Political tensions remain high in New Jersey following the Delaney Hall clash between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials earlier this month, which led to the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on a trespassing charge weeks ahead of a competitive Democratic gubernatorial primary he is in.
Protesters outside the federal courtroom in Newark, rallying in support of Baraka, said the issue spans much bigger than just the Delaney Hall incident.
"The rest of the country should know that we should stand up against fascism," rapper and activist Mysonne, who is a co-founder of Until Freedom, told Fox News Digital outside the courthouse on Thursday.
Baraka said on Thursday, following his status conference, that he was targeted.
"I was the only person arrested. That's right. You know, I was the only person identified. I was the only person, you know, they put in a cell," he said.
Delaney Hall is an ICE detention facility privately operated by the GEO Group. The city of Newark has argued that GEO Group does not have a valid certificate of occupancy, whereas the group has said it is valid and that they are following city laws.
"Anybody who cares about government accountability or free speech or the rights of Congress members and mayors to know what's going on in their communities should be outraged by what happened to Mayor Baraka," Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said.
However, Republicans in the state have had a critical view of what went down, especially since stopping illegal immigration continues to be a top priority of the Trump administration. President Donald Trump won nearly 46% of the vote in the Garden State in 2024, coming just short of flipping what is typically considered a blue state.
"Shameon the Democrats, particularly the mayor of Newark," Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli told Fox News Digital. He said issues the city faces, ranging from the airport, crime, to education, are things that need to be a larger focus for the mayor.
"He's showing up to a detention center where we're detaining illegals who've committed crimes. I don't understand what it is exactly we're protesting," he said.
"When the border is as porous as it was under the Joe Biden administration, we're all border states. And so we should not be encouraging illegal immigration with sanctuary cities or us being a sanctuary state," he continued.
A spokesperson for Baraka's campaign fired back at Ciattarelli's comments, telling Fox News Digital that he does not "recognize the Newark Jack Ciattarelli is talking about."
"The high school graduation rate is 86%. Their top-performing schools rival those in Millburn or Summit," Kabir Moss, Baraka's spokesperson, said. "When Baraka became Mayor, there were over 100 homicides a year - today, that number is 37. Violent crime is at its lowest point since John F. Kennedy was President - around the same time Jack’s family was being subsidized to leave cities and build the suburbs."
"The mayor was not trespassing, he was let in by the GEO Group," he continued. "He didn’t go there to get arrested, he went to join a press conference with the congress members. But if Jack Ciattarelli can’t recognize the Constitutional crisis we’re in - where due process is being denied on American soil - then he’s not fit to be Governor."
The gubernatorial race to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to be highly competitive in the November general election, as Cook Political Report ranks the race as "Lean Democratic." The primary election is June 10.
FIRST ON FOX:Police officers are rallying behind a provision in President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" to end taxing overtime work, which they say would have a favorable ripple effect on officer retention and morale.
"No tax on overtime, it would be a huge advantage to law enforcement across the country," one officer said in a White House video shared with Fox News Digital.
Another added: "We work sometimes 100 plus hours a pay period. It's a lot of time taken away from the family. So that would be pretty special."
Republican lawmakers are in the midst of hashing out the details of the sweeping legislation that would fund Trump's agenda through the budget reconciliation process. The legislation jumped its latest hurdle to move along to passage late Sunday evening, when lawmakers on the House Budget Committee voted to advance the bill.
Trump has called on Republicans to swiftly pass the legislation, touting that it will lower taxes and provide larger paychecks for Americans, while also securing the border. Trump specifically directed congressional Republicans to permanently extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), and implement new policies eliminating taxes on tips, overtime pay and retirees' Social Security.
Officers in the White House video touted that eliminating taxes on overtime would serve as an extra dose of "appreciation" to law enforcement.
Police departments nationwide saw morale and staffing crater in 2020 and the following years as left-wing cities answered calls from activists to defund the police following the death of George Floyd while in police custody on Memorial Day 2020. Many liberal cities soon walked back budget plans slashing police department funding as crime waves washed over the nation, stretching from sky-high murder rates to teenagers repeatedly carrying out carjackings.
"If there was no tax on overtime … we'd be working about as hard as we currently do, but we would have that appreciation that goes along with it," one officer in the video said.
The police officers continued that removing taxation on overtime likely would lead to senior officers sticking around in the job longer to help train the next generation of law enforcement, while also giving younger officers extra cash in their pockets to raise their young families on an officer's salary.
"To have something like this in play would just help senior officers, perhaps stay a little bit longer to help be that guidance for that department, that community, to help teach those policy and procedures that we know of and to help with the retention," one police officer said.
A female officer added: "That would really benefit those, especially younger cops that have younger kids and a lot of families. I think that would mean a tremendous amount."
May is Law Enforcement Appreciation month, with a mid-May National Police Week celebration and the White House illuminating its exterior in blue colors Thursday evening in honor of police officers who were killed or injured while in the line of duty.
"So know from the president on down, this administration stands behind you guys," Vice President JD Vance said during a law enforcement breakfast Wednesday at the vice president’s residence. "We love you guys. We know that you're out there doing a good job for us. And I think that moral leadership matters just as much as the public policy. But from this administration, you're, of course, getting it both."
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX: House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., are demanding sweeping reforms to the federal government’s use of charge cards after thousands of highly questionable charges were uncovered at the Department of Defense, including at casinos, bars and nightclubs using taxpayer dollars.
In a letter addressed to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, Ernst and Comer called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to launch a comprehensive review of all federal charge card programs.
The demand follows alarming findings from recent audits that point to systemic failures in oversight, including the issuance of nearly two charge cards per federal employee and more than $40 billion in spending last fiscal year alone.
The Pentagon’s inspector general found nearly 8,000 Defense Department credit card transactions at "high-risk locations" – including casino ATMs – over the past year. An additional 3,246 transactions occurred at bars and nightclubs, many of them on federal holidays, Super Bowl Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, the day of UFC 300, Cinco de Mayo and New Year’s Eve.
"It is indefensible for Department of Defense bureaucrats to waste tax dollars at clubs, casinos, and bars, racking up charges on Super Bowl Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, and federal holidays," said Ernst.
The DOD is not alone. Recent GAO reports have found agencies consistently fail to use tools to analyze purchase card data and prevent fraud, the letter notes.
"With Washington $36 trillion in debt, the last thing we need is bureaucrats maxing out their tab and sticking taxpayers with the bill. There should never be more credit cards than federal employees, and I’m working to create accountability government-wide."
The letter also highlighted the illegal practice of "split purchases," where government employees intentionally divide large transactions to stay under the $3,500 micro-purchase threshold – the largest purchase that can be put on a federal charge card. Despite being a clear violation of federal regulations, these practices reportedly continue due to inadequate monitoring and enforcement.
Ernst and Comer's request urges the GAO to investigate criteria for issuing cards, agency compliance with internal controls, the frequency of risky transactions – including at marijuana dispensaries, dating services, and gambling platforms – and whether agencies are appropriately closing accounts after employees leave government service.
In a particularly damning detail, the lawmakers noted that no local purchase card program officials at the DOD could provide examples of analyzing card spending to reduce costs, despite long-standing recommendations from the Office of Management and Budget to do so.
"I’m working to create accountability government-wide. It’s time to cut up the plastic and put a stop to the reckless spending," said Ernst.
The GAO review, if initiated, could affect hundreds of federal agencies covered under the Chief Financial Officers Act and could lead to a sweeping overhaul of how federal employees use government-issued charge cards.
"American taxpayers shouldn’t be stuck paying for federal bureaucrats' splurges on government-issued credit cards. Tax dollars are meant to fund essential government services, not dating apps, nightclubs, or bar tabs," Comer said in a statement.
House Republicans cleared a major hurdle late last night, finally advancing the "big, beautiful bill" out of the Budget Committee after a hiccup Friday afternoon.
The bill is now set to go before the House Rules Committee – which is the gateway to the floor – on Wednesday. The House could vote on the overall package on Thursday. The goal is to have this wrapped up by Memorial Day.
It’s about the math. House Republicans have little turning radius to approve the bill due to their narrow majority. Questions still remain among some conservatives about green energy tax credits, work requirements for Medicaid and a deduction for SALT – an acronym for "state and local taxes." That means there will be a lot of massaging of the bill over the next few days. Expect some changes via a "manager’s amendment" before the Rules Committee on Wednesday.
Former President Joe Biden is commenting publicly for the first time Monday after it was announced he was diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer.
"Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support," Biden wrote on X.
Biden’s team revealed Sunday that the former president "was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms."
"On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone," it said in a statement.
"While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians," the statement added.
Former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and President Donald Trump have since commented on Biden's cancer diagnosis.
"Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family. Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace. We pray for a fast and full recovery," Obama noted in posts on social media.
Trump said, "Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis."
"We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery," he added in a post on Truth Social.
Clinton said, "My friend Joe Biden’s always been a fighter," and "Hillary and I are rooting for him and are keeping him, Jill, and the entire family in our thoughts."
Fox News’ Stepheny Price, Peter Doocy and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
The widespread blackouts that recently brought parts of Spain and Portugal to a standstill triggered global speculation: was it an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack?
Though authorities later ruled out an EMP, the incident reignited urgent questions about America’s vulnerability to similar large-scale disruptions and whether the U.S. is prepared for a modern-day "black sky" event.
According to cybersecurity expert and former Army Cyber Institute board member Bryson Bort, the United States remains dangerously exposed to a range of threats: not just EMPs, but increasingly sophisticated cyber and artificial intelligence (AI) attacks.
"There are a lot of other problems that are higher probability," Bort told Fox News Digital. "The EMP thing is a little bit of a distraction – but that doesn’t mean it’s not a threat."
An EMP is a sudden burst of electromagnetic energy capable of disabling electronic devices across vast areas. It can be natural – from a solar flare – or man-made, triggered by a high-altitude nuclear detonation.
Unlike cyberattacks that target software, an EMP disables physical systems: from car engines and cellphone towers to hospital generators and water pumps. A major attack could throw society back to the pre-electric age, with devastating consequences.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey once called EMPs "one of the greatest national vulnerabilities," and some estimates suggest an EMP could result in the deaths of up to 90% of Americans within a year due to the collapse of infrastructure.
"The very first thing you’ve got to lose is your water supply," said Dr. William Forstchen, a longtime EMP researcher. "Within days, nursing homes, hospitals, law enforcement – they’re all in deep trouble."
While the Trump administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to prepare for such an event, Bort said implementation has been inconsistent and fragmented.
"We are not prepared for this at all," he warned.
Forstchen expressed optimism that the administration’s "Golden Dome" project, a proposed ground-and space-based defense system, could intercept EMP threats – but the project remains years from completion.
While EMP attacks remain the stuff of both national security nightmares and Hollywood scripts, experts say cyberattacks are far more probable and still highly destructive.
"We know that the Chinese have been in the American civilian critical infrastructure since 2010," Bort said. "They haven’t done anything yet, but they are absolutely in there and setting up to do something at some point."
This week, Reuters reported that U.S. officials found communication modules embedded in Chinese-made power inverters – devices used to connect solar panels and wind turbines to the grid.
Bort pointed to "Jack Voltaic," a multi-year cyber warfare simulation by the Army Cyber Institute, designed to test military-civilian coordination in response to attacks on critical infrastructure.
"What we found is there’s a great interdependence," he said. "You can’t even have an electric grid if you don’t have water – because you can’t cool it."
Bort said cyberattacks are often the product of long-term reconnaissance, with hackers quietly positioning themselves inside systems for months or years.
"A cyberattack is not something where Putin says, ‘Hey, hit Detroit tomorrow,’" he explained. "It’s already set in place. When the political situation calls for it, that’s when the trigger gets pulled."
Another, less understood, threat to America’s infrastructure is the rise of AI. In particular, the race toward artificial general intelligence (AGI), or AI systems with human-level cognitive abilities.
Tyler Saltzman, a military technologist working on AI systems capable of operating in disconnected environments like an EMP aftermath, warned that AI – if used maliciously – could bring the grid down entirely. "Our infrastructure is very fragile," Saltzman said. "All you need to do is take down our power grid, and we’re in complete chaos."
Saltzman expressed deep concern about efforts to create AGI – systems he says could eventually surpass human control.
"Once AGI comes online, it could easily take down our power grid, infiltrate our financial systems, destroy our economy," he said. "If it sees how violent humans are to each other, why would it serve us?"
In 2023, a Chinese surveillance balloon drifted over U.S. territory for days before it was shot down by the military. While believed to be for spying, defense officials note that a high-altitude balloon could be used for electronic warfare – including an EMP.
The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from EMP Attacks has long warned about balloon-based delivery. Others argue a missile would be more effective, since it would be harder to intercept.
Whether the next major threat comes from above or from a keyboard, experts agree: the U.S. is not ready.
"We’re still thinking about wars with tanks," Bort said. "Meanwhile, the real fight is already happening inside our infrastructure."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suggested that the Department of Government Efficiency may be at least partly responsible for a Mexican navy tall ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night.
Schumer made the claim in a press release on Sunday, saying he had been briefed on the details of the deadly crash, which left two people dead and over a dozen more injured. Schumer argued that a U.S. Coast Guard system may have been operating at partial capacity due to a DOGE hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security, but the Coast Guard itself says the system was "fully functional during the incident."
"We know that the Trump administration has been meddling in U.S. Coast Guard operations, from staffing to command and comms, and I have the general sense of a DOGE dysfunction in parts of the Coast Guard, to put it mildly," Schumer wrote in a statement. "After being fully briefed on last night's Brooklyn Bridge accident, one thing is very clear. There are many more questions than answers as to how the accident occurred and whether it could have been prevented."
Schumer went on to point to the DOGE-implemented hiring freeze at the U.S. Coast Guard, arguing it could have impeded the Coast Guard's Vehicle Traffic System (VTS), which works in a similar fashion to the air traffic control system.
"There are indications that this service called the VTS may not have been fully or adequately functional in light of that hiring freeze. We don't know the answer to that question. We need answers. If this were the case, Brooklyn Bridge accident could be a national harbinger, demanding immediate attention," Schumer said.
"The current hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security, DHS, which the Coast Guard is part of, may have limited the ability of the Coast Guard to fully staff up at the VTS, the vehicle traffic service, the shore-wide system that provides quote air traffic control for the seas, especially in congested areas and restricted waters like New York Harbor," he added.
The Coast Guard rejected Schumer's claim in a statement of its own. Furthermore, there were no other ships involved in Saturday's crash that would have involved the VTS.
The Coast Guard said VTS was "fully functional during the incident and operating in accordance with established procedures to manage commercial traffic and facilitate safe navigation," according to CBS News.
"Our response included launching a crew from Station New York, establishing a temporary safety zone, and coordinating with NYPD, FDNY, and NYC DOT," they added.
The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, said the Mexican navy tall ship Cuauhtémoc "lost power and crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge."
"At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries," the mayor wrote on X.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she regretted the passing of two crew members who "lost their lives in the unfortunate accident at the port of New York."
"Our solidarity and support go out to their families," she wrote at 1:15 a.m. on X. "The Secretariat of the Navy, with the support of local authorities, is attending to the injured. The Ambassador of Mexico to the United States and staff from the Consulate General of Mexico in New York are assisting the Secretariat of the Navy."
Fox News' Danielle Wallace and Greg Wehner contributed to this report
Former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, and President Donald Trump have each commented on the grim news of President Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis.
"Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family. Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace. We pray for a fast and full recovery," Obama noted in posts on social media.
Biden served as vice president during Obama's White House tenure from early 2009 through early 2017.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer last week, according to a statement his personal office released on Sunday.
"Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians," the statement noted.
President Donald Trump also commented on the news.
"Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery," he noted in a post on Truth Social.
The Clintons both commented as well.
"My friend Joe Biden’s always been a fighter. Hillary and I are rooting for him and are keeping him, Jill, and the entire family in our thoughts," former President Bill Clinton noted.
"I’m thinking of the Bidens as they take on cancer, a disease they’ve done so much to try to spare other families from. Wishing you a speedy, full recovery," former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump, said in social media posts.
President Donald Trump’s "one big, beautiful bill" survived a key hurdle in the House of Representatives on Sunday night, putting it one step closer to a chamber-wide vote later this week.
Lawmakers on the House Budget Committee were summoned back to Washington for a 10 p.m. meeting to vote on advancing the legislation, which passed the panel in a nearly party-line vote.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., made a surprise appearance at the committee room shortly before the vote began, telling reporters, "We think this is going to go well tonight. We're about to find out."
He said there would likely be "minor modifications" to the final bill.
It comes after a rebellion by four conservative House Freedom Caucus members on the committee blocked the bill from advancing on Friday, with the fiscal hawks seeking assurances that stricter crackdowns on Medicaid and green energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) would be in the final bill before a House-wide vote.
Advancing the legislation through the House Budget Committee is a largely procedural move. Any likely changes will be introduced as amendments in the House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before a House-wide vote, sometime early this week.
Notably, two of the Budget Committee fiscal hawks who demanded further changes – Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. – also sit on the House Rules Committee.
Nevertheless Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signaled confidence on Fox News Sunday that his chamber was "on track" to hold that House-wide vote toward the end of this week.
The House Budget Committee passed a framework earlier this year with "instructions" for various other committees to enact Trump policies under their jurisdictions.
Following House and Senate-wide votes on their frameworks, House committees began crafting those policies, which have now been put back together into the massive bill the House Budget Committee advanced on Sunday night.
Republicans are working to pass Trump’s agenda via the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party controlling both Congress and the White House to pass vast pieces of legislation while completely sidelining the minority – in this case, Democrats.
It does so by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, lining up with the House’s own simple majority. The legislation must adhere to a specific set of rules, however, including only items related to federal spending, tax, and the national debt.
Trump is having Republicans use the legislation to enact his campaign promises on tax cuts, immigration, energy, defense, and raising the debt limit.
And while quelling Friday’s GOP mutiny is a victory for House Republican leaders, lawmakers will still have to sit through high-stakes negotiations on any changes made to the bill before the House Rules Committee considers it.
Conservatives are opposed to aspects of the legislation’s crackdown on Medicaid, which Republicans have said they are only trimming for waste, fraud, and abuse. But Medicaid work requirements for able-bodied people are not set to kick in until 2029, and conservatives have argued that it was a large window of time for those changes to be undone, among other concerns.
They’re also pushing for a more aggressive effort to repeal green energy tax subsidies passed in the former Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The respective pushes have pitted them against moderates wary of significant Medicaid cuts, and Republican lawmakers whose districts have businesses that have benefited from the tax relief.
Meanwhile, moderates in high-cost-of-living areas have also pushed for larger state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps, which red state Republicans have largely dismissed as subsidies to high-tax blue states.
The Republicans in those seats, however, have argued that it’s an existential issue for their districts, where GOP victories were critical to winning and holding the House majority.
But even after it passes the House, Republicans there likely won’t be done with the "big, beautiful bill" – Republican senators have already signaled they are likely going to make changes to the bill.
Johnson said Sunday that House and Senate leaders were "in close coordination" on the final product, adding, "we hope that they don’t make many modifications to it."
Any changes will have to go through the House again; identical bills must pass both chambers before getting signed into law by Trump.
Republican leaders have said they hope to get a bill on the president’s desk by Fourth of July.
As the Trump administration has moved to end protections for thousands of Afghan nationals, faith leaders and advocates are sounding the alarm over the potential deportation of Christian converts, who, they say, face severe persecution under Taliban rule.
Pastor Behnam Rasooli, known as Pastor Ben, leads the Oklahoma Khorasan Church in Oklahoma City, a congregation primarily composed of Afghan Christian refugees. In an interview with Fox News Digital, he shared harrowing accounts of the dangers he says his Christian community faces.
"If any of these Afghan Christians are deported back to Afghanistan, the first thing that will happen is the husbands will be killed, the wives will be taken as sex slaves," Pastor Ben stated. "If they don't kill them, they'll put them in prison and beat them every single night."
The Department of Homeland Security officially ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghan nationals, potentially forcing more than 9,000 individuals to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Department of Homeland (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem cited an "improved security situation" and a stabilizing economy as justification.
"This administration is returning TPS to its original, temporary intent," Noem said. "We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation."
Afghans’ protected status is set to expire on May 20, with the program formally ending on July 12.
Noem added that terminating the designation aligns with the administration’s broader goal of rooting out fraud and national security threats in the immigration system.
TPS allows foreign nationals from countries facing armed conflict, natural disasters or other emergencies to live and work legally in the U.S. Then-President Joe Biden had originally designated Afghanistan for TPS following the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.
Among those at risk are members of Pastor Ben's congregation, many of whom he says undertook perilous journeys to reach the U.S. legally. He recounted the story of a group that he claimed traveled from Brazil to Mexico, including a 76-year-old woman and a 7-month-old girl, waiting ten months in a Mexican church sanctuary for approval to cross the border legally via the CBP One app.
"They didn't have food for weeks, they didn't have water for weeks, but they were willing to wait, face all those difficulties, to come to the United States with legal status," he said. "Now, with the new administration, we heard that those parolees are being revoked. They're not even giving work permits."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House about the pastor's concerns and received the following response:
"In tandem with its failed Afghanistan withdrawal, the Biden administration illegally paroled tens of thousands of Afghans into the U.S., plus hundreds of thousands of other aliens. Parole, a temporary benefit, is granted case by case for urgent humanitarian reasons or public benefit—it is not a pathway to permanent residence or citizenship. Afghans lacking legal grounds to stay and fearing persecution on protected grounds may apply for asylum and have the courts adjudicate their cases," said White House spokesman Kush Desai to Fox News Digital.
Advocacy groups, including Help The Persecuted, have petitioned Noem to recognize Afghanistan as a Country of Particular Concern, and to allow Afghan Christians and minorities who have documented persecution due to religion or belief to have TPS while their asylum claims are properly vetted and processed.
The petition stresses the Taliban's active persecution of Christians, including arrests at border crossings, torture in detention and the enforcement of laws that make any practice of Christianity illegal.
Pastor Ben urges fellow Christians to stand in solidarity with their persecuted brothers and sisters.
"They need us today to be their voice," he said. "We have the freedom; they do not. We have all the comfort; they do not. But all they want is the church to be part of it."
He also addressed President Trump directly: "Mr. President, I fully support your deportation plan because we do not want criminals to live in the United States, but we have to be aware that among those people that you want to deport, some are not criminals. Some are people that are at the risk of being killed, being imprisoned, losing their wives, losing their kids."
"Please, let's not let this happen to them," said Pastor Ben. "Let's keep the American Dream alive."
Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
Singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, also known as "The Boss," ignored a question regarding his ongoing feud with President Donald Trump, while signing autographs for fans.
Sporting a Deus Ex-Machina jacket and Ray-Ban sunglasses, "The Boss" worked his way down a line of fans hoping to get his signature on a piece of memorabilia when he was asked if he had a message for Trump.
Rather than answer, Springsteen could be seen chuckling for a moment before raising his hand, and then moving onto the next fan.
"The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times," he told the crowd. "In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration."
The crowd responded with applause when Springsteen continued to pontificate his stance on the current administration.
"Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!" Springsteen added in a video posted on his YouTube page.
Trump responded by slamming Springsteen and calling him "highly overrated" on Friday.
"I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country."
The president continued in his post, saying "Sleepy Joe didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is ‘dumb as a rock,’ and couldn’t see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!"
Springsteen declared last year that "I'll be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz" in the presidential election. Harris ended up losing the race to Trump.
The "Born in the USA" singer-songwriter, in an Instagram video endorsing Harris, attacked Trump as "the most dangerous candidate for President in my lifetime" with a "disdain for the sanctity of our constitution, the sanctity of democracy, the sanctity of the rule of law, and the sanctity of the peaceful transfer of power."
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman, Lindsay Kornick and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Sympathetic messages rolled in from across the country after former President Joe Biden's team announced that the 82-year-old was diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer.
In a statement, Biden's team said that the former politician "was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms."
"On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone," the statement added.
"While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management," Biden's team continued. "The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians."
President Donald Trump reacted on Truth Social, writing:
"Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery."
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her support in a post on X.
"I’m thinking of the Bidens as they take on cancer, a disease they’ve done so much to try to spare other families from," she wrote. "Wishing you a speedy, full recovery."
In a social media post, Meghan McCain expressed sadness over the news. Her father, former Senator John McCain, died of cancer in 2018.
"Cancer is the absolute worst," McCain wrote. "It is hell. It is incredibly difficult for any family, anywhere that has to deal with it."
"Wishing nothing but healing, prayers, light and strength to President Biden and his family," she added. "I don’t believe times like these are appropriate for politics."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., also expressed sympathy for Biden, writing that she was "sorry to see this news."
"Cancer is truly awful," the Georgia congresswoman wrote. "My Dad passed away in 2021 with cancer. Prays [sic] for Joe Biden and his family."
California Governor Gavin Newsrom wrote that he was "sending strength, healing and prayers [Biden's] way."
"Our hearts are with President Biden and his entire family right now," Newsom said. "A man of dignity, strength, and compassion like his deserves to live a long and beautiful life."
In another X post, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., called the reports of Biden's cancer "horrible news."
"Everyone please say a prayer for President Biden and his family," Burchett said.
Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price and Peter Doocy contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump said he and the first lady were "saddened" after learning that former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer, wishing him a "fast and successful recovery."
"Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery."
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., also weighed in on the former president’s diagnosis.
In a post on X, Trump Jr. shared another post that read, "BREAKING: Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Politics aside, we wish him a speedy recovery!"
Biden's office confirmed on Sunday that he was diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer.
"Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms," Biden's team shared in a statement. "On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone."
"While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians," the statement said.
Biden, 82, is the oldest living U.S. president.
Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
Former President Joe Biden's office confirmed on Sunday that he was diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer.
"Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms," Biden's team shared in a statement. "On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone."
"While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians," the statement said.
Former White House physician Kevin O'Connor said in February 2023 that skin tissue was removed during a health assessment Biden received and was sent for a biopsy, which revealed it was cancerous.
"As expected, the biopsy confirmed that the small lesion was basal cell carcinoma. All cancerous tissue was successfully removed. The area around the biopsy site was treated presumptively with electrodessication and curettage at the time of biopsy. No further treatment is required," Biden's doctor wrote in a memo at the time.
Prior to his presidency, Biden had two life-threatening brain aneurysms, and doctors said he had a 50-50 shot of surviving while serving as a Delaware senator.
While in office, he and former first lady Jill Biden addressed his revamped "Cancer Moonshot" program, which seeks to cut the cancer death rate in the U.S. by about half over the next 25 years.
Biden said the revamped program would focus on the need to break down research "silos" and improve information sharing among the cancer research community.
"It's all about working together and sharing data, sharing information," Biden previously said.
The "Cancer Moonshot" program was established in 2016, under former President Barack Obama, when Biden was vice president.
Cancer is the second-highest cause of death among Americans after heart disease. The American Cancer Society has estimated that 2024 will see 2 million new cancer cases and more than 610,000 fatalities from the disease.
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman, Emma Colton, and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the timing of a potential face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin regarding a ceasefire deal in Ukraine in an interview that aired Sunday.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday while returning to Washington, D.C., from Abu Dhabi that no peace in Ukraine would be reached until he met with Putin in person. The president added in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he planned to speak with Putin on the phone on Monday, followed by a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some NATO leaders.
Meanwhile, Rubio — who attended Pope Leo XIV's inaugural mass in Rome on Sunday — said the Vatican has offered to host a direct meeting between Ukraine, Russia and possibly other parties.
"Obviously, the Vatican has made a very generous offer to host anything — by the way, not just a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, but any meeting, including at a technical level, you know — any meetings that need to be hosted, they've expressed a willingness to do so. So it's a very generous offer that may be taken up on," Rubio told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview that was recorded on Saturday. "I mean, it would be a site that all parties would feel comfortable. So hopefully we'll get to that stage where talks are happening on a regular basis, and that the Vatican will have the opportunity to be one of the options."
Rubio had a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Saturday after Putin was a no-show to a face-to-face meeting the Russian leader called with Zelenskyy in Turkey last week. Despite Putin's absence, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations did agree to a prisoner exchange of 1,000 people from each side, though a broader ceasefire or peace deal failed to materialize.
CBS host Margaret Brennan asked Rubio if he spoke with Lavrov about lining up a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin.
"Well, we talked about a variety of things," said Rubio. "I wanted to get his readout on his view of how the talks went yesterday. They were not a complete waste of time. For example, there were 1,000 prisoners that are going to be exchanged, and that, from a humanitarian standpoint, is very positive. He explained to me that they are going to be preparing a document outlining their requirements for a ceasefire that would then lead to broader negotiations."
Rubio said the Ukrainians will be working on their own proposal coming soon, and he hoped proposals from both sides would be "serious and viable."
"So we'll have to wait and see. But he wanted me to know, and he communicated in our call, that their side will be working on a series of ideas and requirements that they would have in order to move forward with a ceasefire and further negotiations," he said.
Rubio said the U.S. is "testing" whether the Russian are just "tapping" them along, as Trump has suggested could be the case.
"On the one hand, we're trying to achieve peace and end a very bloody, costly and destructive war. So there's some element of patience that is required. On the other hand, we don't have time to waste," Rubio said. "There are a lot of other things happening in the world that we also need to be paying attention to. So we don't want to be involved in this process of just endless talks — there has to be some progress, some movement forward. And if at the end of this, in the next few days, we get a document produced by both sides, and it shows that both sides are… making concessions and being realistic and rational in their approach, then I think we can feel good about continuing to remain engaged."
"If, on the other hand, what we see is not very productive, perhaps we'll have a different assessment. I also agree that, ultimately, one of the things that could help break this logjam — perhaps the only thing that can — is a direct conversation between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. And he's already openly expressed a desire and a belief that that needs to happen, and hopefully that'll be worked out soon as well," he added.
Pressed on whether the in-person talks between Trump and Putin were being planned, Rubio reiterated that the president had already made that offer publicly.
"The mechanics of setting that kind of meeting up would require a little bit of work, so I can't say that's being planned as we speak in terms of picking a site and a date," Rubio said. "But the president wants to do it. He wants to do it as soon as feasible. I think the Russian side has also expressed a willingness to do it. And so, now it's just a question of bringing them, bringing everyone together, and figuring out where and when and that meeting will happen and what it will be about."
Rubio joined Vice President JD Vance in meeting with Zelenskyy at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Rome on Sunday.
Vance and Rubio later met with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for discussions on trade, the war in Ukraine and NATO spending, according to a spokesperson for the vice president.
"The individual countries within Europe are important allies of the United States. But, of course, we have some disagreements, as friends sometimes do, on issues like trade, and we also have many agreements and many things we can work on together, and I’m looking forward to the conversation," Vance told reporters at the top of the meeting.
After the meeting, the vice president's office released a statement saying that "the leaders discussed their shared goal of ending the bloodshed in Ukraine and provided updates on the current state of negotiations for a ceasefire and lasting peace."
Fox News’ Meghan Tomes and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Multiple conversations are ongoing on Sunday — some in person but most on the phone — as House Republicans try to lock in agreements for the big, beautiful bill.
Three areas are outstanding overall. Two are specific to the Budget Committee, which reconvenes Sunday night.
Republicans are trying to work out a final pact on green energy tax credits, which could be a major payfor in the bill. The other item is work requirements for Medicaid recipients — and when those kick in.
Fox News is told that prospective deals on this front will likely be handshake pacts or "gentlemen’s agreements," as it was phrased to Fox News.
The other issue in question is the SALT deduction. That refers to state and local tax breaks for high-tax states. That provision is of the utmost importance to court the votes of moderate Republicans from New York and California.
The "SALT caucus" wanted a tax write-off, which might cost as much as $600 billion. The new proposal only costs $230 billion. Fox News is told they are trying to forge a compromise which grants a higher SALT deduction at the beginning of the bill’s implementation — and then dials that back over the 10-year budgetary window for the bill.
Remember, this measure must not add to the deficit over that decade-long budgetary timeframe in order to qualify for a special process to avoid a filibuster in the Senate.
Fox is told that nothing will change in the bill before the Budget Committee on Sunday night. The White House is currently addressing how to implement possible changes with a "manager’s amendment" before the Rules Committee later this week. That would finalize and lock in stone the actual text of the bill.
Fox is told that the GOP leadership believes they are certainly within range. The GOP brass is generally feeling good at where they stand, "so long as people don’t start adding things," said one senior House Republican leadership source.
The overall goal is to post the text of the bill early this week and go to the Rules Committee on Wednesday with a possible vote on Thursday. But one senior GOP source told Fox the timetable could be expedited with a Tuesday Rules Committee meeting — where changes would be made — and maybe go to the floor on Wednesday.
Now, on to what will likely happen on Sunday night in the Budget Committee:
The resolution, mashing together the text from all the other committees, failed on Friday afternoon. The process can’t move forward unless they get the measure out of the Budget Committee. Hence, Sunday's 10 p.m. ET meeting.
There will be little if any debate — it’s only about that math. Either the GOP leadership and the White House have satisfied the concerns of those who voted nay or they haven’t. In fact, if things go swimmingly, this could be wrapped up after 20 minutes or so.
Here’s what it will look like:
The first vote is the "motion to reconsider" the failed Friday vote. If that fails, they are stuck.
But if they get over that hurdle, it’s on to an actual re-vote of what failed on Friday. This is the key vote. If the Budget Committee greenlights the package at this stage, it’s on to the Rules Committee this week and then the floor.
There will be five non-binding votes after that key vote on issues we don’t need to worry about.
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday defended the "aggressive" timetable he is pushing to advance President Donald Trump’s "big, beautiful bill," saying the House remains on track to pass the "historic" legislative package by Memorial Day.
The House Budget Committee will reconvene at 10 p.m. Sunday night after a vote to advance the more than 1,100-page "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" failed Friday, when five Republicans sided with committee Democrats to sink Trump’s sweeping tax bill.
"We’re on track, working around the clock to deliver this nation-shaping legislation for the American people as soon as possible," Johnson said during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" regarding ongoing negotiations. "All 11 of our committees have wrapped up their work, and they spent less and saved more than even we’ve projected initially. This really is a once in a generation opportunity that we have here."
After the bill advances through the budget committee, Johnson said the plan is to move the legislative package to the House Rules Committee by mid-week and then to the House floor by the end of the week "so we meet our initial, our original Memorial Day deadline."
"It’s very important for people to understand why we’re being so aggressive on the timetable and why this really is so important," Johnson said. "This is the vehicle through which we will deliver on the mandate the American people gave us during the last election. You’re going to have historic savings for the American people, historic tax relief for American workers, historic investments in border security.
"At the same time, we’re restoring American energy dominance, and we’re rebuilding the defense industrial base, and we’re ensuring that programs like Medicaid and SNAP are strengthened for U.S. citizens who need and deserve them and not being squandered away by illegal aliens and persons who are ineligible to receive them and are cheating the system," he added.
Johnson reiterated that making Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent by 2026 is critical and stressed that the package also eliminates taxes on overtime and tips – a 2024 Trump campaign promise. He said it also includes new tax relief for seniors on Social Security and cuts taxes on "job creators, so that will help everybody across the country at the same time as incentivizing American-made production and manufacturing."
"This is a big thing. We cannot fail, and we’ll get it done for the American people," Johnson said.
South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman and Texas Rep. Chip Roy are among critics from Johnson’s own party who say the speaker is not serious about cutting spending. They want work requirements for able-bodied adult Medicaid recipients to be implemented sooner than 2029 – a view Johnson told "Fox News Sunday" that he shares, but the speaker added there is concern over the ability of the states to "retool their systems and ensure the verification process" can be enforced.
"We’re working through all those details, and we’ll get it done, but I’ll tell you what, this is the largest spending reduction in at least three decades, probably longer. It’s historic," Johnson said, adding that the package has the support of Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, as well as "nearly 500 organizations across the conservative spectrum" including fiscally responsible groups who believe "that we’ve got to turn the tide in spending."
"We are. This is our opportunity to do it. It’s once in a generation, as I’ve said, and we can’t squander it," Johnson said.
The speaker said that while he is confident he will be able to reach a compromise on the Medicaid work requirement to squash internal disputes, Republican leadership does not expect a single Democrat to vote for the bill.
"Which means that they will be on record apparently supporting the largest tax increase in U.S. history, which is what will happen by default after the end of this year if we do not get this job done. We have to accomplish this mission, and we will.," Johnson said.
The release of audio recordings of former President Joe Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur have intensified criticism of the administration's use of an autopen on official presidential orders and pardons.
The damning tapes, which bring Biden's alarming mental decline into sharp relief, were kept under wraps by Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland. Now that Biden's cognitive problems have been bared, some are calling for Garland to face prosecution for rejecting Congressional demands to release the tapes when he ran the Department of Justice (DOJ).
"Key decisions made in the final days of the Biden presidency, including using autopens to issue blanket pardons for the Biden Crime Family, must be fully examined. There are serious concerns that President Biden lacked the mental capacity to authorize those actions," House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., posted to X on Saturday.
Axios released hours of Biden's interview with the special counsel's office on Saturday – a year and a half after the interviews were held across a two-day period in the fall of 2023. The recordings showed the former president tripping over his words, slurring sentences, taking long pauses between answers and struggling to remember key moments in his life, including the year his son Beau Biden died of cancer.
The recordings have further bolstered conservative outrage stretching back years that Biden's mental acuity had cratered and that the Delaware Democrat who had served in the Senate for decades had become a "shadow" of himself and was unfit to lead the country as president.
The flurry of pardons Biden allegedly signed by autopen in the waning days of his administration included ones for his son Hunter Biden, his siblings and their spouses, retired Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and members and staff of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview on Sunday that he has long sounded the alarm over the validity of Biden's pardons, as many lacked specifically what charges an individual was protected against. Instead, many of the pardons outlined blanket protections, such as preemptively pardoning Milley and Fauci from potential prosecution and blanket pardons for unidentified members of Congress who served on the J6 select committee.
"I've been long of the position that the pardons, many of the pardons, are not valid based on the fact that they don't pardon anything. It's just a pardon for conduct that's unnamed … it's further confirmation that the pardons are not valid," said Fitton, who had sued for the release of the audio recordings.
"A competent president would say, ‘How is it I could pardon someone for nothing?’" he continued.
Fitton added that "more importantly, Biden should still be prosecuted" after he was "mollycoddled" by the Biden DOJ during the investigation into the documents he possessed from his days in the Senate and when he served as vice president.
"The audio shows he was mollycoddled by the Justice Department, you know, because Hur was working for the Justice Department. … There's an argument that the records he had as vice president, he could have. But that wasn't the position of Justice Department. But certainly he didn't have the right to have those records from his days of the Senate," Fitton said.
President Donald Trump railed on Truth Social that the release of the audio recordings revealed a "bigger scandal" about the use of an autopen under the Biden White House.
"Whoever had control of the "AUTOPEN" is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment," Trump posted to Truth Social on Friday.
He added: "THIS IS WHY THE UNSELECT COMMITTEE OF POLITICAL THUGS, WHO WERE GIVEN A FULL AND COMPLETE PARDON BY THE PERSON WHO WIELDED THE NOW ILLEGALLY USED AUTOPEN, DELETED AND DESTROYED ALL EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION FROM THEIR CORRUPT AND VICIOUS WITCH HUNT AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHER PEOPLE, WHOSE LIVES WERE COMPLETELY SHATTERED AND DESTROYED BY THIS HISTORICALLY CRIMINAL EVENT."
Autopen signatures are automatically produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature. The conservative Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project first investigated the Biden administration's use of an autopen earlier this year and found that the same signature was on a bevvy of executive orders and other official documents, while Biden’s signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature.
The reports led to speculation that Biden aides had approved of executive orders and sweeping pardons, not the president.
Hur led an investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents following his departure as vice president under the Obama administration. Hur announced in February 2024 that he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, citing that Biden is "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
Although a transcript was released, the White House asserted executive privilege over releasing recordings after Garland urged the administration not to release the recordings, according to a letter obtained by Fox News in May of last year.
"The audio recordings of your interview and Mr. Zwonitzer's interview fall within the scope of executive privilege. Production of these recordings to the Committees would raise an unacceptable risk of undermining the Department's ability to conduct similar high-profile criminal investigations--in particular, investigations where the voluntary cooperation of White House officials is exceedingly important," Garland wrote in a letter to Biden last year, justifying why the recordings should not be released.
Comer and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-OH, subpoenaed the Department of Justice in February 2024 for the recordings and other materials related to the interview and investigation, but to no avail. The House voted to hold Garland in contempt of Congress over the matter in June 2024.
Comer announced on Friday that his committee will continue "its investigation into the cover-up of Biden’s mental decline and use of autopen" and the use of the pen when Biden pardoned members of his family.
"The American people deserve to know who was actually calling the shots in the Biden White House, because it wasn’t Joe Biden. His mental decline was obvious to anyone paying attention. But instead of being honest, the Biden Administration, Democrats in Congress, and the legacy media lied and covered it up. They gaslit the American people while propping up a man who was unfit to lead," Comer said in a press release on Friday, noting that Garland "defied" a subpoena to release the recordings.
"Key decisions made in the final days of the Biden presidency, including using autopens to issue blanket pardons for the Biden Crime Family, must be fully examined. There are serious concerns that President Biden lacked the mental capacity to authorize those actions. The American people are done being lied to. We’re going to bring the truth into the light, and starting next week, those involved in the cover-up will begin to be put on notice," Comer said in a statement on Friday.
The recordings "demonstrate that Biden was completely out of it, and we already found documents that the Biden White House had changed the transcript, edited it to hide this. This is what they were hiding. There's got to be accountability. Garland should be prosecuted by the Attorney General over the contempt he had for Congress to hide this," Fitton said on Fox News last week.
Fox News host Mark Levin said Garland "should be forced to testify before Congress under oath" over the alleged cover-up of Biden's health.
"Former Attorney General Garland heard these recordings and used lies and deceit to prevent them from being released to the American people before the Democrats nominated Biden. He should be forced to testify before Congress under oath and held to account for his grotesque abuse of power," Levin posted to X.
Hours before Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, the White House announced pardons for both Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Less than a half an hour before Trump became president, Biden pardoned members of his family, including his brother James B. Biden, sister Valerie Biden Owens, brother-in-law John T. Owens and brother Francis W. Biden.
The former president had previously issued a "full and unconditional pardon" to his adult son, Hunter Biden, after he was convicted in two separate federal cases last year. Hunter Biden's pardon covered a 10-year period, between 2014 to 2024, for any offenses he may have committed.
"I do think that the Biden pardons need some scrutiny, and they need scrutiny because we want pardons to matter and to be accepted and to be something that's used correctly. So, I do think we're going to take a hard look at how they went and what they did. And if they're null and void," Ed Martin said in his final press conference while serving as acting U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C.
Trump claimed on Truth Social in March that Biden's pardons were "void" due to the "fact that they were done by Autopen."
"The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen," Trump claimed in a Truth Social post.
"In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime," Trump added.
Martin, who will now lead the Department of Justice's "Weaponization Working Group" targeting political corruption within the federal law enforcement department, added in a media interview earlier this month that he had been investigating Biden's last-minute pardons.
"When [former President] Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, and it turned out that Marc Rich had paid a boatload of money to one of Clinton’s friend’s lawyers. That’s not corrupt, it’s not criminal, because the plenary power of the pardon. But in the case of Joe Biden and his pardons, they were so specific. Back 14 years, covering everything you’ve ever done. And when I say specific, they were broad, but they had time stuff on them," Martin said earlier this month, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
"And that at least leads to questions, because the plenary power’s true. But the question is what is going on here, and I did get responses from some of them and those questions are ongoing," Martin continued.
Conservative social media users have sounded off that the recordings show Biden lacked the cognitive ability to know about the pardons or executive orders he allegedly signed off on.
"Joe Biden had no clue where he was for most of his presidency... Just listen to Robert Hur's interview with him... He's a complete mess. There's no way Biden knew about the pardons, executive orders and directives coming out of his office," conservative X commentator Tim Young posted to the platform.
"I'd say with the Hur tapes coming out, maybe those pardons can be challenged? Biden was CLEARLY mentally incapacitated," conservative podcast host Shawn Farash posted to X.
Fox News Digital reached out to Biden's office for comment on the tapes and subsequent backlash on Sunday morning but did not immediately receive a reply.
President Donald Trump's nominees consistently engage with Democrats who challenge them in increasingly viral hearing moments that analysts say are not intended as gifts to the media, but red meat for their base.
The media understands Democrats have little power on a Republican-dominated Capitol Hill, according to Bill D’Agostino, senior analyst for the Media Research Center.
"If you were to watch any given night on CNN or MSNBC evening shows, you'll find a couple of panel discussion segments that are basically just Democratic strategists and the host talking shop," he told Fox News Digital in a Thursday interview.
"The discussion has focused almost entirely on how can Democrats show their voters that they're trying to fight this, that they're trying to make a difference, that they're resisting the Trump administration."
Partisan politics has come to a point, D’Agostino suggested, where constituents send Democrats to Washington to stop Trump at every turn, regardless of ideological alignment or differences.
"Obviously, as the minority party, there's not much action they can actually offer. So instead, their political futures basically rest on how hard they're trying to stop Trump."
One of the most contentious exchanges occurred during FBI Director Kash Patel’s January confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., dug into granular language used by Patel after the Capitol riot in regard to a song released by inmates that featured Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Patel told Schiff he stood by prior testimony that he had had nothing to do with the recording of the song, while the Burbank Democrat grilled him over a comment to former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon about "what we thought would be cool… captur[ing] audio" for the song.
Schiff asked why he said that, and Patel incredulously shot back "that’s why it says, ‘we’ [as opposed to I] as you highlighted." Patel denied participating in the digitizing of the song.
The exchange was compared to former President Bill Clinton’s grammatical comments about the word "is" during the Monica Lewinsky affair.
During Attorney General Pam Bondi’s confirmation, Schiff was at the fore again, demanding she disclose whether she might prosecute former special counsel Jack Smith over his Trump probe. Bondi repeatedly said she wouldn’t answer hypothetical, and dinged Schiff in response for focusing on Smith while his own California is rife with violent crime.
Bondi also snapped back at Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., after a grilling on the Fourteenth Amendment and citizenship, saying, "I'm not here to do your homework and study for you."
During Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hearing, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., delved into Hegseth’s multiple marriages and allegations of untoward behavior.
Kaine said Hegseth had "casually cheated" on a former wife shortly after his daughter Gwendolyn was born. Hegseth countered that the situation had been investigated and that Kaine’s claims were "false charges."
"You've admitted that you had sex at that hotel in October 2017. You said it was consensual, isn't that correct?" Kaine went on, probing further.
Hegseth also made headlines when he interrupted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., mid-sentence as she criticized the revolving door among military generals, Pentagon chiefs, and defense contractors.
"I’m not a general, senator," he said, prompting laughter in the gallery.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also had several similar moments, including when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., opened his remarks by speaking about the measles and telling the nominee bluntly, "You frighten people."
Kennedy also rejected a line of questioning from Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., claiming that he had compared the Atlanta-based CDC’s work to Nazi death camps.
Outbursts and grilling continued in recent oversight hearings, including this past week when Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., got into a tiff with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem about Salvadoran deportee Kilmar Garcia. At one point, Swalwell informed Noem he has a "bull---t detector."
Mark Bednar, a former top aide to ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was one of many "sherpas" tasked with guiding nominees through the confirmation process, including meetings with senators.
Bednar assisted EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin through his process, which, by comparison to others, was mild.
Zeldin’s hearing actually included some bipartisan joking – like when Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., riffed that Zeldin’s cell phone rang unexpectedly because "the fossil fuel industry" was calling him after a line of questioning on the matter.
Bednar recounted a loud protester in the hall who remained for some time, offering conjecture that the disruptive woman hadn’t yet crossed any legal lines like protesters actually inside hearing rooms like during Kennedy's confirmation.
But Bednar said that many of the other nominees faced Democrats who would rather make a show than "be diplomatic and deliberative over policy."
"I think that is a big indicator to me that the left has no substantive answers for rebuttals to President Trump's agenda or Republicans' agenda. And that, to me, is a sign that if you're a Republican, that that's encouraging -- the public's on your side, and the far left has been unable to formulate a rational, level-headed response, much less not even be able to articulate one."
Fox News Digital reached out to other sherpas but did not hear back.
Meanwhile, Bednar said that it has been interesting to watch the hearing disruptions evolve into larger scenes with similarly little substance or long-term gain.
"I thought I was very rich and pun intended, that Cory Booker delivered a record-breaking speech that the Democrats were basically just grasping for anything to kind of count as a win, even though it didn't really amount to anything," he said, after the New Jersey Democrat held an unofficial filibuster – as there was no legislation being held up – for more than a day.
That speech, however, precipitated several fundraising emails from the left, Bednar said, which bolstered D’Agostino’s claim about playing to the base.
"If it's a session day in D.C., and Republicans are in charge, there's going to be liberal agitators protesting; as the sky is blue," Bednar quipped.
Fox News Digital reached out to Schiff for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy in Rome Sunday for ongoing peace talks as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues.
"During our talks we discussed negotiations in Istanbul to where the Russians sent a low-level delegation of non-decision-makers. I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible," Zelenskyy shared on X of the meeting.
"We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange. Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war. And, of course, we talked about our joint steps to achieve a just and durable peace," he continued.
World leaders converged in Rome this weekend for Pope Leo XIV's inaugural mass at the Vatican on Sunday, with Vance leading the U.S. delegation. Zelenskyy also attended the mass.
The meeting comes after Russian and Ukrainian officials held their first direct peace talks in years last week in Istanbul. The two sides, however, failed to reach a ceasefire agreement for a war that has raged since February of 2022.
Hours after the meeting, a Russian drone strike hit a passenger bus in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday.
Russia and Ukraine did agree to a large prisoner swap during the meeting last week, despite not reaching a ceasefire.
President Donald Trump said on Friday, during his four-day tour of the Middle East, that he wants to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war "as soon as we can set it up."
Trump added in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he will speak to Putin by phone on Monday, which will be followed by another call to Zelenskyy and NATO leaders as the U.S. continues to work to broker a peace deal between the two nations as negotiations drag.
"I WILL BE SPEAKING, BY TELEPHONE, TO PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN OF RUSSIA ON MONDAY, AT 10:00 A.M. THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK," Trump posted on his Truth Social Saturday.
"HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END," Trump said. "GOD BLESS US ALL!!!"
Fox News Digital's Landon Mion contributed to this report.
