The Fox News Politics Newsletter will not be sent out on Monday, May 25th due to the Memorial Day Holiday. We wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day.
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here's what's happening…
-Hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners released in swap with Russia, Zelenskyy says
-Vance tells Naval Academy graduates they are facing 'new' and 'very dangerous era' for US
President Donald Trump signed several executive orders (EOs) on nuclear energy proliferation and an order removing political considerations from public-sector science, as conservatives claimed the latter was scandalized in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump also signed restoring "gold standard science" as the cornerstone of federal research.
A senior White House official said on Friday there has been a decline in "disruptive research" and investments in biomedical research, along with "serious cases" of fraud and misconduct and the inability to reproduce scientific methods for the purpose of restoring public trust…Read more
'COULD NOT SPEAK': Biden struggled to film 2024 campaign videos amid declining health, new book claims: 'The man could not speak'
RESTRAINING ORDER: Judge temporarily pauses Trump move to cancel Harvard student visa policy after lawsuit
DEADLY SLOGAN: Former Biden diplomat says there’s ‘no question’ ‘Free Palestine’ slogan has become a call for violence
BARRACK ON: US Ambassador to Turkey Barrack to assume role of US Special Envoy for Syria
ATOMIC SHOWDOWN: US and Iran clash over uranium enrichment as nuclear talks resume in Rome
'WATER TORTURE': Dems call budget bill ‘bureaucratic water torture’ as GOP ‘glad to have the ball in our court’
'ABOUT TO FIND OUT': Sen. Mike Lee accuses Chicago mayor — who called Trump a 'monster' — of 'bragging about' violating the law
'HEARTBREAKING': Wisconsin man fired for refusing to use preferred pronouns appeals to Trump administration
The Trump administration is suing four New Jersey cities, accusing local officials of obstructing federal law and infringing on efforts to combat illegal immigration through their sanctuary city policies.
The lawsuit by the Justice Department alleged the cities of Newark, Hoboken, Jersey City and Paterson unlawfully obstructed federal authorities trying to fight illegal immigration.
Mayors Ras Baraka of Newark, Ravi Bhalla of Hoboken, Steven Fulop of Jersey City and Andre Sayegh of Paterson are named as defendants, along with the four city councils.
"By intent and design, the Challenged Policies are a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws and the federal authorities that administer them," the complaint states.
Baraka was recently arrested and charged with trespassing outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in his city. That case was dropped, but U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver was later charged with assault during the protest at Delaney Hall.
"The lawsuit against Newark is absurd," Barake said in a statement. "We are not standing in the way of public safety. We are upholding the Constitution, providing oversight, and following the laws and guidelines of the State of New Jersey."
He said nothing in the city's policies prevents law enforcement from doing their jobs. "What we refuse to do is turn our city into an arm of federal immigration enforcement, which the courts have already ruled is not our role," he added.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth wrote that local policies are designed to "thwart federal immigration enforcement".
"[E]ven where local law enforcement wants to help the United States deal with the nation’s immigration crisis, the Challenged Policies impede them from doing so," he wrote. "This not only puts the safety of officers at risk, but also endangers the broader communities they are sworn to protect."
The lawsuit comes after federal charges were filed against Baraka, a gubernatorial candidate, for his role during a May 9 clash involving Democratic politicians at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Newark.
"Recent events have proven that these New Jersey officials care more about political showmanship than the safety of their communities," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. "As I have made clear, this Justice Department does not tolerate local officials in sanctuary cities obstructing immigration enforcement: there is more litigation to come."
"We will continue to do what we have always done, protect the rights of all our residents, stand on constitutional ground, and reject fear-based politics that divide communities rather than strengthen them," Baraka said.
"Hoboken is a community that prides itself on its vibrancy, its cultural diversity, and its inclusivity, and we will continue to stand together as a community for what is fair and just," Bhalla said in a separate statement. "The City of Hoboken will vigorously work to defend our rights, have our day in court, and defeat the Trump Administration’s lawlessness. To be clear: we will not back down."
"Jersey City gets sued for being a sanctuary city — I guess MAGA ran out of conspiracy theories for the week," Fulop wrote on X in response to the lawsuit. "Here is the truth: Jersey City’s policies protect families, reflect our values and have led to record low crime rates. As governor, I won’t be bullied. We’ll fight this — and win."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Sayegh's office.
The Trump administration has targeted sanctuary jurisdictions as it continues to catch and deport criminal illegal immigrants.
It has filed lawsuits against cities in New York, Colorado and Illinois over attempts to impede immigration enforcement.
As Americans hit the road for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, they're getting good news at the gas pumps.
While gas prices have risen roughly 20 cents per gallon since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, according to GasBuddy, a fuel savings platform, "all 50 states are lower than last Memorial Day."
And GasBuddy notes that gas prices are at their "lowest seasonal (Memorial Day) level since 2021."
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that when adjusted for inflation, the average U.S. retail gasoline prices going into Memorial Day weekend are 14% lower than last year, in large part because of falling crude oil prices.
As of Friday, AAA reported that the national average for regular gasoline stood at $3.20 per gallon.
And while gas prices traditionally increase heading into spring and summer, normally due to increased demand for summer travel and refineries switching to summer gasoline blends – which are less likely to evaporate but are more expensive to produce – GasBuddy expects prices to ease slightly during the next few months heading into Labor Day.
The falling prices at the pump could be good political news for Trump and Republicans aiming to defend their Senate and House majorities in next year's midterm elections.
"Gas prices fell for the third month in a row," the White House spotlighted last week, as it argued, "Workers See Relief in President Trump’s Economy."
Four months into his second tour of duty in the White House, Trump's poll numbers are slightly underwater, with most, but not all, of the latest national surveys placing the president's approval rating in negative territory.
That wasn't the case when Trump was inaugurated in January, when most polls indicated his approval ratings were above water.
Contributing to the slide over the past couple of months in Trump's overall approval ratings was his performance on the economy and, in particular, inflation, which were pressing issues that kept former President Joe Biden’s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency.
Trump's blockbuster tariff announcement in early April sparked a trade war with some of the nation's top trading partners and triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.
But the markets have rebounded, thanks in part to a truce between the U.S. and China in their tariff standoff as Trump tapped the brakes on his controversial tariff implementation.
Republican strategist Jesse Hunt told Fox News Digital that the current prices at the pump are "a positive development" and that "seeing gas prices where they are is a testament to the energy policy the administration wants to pursue, and it's going to result in more money being kept in people's pockets."
But Daron Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas who is the Republican partner on the Fox News poll, noted that "with the exception of gas prices, there hasn’t been much of a reduction in prices."
"Prices haven’t come down, and it’s not clear that people will say the absence of inflation is an economic victory. They still feel that an appreciable portion of their money is going to pay for basic things," Shaw added. "What Trump is realizing is that prices have to come down for him to be able to declare success."
Hunt, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential and statewide campaigns, said that Republicans "still have to figure out a way to ease some of the strain on family budgets through everyday goods like groceries. They were able to get eggs under control, which was an issue that threatened them early on in the second administration."
But pointing to Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts package, which narrowly passed the House on Thursday, Hunt said "there is a lot of hope and optimism" that the measure, if passed into law, "will help spur additional investment" and "will provide the sort of growth that you need across the economy."
Fox Business' Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.
Democratic socialist mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel — and refused to say the country has a right to exist as a Jewish state.
Mamdani stayed firm in his support for the Palestinian-led BDS effort, calling it a "legitimate movement," during a Q&A with Democratic primary candidates hosted by the UJA-Federation of New York on Thursday evening.
"My support for BDS is consistent with my core of my politics, which is non-violence," the Queens assemblyman said when pressed by Jewish Insider’s editor-in-chief, Josh Kraushaar.
"I think that it is a legitimate movement when you are seeking to find compliance with international law," he said.
"The effectiveness of tactics of boycott, divestment and sanctions in order to motivate that compliance at the state level, on an individual level and that’s where my support for it comes from."
The state assemblyman from Queens said he believes Israel has a right to exist. But when pushed on whether it should exist as a Jewish state, he carefully sidestepped.
"I believe Israel has a right to exist, and it has a right to exist also with equal rights for all," he said.
Mamdani, a Democratic Socialists of America-backed politician, was peppered with questions about his stance on Israel during the event from the UJA-Federation, a massive philanthropic group supporting the Jewish community.
The forum came just days after The Post unearthed a social media clip of the pro-Palestinian assemblyman leading a "BDS" chant during a May 11, 2021, anti-Israel protest.
Despite Mamdani’s open criticism of Israel, the lawmaker received a fairly warm welcome from those in attendance, according to recordings obtained by The Post, which, along with other press, was barred from entry at the door.
Those inside the event, which took place some 24 hours after a pro-Palestinian radical gunned down two innocent Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington, DC, described the security as "wild," as organizers revoked the tickets of several people.
During his roughly 20-minute appearance, moderators asked Mamdani about his remarks that, if elected mayor, he would order the NYPD to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister ever set foot in the Big Apple.
"Ultimately, my position is one that I believe our city should be in compliance with international law," Mamdani said, noting the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the Israeli leader, adding that he’d have the same answer if he was asked the question about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"What troubles me greatly is that Benjamin Netanyahu has also issued military commands from this very city when visiting it," he said.
Mamdani campaign spokesman Andrew Epstein said the candidate has been "consistent" in his beliefs regarding Israel.
"Zohran has been consistent in his belief that Israel has the right to exist, a responsibility to adhere to international law, and that he supports non-violent movements to ensure compliance with that law," Epstein said in a statement Friday.
"He was heartened by the warm reception last night to his vision for a New York that’s safe and affordable for everyone."
Mamdani, who has repeatedly come up second in the polls vying for the Democratic nomination, behind ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has recently been dogged by his anti-Israel rhetoric.
He faced blowback from the Jewish community for failing to sign onto a pair of resolutions recognizing Israel and the Holocaust, in what his campaign wrote off as a procedural error.
The revelation came just days after he got the endorsement of anti-Israel ex-"Squad" member Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the race for mayor of New York City, which is home to the largest population of Jews outside Israel.
The lawmaker also pushed the "Not On Our Dime Act," which would have stopped New York nonprofits from supporting any groups that are involved with West Bank settlements.
Tom Barrack, US Ambassador to Turkey and former advisor to President Donald Trump, announced on Friday that he would be filling the role of U.S. Special Envoy for Syria, highlighting recent sanctions relief.
In a post on X, Barrack said he will be assuming the role to support Secretary of State Marco Rubio "in the realization of the President’s vision" for the country.
"President Trump has outlined his clear vision of a prosperous Middle East and a stable Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors," Barrack wrote in the post.
On May 13, the president committed to lifting the United States’ sanctions against Syria to allow the new government to stabilize the country.
U.S. sanctions were first administered on Damascus in 1979, when it was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Barrack said the cessation of sanctions against Syria will "preserve the integrity of our primary objective — the enduring defeat of ISIS," and give the people of Syria a chance to recover after theBashar al-Assad regime was ousted by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham last year.
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S. and U.N.-designated terrorist organization, separated from al Qaeda in 2016.
Nearly 1,500 U.S. troops are stationed in Syria to fight ISIS, and about 10,000 ISIS fighters are being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia, Fox News Digital previously reported.
"In this way, we, together with regional partners including Türkiye and the Gulf, are enabling the Syrian government to restore peace, security, and the hope of prosperity," Barrack wrote. "In the words of the President, we will work together, and we will succeed together."
Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: Spencer Wimmer, a Wisconsin man, is asking the Trump administration to intervene after he says he was fired for refusing to use preferred pronouns that conflict with a person’s biological sex—forcing him, he claims, to choose between his livelihood and his faith.
While the Trump administration has moved to roll back DEI and gender ideology workplace requirements, Wimmer, a devout Christian, argues that private citizens are still experiencing workplace discrimination tied to such policies.
Now, after filing a religious discrimination complaint through the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) to the Trump U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), he said he hopes President Donald Trump will do something about it.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Wimmer said that he had worked hard to be a "model employee" during his five years at Generac and was in good standing with the company, having received several positive performance reviews and promotions. He said he expected to have a long, fruitful career at the power equipment company. That is, until he was suddenly pulled into a meeting with human resources and confronted about his refusal to use someone's preferred pronouns.
Wimmer says that his refusal to use preferred pronouns is rooted in his deeply held Biblical, religious belief that there are only two genders and that a person cannot switch between one and the other.
He explained that he had prior experience working with transgender people and even had a good working relationship with one of his colleagues who was transgender. However, after Wimmer had to clarify with HR that he could not in good conscience use his transgender colleagues' preferred pronouns, he was reprimanded for "unprofessional" conduct.
According to WILL, the firm representing Wimmer, Generac HR representatives told him that his request to refrain from using transgender pronouns on religious grounds "did not make any sense." Wimmer was issued a written disciplinary action note that stated "refusal to refer to an employee/subordinate by their preferred name/pronouns is in violation of the company’s Code of Business Conduct and No Harassment Policy."
After an entire month in which he said he felt both targeted and bullied for his religious beliefs, Wimmer was fired from his supervisor role at Generac Power Systems on April 2. According to WILL, he was not allowed to collect his personal belongings and was escorted out of the building.
Wimmer described the entire episode as "heartbreaking."
"I was asked to choose between my livelihood and my love for God and my beliefs," said Wimmer, adding that it was "very emotional having everything kind of ripped out from under me."
In its complaint to the EEOC, WILL argues that Generac violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. WILL asserts that Generac violated Wimmer’s rights despite there being no harassment complaints filed against him.
Cara Tolliver, an attorney with WILL, told Fox News Digital that she believes his case carries a broader significance that could impact Americans across the country.
She said that Wimmer’s case puts recent Supreme Court precedent set in a 2023 case called Groff v. DeJoy to the test, challenging the validity of an employer’s compelled gender affirmation policy against an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs.
"Employers, I think, have kind of become seemingly fixated on a lot of identity politics in the workplace, including the topic of gender identity," she said. "But it's crucial to keep in mind that even where Title VII may provide some protection to employees against workplace discrimination and harassment on the basis of a gender identity, this does not supersede or eliminate Title VII protections against religious discrimination and the fact that religious discrimination is illegal."
"There was absolutely a way for us to work together and have a compromise where we continue to have a professional environment," he said. "Unfortunately, there are individuals and there are organizations and structures in place that won't let you have compromise. The fact that you have these beliefs is unacceptable to them. So, no amount of compromise is possible."
In response to Fox News Digital's request for comment, a spokesperson said: "We do not comment on employment matters nor comment on pending litigation."
Vice President JD Vance told graduates at the United States Naval Academy on Friday that they are embarking on a mission in a "new and very dangerous era for our country" as adversaries such as China and Russia are "determined to beat us in every single domain."
Speaking in Annapolis, Vance said the Trump administration has "reversed course" in U.S. foreign policy as there will be "no more undefined missions" and "no more open-ended conflicts."
"We’re turning to a strategy grounded in realism and protecting our core national interests. Now, this doesn’t mean that we ignore threats. But it means that we approach them with discipline and that when we send you to war, we do it with a very specific set of goals in mind," Vance said.
"In the wake of the Cold War, America enjoyed a mostly unchallenged command of the commons -- airspace, sea, space, and cyberspace. But the era of uncontested U.S. dominance is over. Today we face serious threats in China, Russia, and other nations determined to beat us in every single domain," he added.
"You will be leaders of men and women in our armed forces," Vance said. "So while President Trump and I congratulate you on this incredible achievement, I also thought it would be appropriate to tell you a bit about how the president and I think of your mission in this new and very dangerous era for our country."
The vice president said past U.S. administrations carried out a "long experiment in our foreign policy that traded national defense and the maintenance of our alliances for nation-building and meddling in foreign countries’ affairs, even when those foreign countries have very little to do with core American interests."
"Following the collapse of the Soviet Union... for a brief time, we were a superpower without any fear. Nor did we believe any foreign nation could possibly rise to compete with the United States of America," he continued.
"And so our leaders traded hard power for soft power. We stopped making things, everything from cars to computers to the weapons of war, like the ships that guard our waters and the weapons that you will use in the future. Why did we do that? Well too many of us believed that economic integration would naturally lead to peace by making countries like the People’s Republic of China more like the United States," Vance said. "Over time, we were told that the world would converge toward a uniform set of bland, secular universal ideals regardless of culture or country. And those that didn’t want to converge, our policymakers would it make it their goal to force them by any means necessary."
"So instead of devoting our energies to the rise of... competitors like China, our leaders pursued what they assumed would be easy jobs for the world’s preeminent superpower. How hard could it be to build new democracies in the Middle East? Well almost impossibly hard, it turns out, and unbelievably costly," Vance told the graduates.
Vance said, "We must be, all of us, not just smarter," but now "we got to make sure that [when] we send our troops to war, we do it with the right tools."
"We can no longer assume our engagements will come without cost. That's why the Trump administration is investing in innovation, rewarding risk-takers at the Department of Defense and streamlining weapons acquisitions for the new century," he said during his speech.
President Donald Trump signed several executive orders (EOs) on nuclear energy proliferation and an order removing political considerations from public-sector science, as conservatives claimed the latter was scandalized in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump also signed restoring "gold standard science" as the cornerstone of federal research.
A senior White House official said on Friday there has been a decline in "disruptive research" and investments in biomedical research, along with "serious cases" of fraud and misconduct and the inability to reproduce scientific methods for the purpose of restoring public trust.
The official also blamed policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and "woke DEI initiatives" for endangering the public’s trust in government scientists.
Now-retired NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci was repeatedly denounced for flip-flopping and obfuscating during his time engineering the federal response to COVID-19, leading many particularly on the right to disregard and dismiss the legitimacy of federal health authorities outright.
That order cites the fact the Biden administration included political edits from teachers unions in school-reopening guidance, instead of leading with any scientific evidence.
The order will enforce "gold standard science," defined as reproducible, transparent and falsifiable – as well as being subject to peer review and making sure that scientists are not discouraged from discovering outcomes that run counter to a narrative.
In terms of nuclear energy, one order will reform nuclear R&D at the Energy Department, accelerate reactor testing at national labs and establish a pilot program for new construction.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright previously told Fox News Digital that revitalizing and highlighting the work of U.S. national labs is paramount to his agenda.
In a move that appears to support Wright’s push for nuclear power, Trump will sign an order aimed at advancing new reactor construction on public lands.
A senior White House official cited the importance of that type of reliable power-source for critical defense facilities and AI data centers.
Another order being signed Friday will overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to require it to rule on reactor license applications within 18 months.
Only two new nuclear reactors have begun construction and entered into commercial operation since the Carter administration.
A typically risk-averse culture that requires, for example, nuclear facilities to emit as little radiation as possible, including below naturally-occurring levels, which critics said has hindered the NRC from licensing new reactors as technology begets safer and cheaper means of production.
The orders will also seek to raise nuclear energy capacity from 100 gigawatts (GW) to 400 GW within 25 years.
Another order will establish a vision to mine and enrich uranium within the U.S., decreasing another avenue of foreign reliance – and "reinvigorate" the nuclear fuel cycle.
"That means America will start mining and enriching uranium and expanding domestic uranium conversion and enrichment capacity," a senior White House official said.
Trump is expected to leverage the Defense Production Act – which last helped secure COVID-19 paraphernalia like masks and ventilators – to seek agreements with domestic nuclear energy companies for the procurement of enriched uranium, as well as finding ways to manage spent nuke fuel.
Nuclear energy, the White House said in the order, "is necessary to power the next generation technologies that secure our global industrial, digital, and economic dominance, achieve energy independence, and protect our national security."
Former President Joe Biden struggled to get through filming campaign videos, or quick, filmed keynote addresses for various groups during the 2024 campaign due to his declining health, according to a new book.
The book, "Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," said that Biden stumbled through filming campaign videos so much that the footage was ultimately deemed "unusable." The nonfiction book was published Tuesday and is authored by journalists Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios.
In one case, Biden’s team sought to film a video for the campaign for ads on television in a high school gym where people could ask questions like they would at a town hall meeting.
"The campaign was trying to make it look like the president was out there taking off-the-cuff questions from voters in public," the book said. "But the event was closed to reporters, and the campaign had the full list of questions that people would ask."
However, Biden had so much "trouble" getting through the questions that his team decided to scrap the footage. While some attributed challenges to poor lighting in the gym, the book said that others identified Biden as the real problem.
Similarly, when groups requested a five-minute video address of Biden for keynote events, the White House would work to provide a one- or two-minute video, the book said. Still, given the time constraint, Biden "often couldn’t make it through one or two minutes without botching a line or two," according to the book.
"The man could not speak," one person familiar with the effort said, according to the book. The person said Biden faced an "inability to find words, to remember what he was saying, to stay on one train of thought."
"Aides would sometimes make the videos in slow motion to blur the reality of how slowly he actually walked," the person said. "If he was off, editing footage in a way that cast him in the best light would require hours of work."
The book also pinned the blame on Biden for then-Vice President Kamala Harris' unsuccessful run in the 2024 election after Biden took so long to exit the race. David Plouffe, former President Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008 and a senior advisor on Harris’ 2024 campaign, said that Harris' campaign was "a f---ing nightmare" because of Biden.
A former Biden staffer pushed back on the claims included in the book, and told Fox News Digital, "This isn’t true. The book is riddled with falsehoods."
Biden's team has also challenged the material in "Original Sin," which chronicles the 2024 election cycle and how Biden’s team allegedly plotted a cover-up to hide just how severely his mental faculties had declined.
"There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover up or conspiracy," a Biden spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the President wasn’t otherwise engaged in the important matters of the Presidency. In fact, Joe Biden was an effective President who led our country with empathy and skill."
The book is one of several that detail Biden’s decision to run in 2024 and details the deterioration of his cognitive function.
Republican attorneys general from 11 states visited the U.S.-Mexico border wall in remote Yuma, Arizona, this week, touting a more than 90% decrease in illegal crossings since President Donald Trump began his second term.
Their visit came a day before the House narrowly passed Trump’s "big, beautiful bill," which in part allocates $46.5 billion to revive construction of the wall, which at its current stage covers just a quarter of the approximately 1,900-mile-long stretch separating the United States from Mexico. In Yuma, a city of just 110,000 people, local officials briefed the Republican attorneys general of Kansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Alabama, Montana, Iowa and Indiana on how an average of 1,500 people were illegally crossing the border a day during the first six months of the Biden administration. That’s dropped to about four daily illegal crossings since Trump took office.
In addition to the border wall itself, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach -- chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association – told Fox News Digital the administration needs other "force multipliers," especially with the task of carrying out the "largest interior removal since the Eisenhower administration." He announced an additional three GOP states entered into 287(G) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which means local and state deputies and officers are trained to exercise federal law enforcement powers, including making immigration-related arrests, initiating removal processes, conducting investigations and tapping into ICE databases.
"The thing the Trump administration needs the most right now is force multipliers," Kobach said. "Even if we doubled the number of Border Patrol agents at ICE stations, we still wouldn't have enough. This border wall, which I'm looking at, is one force multiplier at the border. The other big force multiplier is state and local law enforcement signing 287(g) agreements and then helping ICE in the interior. And that's where the red states are leading the way."
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said 540 kilograms of fentanyl and 850 kilograms of cocaine were trafficked into the Palmetto State, originating from Mexican drug cartels. One kilo alone is enough to kill half a million people.
"This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night. I have two teenage kids in high school. When you hear about parents losing a kid in an overdose, it really strikes at your core. And so it's not just about law enforcement, it's about national security," Wilson told Fox News Digital. "As a 29-year veteran of the Army, an Iraq war veteran. I think in terms of national security, as well as law enforcement. This right here, what happens here, President Trump's policies here have empowered local law enforcement and local and state prosecutors like myself to be able to more effectively combat the illicit activity, starting with Mexican drug cartels and gangs like Tren de Aragua."
Wilson said it is important to fortify a "digital border," noting how Mexican drug cartels, Chinese nationals and other illicit criminal organizations launder the proceeds of human and drug trafficking and other crimes using platforms such as WeChat. Wilson has partnered with North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, a Democrat, and attorneys general from four other states in a bipartisan effort to target the Chinese app allegedly linked to the international fentanyl trade.
The 11 Republican attorneys general in Yuma highlighted the importance of making the trip to the southern border despite their home states not directly bordering Mexico. Under the Biden administration, the Republicans argued that every state became a border state with the trafficking of fentanyl and other deadly drugs, as well as people across the border.
"In the dark days of the Biden administration, this part of the border saw 1,500 illegal crossings a day. Today? Just four. That’s leadership," Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said. "In Kentucky, we lost 1,400 lives last year to drugs coming over this border. That’s not abstract—it’s empty chairs at kitchen tables. I’m here to thank the men and women who wear the badge, who’ve made this border secure again."
"Alabama may not be a border state, but we’ve seen the cost of an open border – fentanyl deaths, rising crime. The difference now? It’s not the law that changed, it’s the leadership," Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said. "Border encounters are down 93%, gotaways down 95%. That’s the result of letting immigration enforcement do their jobs. We’re no longer the last line of defense—we’re partners in restoring the rule of law."
"When federal officials can’t do their jobs, every state becomes a border state—even Indiana," Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said. "We were the first non-border state to sue the Biden administration over its lawless immigration policies. Now, under new leadership, morale at the border has skyrocketed. I’m here not just for our law enforcement, but for the teachers overwhelmed by the fallout, for the parents and professionals caught in a broken system. Enough is enough."
A stop on the tour included seeing pallets of $2 million worth of border wall supplies paid for under Trump’s first term that the Biden administration prevented federal contractors from erecting – something Kobach categorized as "dereliction of duty" and "deliberate efforts to keep our border open." The Republican attorneys general also heard from the local hospital system, which incurred $26 million in unreimbursed care costs during a six-month period between December 2021 and May 2022 primarily due to treating migrants. At the peak of the crisis, approximately 350,000 illegal aliens crossed the border through the Yuma sector in a single year under the Biden administration.
The surge caused $1.2 million in losses to three family farms in the region, as migrants camped out and defecated around crops. Local officials underscored the national food security risks, given that Yuma produces 2,500 semi-loads of leafy greens per day during peak season. The Marine Top Gun School brings thousands more U.S. Marines to Yuma every six months, but live-fire drills had to be shut down due to the surge in illegal crossings near ranges, local officials told the attorneys general, highlighting how military readiness was also impacted due to the Biden border crisis.
Senate reaction to the House’s passage of its "big, beautiful bill" was sharply divided, with Democrats warning of long-term harm to the working class and Republicans arguing it would help that very group.
"Republicans’ reconciliation bill dismantles the American Dream and strips health care, food assistance, and more away from millions of hardworking Americans," Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., fumed in a Thursday statement.
"Republicans are taking a chainsaw to critical services that American families depend on and using them as a piggy bank for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy."
Durbin, who is retiring after a four-decade career in office, quipped that billionaires "win" and American families "lose – all thanks to President Donald Trump."
The number-two Democrat urged four unnamed Senate Republicans to break with their party and have the "good sense to join Democrats" to stop the bill from reaching the White House.
Two Republicans unlikely to heed that call were Sens. Roger Marshall of Kansas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who both offered a "well done" verbal back-pat to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Marshall said the Senate must deliver the bill to Trump for America’s betterment, as Graham cited the border security provisions in the legislation and welcomed the bill to his side of the Capitol.
Back in Durbin’s camp, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took to the Senate floor to condemn the "dead of night" vote and claimed Republicans hoped "nobody would notice" their "rotten to the core" bill.
Schumer was up late Wednesday, unsuccessfully forcing about a half-dozen motions-to-recess or adjourn as the Republicans held the Senate open to begin the process of undoing California’s emissions waivers granted by former President Joe Biden.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., pointed Fox News Digital to recent comments on the bill, in which he said its goal is truly to "make life better for people so they can afford to pay their mortgage, they can afford to put gas in the car, and afford for their groceries."
"That's why we’re doing this. This is part of our comprehensive economic plan," Thune said.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., echoed the "cloak of darkness" sentiment to Fox News Digital, saying the bill will "terminate health care for nearly 14 million Americans" and is "not what the people of Wisconsin signed up for."
"You can bet I’m going to fight it," Baldwin said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ronald Wyden – the Oregon Democrat and ranking member of the Finance Committee – called the bill a "full-scale assault on Americans’ health and safety."
"This bill means kids will go hungry, seniors will face greater abuse and neglect in nursing homes, people with disabilities will lose care at home, and millions of working Americans will be subjected to humiliation and bureaucratic water torture just to get health care," Wyden said.
"Millions will lose their health insurance, and many more will find it harder to get health care, leading to untold suffering and quiet deaths," Wyden added.
Maryland Democrat Angela Alsobrooks told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the Big Beautiful Bill Act will account for the largest food stamp cuts in history.
"[It’s] beautiful for whom? Certainly not the millions of Americans who rely on SNAP to feed their children and on Medicaid to get their health care," Alsobrooks said, adding the GOP seems "obsessed" with seeing the "poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer."
Alsobrooks said the majority of her fellow Old Line State residents agree with her sentiments.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., echoed Alsobrooks’ concerns about SNAP and Medicaid.
"It’s a terrible bill and every senator should reject it," Welch said.
When reached for comment, fellow Vermonter Bernie Sanders directed Fox News Digital to a 20-minute floor speech the democratic socialist made a few days ago.
"At a time when the richest people have never had it so good, they see Republican leadership working overtime to make the billionaire class even richer," Sanders said.
"At a time when a majority of Americans are struggling to put food on the table and pay for health care, they see Republican leadership making life even more difficult for average Americans."
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said conversely she is grateful to Trump and Johnson for their "diligent work."
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that the Senate will carefully consider the House’s final product and work to craft final legislation that meets the chamber’s rules and prevents the "biggest tax hike in American history," if the Trump Tax Cuts were to expire.
New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim released a video message to constituents about the passage on Thursday, calling it one of the most dangerous bills in history.
"I want you to pay attention," he told Jerseyans, citing "disastrous things" in the legislation.
Thune and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, are expected to make changes to the bill, but they hope to keep them minimal to preserve the "delicate balance" struck by the House, Thune said.
The upper chamber hopes to have the final product to Trump by Independence Day.
A court has temporarily paused the Trump administration's move to cancel Harvard's student visa program.
Harvard filed suit against the Trump administration over the policy, and a judge granted its request for a temporary restraining order to preserve status quo while the case plays out in court.
Judge Allison Burroughs, a 2014 Obama appointee, set a hearing for 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday in Boston federal court.
Harvard said the policy will affect more than 7,000 visa holders — nearly a quarter of the student body — and is a "blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act," per its court filing.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) moved to terminate the program after Harvard allegedly failed to provide it with the extensive behavioral records of student visa holders the department requested. DHS offered Harvard 72 hours on Thursday to come into compliance with the request and re-enter into the visa program.
As of now, Harvard may no longer enroll foreign students in the 2025–2026 school year, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status to reside in the U.S. before the next academic year begins.
University President Alan Garber said a motion for a temporary restraining order to put the policy on pause while their court case against it plays out would be filed next.
"It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the "ideology" of its faculty and students," Harvard wrote in its complaint.
The records requested include any footage of protest activity involving students on visas and the disciplinary records of all students on visas in the past five years.
Requested records also include footage or documentation of illegal, dangerous or violent activity by student visa holders, any records of threats or the deprivation of rights of other students or university personnel.
Harvard called the new policy "pernicious" and accused the Trump administration of departing from "decades of settled practice and come without rational explanation." It claimed the policy was "carried out abruptly without any of the robust procedures the government has established to prevent just this type of upheaval to thousands of students’ lives."
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in response to the suit, "This lawsuit seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers under Article II."
"It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," she said. "The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our student visa system; no lawsuit, this or any other, is going to change that."
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday that in April, she requested the records related to visa-holding students, and Harvard’s counsel did not provide adequate information to meet the demand.
After the DHS general counsel asked again for the information, Harvard provided an "insufficient, incomplete and unacceptable response," she said.
"Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of antisemitism in society and campuses," said Noem.
In April, Harvard took action to prepare for the potential of the drastic policy change, announcing it would allow foreign students to accept admission to both Harvard and a foreign university as backup amid the Trump administration’s threats to move to block Harvard’s authorization to host them. Typically, students must accept enrollment at Harvard by May 1 and cannot commit to another university.
At least a dozen Harvard students have had their authorization to study in the U.S. revoked over campus protest activity. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress Tuesday the administration has probably revoked "thousands" of student visas by this point and would "proudly" revoke more.
It is the latest development in the brewing battle between the Trump administration and some of the nation's most prestigious universities.
The administration has already frozen close to $3 billion in federal funding to the university, largely dedicated to research, and launched investigations across the departments of Justice, Education and Health and Human Services. They claim Harvard has not adequately responded to campus antisemitism in protests or moved to root out diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
"This is one big ugly bill that House Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of the American people under the cover of darkness," argued House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. at 6:09 a.m. Thursday morning on the House floor.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The sun was rising.
"Why are we here at 3 a.m., fast-tracking this bill?" asked Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., during House debate on the measure at 3:15 a.m. ET Thursday.
The House debated the package well past the witching hour Thursday, but lawmakers approved the bill just before the break of dawn.
House Republicans squeezed out a victory, 215-214 with Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., voting present.
There haven’t been many all-night sessions in Congress lately. Especially when moving a piece of legislation of his magnitude during off-hours - coated with high drama and towering political stakes. But it’s not surprising that the House had to burn the midnight oil – on three different occasions – just to finish the package in recent days. That’s typical for massive legislation with exponential consequences. It doesn’t matter what party or what the issue is. COVID-19 money. Obamacare. The infrastructure law. The Inflation Reduction Act. You name it. Congress works around the clock when they’re on the precipice of doing something big.
The week started with a Sunday night meeting of the House Budget Committee at 10:26 p.m. The House Rules Committee did the Budget Committee one better, meeting at 1 a.m. Wednesday. That session ran nearly 22 hours, ending late Wednesday night. The House then began floor action on the bill in the early hours of Thursday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., gaveled the vote closed on the bill just before 7 a.m.
Talking about Congress is usually enough to put people to sleep, but with hours like these, if you snooze, you lose.
Rip Van Winkle, er, Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., accidentally caught a few zzz’s early Thursday at precisely the wrong time. Johnson said Garbarino "fell asleep in the back" of the House chamber during the vote on the "big, beautiful bill."
Garbarino and other Empire State Republicans lost sleep for weeks as they fought for a deal on SALT. They wanted a higher deduction for state and local taxes in exchange for their support of the bill. A sleeper issue, this wasn’t. A new pact was paramount to passing the bill. Still, Garbarino was less than satisfied with the compromise.
If you heard a creaky noise on the north side of the U.S. Capitol Thursday, that was the Senate awakening from its legislative slumber. The Senate has focused for most of President Donald Trump’s term on confirming his cabinet. Legislation hasn’t dominated Senate floor traffic this year, but that will change soon.
"Our team is suiting up for discussions with the Senate side of Capitol Hill," said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
But divisions are already emerging.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., abhors the House package.
"I have already said that in its current state it’s completely unacceptable to me," said Johnson. "I would vote no."
President Trump wants the Senate to finish the measure and deposit it on his desk by July 4, but the Wisconsin Republican quibbled with Mr. Trump’s timetable and demand for this version of the bill.
"I couldn't care less if he's upset," said Johnson.
Other Republican senators were willing to grant some deference to President Trump.
But only to a point.
"He’s the leader of the band and he's a heck of a good leader," said Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va. "But with all that said, I would tell you we don't want to get in a hurry just to meet a deadline date and everything. We want to get it right."
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., thought that July 4 was an "optimistic" deadline.
"Look at how long it’s taken the House to get to this point," said Tillis. "There's still a lot of decisions to be made. So I think we're talking about weeks or months."
And the Senate will inevitably change the measure.
"The Senate's going to want to put its own stamp on this. We'll write our own version of the bill," said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
Senators are already making their demands.
"I'm not voting to raise the debt ceiling $5 trillion, because that's not fiscally responsible and that's not conservative," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Trimming deficits worried other senators.
"Don't get high on our horse here that we've somehow made some major advancement of reducing spending because we didn't," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
What winds up in the bill hinges on a solitary factor.
"We’ve got to get to 51 votes," said Tillis.
Senate Democrats are also thinking about the number 51, but in the context of 2026. Democrats believe this bill might help them get 51 Senate seats in the midterms.
"Based on what the House has passed our, chances of taking back the Senate have just increased," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
House Democrats believe the early morning roll call vote in House will be the seminal ballot cast in this session of Congress.
"This day may very well turn out to be the day that House Republicans lost control of the United States House of Representatives," said Jeffries.
That’s not a newsflash. Both parties customarily focus on a handful of votes each body takes over the course of a two-year Congress. They deploy the results of those votes against their opponents. Take a look at the tiny script on the lower portion of the TV screen when ads for the midterms begin running in September and October next year. You can bet Democrats will document the vote which closed at dawn Thursday.
Moreover, Republicans are stashing all of their political eggs in one basket. The bulk of President Trump’s agenda is tucked into this singular measure – for better or worse. Lawmakers must fund the government later this year. And next year, too. But after that, it’s unclear if Republicans have any other legislation which would compete with the breadth of this bill.
Jeffries alleged that Republicans tried to advance the bill "under the cover of darkness." That isn’t accurate. Democrats - and Republicans – will work to make sure voters know all about this bill. The political consequences of this legislation are too significant.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And voters will decide just how "beautiful" this big bill is.
President Donald Trump could soon sign into law a joint congressional resolution scrapping California’s Environmental Protection Agency waiver that requires an end to gasoline-powered car sales by 2035. It's a move provoking pushback from Golden State leaders in Sacramento.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats have argued that it is an illegal use of the Congressional Review Act, whereas Republicans, including state legislators, say the move is a necessary step toward curbing regulation in the state.
"I'm thankful that the folks in Washington, D.C., had common sense with something the governor doesn't have here in California," State Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, told Fox News Digital in an interview on Thursday, adding that "people can’t afford" a transition to electric vehicles.
"We don't have enough energy capacity. The worst thing that can happen in California right now is everybody plugs in an electric car. We have rolling blackouts. We're talking about rolling blackouts just from the heat this summer, not alone adding millions and millions of cars that would add electric vehicles to it. And we don't have the infrastructure either," the Republican added, saying that he’s glad "the federal government weighed in."
At a news conference on Thursday morning, Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta said they plan on suing the Trump administration, which they’ve done more than 20 times, over the likely move.
Part of the legal argument being made by the Golden State is that the House Government Accountability Office and the Senate parliamentarian said that a waiver does not technically count as a rule, which created a debate over what can be done under the Congressional Review Act, according to The Hill.
Newsom said that the electric vehicle manufacturing market has made significant gains in California and that the state is a leader in "innovation" in wanting to pivot to electric, specifically citing air quality.
In the short term, the state is also facing concerns about rising gas prices with the expected closures of two California refineries, an issue the governor said he’s been on top of to avoid issues.
When Fox News Digital asked Newsom whether he thinks rising prices would encourage consumers to switch to electric vehicles, he said that Californians are ultimately in the driver’s seat.
"I think that's up to consumers, but the cost benefits of electric vehicles are well-established and continue to be well-reinforced as it relates to uncertainties around supply chains, wars of aggression by Russia, and by the vagaries of the kind of political machinations you see in the Middle East and self-dealing that we see. We are simply hostages to decisions that are made without you talking about any input from taxpayers or citizens. I'd rather have a little bit more agency in this country as it relates to our energy future," Newsom added.
In Washington, Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., is touting his resolution’s success.
"This is a bipartisan national repudiation of the utter insanity Newsom has inflicted on our state," he posted to X.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
