE CCP — TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE

Outside, Benjamin kept the performance going, strategically positioning herself beside the bronze committee placard and started filming a video about the political spectacle just staged, her Trader Joe bag beside her feet. Suddenly, she cut filming when she spotted Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., exiting the hearing room. Chasing after Fine, a strong opponent of the anti-semitism of the “red-green alliance” and a strong supporter of Israel, Benjamin hurled questions at her, her team filming the chase.

After Fine entered an office, Benjamin returned to her spot outside the Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room, pulled out a comb to straighten her hair and returned to filming her remarks about the day’s hearing. The video complete, Benjamin disappeared down the hall with her fellow CodePink agitators.

Soon after, CodePink published videos of their members disrupting a House Financial Services Committee to heckle Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. As Fox News Digital has reported, Bessent’s Treasury Department has been investigating CodePink and other organizations for possibly violating restrictions on doing business with the Communist Party of Cuba.

Then, just about two hours after being escorted out of the hearing room, at 4:38 p.m., the CodePink team posted a carefully edited 43-second video of Benjamin standing outside the hearing room and chasing Fine, packaging the day’s confrontation into a ready-made social-media clip.

Far-left activists from the Singham network quickly shared the CodePink video.

Fox News Digital’s Jesse Watson contributed to this report.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

EXCLUSIVE: A Haitian gang member and illegal alien who defiantly told Fox News cameras “I’m not going back to Haiti” and shouted “Biden forever” during his viral U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest has been deported to Haiti by the Trump administration after spending 19 months in federal custody.

Wisteguens Jean Quely Charles was deported on an ICE flight originating in Louisiana, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Fox News.

Sources told Fox News that Charles was extremely combative aboard the aircraft and made crude, profane and threatening remarks about President Donald Trump and his family during the deportation flight.

DHS CHIEF MULLIN CLASHES WITH TAPPER OVER HAITI DEPORTATIONS AFTER SUPREME COURT TPS RULING

An image obtained exclusively by Fox News shows Charles aboard the plane. The photo was provided by an ICE source and was not included among the images officially released by DHS.

The deportation completes a dramatic reversal from Charles’ arrest in Massachusetts on Jan. 22, 2025, when Fox News cameras captured him insisting he would not be returned to Haiti.

“I’m not going back to Haiti … you feel me?” Charles said during the arrest. “F— Trump,” he added. “Biden forever bro.”

Fox News witnessed the arrest as ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers took Charles into custody in Massachusetts, just days after Trump returned to the White House.

EXCLUSIVE: ICE NABS MULTIPLE CONVICTED KILLERS IN SINGLE DAY AMID NATIONWIDE IMMIGRATION SWEEP

DHS identifies Charles as a member of the Back Block Money Gang and says he had accumulated 17 criminal convictions.

His criminal history included convictions for assault and battery on a public employee, resisting arrest, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, possession with intent to distribute a Class D controlled substance, possession of controlled substances, carrying a dangerous weapon, carrying ammunition without a firearm identification card and trespassing, according to DHS.

Charles remained in federal custody for approximately 19 months after his arrest as his immigration case proceeded.

A Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge issued Charles a final order of removal on Nov. 7, 2025, according to DHS.

ICE MAKES NATIONWIDE ARRESTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, MURDERERS, PEDOPHILES IN HOLIDAY BLITZ

DHS publicly announced Charles’ deportation after Fox News obtained details of his removal, specifically referencing the viral video of Charles praising former President Joe Biden during his arrest.

“This illegal alien gang member from Haiti had quite the rap sheet,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement, citing Charles’ convictions for assault and battery on a public employee, resisting arrest and drug trafficking.

Mullin also criticized the immigration policies of the Obama and Biden administrations and credited the Trump administration with carrying out Charles’ removal.

“Once again: if you’re here illegally, we will find you, arrest you, and remove you from the United States of America,” Mullin said.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN BREAKS WITH TRUMP, SAYS ENDING HAITIAN TPS RISKS US HEALTHCARE ‘CRISIS’

DHS said Charles had originally received Temporary Protected Status (TPS) during the Obama administration in February 2013, and was admitted to the U.S. in July of that year, according to DHS.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services terminated his TPS in July 2022, according to DHS.

The White House separately provided Fox News with a statement following Charles’ deportation.

“This gang member and criminal illegal alien loved Obama, Biden, and open-border Democrats who let him enter our country with TPS and allowed him to terrorize American citizens,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.

“Thanks to the Trump administration, he is now off our streets and back in Haiti,” she continued, while contrasting Trump’s immigration enforcement policies with those of Democrats.

DHS also posted a tongue-in-cheek photo of President Donald Trump at his viral McDonald’s campaign trail stop waving goodbye to accompany the news.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The deportation came more than a year and a half after Charles predicted the opposite as ICE officers placed him under arrest in front of Fox News cameras.

“I’m not going back to Haiti,” he said at the time.

Charles was deported by ICE to Haiti on Thursday, DHS said.

A pair of moderate House Democrats defied House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Tuesday, rescuing Republicans from an embarrassing final week before the November midterms.

Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., voted with Republicans on a procedural hurdle known as a “rule vote,” aimed at allowing the House to consider a slew of other bills this week.

It’s an embarrassing blow to Jeffries’ leadership; it is almost unheard of for the minority party to break ranks and help the majority pass one of their rules, even if lawmakers on that side support the underlying legislation.

LINDSEY GRAHAM’S FINAL MISSION TO PUNISH PUTIN CLEARS SENATE AFTER YEARLONG FIGHT

Golden’s spokesman told Fox News Digital that the congressman’s vote was to advance a Russia sanctions bill that would have effectively been killed had the Tuesday evening rule vote failed.

“Congressman Golden has been a consistent supporter of America’s allies in Ukraine. He didn’t want to see the Russia sanctions bill die in a rule vote after passing with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate,” the spokesman said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Gluesenkamp Perez’s office as well.

The congresswoman posted on X, “I’m proud to represent one of the largest Ukrainian communities in America-people who have lost fathers, mothers, sons and daughters in the fight to defeat fascism. I’ll always stand with my community’s values, and am grateful for the 86 senators who voted to send this bill to the house. My vote today gets us one step closer to enacting these sanctions into law and I look forward to voting tomorrow to cut off the flow of Russian oil money fueling this war.”

JEFFRIES THREATENS ‘SERIOUS RESPONSE’ AFTER DEMOCRATS HELP GOP ADVANCE ANTI-SOCIALISM VOTE

It’s not the first time the two voted against their own party on a rule, having done so several weeks earlier. The pair have been known to break ranks with fellow Democrats before, but their decision to do so on procedural votes incited particular fury among fellow Democrats.

It also spurred questions over whether Jeffries will be able to control his caucus if Democrats take back the House in November, and he is elected to be the next speaker.

HOUSE DEMS OVERWHELMINGLY REJECT ANTI-SOCIALISM RESOLUTION AFTER 2 MODERATES DEFY JEFFRIES

Jeffries and his top deputies said in a statement the last time the pair broke ranks on a rule, “The decision by two of our colleagues to blindside the entire House Democratic Caucus and join with the Republican majority to pass a procedural rule on the brink of failing represents a significant breach of trust. It is an action that necessitates a serious response, and we have asked the Committee on Caucus Rules to take this up in short order.”

It’s not clear if any punishment ensued, however.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Golden is notably retiring from Congress at the end of this year. Gluesenkamp Perez is facing her toughest election yet against a Republican challenger in her Washington state district, which voted for President Donald Trump in 2024.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN — Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., threw her support behind three of the Trump administration’s signature economic policies in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Collaboration between ratepayers and data center developers, public stakes in high-growth industries and loan guarantees for critical mineral extraction are all areas where the Michigan congresswoman says the Trump administration is charting the right course. She also pointed to bolstering American manufacturing and deterring the nation’s adversaries from hostage taking as areas where she believes bipartisan collaboration is possible.

“It’s not just about taxation,” Stevens told Fox News Digital when asked how revenues can be raised to fund healthcare and infrastructure programs. “If federal dollars are used, like what Mr. Elon Musk got from the federal government, so potentially this current administration could be right that ownership stakes should be on the table.”

PROGRESSIVE PRAISE FOR TRUMP AS WARREN BACKS PUSH TO CURB DEFENSE CONTRACTOR CEO PAYOUTS

The Trump administration has increasingly pursued direct equity stakes, alongside grants and loans, to steer capital into industries it considers strategically important, such as semiconductors and critical minerals.

For instance, the administration converted $8.9 billion in federal funding into a 9.9% nonvoting stake in Intel, while the Pentagon took a 15% stake in rare-earth producer MP Materials. Both investments have increased in value since the government took them, although those gains are not realized until the shares are sold.

While Stevens thinks stimulating economic growth is part of the equation for balancing the federal balance sheet, she did say that the “wealthiest of the wealthy” should “absolutely” pay more in taxes.

Stevens rose to national prominence during her primary contest against Abdul El-Sayed, who has since become the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan. She cast herself as a more moderate alternative to El-Sayed, who she accused of unfairly singling out Jewish Americans.

DEMOCRATS’ CIVIL WAR HEADS TO MICHIGAN WHERE PROGRESSIVES FACE BIGGEST TEST YET IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE SHOWDOWN

Though the primary feud between the two was intense, Stevens endorsed El-Sayed following a narrow primary defeat and signaled that, while she may agree with President Donald Trump on some things, she still sees his broader agenda as dangerous for America.

“I personally think [Republican nominee] Mike Rogers is going to continue to rubber-stamp Donald Trump’s chaotic agenda,” she said in an interview after endorsing El-Sayed. “People are going to make a personal and private decision. I am not on the ballot in Michigan.”

Likewise, the White House isn’t particularly warm towards Stevens.

“It’s rich that Haley Stevens claims to support President Trump’s proven economic agenda after voting against the President over 80 percent of the time in Congress – including on the Great One Big Beautiful Bill, which is the largest working-class tax cut in history,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital.

MICHIGAN DEMOCRAT HALEY STEVENS BACKS EL-SAYED AFTER NARROW PRIMARY DEFEAT, CALLS SOCIALISM ‘DANGEROUS’

Though Stevens is a loyal Democrat, she says that doesn’t prevent her from working across the aisle, especially on local issues.

For that reason, she threw her support behind the Trump administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a collaborative framework bringing together utilities, data center developers, cooperatives and state governments to keep energy prices down amidst the massive buildout of AI infrastructure.

“I think collaboration is always a promising first step and path forward,” Stevens told Fox News Digital when asked about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. “Before I was in Congress, I had also worked on the bipartisan auto-rescue task force in the Obama administration. I was an Obama appointee, but there were also Bush appointees who stayed on, and there frankly were Republicans who were on the task force. And the reason I’m mentioning the auto task force is that we coordinated at the local level. We coordinated large-scale federal resources.”

Later in the interview, Stevens stressed to Fox News Digital that she is “really fired up about critical minerals,” arguing that America makes itself vulnerable to China by failing to increase domestic production. She listed loan guarantees for mining firms, a policy currently being carried out by the Trump administration, as something she supports.

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS TURN POLLUTED MINE WATER INTO CRITICAL RARE EARTH MINERALS

The White House did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Looking forward, Stevens — who has a strong record of bipartisan work — highlighted a few areas she believes are fertile ground for Republicans and Democrats to work together.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“[Rep.] French Hill, who’s a Republican from Arkansas and a great congressman, French Hill and I have passed considerable pieces of legislation to stand up to America’s enemies, to stand up to our detractors, and that continues to be an area where I believe that we will see more bipartisan collaboration,” she told Fox News Digital. “I also feel very strongly and I’m very proud to serve as the bipartisan caucus chair of the manufacturing caucus, our industrial sector, and one of the areas of great success for me in the Congress was, as a midwesterner, working with colleagues on the other side of the aisle to grow our manufacturing economy.”

The vast majority of House Democrats voted to help Republicans quash an effort to impeach President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, forced a vote on impeaching Trump over federal immigration officials’ killing of two U.S. citizens earlier this year. The move fractured House Democrats, whose leaders have largely avoided placing an emphasis on trying to oust the president as they work to take back Congress in the November midterms.

The House voted to table the measure, a maneuver to get rid of it while avoiding voting on the impeachment resolution itself.

OUTGOING HOUSE DEMOCRAT AL GREEN FILES ANOTHER IMPEACHMENT RESOLUTION TARGETING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

Democrats walked a political tightrope with the measure, forced to choose between appeasing their anti-Trump base and appealing to moderate and independent voters by showing them they were focused on tackling Americans’ everyday issues like high cost of living rather than political revenge.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and his top deputies voted “present,” avoiding taking a stand on the matter while allowing Republicans to more easily scuttle the resolution.

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: DEM REBELS EXPOSE CRACKS IN JEFFRIES’ HOUSE LEADERSHIP

Jeffries said in a statement that impeachment “traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process, the collection and review of thousands of documents, an exacting scrutiny of the facts, the examination of dozens of key witnesses, congressional hearings, sustained public organizing and the marshaling of the forces of democracy to build a broad national consensus.”

“None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber-stamping Donald Trump’s extreme agenda,” senior House Democratic leaders said. “Accordingly, we will again vote ‘present’ on the motion to table the impeachment resolution as we continue our fight to make life more affordable for everyday Americans, while committing to holding the crooks accountable using every tool available to us beginning on day one.”

But Green railed against Jeffries and other Democrats who did not vote to impeach Trump during his own comments to reporters on Monday.

“They will acknowledge that what the president is doing is impeachable, but they would have us wait. Well, the Constitution doesn’t have a wait clause in it,” Green said. “I believe that there are some Republicans and Democrats who are considering voting to protect the president. If they’re not considering protecting him, that will be the effect of what they will do when they vote to either table or they vote to send this to a committee for further investigation.”

CONSERVATIVES ERUPT AFTER AL GREEN MELTS DOWN DURING VIRAL CLASH: ‘UNHINGED LUNATIC’

Green previously forced a vote to impeach Trump in June 2025, when 128 Democrats joined Republicans in voting to table the Texas progressive’s resolution.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

It could also be Green’s last chance to protest Trump in the halls of Congress — he was among several Democratic incumbents to lose their primary races amid a wider rebellion by left-wing voters against their establishment.

In testimony before Congress this morning, self-identified “lifelong Democrat” Elizabeth Carter admitted that she is “ashamed” of her party’s handling of the immigration issue after her son, William Micah Carter, was killed in a car crash involving an illegal immigrant truck driver issued a license by California.

Carter’s son and his newlywed wife, Jennifer Lower, along with their cat “Bert,” were killed in a car crash after their vehicle slammed into a jackknifed big rig driven by illegal immigrant Rajinder Kumar in late November. According to Carter, the couple were returning from their wedding reception in her late daughter-in-law’s hometown in Oregon when the crash occurred.

“Sixteen days after they were married, Billy, Jenny and her cat Bert were killed. They lost the Russian roulette game our government is forcing them to play,” testified Carter.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ACCUSED OF KILLING NEWLYWED COUPLE IN OREGON CRASH ARRESTED BY ICE AFTER JAIL RELEASE

While being questioned by Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., Carter criticized Democrats’ resistance to immigration enforcement, saying, “We allowed 10 million people in under Biden. How is there a different suggestion as to how to process them, other than the same way they came into the country en masse, leaving?”

She continued, “I have to say, as a lifelong Democrat, I am ashamed of what my party is doing.”

To which, Knott responded, “Well, they don’t care.”

Knott pressed, “This is the question for the country to consider, is it worth enforcing our laws to protect just one American family?”

HOMAN BLASTS DEM HYPOCRISY ON DEPORTATIONS, RECALLS PAST WHEN ‘OBAMA GAVE ME AN AWARD’ FOR ENFORCING BORDER

“One party says, ‘Absolutely, if we have to mass deport the problem that they built, so be it,’” he continued. “If it protects one family from having to suffer like you’ve suffered, I think that is a worthwhile endeavor.”

Carter responded, “Absolutely.”

Pointing to where the Democratic committee members were sitting, Knott exclaimed, “They are still defending it. Not one of them will say, if you’re here illegally, get out.”

Licensed illegal immigrant drivers on American roads have become an increasingly significant concern following a series of deadly crashes involving immigrants.

OUT OF CONTROL, UNQUALIFIED ILLEGAL ALIEN TRUCKERS ENDANGERING KIDS ON US ROADS, INSIDER WARNS: ‘JUST MADNESS’

Last week, ICE launched a new tipline for Americans to report suspected commercial driver’s license (CDL) fraud as the Trump administration ramps up its crackdown on unqualified truckers.

SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER

In announcing the tipline, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News Digital that “too many American lives have been lost or permanently changed because illegal aliens who have no business being on our roads have been granted CDLs.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“ICE and our federal partners, including the Department of Transportation, will be cracking down on CDL fraud so that not one more American life is lost to a reckless illegal alien behind the wheel of a semi-truck,” he added.

Fox News Digital confirmed Tuesday that the Kennedy Center board voted to immediately close the main building of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., citing safety and funding concerns.

Two additional sources told Fox News the board approved the closure during a special meeting. A public statement is expected.

The vote came hours after a federal judge again blocked the Kennedy Center from adding President Donald Trump’s name to the building and plaza.

EXCLUSIVE: KENNEDY CENTER BOARD MOVES TO NAME GROUNDS ‘PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP PLAZA’

Judge Christopher Cooper ruled the Center cannot install the proposed Trump memorials without congressional approval.

It was not immediately clear how long the Kennedy Center will remain closed or how Tuesday’s court ruling could affect the closure.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

This is a developing story; check back later for updates.

Fox News’ Bill Mears contributed to this reporting.

The FBI has apprehended all 10 members of the FBI’s Most Wanted list during President Donald Trump’s second term, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed during an appearance in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during his opening statements as the committee’s chairman, lauded Patel and the FBI for their work in capturing nine of the ten most wanted fugitives on the FBI’s top ten list.

Patel, during his opening remarks, corrected Grassley, revealing that his agency had just this past weekend caught the tenth fugitive.

“Mr. Chairman, I’m proud to announce today, and I hate to correct you, we haven’t captured nine of the top ten most [wanted] individuals on our list. We’ve captured ten,” Patel said.

FBI CAPTURES TOP TEN MOST WANTED FUGITIVE WITH ALLEGED SINALOA CARTEL TIES, PATEL SAYS

“Just this past weekend, we captured a thug down in Venezuela who was on our most wanted list and on the run for years. He has been captured, apprehended, and is on his way back to the United States of America. That’s ten of ten. Nobody in the FBI history has done that,” Patel said.

HIGHEST-RANKING TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBER EVER EXTRADITED TO US SET TO APPEAR IN HOUSTON COURTROOM: DOJ

“We, the FBI, captured more than two and a half times the number of the top ten most wanted fugitives on the FBI’s list from the prior administration,” he also said.

While Patel did not say the name of the fugitive during the hearing, the FBI earlier revealed exclusively to Fox News Digital that the 10th capture was that of Anibal Alexander Canelon Aguirre, the FBI’s first ever “cyber fugitive.”

Aguirre led “a large international conspiracy to steal millions of dollars from financial institutions in support of the Tren de Aragua, through an ATM jackpotting scheme since at least 2024,” the FBI told Fox News Digital.

In addition to a clean sweep of the top ten fugitives, Patel also revealed that his FBI has also captured six of the top ten most wanted fraudsters on the top ten fraudsters list, a compilation his FBI created during the current administration.

FBI TOUTS 6,000 ARRESTS, 44% HOMICIDE DROP ONE YEAR INTO TRUMP’S DC CRIME CRACKDOWN

Patel also outlined the broader progress the Trump administration has made towards making the U.S. safer.

“On top of that, we’ve captured six of the most wanted fraudsters around the world, taking the murder rate down 20 points is no easy effort. It requires a team left state, local and international partners. This includes results in cities like Baltimore, which retreats its lowest mid-year homicide numbers in recorded history,” he said.

TRUMP’S LAW-AND-ORDER BLITZ MARKS ONE YEAR WITH EYE-POPPING HAUL OF SUSPECTS, GUNS IN BLUE CITY

“This year in Memphis, we accomplished a 50% reduction in homicide for a city that had the highest per capita homicide rate in the country, thanks to the president’s task force. And right here in Washington, D.C., we are on track to have the lowest homicide numbers since 1990,” Patel added.

Fox News Digital contacted the FBI for further comment.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

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

Concerns about artificial intelligence spelling doom for the human race are being linked to a “cult-like” philanthropy movement known as “effective altruism” supported by billionaire Democratic megadonor and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, according to a policy analyst.

In response to former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon’s resignation announcement on X, Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center in Washington D.C., went viral as he raised questions about whether the resignation was part of a broader network that aims to influence lawmakers and AI policy.

“I resigned from Anthropic today,” Coxon’s post read. “I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”

RESEARCHER WHO DEPARTED AI ROLE OVER FEARS OF RACING INTO EXTINCTION SAYS PEOPLE ARE ‘BEGGING’ FOR REGULATION

Thayer quoted the post in a response that received interaction online with top lawmakers in Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt.

“This post looks like the start of a VERY sophisticated and well-funded PR operation to get support for Democrats to regulate AI into oblivion,” Thayer posted. “The post is punchy, quotable, it almost seems professionally written. The first three accounts to quote tweet it all do so within 15 minutes of the initial posting.”

Thayer echoed claims made by White House AI advisor David Sacks that AI fears are overblown and potentially based on political motives.

“I think this is becoming a panic,” Sacks told CBS News correspondent Jo Ling Kent. “We’re in an election season, and there is an incentive for political actors to try and amplify the fear. And I think this is a moment to really calm down a little bit and look at the issue rationally.”

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: YES, WE MUST HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON ON AI BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

Coxon told Fox News’ Bret Baier last week that we are “on the doorstep of tremendous discoveries,” but we’re running in too quickly. He emphasized the need for moderation.

Baier asked Coxon if the issue could be figured out.

“I think definitely. I think if we actually try instead of submitting to the inevitability of a doomed race or a hubristic gamble, then we can solve it,” he said. “The problem is not unsolvable.”

TOP MEDIA OUTLETS FAIL TO DISCLOSE WHO IS BANKROLLING THEIR AI REPORTERS

Coxon said he was acting alone when deciding to voice his concerns about the direction of AI, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Fox News Digital sat down with Thayer to ask about his theories concerning the coordination behind Coxon’s “sophisticated” resignation, which was in turn met with a slew of national television interviews and immediate notoriety. Almost overnight, Coxon’s post became a major point of policy debate spanning across political parties and politicians, including President Donald Trump and socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Thayer did not offer a theory for which individuals or groups might have coordinated with Coxon, who has denied such claims. But Thayer said the “AI doomerism movement” is associated with “effective altruism,” a philosophy he described as “cult-like.”

OPINION: REP. TED LIEU: AI IS ALREADY TOO POWERFUL. WE NEED A KILL SWITCH BEFORE DISASTER STRIKES

According to the Centre for Effective Altruism, the movement is defined as a “project that aims to find the best ways to help others and put them into practice.”

But Thayer noted that while the philanthropic movement may sound high-minded, Silicon Valley elites and members who donate and support “effective altruism” may have much more direct political goals in mind.

Thayer did not have evidence that any individuals or groups connected to the effective altruism movement provided public relations or other support for Coxon’s post about his resignation.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SEE AI REGULATION AS URGENT, RANK SAFEGUARDS AHEAD OF INNOVATION

Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna have been leading financial backers of organizations associated with the “effective altruism” movement.

The couple founded Coefficient Giving, formerly known as Open Philanthropy, and remain its “main funders,” according to the organization. Tuna serves as its president.

Coefficient Giving says its artificial intelligence work has expanded rapidly, with $168 million committed to AI safety, security and field-building in 2024 and $351 million in 2025 — a combined $519 million. The organization says it is on track to commit more than $1 billion to AI policy advocacy in 2026.

In a 2021 grant application description, the organization cited that it seeks “to fund programs and events in a variety of areas of interest to Coefficient Giving — including effective altruism, global catastrophic risks, biosecurity, AI for epistemics, forecasting, and other areas.”

Moskovitz, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of roughly $10 billion, contributed more than $50 million to support the Biden-Harris campaign from 2020 to 2024, including $46.89 million to the Future Forward PAC which served as the main fundraising vessel for the failed presidential campaign.

TRUMP UNLOADS ON TECH TITANS PUSHING FOR SLOWDOWN ON EMERGING INDUSTRY: ‘WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!’

On Monday, the Department of War Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering posted to X: “Americanism, not effective altruism. The United States will continue to be AI DOMINANT!”

As for the reasoning behind “effective altruism’s” commitment to the artificial intelligence policy space, Thayer said the fear-mongering technique is comparable to the climate change narrative that has been traditionally peddled by the Democratic Party.

“They basically just say kind of in the same vein as climate change activists like Al Gore used to, they kind of just make bombastic doomsday projections without citing really a whole lot of easily discernible evidence and just expect us to trust their expertise,” Thayer explained.

“First, they got you scared of the data centers based on a bunch of sketchy arguments about water pollution supposedly, and supposedly raising your electric prices, which don’t seem to actually be true,” he added. “And now they’re getting you scared of the actual AI that the data centers are being used to launch.”

Thayer said that if AI critics were truly afraid of a potential doomsday scenario, they would be advocating for the extinction of artificial intelligence altogether. Instead, he says that it is a tactic to increase the government’s power over the industry while also acting in their own interest so “that they’re the only ones who are allowed to build it.”

In an opinion piece published in Medium in 2024, Moskovitz noted that he was concerned about the potential risks AI poses, saying that a potential doomsday “situation may develop extremely quickly.”

“Contrary to the popular narrative about effective altruists working in AI, my interest in mitigating the potential risks isn’t rooted in specific predictions about the far future, but rather simple concern about the next few decades, when I and the people I care about are still alive to care about what happens,” he wrote.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, said a meeting at the White House to discuss AI policy could happen before the end of this week or the next. Trump also weighed in on the AI outlook in a post to Truth Social on Monday.

“The people that say AI is going to destroy the World, and that Data Centers are bad for your neighborhood, are the same people that said, just a short time ago, that the World would be extinguished by “Climate Change.” That HOAX never worked out for them, and now they’re on to the next one.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to Moskovitz, Coefficient Giving and Coxon for comment.

DETROIT – Voters squeezed by rising costs are skeptical of President Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 dividend — with at least one resident pointing to a previous DOGE dividend proposal that never materialized.

“I feel like that’s a pitch to get more votes,” Yolanda Lewis told Fox News Digital. “I’m still waiting on the DOGE check that he promised that we never received, so until he gives us a definite date saying when we’re gonna get that and receive it, then I’ll take that into consideration.”

Trump suggested in February 2025 that a portion of savings generated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could be returned to taxpayers, while Elon Musk entertained a proposal that envisioned payments of as much as $5,000. Trump later backed the idea of returning 20% of DOGE savings to Americans. DOGE reported $110.3 billion in savings from contracts, grants and leases, though a Government Accountability Office review later found that some of its estimates were inaccurate or lacked sufficient supporting evidence.

Now, with affordability a top-of-mind issue for voters across the country, Trump has unveiled a new “Trump dividend” plan at the Midterm GOP Convention last Wednesday that would give $5,000 to American adults if Republicans maintain control of Congress.

Several Detroit voters, interviewed by Fox News Digital at the Detroit Health Department’s annual Block Party on Sept. 12, rejected the proposal, with some calling it a “bribe” and others questioning whether the money would ever be paid out.

TRUMP MAKES STUNNING FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND CASH PROMISE IN BID TO RALLY GOP VOTERS AT DALLAS MIDTERM CONVENTION

“I think it’s kind of irresponsible because what is the long-term impact of this money?” Jahdante Smith, the Green Party candidate for the state House of Representatives 9th district, told Fox News Digital.

Smith, who supports Medicare for All, pointed to the nation’s roughly $40 trillion debt in questioning how the proposal would be funded.

“So where does that money come from? Where do you divert those funds from? Also I think that it is sort of a bribe,” Smith said.

Michigan, which Trump won by 1.4% in 2024, has become a key battleground in the fight for Senate control as Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Saye and Republican Mike Rogers are both vying for Michigan’s open Senate seat.

El-Sayed called Trump’s $5,000 proposal “unserious” during a rally in Lansing, Michigan.

“Funny thing about it is like there’s no world in which you can pay for it,” El-Sayed said. “So how about you actually do some governing and like solve the social security problem. How about we guarantee people health care so they don’t have to pay so much for that.”

Rogers’ campaign did not directly comment on the former congressman’s stance on Trump’s $5,000 dividend plan. Instead, it pointed to El-Sayed’s support for implementing a progressive tax plan.

“You know what’s not serious? Challenging Mike to a 1:1 football scrimmage, taking money from Designated Terrorist Organizations, and advocating to raise taxes for Michiganders while they’re already paying for Democrats’ mismanagement,” said Alyssa Brouillet, communications director for the Rogers campaign. “Funny enough, those are things Abdul does.”

Prices are an acute concern in Detroit, where roughly a third of residents live below the federal poverty line. The city’s median household income is below $40,000, according to U.S. census data.

“Well, as a city Detroit retiree, affordability is very important, and I think the prices since Trump’s been back in office have gone up on everything, especially gas, diesel, you know, affordabilities went out the window,” William Davis told Fox News Digital.

The current cost of gas in Detroit is $4.11 per gallon. Before the Iran war, gas prices hovered between $2.81 and $2.92 per gallon in January.

TRUMP FACES RECKONING AS GOP FIGURES LABEL $5K PROMISE A ‘SOCIALIST VOTE-BUYING SCHEME’

Martesha Adams, a young mother and nurse living in Detroit, told Fox News Digital at the Detroit Health Department Block Party that she also viewed the $5,000 proposal as an attempt to win over struggling Americans.

“The whole time I feel that he’s been in the office, it’s been a kind of game,” Adams said. “America has been laughed at from everywhere. And the $5K for bribery, that’s nothing. So I hope that people do not go for that bribe and they really look into the politics.”

For Shelby Campbell, a 2023 graduate of Wayne State University, affordability has already forced significant changes. She said she sold her car because she could no longer afford Michigan’s no-fault auto insurance and has struggled to find an affordable rental in Detroit.

Campbell called Trump’s $5,000 proposal “disgusting.”

“He shouldn’t be able to offer people money if we have one party in office,” Campbell said. “It’s supposed to be about everybody and what we all want and need, so it’s just bribery in my opinion.”

Campbell, who said she plans to vote for El-Sayed in the general election, argued that money already plays too large a role in politics.

“I think he’s genuinely a good guy and he wants to get money out of politics and I am all for that,” Campbell said. “We seriously need that because big corporations buy our elections just like Donald Trump is trying to do.”

Other Detroit residents echoed Lewis’ skepticism about whether Trump would actually deliver the proposed payments.

BILLIONS SPENT BY KEY FEDERAL AGENCY HASN’T MADE AMERICAN DREAM OF HOMEOWNERSHIP ANY EASIER: REPORT

Trump also proposed a separate $2,000 dividend last year funded by tariff revenue, though those payments never materialized.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I don’t think it’s realistic to think he’s going to do that,” Davis said of Trump’s latest proposal.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday on “Meet the Press” that the $5,000 payments would require congressional approval, while pledging to work toward Trump’s proposal.

“I never go out and give big commitments on the front end because I’ve got to work through it, and that’s what we do every single day,” Johnson said.

While Trump’s proposal has garnered mixed reactions within the Republican Party, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, posted on X that he’d work to prepare a bill and get it passed before the election.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., rejected the idea that Trump was seeking to “bribe” voters.

“The only thing that I knew of was that he has this concept of a dividend of all Americans being able to share in the success of America,” Emmer told Politico.

“Let the policy guys draft it. Let them debate it. Let them move it through committee,” Emmer told Politico. “You get it to the whip’s office. We’ll pass it.”

Social media users are taking jabs at California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his latest political stunt — a recorded fly-fishing outing with a CNN anchor that the Democrat used to break news about his often-rumored presidential ambitions.

In the interview, recorded in Montana more than a month ago, CNN’s Jake Tapper is seen with Newsom standing in shallow water, repeatedly casting fly reels while talking politics. Newsom told Tapper he wouldn’t run for president if former Vice President and failed 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris tossed her hat into the ring.

“Of course not. Why would I?” Newsom said when asked whether he would run against Harris in a presidential primary. “I wouldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t do it to me. Why would I? I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“I wouldn’t waste everyone’s time. Who needs that?”

JENNIFER SIEBEL NEWSOM DODGES QUESTION ON HUSBAND GAVIN’S PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS

Tapper pushed back, saying Newsom could do it if he really wanted to.

But the Golden State governor replied by saying that would be a “gift from God for everybody else,” likely referencing those who don’t want to see a Democrat win in November, and claimed a primary against the former nominee would be “mutually assured destruction.”

“I know her base of supporters. I know her friends,” Newsom said of the former U.S. senator from California.

“The zen diagram (sic) on that is just pure crossover. It’s not — I wouldn’t do that to — I wouldn’t do that to people,” he said, mixing up the Buddhist meditation practice with a Venn diagram, the visual tool where overlapping circles are used to show how groups are similar and different.

KAMALA HARRIS IS THE ‘FAIRLY OBVIOUS’ 2028 PRESIDENTIAL FRONTRUNNER, DEMOCRATIC INSIDERS SAY

On social media, the reactions to the video widely shamed the pair for a stunt that what was viewed as contrived.

“why [sic] is newsom fly fishing in business casual?” an X user named Sam Alberti asked.

“How lucky are we that a camera crew just happened to be standing in a Montana river while two guys who can’t cast pretended to fly fish,” said a popular X user with more than 55,000 followers. “Totally organic. Not staged at all. CNN is doing the Lord’s work trying to make Newsom look like a regular dude. Herculean task.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​”

Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross wrote, “The best part of this is when Newsom says ‘Zen diagram’ when he was talking about a Venn diagram.”

“Jake Tapper and Gavin Newsom pretending to be regular guys fishing is absolutely hilarious,” said another user with 1.7 million followers.

‘HE’S SO THIRSTY’: NEWSOM’S ‘ENTHUSIASTIC’ PRAISE FOR TRUMP POLICY TURNS HEADS

“This is the most Gavin Newsom-ish fishing video ever — the French Laundry of fishing!” said politico Kenneth Baer, referring to the upscale California restaurant where Newsom dined with a group of friends during COVID-19 lockdown despite his implementation on state-wide restrictions on social gatherings during the pandemic.

“‘Let’s do this interview surrounded by an entire film and sound crew in the river. Yeah, yeah, that’ll make us seem like nature guys,'” economist Nick Messenger said sarcastically.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office but did not hear back by time of publication.