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The director of the U.S. Secret Service and a Texas congressman got into a screaming match Thursday during a hearing on the agency’s failures leading to two assassination attempts against President-elect Trump.

Acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe shouted at Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, after the GOP lawmaker lambasted the service for security lapses that made Trump a target of two failed shooting attempts.

“You’re out of line, congressman!” Rowe yelled at Fallon.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates. 

FIRST ON FOX: A firebrand Republican lawmaker in Congress is demanding that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas preserve all information related to the border crisis that took place over the last four years as part of an ongoing records request.

“During your tenure as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, we have seen recordbreaking illegal alien encounters at our borders, millions of aliens released into the interior, scores of criminals and other bad actors infiltrating our communities, endangering Americans and aliens alike, and much more. It is imperative DHS preserve any and all information related to the border crisis and mass influx of aliens into the interior so the incoming Trump administration can deliver on its mandate to undo the damage done,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said in a letter to Mayorkas, obtained first by Fox News Digital.

Republicans have consistently complained that DHS has not been responsive to requests for information, a claim that DHS has denied – pointing to a slew of briefings, responses and hearing appearances that officials have given.

DEM SENATOR URGES BIDEN TO EXTEND PROTECTIONS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BEFORE TRUMP ADMIN: ‘NOBODY IS SAFE’

Rep. Chip Roy attends a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 28, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Roy says his office and others have received “at best – delayed and insufficient responses or – at worst – no response from your office at all.”

“As such, I request that you take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry, including memoranda, numerical data, reports, letters, and subpoenas received by Congress surrounding border security and immigration policies of the Biden-Harris Administration from January 20, 2021, to the present,” he writes.

The letter comes as a political sea change on how to handle border security and illegal immigration is about to hit Washington, D.C. While the Biden administration has taken a number of hawkish moves at the border in recent months, including a presidential proclamation in June that drastically limited asylum, the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress are eyeing significant overhauls to how immigration and border security are handled.

Given the historic crisis at the border, which started in early 2021 and continued deep into 2024, Republicans have hammered the administration on the border crisis, with Roy being a key member in the impeachment of Mayorkas earlier this year – although that impeachment was not taken up by the Senate.

While the Trump administration will likely bring in sweeping changes at the border, Roy’s letter indicates there will be continued interest in how the Biden administration handled the crisis.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

Roy’s letter requests that DHS preserves information, including the number of migrants released with court dates, their countries of origins, last known whereabouts, and similar information for those released into the U.S. under humanitarian parole and those allowed to stay under programs like Temporary Protected Status.

It also seeks information on how the controversial CBP One app – which allows for migrants to schedule appointments to be paroled into the U.S. – was being used. Information requested also includes those who are no longer able to be contacted, those released with criminal charges or convictions, those with gang affiliations, and those given protection under Temporary Protected Status.

Roy also wanted to see the number of visa overstays, those admitted with visas who are suspected of fraud, and the number of countries that are “recalcitrant” and who are not taking back illegal immigrants. He also wants to know the number of Chinese nationals released into the U.S. with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, the names of organizations that have received DHS grants for caring for migrants and the number of worksite enforcement investigations conducted by ICE.

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The letter is the latest sign that immigration, which was a political hot topic in 2024, will likely remain a top item for Congress as well as the administration in 2025. President-elect Trump has already appointed former ICE Director Thomas Homan as his border czar, and has nominated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to be Mayorkas’ successor at DHS. Republicans are expected to push for additional legislation to aid in that operation. That push could take the form of HR 2, the Republican border bill that passed in the House in 2023, but has not been taken up by the Senate.

First on Fox – The Fraternal Order of Police sent letters to both President-elect Trump and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., outlining their staunch support of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as secretary of homeland security, in what insiders say is the first in what will be a long list of law enforcement endorsements. 

“Governor Noem has been a longtime ally of the FOP during both her tenure in the House of Representatives and as Governor of South Dakota. The South Dakota State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed Governor Noem for her re-election campaign in 2022, citing her belief in the rule of law and commitment to public safety,” Fraternal Order of Police national president Patrick Yoes wrote in a November letter to Trump, which was obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“Once confirmed, the FOP will work with Governor Noem to secure our border, stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, as well as support all the critical missions of the DHS – which has more law enforcement officers than any other Federal Department – in defending our homeland and keeping the American public safe,” Yoes continued. 

The FOP is the largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers, boasting roughly 377,000 members across the nation, with Yoes calling on both Trump and the Senate to swiftly confirm Noem in order for police and law enforcement officers to crack down on crimes ranging from illegal immigration to deadly fentanyl pouring over the border. 

TRUMP SELECTS SOUTH DAKOTA GOV KRISTI NOEM TO RUN DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Gov. Kristi Noem speaks during the Republican National Convention, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The DHS oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

GOV KRISTI NOEM REFLECTS ON TRUMP WIN, SAYS DEMOCRATS ‘TRY TO PUT WOMEN IN A BOX’

In his separate letter to Paul, Yoes called on the upcoming chairman of the committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs – who will preside over Noem’s confirmation – to swiftly confirm Noem in the Senate, while arguing that under the Trump administration, DHS will be allowed “the opportunity to take bold actions towards protecting our communities.”

President-elect Trump speaks at a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images)

“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employs more law enforcement than any other Federal department, and as such we ask the Committee to expeditiously review and confirm nominees as soon as possible to ensure a seamless transition. We especially encourage the committee to hold the earliest possible hearing on Governor Kristi L. Noem to be the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The FOP supports her nomination, and we look forward to working with her to secure our border,” Yoes wrote. 

Paul has already publicly said he would “expeditiously move President Trump’s critical nominees, including Governor Kristi Noem, in time for Inauguration Day.”

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT KRISTI NOEM, THE ‘BORDER HAWK’ NOMINATED BY TRUMP TO LEAD DHS

Washington, D.C., insiders told Fox News Digital that the FOP’s unwavering support of Noem is just the first in what is anticipated to be a long list of law enforcement support behind the nomination. 

Sen. Rand Paul speaks to reporters as he arrives for a vote in the U.S. Capitol on March 14, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Trump, who ran in part on a platform of ending the immigration crisis at the southern border and cracking down on the deadly drug epidemic ravaging communities across the nation, announced his nomination of Noem just days after his massive win over Vice President Kamala Harris last month. 

EX-TRUMP OFFICIAL PREDICTS ‘ENTIRE MINDSET CHANGE’ AT SOUTHERN BORDER, HAILS ‘FANTASTIC’ PICK TO LEAD DHS 

“She was the first Governor to send National Guard Soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden Border Crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times,” Trump’s announcement on Nov. 12 read. 

President Trump and FOP President Patrick Yoes during a “Make America Great Again” rally at Harrisburg international airport in Middletown, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 26, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty images)

“She will work closely with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to secure the Border, and will guarantee that our American Homeland is secure from our adversaries,” Trump added. 

Noem has served as governor of the Mount Rushmore State since 2019, and notably gained national attention and praise from conservatives during the pandemic when she bucked lockdown orders and mask mandates common in liberal states such as California and New York. 

Former President Trump greets Gov. Kristi Noem at the South Dakota Republican Party Monumental Leaders rally Sept. 8, 2023, in Rapid City. (AP Photo/Toby Brusseau)

Republican state leaders and others praised Trump’s pick of Noem to lead DHS, citing her tough stance on illegal immigration that has rocked the nation since 2021, including Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott dubbing her a “border hawk.” 

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“On behalf of the more than 377,000 members of the Fraternal Order of Police, I commend you on your selection of Governor Noem to lead the DHS, and we look forward to resuming our partnership with you and your Administration,” Yoes wrote in his letters to both Trump and Paul. 

Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming announced a bid to unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican who voted to convict following the House impeachment vote against former President Donald Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

Fleming, a former U.S. congressman, was one of the founders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, according to a press release about his Senate bid.

“Senator Cassidy has failed the people of Louisiana,” Fleming said, according to the press release. 

“I will fight to bring real, conservative solutions to the U.S. Senate, I will not cut-and-run on these conservative principles, and I will stand and work with President Trump like I have many times before,” he declared.

Fox News Digital attempted to request comment from the senator.

LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS WEIGHING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT THAT WOULD SEND MORE JUVENILE OFFENDERS TO ADULT JAILS

Rep. John Fleming, R-La., candidate for the U.S. Senate from Louisiana, conducts a campaign rally at Drusilla Seafood Restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Nov. 7, 2016. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Fleming held posts in Trump’s prior administration.

“I cannot fully express the deep sense of pride I have, having served President Trump in the West Wing of the White House as he was literally fighting for his political life against those who were attacking him and turning their backs on him,” Fleming noted, “but the opportunity to stand with him for the principles of America First is why I seek to serve the citizens of Louisiana in the United States Senate.”

Trump endorsed Cassidy for re-election in 2020, before the lawmaker became one of the Senate Republicans who voted to convict after the House impeachment vote against Trump in early 2021.

That Senate vote took place after Trump had already departed from office, and the number of senators who voted to convict failed to reach the threshold necessary for a conviction.

CASSIDY INTRODUCES BILL TO STOP FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS FROM GOING TO HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., attends a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Aug. 5, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Trump lambasted Sen. Cassidy in posts on Truth Social earlier this year.

“One of the worst Senators in the United States Senate is, without question, Bill Cassidy, A TOTAL FLAKE, Republican though he may be,” Trump declared on April 1.

“Bill Cassidy is now shunned in his own State as a disloyal lightweight, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch,” Trump declared in another post.

FEDERAL COURTS ARE DECLARING WAR ON AMERICAN OIL WORKERS: SEN. BILL CASSIDY

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., listens to testimony from U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tia during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on March 31, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Cassidy’s current U.S. Senate term ends in early 2027.

Fleming previously ran unsuccessfully for Senate in 2016.

Anthony J. Brindisi, a former Democratic member of Congress who serves on the New York State Court of Claims in Utica, will serve as a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

The Democratic-led U.S. Senate voted 50-49 in favor of Brindisi, who was tapped by President Joe Biden in July. He will succeed the nation’s oldest active district court judge, 87-year-old David Hurd.

Brandisi is the first former member of Congress to join the federal bench in over two decades, overcoming Republican opposition to positions he took on legislation supporting immigrants and LGBTQ rights.

He was the target of various lines of questioning in which he attempted to frame himself as a jurist rather than a politician. 

FETTERMAN SAYS DEMS SHOULDN’T ‘FREAK OUT’ OVER EVERYTHING TRUMP DOES: ‘IT’S GOING TO BE 4 YEARS’

Anthony Brindisi is seen at a town hall style meeting at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, on April 8, 2018. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)

“On the bench, are you a politician or a judge?” Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked him during a hearing last month. 

“I’m a judge, senator,” Brindisi responded. 

Brandisi, 46, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018. He served one term. After losing his seat to Republican challenger Claudia Tenney in the 2020 election, he returned to his former law firm, Utica-based Brindisi, Murad & Brindisi Pearlman, before becoming a state court judge starting in 2022.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT TASK FORCE HOLDS FINAL HEARING; SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR TO TESTIFY

A view of the US Capitol in Washington D.C., on Nov. 4, 2024. Anthony Brandisi served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

President-elect Trump accused Democrats of attempting to “stack the Courts” with radical appointees and urged Republicans to “Show Up and Hold the Line.” 

“No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Anthony Brandisi will succeed the nation’s oldest active district court judge, 87-year-old David Hurd, serving in the Utica, New York, federal building seen here.  (Google Maps)

The last time a former member of Congress joined the bench was in 2002, when the Senate confirmed now-Senior U.S. District Judge Bill Martini in New Jersey after he earlier served as a Republican member of the House.

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Brindisi said the role of a judge was different from his past lawmaking work and that he wanted parties to feel he was a “fair and impartial judge,” Reuters reports. 

FOX News’ Hayley Chi-Sing, Chris Pandolfo, Jake Gibosn, Kelly Phares, Julia Johnson and Reuters contributed to this report. 

The House Ethics Committee is expected to meet Thursday after the panel failed to come to an agreement last month on whether to release its report about former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

The report could still be made public, however, even if history repeats itself. Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., moved to force a vote on releasing the report via a measure known as a “privileged resolution” Tuesday.

Designating a resolution “privileged” gives House leaders two legislative days to consider it, putting that deadline on Thursday.

The House Ethics Committee has been conducting a years-long investigation into accusations against Gaetz that involve sex with a minor and illicit drug use.

HACKER OBTAINS HOUSE ETHICS TESTIMONY ON MATT GAETZ AS TRUMP MAKES CALLS FOR AG NOMINEE

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress last month. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Gaetz has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and a parallel federal investigation into the Florida congressman ended without him being charged.

The House Ethics Committee’s investigation came to an abrupt halt last month after he resigned from Congress, hours after President-elect Trump tapped him to be his attorney general.

Gaetz dropped out of consideration amid quiet but steady GOP opposition, but the committee lost jurisdiction over the probe when Gaetz left the House of Representatives.

His resignation came just before the committee was expected to meet to consider releasing the report.

That meeting wound up taking place roughly a week later and ended on a tense note.

GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?

Rep. Michael Guest leads the House Ethics Committee. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters there was no agreement on releasing the report, while the remainder of the normally secretive committee said little to journalists crowded outside the meeting room.

His comments prompted Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., the top Democrat on the committee, to return and criticize Guest for discussing the meeting at all.

“We just concluded a two-hour meeting of the ethics committee, and it was not my intention to make any comment. I walked out of this committee without making one and walked back to my office,” Wild began. 

“We had agreed that we were not going to discuss what had transpired at the meeting. But it has come to my attention that the chairman has since betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments after walking out of the committee, and he has implied that there was an agreement of the committee not to disclose the report.”

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., is aiming to force a House-wide vote on releasing the ethics report. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

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She called it “untrue to the extent that that suggests that the committee was in agreement or that we had a consensus on that.”

But with Gaetz now out of the running for attorney general, there is likely not as much pressure on Republicans to consent to releasing the report. 

A significant number of GOP lawmakers who suggested they would be open to it argued it was in the public’s best interest to see the report if Gaetz were to lead the Department of Justice, a factor no longer in play.

The House task force on the two assassination attempts of President-elect Trump will gather for its final hearing Thursday ahead of the release of its highly anticipated report.

U.S. Secret Service (USSS) Director Ronald Rowe will testify before lawmakers. Task force members will then huddle behind closed doors to consider their final report.

Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., said the hearing was about restoring confidence in federal law enforcement.

“What we’re working on more than anything else is the public has to know what happened that day because there’s still a lot of confusion about it,” Kelly told Fox News Digital Wednesday.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT TASK FORCE SAYS ATF ‘FAILED TO PRODUCE’ REQUESTED MATERIALS

The Trump assassination attempt task force, led by representatives Mike Kelly, left, and Jason Crow, right, is nearing the end of its probe. (Getty Images)

“When we look at Secret Service, that’s always the elite of the elite. So, I think what we’re trying to do is establish the situation where … we can restore that confidence.”

Trump held a rally in Kelly’s district July 13, when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire on the event from just outside its security perimeter, injuring Trump and others. One rally attendee was killed. 

Later in September, USSS agents opened fire on a 58-year-old man who had a rifle aimed at Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, golf course where the president-elect was out for the day.

TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: SECRET SERVICE FAILURES MAY WARRANT DISCIPLINE, AGENCY REPORT SAYS

U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe will testify Thursday. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

The incidents prompted heavy scrutiny of the USSS and its security practices and led to the ouster of USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle.

And while Kelly admitted he “would have rather had” Cheatle testify before his task force, he praised Rowe’s handling of the situation since succeeding her. 

“From the very start, he said, ‘Look, it was entirely our fault. This is the worst state the Secret Service has ever had,’” he said. 

SECRET SERVICE KNEW AIRSPACE PROTECTION WOULD END WITH FORMER PRESIDENT ONSTAGE

A video from James Copenhaver, one of the victims critically wounded in a July 13 assassination attempt on Donald Trump, shows a figure moving across a rooftop just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. (James Copenhaver)

Kelly said he anticipated the final report being released around Dec. 13, the task force’s “due date” for producing the results of its investigation.

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The panel released an interim report in late October detailing “a lack of planning and coordination between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners before the rally.”

USSS personnel at the event “did not give clear guidance” to state and local authorities about how to manage security outside their hard perimeter, nor was there a central meeting between USSS and the law enforcement agencies supporting them the morning of the rally, according to findings presented as key failures in the 51-page report.

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Joni Ernst is rolling out a proposal for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that would reduce government employee telework and sell empty government office space.

Ernst, R-Iowa, is the chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus and has been working with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy since President-elect Trump tapped them to lead the new agency. 

Musk and Ramaswamy will visit Capitol Hill Thursday to meet with Republican lawmakers to discuss ways to reduce government waste. 

MUSK, RAMASWAMY TO DISCUSS DOGE PLANS WITH GOP LAWMAKERS

Sen. Joni Ernst speaks during the third installment of The Senate Project at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate June 12, 2023, in Boston. (Getty Images)

Ernst will roll out her new proposal and a 60-page report during her first Senate DOGE Caucus meeting Thursday morning, which Musk and Ramaswamy are expected to attend.

House Speaker Mike Johnson will then hold an event with Musk and Ramaswamy Thursday afternoon for all Republican legislators in the House and Senate, which Ernst will attend. 

Ernst has been investigating telework abuse for two years and based her recommendations to DOGE on her findings. 

First, Ernst proposes the federal government relocate Washington’s workforce across the country. Ernst suggested legislation that would relocate the headquarters of non-security-related government departments and agencies outside Washington to areas with “existing expertise for carrying out the mission and goals of each.” 

MUSK AND RAMASWAMY LAY OUT DOGE VISION IN WSJ OP-ED: 5 TAKEAWAYS

She also proposed legislation to relocate at least 30% of the employees from Washington, D.C., headquarters of non-security-related government departments and agencies to field offices in communities across the country. 

Ernst also suggested that the White House and executive branch agencies consider relocating some staff, without any congressional directive. 

Next, Ernst is proposing Congress set a goal for all federal government agencies to achieve a 60% daily occupancy at their headquarters, while noting that, currently, not a single agency sees even half capacity occupancy.

Trump announced Nov. 12, 2024, that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would be leading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Getty Images)

“There are thousands of other government buildings around the country sitting totally vacant and unused,” the report states. “Much of this is leased space.

“There is a simple answer,” the report continues. “Use it or lose it!” 

Ernst proposed that the General Services Administration auction “vacant, unneeded, and underutilized buildings and property without unnecessary strings and conditions.” 

She said agencies should “immediately cancel or allow to expire the $15 million worth of underutilized leased office space and property.”

“Not a single headquarters of a major agency or department in the nation’s capital is even half full,” Ernst’s report said. “Government buildings average an occupancy rate of 12%.” 

According to the report, maintaining and leasing government office buildings costs approximately $8 billion every year, with another $7.7 billion spent on the energy to keep them up and running. 

Ernst said the government owns 7,697 vacant buildings and another 2,265 that are partially empty.

She proposed that Congress pass a bipartisan bill, the Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act (FASTA) Reform Act to extend the Public Buildings Reform Board’s mission identifying unused properties for the government to sell.

Sen. Joni Ernst speaks with reporters after the Senate Republicans’ weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington March 6, 2024. (Reuters/Bonnie Cash)

She also proposed Congress pass legislation that requires the “reduction and consolidation of unused space to ensure all buildings achieve a utilization rate of 60 percent or more.” 

Meanwhile, Ernst is proposing that performance determine whether a federal employee may work from home. 

Ernst proposed that Congress pass nearly half a dozen bills that would “make telework transparent and accountable.” 

COMER TO CREATE DOGE SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRED BY MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE TO WORK WITH ELON MUSK, VIVEK RAMASWAMY

Ernst also noted that federal employees have been “padding their paychecks” by claiming to be working in areas with higher pay rates, while actually living elsewhere. 

“My audits are finding as many as 23-68% of teleworking employees for some agencies are boosting their salaries by receiving incorrect locality pay,” she said. “Some employees live more than 2,000 miles away from their office, and one ‘temporary’ teleworker collected higher locality pay for nearly a decade.” 

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Ernst will introduce her proposal to Musk and Ramaswamy during Thursday’s meeting, after the two said they are largely focused on how DOGE could assist in identifying waste and regulations that could be eliminated through the executive branch. 

Republicans will control the White House and both chambers of the legislature when President-elect Trump returns to office in January. 

Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., called out President Biden for going back on his word and pardoning his son, Hunter, on Wednesday, calling the move “disappointing.”

Aguilar, who chairs the House Democratic caucus, said he understood Biden’s decision “as a father,” but argued the pardon did not uphold the rule of law. Rep. Ted Lieu, who joined Aguilar in Wednesday’s press conference, did not comment on the pardon.

“As a father, I understand it, and I get it. But as someone who has spent a lot of time at this podium talking about the importance of respecting the rule of law, it’s disappointing,” Aguilar said.

“The president gave his word and said publicly that he wasn’t going to give a pardon and then he did, so that part is disappointing. I believed him when he said he wasn’t,” he said.

SPECIAL COUNSEL, IRS WHISTLEBLOWERS SAY DON’T BUY BIDEN’S ‘SPIN’ ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN LEGAL SAGA

Rep. Pete Aguilar says he is “disappointed” that President Biden went through with a pardon for Hunter Biden. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Aguilar joins a number of Democrats who have openly criticized Biden’s pardon. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that he also was “disappointed” with Biden’s decision.

PRESIDENT BIDEN’S PARDON OF SON HUNTER A POLITICAL GIFT FOR TRUMP GOING FORWARD

“With everything the president and his family have been through, I completely understand the instinct to protect Hunter, but I took the president at his word,” Newsom told Politico, adding that he “can’t support the decision.”

Biden had repeatedly vowed not to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, earlier this fall. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

In a statement announcing the pardon, Biden took aim at what he described as a politically motivated investigation.

SPECIAL COUNSEL, IRS WHISTLEBLOWERS SAY DON’T BUY BIDEN ‘SPIN’ ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN LEGAL SAGA

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” the president wrote.

Hunter Biden received a sweeping pardon applying to roughly a decade of his life this week. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Biden had vowed multiple times that he would not intervene in his son’s case, first in June when his son was convicted on three felony firearm charges, and then in September after Hunter pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax evasion.

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“I am not going to do anything,” Biden said this summer. “I will abide by the jury’s decision.”

Top Democratic lawmakers and activists alike are calling on the Biden administration to ignore a federal injunction and continue wiping out student loan debt before the president leaves office. 

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Ed Markey, D-Mass, held a press conference alongside a cohort of activist groups on Wednesday from the nation’s capital, calling on the Department of Education to finish granting federal student loan forgiveness for borrowers it pledged to help. These borrowers attended either now-defunct or predatory for-profit colleges. 

“I’m urging the Biden administration in the closing hours of their administration – the last seven weeks – come to the rescue of these students as quickly as possible,” Durbin said Monday from the Senate floor.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., talks with reporters about the nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to be attorney general, outside a Senate Judiciary Committee markup on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

In 2022 and 2023, President Biden’s Education Department announced it would grant student loan forgiveness for 560,000 borrowers who attended Corinthian Colleges Inc., as well as to 208,000 borrowers who attended ITT Technical Institute. While most of those students had their loans fully forgiven, according to the Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL), at least 145,000 former Corinthian students who were approved to have their loans forgiven still have not gotten their promised relief.

BIDEN MAKES FINAL PUSH FOR STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS BEFORE TRUMP TAKES OFFICE

“The coming weeks are pivotal, and we are focused on two things,” PPSL said in a statement last week, according to Forbes. “First, everyone who was promised relief, must receive their relief. Second, the Department must issue more group discharges for people who went to predatory schools.” Meanwhile, the group’s senior director of policy and advocacy told the Washington Post that the group “definitely want[s] to make sure the Biden administration finishes the work they started.” 

An activist holds a sign that reads “Cancel Student Debt.”

On Wednesday, Durbin and Markey will be joined by groups like PPSL to continue urging the Biden administration to maximize student debt relief. The calls come even though the program, known as the “borrower defense loan discharge program,” remains tied up in litigation after a federal court issued an injunction last year.

BIDEN PUSHES TO FINALIZE MORE STUDENT DEBT RELIEF BEFORE END OF TERM, INCLUDING FOR ‘FUTURE BORROWERS’

According to the federal government’s student aid office, “the injunction is effective” until a final judgment in the case has been made. 

“The Department will not adjudicate any borrower defense applications under the rule subject to the injunction unless and until the injunction is lifted,” the agency asserts.

Images of protesters calling on the Biden administration to cancel student loan debt stand juxtaposed next to an image of the Supreme Court. (SoFi and Getty Images)

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Nonetheless, the agency still encouraged borrowers to continue applying for “borrower defense relief,” adding that they would continue to “adjudicate borrower defense applications” while the case makes its way through the courts.

The Department of Education did not provide any on-the-record remarks in time for publication when reached for comment.  

Durbin and Markey, as well as PPSL, did not respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital for purposes of this story.

President-elect Trump on Wednesday invited Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley to continue steering the GOP’s national party committee.

And Whatley quickly accepted, saying he is “honored for the opportunity to continue as Chairman of the RNC and work nonstop to help President Trump Make America Great Again!”

The former and future Republican president, pointing to his convincing White House victory in last month’s elections, as well the GOP’s flipping of the Senate and holding onto its fragile House majority, said Whatley had done “an OUTSTANDING and HISTORIC JOB in running” the RNC.

And Trump announced that “I have asked Michael to return as Chairman of the RNC to continue to build our Party, and be a trusted partner as we Make America Great Again, and ensure Free and Fair Election.”

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Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley stands for a Fox News Digital interview, on Oct. 1, 2024 in New York City. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

In March, as he clinched the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, Trump named Whatley to succeed Ronna McDaniel as RNC chair. Whatley, a longtime ally of the former president and a major supporter of the former president’s election integrity efforts, had served as RNC general counsel and chair of the North Carolina Republican Party. Trump also named his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as RNC co-chair.

After first winning the White House in 2016, Trump picked McDaniel to steer the national party committee, and she became the longest serving chair in modern times. But earlier this year, Trump essentially pushed McDaniel out the door by repeatedly urging changes at the committee – after lackluster party fundraising and his opposition to the RNC’s presidential primary debates.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIR FRONT-RUNNER OFFERS ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ ADVICE

Trump, in his social media post, said Whatley “is a smart, tough lawyer who put together a completely unprecedented ELECTION INTEGRITY OPERATION that protected the Vote all across America, and a GET OUT THE VOTE CAMPAIGN that delivered the Votes we needed in every Battleground State.”

President-elect Trump gestures after speaking during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

And he argued that “Michael and Lara transformed the RNC into a lean, focused, and powerful machine that will empower the America First Agenda for many years to come.”

Trump, whose immense grip over the GOP is stronger than ever, urged that “Republicans everywhere should support him [Whatley] as he continues his mission at the RNC.”

Whatley, responding minutes later in a social media post, thanked Trump “for the trust he has placed in me to continue our important work at the @GOP.”

“As long as I am Chairman, the RNC’s priorities will remain the same: get out the vote, protect the ballot, and raise the money we need to elect Republicans up and down the ticket,” he pledged.

RNC co-chair Michael Whatley calls the Republican National Convention to order on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Whatley pointed to the “crucial fights ahead,” which he said included “supporting President Trump’s cabinet nominees and preparing for the 2026 midterms, to our ongoing fight for election integrity across America.”

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But Trump, in last month’s elections, outperformed many down-ballot Republicans in key Senate and House races. And the RNC, going forward, will need to work to ensure that Trump voters continue to support the party’s candidates even though the term-limited Trump won’t appear on the ballot ever again.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a high-profile case regarding whether states can ban minors from receiving gender transition medical care under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, a closely-watched case that could impact the care and treatment for young people in at least half of U.S. states.

Conservative justices on the Supreme Court appeared reluctant during Wednesday’s oral arguments to overturn Senate Bill 1, the Tennessee law in question, with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggesting that state legislatures, rather than courts, are best equipped to regulate medical procedures. The Constitution leaves such questions “to the people’s representatives,” Roberts noted Wednesday, rather than to nine justices on the Supreme Court, “none of whom is a doctor.” 

Justice Samuel Alito, for his part, cited “overwhelming evidence” from certain medical studies listing the negative consequences from adolescents that underwent gender transition treatments. Should the justices rule along party lines to uphold the lower court’s decision, it will have sweeping implications for more than 20 U.S. states that have moved to implement similar laws.

The case in question, United States v. Skrmetti, centers on a Tennessee law that bans gender-transition treatments for minors in the state. The law, passed in March 2023, also takes aim at health care providers in Tennessee who continue to provide gender-transition treatments to transgender minors, opening them up to fines, lawsuits and other liability.  

SUPREME COURT CAN TAKE MASSIVE STEP IN PREVENTING TRANS ATHLETES IN GIRLS’ SPORTS WITH HISTORIC HEARING

A student leads a group of demonstrators in Knoxville, Tennessee, in protest of the state’s 2022 transgender athlete ban. (Saul Young/Knoxville News-Sentinel /USA Today)

At issue in the case is whether Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1, which “prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow ‘a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex’ or to treat ‘purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity,'” violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Wednesday’s oral arguments marked the first time the Supreme Court considered restrictions on puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for minors. However, it also comes as many other states have moved to ban or restrict medical treatments and procedures for transgender adolescents, placing outsize focus on the case and on oral arguments Wednesday, as observers closely watched the back-and-forth for clues as to how the court might rule. 

Petitioners in the case were represented by the Biden administration and the ACLU, which sued to overturn the Tennessee law on behalf of the parents of three transgender adolescents and a Memphis-based doctor.

At issue during Wednesday’s oral arguments was the level of scrutiny that courts should use to evaluate the constitutionality of state bans on transgender medical treatment for minors, such as SB1, and whether these laws are considered discriminating on the basis of sex or against a “quasi-suspect class,” thus warranting a higher level of scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. 

Both sides continued to battle over the level of scrutiny that the court should apply in reviewing laws involving transgender care for minors, including SB1. 

Petitioners argued that the court should use the test of heightened scrutiny, which requires states to identify an important objective that the law helps accomplish, while the state of Tennessee reiterated its claim that the rational basis test, or the most deferential test that was applied by the 6th Circuit Court in reviewing SB1, is sufficient. 

Petitioners, represented by U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, argued that SB1 discriminates against individuals on the basis of sex, which itself warrants a heightened level of scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. They argued that SB1 “categorically bans treatment when, and only when, it’s consistent with the patient’s birth sex.” 

In Tennessee, petitioners argued, the way that the sex-based classification works is that, “from the standpoint of any individual who wants to take these medications, their sex determines whether SB1 applies.”

Prelogar cited one of the unnamed petitioners in the case, whom she referred to only as John Doe. Doe “wants to take puberty blockers to undergo a typical male puberty. But SB1 says that because John sex at birth was female, he can’t have access to those medications,” Prelogar argued. “And if you change his sex, then the restriction under SB1 lifts, and it changes the result.”

Petitioners also sought to assuage concerns raised by justices about the ability of states to pass legislation protecting minors, so long as the test meets a higher standard of scrutiny. 

Pressed by Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the impact the ruling could have on other states, Prelogar responded by noting that the court could write a very narrow opinion that states only that when a law prohibits conduct that is “inconsistent with sex, that is a sex baseline, so you do have to apply heightened scrutiny.”

“But the court has made clear that that’s an intermediate standard,” Prelogar said. “And if the state can come forward with an important interest and substantiate that it needed to draw those sex baselines to substantially serve the interest,” it would still be permitted.

TRUMP’S AG PICK HAS ‘HISTORY OF CONSENSUS BUILDING’

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Respondents for the state of Tennessee argued Wednesday that SB1 was designed to protect minors from what they described as “risky and unproven medical interventions.” 

The state, represented by Tennessee Solicitor General Matthew Rice, argued that SB1 draws a “purpose-based line, not a sex-based line,” thus failing to meet the necessary requirement to trigger heightened scrutiny. 

The law, Rice said, turns “entirely on medical purposes, not a patient’s sex.” The only way petitioners can point to a sex-based line, he argued, “is to equate fundamentally different medical treatments.” 

“Giving testosterone to a boy with a deficiency is not the same treatment as giving it to a girl who has psychological distress associated with her body,” Rice said.

Still, respondents faced tough questioning from justices on the classification and application of SB1. 

On issues of classification, Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson cited parallels to the race-based case of Loving v. Virginia, which overturned Virginia’s law forbidding marriage between persons of different racial categories; in that case, a White man and a Black woman.

A flag supporting LGBTQ+ rights decorates a desk on the Democratic side of the Kansas House of Representatives during a debate on March 28, 2023 at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kansas. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether a Tennessee ban on gender transition care for minors is constitutional. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

She noted that under SB1, an individual can be prescribed puberty blockers or hormone treatments if doing so is consistent with their sex, but not if it is inconsistent, asking Rice, “So how are they different?”

Justice Elena Kagan asked Rice about the application of SB1, noting the text of SB1 and one of its articulated purposes, which is to “encourag[e] minors to appreciate their sex and to ban treatments ‘that might encourage minors to become disdainful of their sex.’”

“You’re spending a lot of time talking about what the classification is here,” Kagan told Rice. “And I think we’ve talked a good deal about that. But what produced this classification might be relevant to understanding what the classification is about.”

Tennessee has argued that its law can still withstand even the test of heightened scrutiny, contending in its court brief that it does have “compelling interests” to protect the health and safety of minors in the state and “in protecting the integrity and ethics of the medical profession.”

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The controversial case comes at a time in Washington when Republicans are set to take control of the White House, hold the House and regain the Senate, giving them a greater influence on the composition of the federal courts.

The court is expected to rule on U.S. v. Skrmetti before July 2025.

Outgoing GOP Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., is gunning to be the next leader of President-elect Donald Trump’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), after Trump’s first nominee withdrew his name from the running, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital. 

D’Esposito has been working to consolidate support from regional law enforcement unions to support his bid, and he has been actively making calls to people in Trump’s orbit to get his name to the top, the source indicated, adding that D’Esposito has been “campaigning pretty hard for this.”

SMALL TOWN POLICE ON FRONT LINES OF CARTELS’ DRUG WAR COSTING AMERICANS THEIR LIVES

Long Island Republican Reps. Nick LaLota, left, and Anthony D’Esposito speak to reporters outside the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., after George Santos was expelled from Congress on Dec. 1, 2023. (Photo: Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

Trump nominated Florida Sheriff Chad Chronister for the role over the weekend, but Chronister withdrew his name from consideration on Tuesday. Chronister’s decision came amid criticism from Republicans over how he handled lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

THOMAS MASSIE, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATORS VOCALLY OPPOSE TRUMP’S DEA NOMINEE

After first being elected in 2022 to represent a Long Island congressional district that voted for President Biden in 2020, D’Esposito lost his bid for re-election last month to Democrat Laura Gillen.

On Wednesday, the Nassau County Detectives Association lobbied for Trump to nominate D’Esposito to be the next head of the DEA, which is an agency within the Department of Homeland Security. Trump’s next DEA chief would be his point man to help stem the massive flow of fentanyl making its way into the U.S.

Around $4 million worth of fentanyl was seized by the LAPD. (LAPD)

“As a respected member of Congress, D’Esposito has demonstrated leadership & commitment needed to help DJT in his goal of Making America Safe Again,” the group wrote on social media Wednesday.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Trump’s transition team to glean more details on where D’Esposito stands in terms of being named the next head of the DEA, but did not receive an on-the-record response by publication time.

A growing number of migrants are weighing returning home rather than facing the consequences of President-elect Trump’s planned border policies, according to a new report.

Mexican officials say between 50 and 100 migrants are now requesting “voluntary return” to their own countries, with migrants either covering their own costs or relying on state funds. Some migrants credit their apprehension to Trump’s plans to eliminate a U.S. government app used to claim asylum with border agents.

“I trust I will arrive before Mr. Trump takes office,” one migrant, Johana, told Reuters. “If it’s not by appointment, there’s always a way.”

President Biden’s administration has used the application to allow hundreds of thousands migrants to schedule border crossings and claim asylum in the U.S. Officials with the incoming Trump administration have said they will eliminate the program as well as re-institute the “remain in Mexico” policy.

BORDER PATROL, ICE MORALE SURGING AFTER TRUMP ELECTION WIN: ‘THEY KNOW THEY CAN GET THE BAD GUYS NOW’

Many migrants are seeking to return home in anticipation of Trump’s border policies. (Fox News)

Migrants waiting to receive appointments in Mexico will be stranded there if they don’t get a date scheduled by the beginning of Trump’s term, leaving them to either attempt crossing illegally, remain in Mexico during their asylum process, or return home.

DEM GOVERNOR THREATENS TO USE ‘EVERY TOOL’ TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRUMP-ERA DEPORTATIONS

Thanks to the dangerous cartel environment in Mexico, many are saying they would rather return home.

“I cry every day and ask God to take me back, I don’t want to be here anymore… this is horrible,” said Yuleidi Moreno, a migrant who has yet to receive an appointment.

President-elect Trump has vowed an immigration overhaul once he enters office. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Nidia Montenegro, another migrant in the same position, said she would choose to return home if she could.

“I am traumatized. If I don’t get the appointment, I will go back,” she told Reuters.

MIGRANT ACCUSED OF VIOLENT CRIMES ARRESTED BY ICE AFTER MASSACHUSETTS COURT REFUSED TO HONOR DETAINER

Officials in Trump’s first administration stressed that its policies were aimed at dissuading migrants from making the dangerous journey through Mexico to the U.S. border. Migrants are often kidnapped and faced with violence by cartels.

Tom Homan refutes claims from ABC’s “The View” that Trump will deport legal U.S. citizens as part of his mass deportation plan. (Fox News)

Trump’s incoming border czar, Tom Homan, has says the new administration will both stem illegal immigration and take the cartels “off the face of the earth.”

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“They have killed more Americans than every terrorist organization in the world and Trump is committed to calling them terrorist organizations and using the full might of the United States Special Operations to take them out,” Homan said on Fox News last month.

Reuters contributed to this report

The Supreme Court appeared divided Wednesday over the constitutionality of state laws banning gender transition medical “treatments” for minors, a politically charged issue dealing with transgender rights. The justices heard nearly two-and-a-half hours of tense oral arguments over a challenge to a Tennessee law.

At issue is whether the equal protection clause — which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same — prohibits states from allowing medical providers to deliver puberty blockers and hormones to facilitate a minor’s transition to another sex.

Hundreds of people on both sides of the issue rallied in front of the court. Some demonstrators held signs saying, “Kids’ Health Matters,” while others promoted “Freedom To Be: A Celebration of Transgender Youth & Families.”

The court’s ruling could affect other current legal fights over transgender rights, including bathroom access and participation in scholastic sports. It could also serve as a legal template to future disputes involving the LGBTQ+ community, and whether sexual orientation is a “protected class” that deserves the same rights that involve a person’s race and national origin.

The three justices appointed by former President Trump could be the key to deciding the socially divisive question. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett asked tough questions of both sides, and Justice Neil Gorsuch did not speak during the marathon public session.

SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRANSGENDER YOUTH TREATMENTS IN LANDMARK CASE

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen at sunset. The court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a high-profile case centered on transgender medical treatments for minors. (Aaron Schwartz/SIPA USA)

Justice Samuel Alito cited “hotly disputed” medical studies on the supposed benefits of such medical treatments. Instead he referred to other research from Great Britain and Sweden that reported on the negative consequences from teens that underwent gender transition treatments.

Those studies “found a complete lack of high-quality evidence showing that the benefits of the treatments in question here outweigh the risks,” he told the federal government’s attorney. “Do you dispute that?”

But Justice Sonia Sotomayor countered with evidence from underage individuals that were denied treatment.

“Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don’t they? I think some attempt suicide?” she said. “The state has come in here and, in a sharp departure from how it normally addresses this issue, it has completely decided to override the views of the parents, the patients, the doctors who are grappling with these decisions and trying to make those trade-offs.”

Justice Brett Kavanaugh summed up the competing interests facing the high court.

“How do we as a Court choose which set of risks is more serious in deciding whether to constitutionalize this whole area?”

Chief Justice John Roberts voted in the majority in a 2020 case favoring transgender employees who claim workplace discrimination. That opinion was authored by Gorsuch. But in Wednesday’s arguments, Roberts suggested state legislatures – rather than courts – were in a better position to decide such questions over regulating medical procedures.

TED CRUZ, GOP LAWMAKERS URGE SCOTUS TO END ‘MEXICO’S ASSAULT ON OUR SECOND AMENDMENT’

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti was named a respondent in the court challenge. (AG Jonathan Skrmetti/Fox News Digital)

“The Constitution leaves that question to the people’s representatives, rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor,” Roberts told ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, who was representing transgender minors, parents and a doctor. Strangio is the first openly transgender attorney to argue a case before the Supreme Court.

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U.S. Supreme Court members, front from left, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan, and back from left, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson pose for their official portrait on Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

He appeared alongside the U.S. solicitor general, representing the Biden administration in opposing the law in Tennessee, one of about two dozen with similar bans. 

Prelogar said the state laws have the effect of “sex discrimination,” since the minor’s gender is key when determining specific medical treatments for those seeking to transition.

She cited the benefits of such “medically necessary care” that can have the effect of preventing “escalating distress, anxiety, and suicidality.” The Justice Department mentioned the experience of Ryan, one of the plaintiffs, who told the courts such treatment “saved his life.”

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association have all endorsed such medical treatments for youths.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti told reporters after the arguments, “The Constitution allows the states to protect kids from unproven, life-altering procedures based on uncertain science.”

The state’s lawyer told the justices its law — known as SB1 — “draws a line between minors seeking drugs for gender transition and minors seeking drugs for other medical purposes,” like a congenital defect or precocious or early onset puberty.

In arguments, much of the discussion was whether the laws were applied equally to boys and girls, and whether states had a greater interest in regulating treatment, since it involved underage individuals.

“It’s really for minors,” said Justice Clarence Thomas. “So why isn’t this simply a case of age classification when it comes to these treatments as opposed to a [outright] ban?” for everyone.

But the three more liberal justices were skeptical of the state’s positions.

“It’s a dodge to say that this is not based on sex, it’s based on medical purpose, when the medical purpose is utterly and entirely about sex,” said Justice Elena Kagan.

She added the state law seems to me sending a message that “there’s something fundamentally wrong, fundamentally bad, about youth who are trying to transition.”

“One of the articulated purposes of this law is essentially to encourage gender conformity and to discourage anything other than gender conformity,” said Kagan. It “sounds to me like: we want boys to be boys and we want girls to be girls.”

Trump, who takes office again next month as president, had promised in his re-election campaign to implement certain policy changes that would affect transgender individuals across various sectors.

A ruling is expected by late June 2025.

The case is U.S. v. Skrmetti (23-477). 

FIRST ON FOX: The ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling on Republican leaders to reject President Biden’s $98.4 billion disaster aid request.

In an official position staked out by the GOP group on Wednesday evening, lawmakers are demanding a slimmed-down package covering what is “absolutely necessary,” to be offset with spending cuts elsewhere.

“Congress should not pass a whopping $100 billion unpaid disaster supplemental funding bill — that Democrats will use to cement their own unrelated priorities — in the waning days of Democrat control in Washington right before Republicans take control of the White House and both Chambers,” the House Freedom Caucus statement read.

JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, speaks during a House Freedom Caucus news conference outside of the US Capitol on Monday, May 30, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“The House should consider only what is absolutely necessary right now to provide critical relief to hurricane victims and farmers, and pay for it with offsets from wasteful spending elsewhere in the government, then wait for President Trump to take office to better manage disaster relief.”

It comes as both House and Senate lawmakers negotiate over how large the disaster aid package should be, and whether it should be attached to an end-of-year federal funding bill that’s critical to avoiding a partial government shutdown during the holiday season.

More than 100 people were killed in North Carolina alone when Helene barreled into the Southeastern U.S. in late September.

Hurricane Milton, another deadly storm, hit Florida and Georgia roughly a week later.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told “Your World” host Neil Cavuto that a $100 billion disaster aid package may be necessary.

MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

U.S. President Joe Biden attends a meeting, at a Carrinho facility, near Lobito, Angola, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)

“I believe that we need that disaster supplemental at about $100 billion. There’s nearly an estimate of $50 billion in North Carolina alone,” Tillis said. “It’s going to take years to recover and we shouldn’t be playing games with people’s lives.”

But some fiscal conservatives have balked at the prospect of granting the mammoth-sized federal request without cutting costs elsewhere.

They’ve argued that granting the Democratic administration’s request for such a hefty package would be a reckless move that would further balloon the national debt.

“I’m not going to vote for $100 billion unpaid for. Zero chance,” Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital last month.

Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who is not a member of the Freedom Caucus and whose district was hit hard by Helene, told Fox News Digital that he was in touch with House leaders about a disaster aid bill but said details were still being crafted.

Meanwhile Congressional leaders are expected to negotiate on a continuing resolution (CR), a short-term extension of the current government funding levels, by the Dec. 20 partial shutdown deadline.

House Speaker Mike Johnson will need to work with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer if a disaster aid bill is to be passed this year. (Reuters)

“We’re looking at a couple of different options,” Edwards said on Wednesday morning. “It may be attached to the CR, it may run parallel to the CR, but it’s very much being constructed right now.”

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Asked about Biden’s requested total, he said, “It’s still being built. We’ve got pretty much the bones established, we’re just trying to determine proportionately, how much money we spend in each of the various areas.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who discussed disaster aid and government funding with the House Freedom Caucus on Tuesday evening, gave little insight into his plans during his weekly press conference.

“It’s serious, serious damage. But the initial request was $116.5 billion. And what we’re doing right now is the important, methodical job that the House has, to go through really line by line and assess those requests and make sure that they all are actually tied to disaster and not superfluous items and issues that are included,” Johnson said.

President-elect Trump announced Wednesday he is nominating former Missouri Rep. Billy Long to serve as commissioner of the IRS in his new administration.

In a statement released Wednesday, Trump called the former congressman “an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress.” The president-elect also referenced Long’s experience working as a tax adviser.

“Billy brings 32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country,” the Republican leader wrote in a Truth Social post. “He then served 12 years in Congress, because he ‘felt it was important for his constituents to have a Representative who has signed the front of a check’!

“Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm. He is the consummate ‘people person,’ well respected on both sides of the aisle. Congratulations Billy!”

NEW YORK JUDGE GRANTS TRUMP REQUEST TO FILE MOTION TO DISMISS CHARGES, CANCELS SENTENCING INDEFINITELY

Trump announced he is nominating Kelly Loeffler, left, and Billy Long, right, to serve in his administration. (Reuters/Getty Images/AP Images)

Trump soon followed his announcement by naming former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler to head the Small Business Administration (SBA). The purpose of the SBA is to provide small businesses with access to resources such as loans, government contracts and business counseling.

“Small Businesses are the backbone of our Great Economy. Kelly will bring her experience in business and Washington to reduce red tape, and unleash opportunity for our Small Businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive,” Trump’s Truth Social post said. “She will focus on ensuring that SBA is accountable to Taxpayers by cracking down on waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach.”

TRUMP NOMINATES KASH PATEL TO SERVE AS FBI DIRECTOR: ‘ADVOCATE FOR TRUTH’

Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., speaks during Erick Erickson’s The Gathering event in Atlanta Aug. 18, 2023. (Alyssa Pointer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump called Loeffler, a longtime ally and a co-chair of his inaugural committee, a “tremendous fighter” and cited her success in business.

“Prior to her tenure in the U.S. Senate, Kelly built a 25-year career in financial services and technology,” Trump’s statement said. “Along with her amazing husband, Jeff, she helped build a Fortune 500 company from 100 employees to over 10,000, as Executive VP. She and Jeff also helped me secure the Big Election Win in Georgia!”

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In this Nov. 2, 2010, file photo, Missouri Republican Representative-elect Billy Long speaks to supporters at an election night rally in Springfield, Mo. (AP)

In the first two years of Trump’s first administration, the SBA was led by Linda McMahon, who resigned in 2019. Trump tapped McMahon, the former CEO of WWE, to serve as secretary of education in November.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-Incoming GOP Senate majority leader unveils legislative agenda for Trump administration’s first 30 days

-Federal judge accuses President Biden of attempting to ‘rewrite history’ in Hunter Biden pardon

–‘Overwhelming evidence’ of negative consequences from gender ‘treatments’ focus of landmark Supreme Court case

Mexican Standoff 

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, along with other Republican Congress members, filed an amicus brief in support of U.S. gun manufacturers, urging the Supreme Court “to uphold American Sovereignty and the Second Amendment.”

The case, Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, stems from a lawsuit filed in 2021 by the Mexican government, in which the government alleged U.S. gun manufacturers, like Smith & Wesson, Ruger and others, should be liable for gun violence carried out by cartels south of the border, because the companies were allegedly aware their firearms were being trafficked into the country.

“I am leading this amicus brief to uphold American sovereignty and our Second Amendment. The lawsuit filed by Mexico seeks to trample on our Constitution,” Cruz told Fox News Digital. “I look forward to the Supreme Court ending this madness, putting an end to Mexico’s assault on our Second Amendment, and sending a clear message that American sovereignty will not be eroded by any country.”…Read more

 Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, talking with reporters on Tuesday, November 15, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

White House

‘ALL HELL TO PAY’: Trump bucks Biden’s ‘don’t’ doctrine on world stage, hits adversaries with ‘all hell to pay’ deadline…Read more

PARDON-PALOOZA: Jeffries wants Biden to dole out pardons for people aggressively prosecuted ‘for nonviolent offenses’…Read more

‘EXPECT MORE’: Who else could Biden pardon after sparing Hunter from sentencing?…Read more

President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket and walking with his son Hunter Biden, heads toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 26, 2024.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

CALLING FOR FAST CASH: Top Dems, activists call on Biden admin to dole out more student loan forgiveness before term ends…Read more

‘NOBODY IS SAFE’: Dem senator urges Biden to extend protections for illegal immigrants before Trump admin…Read more

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ: Biden appears to rest his eyes at African summit in Angola…Read more

Trump Transition

FILLING OUT THE ROSTER: Trump announces picks for Army secretary, trade adviser, hostage envoy, NASA…Read more

SECOND THOUGHTS?: Trump floats DeSantis as potential defense secretary replacement if Hegseth falters…Read more

OPEN CABINET: Trump transition signs agreement for FBI background checks…Read more

PENTAGON PITCH: Pete Hegseth ramps up Pentagon pitch with back-to-back meetings on Capitol Hill…Read more

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, makes his way to a meeting with Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., in Russell building on Tuesday, December 3, 2024.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

‘VOLUNTARY RETURN’: Some migrants, anticipating Trump’s policies, are already turning back home: report…Read more 

Trail Dust

WINNER IN CA-13: Democratic challenger Adam Gray flips California’s 13th Congressional District in nation’s final House race…Read more

Capitol Hill

FIRST ON FOX: GOP senator to propose ban on gender transition treatment for minors…Read more

‘IT’S DISAPPOINTING’: Top House Democrat says Hunter Biden pardon was ‘disappointing,’ calls out Biden for flip-flop…Read more

SPEAKER-SUPPORTED: House GOP leaders endorse Trump-backed candidate Jimmy Patronis for Matt Gaetz’s old seat…Read more

FRESHMAN FOCUS: Republican Rob Bresnahan, who ousted six-term House Democrat, reveals how he did it...Read more

Rob Bresnahan, Republican nominee for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, takes the stage during a Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump campaign rally at Riverfront Sports on October 09, 2024 in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

NEXT UP: Outgoing GOP congressman seeks role as Trump’s drug czar after first nominee falls through…Read more

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: People are policy…Read more

Supreme Court

DIVIDED BENCH: Supreme Court appears divided over state bans on gender transition ‘treatments’ for minors…Read more

JUST LIKE ‘ASPIRIN’?: Sotomayor compares trans medical ‘treatments’ to aspirin in question about side effects during oral arguments…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

It is that in politics, people are policy. 

So President-elect Trump’s “policies” descended on Capitol Hill this week. 

Thus begins the quadrennial tradition of various Cabinet nominees parading around the Senate. They’re here to meet with senators, answer questions, press the flesh, get a sense of what senators want to know about them in a confirmation hearing – and where the pitfalls lie.

We got a sliver of this before Thanksgiving. That’s when former attorney general nominee and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., huddled with a handful of Republican senators. Then Gaetz bowed out, so it was on to Trump’s second pick for attorney general – Pam Bondi.

Bondi arrived at the Capitol Monday to meet with incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, but her first meeting was postponed because Grassley’s flight was delayed. They finally chatted later in the afternoon.

“I look forward to working with you and leading your nomination through the United States Senate,” said Grassley once he finally made it to his office in the Hart Senate Office Building.

President-elect Trump smiles during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024, in New York City. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

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“Should I earn the trust and the nomination from all of the senators, I will do my best every day to work tirelessly for the American people. And I will make you, the president and our country proud,” added Bondi.

“Is this going to be easier than Mr. Gaetz?” asked yours truly.

“No questions. No questions,” ordered Grassley.

Bondi soon headed to the Russell Senate Office Building to caucus with the current top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

“She’s a great choice. Been a longtime friend. I think right person at right time,” said Graham.

Bondi may have an easier path to Senate confirmation than the other nominee roaming the Senate corridors, Defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth.

He met with Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.

“We’re taking it meeting by meeting,” said Hegseth.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, faces a host of questions about whether he’s qualified to lead such a massive organization as the U.S. military. There’s been a blanket of allegations lodged against Hegseth.

“Were you ever drunk while traveling on the job?” asked Nikole Killion of CBS.

“I won’t dignify that with a response,” replied Hegseth.

He then proceeded to a series of sessions with Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah. Hegseth appears to have earned the support of some of the most conservative members of the Senate.

“We don’t need a general officer, admiral or a person of high command,” said Tuberville. “We need a drill sergeant in the military. We need somebody to straighten the military out. Get the woke, the DEI affiliation out and go from there.” 

Hegseth was back at it Tuesday morning, meeting with Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Ted Budd, R-N.C., Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. 

Wednesday meant meetings with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and the next chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. 

Hegseth has also expressed reservations about women serving in combat. 

Colleague Aishah Hasnie pressed Hegseth on this very point as he toggled between Senate offices. 

“We have amazing women who serve in our military. Amazing women,” said Hegseth. 

“Do you think they should be in combat?” asked Hasnie.

“I think they’re already in combat,” replied Hegseth.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, is joined by his wife Jennifer Rauchet, as they walk through the basement of the Capitol, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Amid all the focus on Bondi and Hegseth, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the nominee for United Nations ambassador, snuck in a meeting with Grassley. And Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent is also slated to meet with Thune and newly tapped Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. 

Out of the middle of nowhere, Education secretary nominee Linda McMahon materialized for a session with Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., Tuesday. 

You think things are hitting a fevered pitch now? Wait until FBI pick Kash Patel and Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. begin making their office calls. 

And we haven’t even gotten to the prospective confirmation hearings of Hegseth, Kennedy and Patel in early January. Cable TV channels will likely carry those hearings wall-to-wall. And depending on the day, it may be a challenging programming decision on which hearing to take live – especially if two or three all come around the same time. 

A dynamic duo arrives at Capitol Hill later this week – who don’t require confirmation. And in fact, their visits may command more attention than any of the nominees for the next cabinet. 

President-elect Trump tapped former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to run the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. They’re set to meet with House and Senate Republicans about their plans to pare back the government. They begin with meetings with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is leading the Senate’s DOGE Caucus.

“We have a lot of waste that exists in the federal government,” said Ernst. “We have over $1 trillion of savings already identified for the DOGE.”

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (Getty Images)

Even Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., became the first Democrat to join the House DOGE Caucus. 

“I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing ineffective government spending should not be a partisan issue,” said Moskowitz. “The caucus should look at the bureaucracy that DHS has become and include recommendations to make Secret Service and FEMA independent federal agencies with a direct report to the White House.”

When it comes to confirmations, Democrats insist that Republicans do things by the book. They want background checks on nominees, and they’re also imploring the GOP not to allow Trump to bypass the Senate if there are problems and install people temporarily via recess appointments. 

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., took issue with the speedy meetings Republican senators had with nominees. Some of those sessions resulted in GOP senators then proclaiming they would vote to confirm.

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“You can’t do a speed dating process for the Cabinet of the president of the United States without ending up embarrassed and with things that are discovered only through a deep investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” said Durbin, “I can tell you privately, many Republicans senators have spoken to me and said ‘For goodness sakes, we can’t do away with the FBI check.’ That is something that’s just integral to the system.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote to Thune, imploring him to preserve the Senate customs for confirming nominees.

“The advise and consent authority is a cornerstone of the Senate’s constitutional mandate. A power central to preserving America’s system of checks and balances. The Founding Fathers knew firsthand the great danger of allowing unchecked executives to appoint individuals to positions of power without any guardrails,” said Schumer. “Hopefully this doesn’t become an issue. But nevertheless, it will be the responsibility of the incoming Republican majority to protect the Senate against any attempt to erode its authority.”

So this is going to be quite a few weeks. 

Lots of meetings. Lots of hearings. Lots of votes. All surrounding staffing the next administration.

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Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is fond of saying that the Senate is “in the personnel business.” 

It’s also in the “policy” business, and those “policies” are now walking around the halls of Capitol Hill. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor likened the side effects of transgender medical procedures on minors to that of taking an over-the-counter painkiller during Wednesday’s oral arguments in the U.S. v. Skrmetti case.

“Every medical treatment has a risk, even taking aspirin,” Sotomayor said. “There’s always going to be a percentage of the population under any medical treatment that’s going to suffer a harm. So, the question in my mind is not, ‘do policymakers decide whether one person’s life is more valuable than the millions of others who get relief from this treatment?'”

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Supporters of a Tennessee law rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments in a case on transgender transition procedures for minors on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Sotomayor’s comments came after Tennessee Solicitor General Matthew Rice defended his state’s ban on transgender medical procedures for minors, which is the first time a case involving transgender procedures has been brought before the high court. Rice argued that countries like Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom have limited such interventions due to reported irreversible consequences.

Justice Clarence Thomas questioned Rice about alternative approaches – like in the case of West Virginia – with Rice dismissing them as speculative policymaking that fails to eliminate risks associated with gender transition entirely.

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U.S. Supreme Court members, front from left, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan, and back from left, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson pose for their official portrait at the Supreme Court building on Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“They cannot eliminate the risk of detransitioners,” Rice said. “So, it becomes a pure exercise of weighing benefit versus risk. And the question of how many minors have to have their bodies irreparably harmed for unproven benefits is one that is best left to the legislature.”

The high-profile case, United States v. Skrmetti, centers on a Tennessee law that bans gender-transition treatments for adolescents in the state. The law also takes aim at health care providers in Tennessee who continue to provide gender-transition treatments to transgender minors, opening them up to fines, lawsuits and other liability.  

The three justices appointed by former President Trump could play a key role in the outcome. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett pressed both sides with tough questions, while Justice Neil Gorsuch remained silent throughout the lengthy hearing. A ruling is expected by July 2025.

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A trans flag and the Supreme Court building (Alexander Pohl/NurPhoto via Getty Images | AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

The petitioners in the case are the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which sued to overturn the Tennessee law on behalf of parents of three transgender adolescents, and a Memphis-based doctor who treats transgender patients. The petitioners were also joined by the Biden administration earlier this year under a federal law that allows the administration to intervene in certain cases certified by the attorney general to be of “general public importance.” 

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Tennessee passed its law, Senate Bill 1, in March 2023. But it is just one of at least 25 U.S. states that has banned gender transitions for transgender minors, while more than 15 have enacted “shield” laws that protect such procedures. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.