First lady Jill Biden's political rise coincided with the end of her husband's political career, according to a new book about how President Joe Biden lost the White House. 

One year after Biden's consequential debate performance, the first octogenarian president's age has inspired congressional investigations and books detailing his alleged cognitive decline. 

"2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," is the latest to tackle the inner workings of the Biden administration. 

The book, released Tuesday by journalists Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdor of The Washington Post, details the influential role Jill Biden played in her husband's administration.

'MASSIVE CONSPIRACY': EX-DNC INSIDER SAYS PARTY WENT TO GREAT LENGTHS TO HIDE BIDEN'S MENTAL DECLINE

As Jill Biden gained political influence, so did Anthony Bernal, the first lady's chief of staff and senior advisor and an assistant to the president. 

INSIDE JILL BIDEN'S POLITICAL RISE AMID HER HUSBAND'S COGNITIVE DECLINE: BOOK

He was subpoenaed to testify on July 16 after refusing to appear before the committee investigating the alleged cover-up of Biden's mental decline, which argued that executive privilege did not apply to him.

According to the book, Bernal accused Anita Dunn, a veteran Democratic political strategist who served in the Biden and Obama administrations, of being disloyal for pushing for more transparency about the Biden family. 

There was a "near-total ban" on discussing Hunter Biden, the journalists wrote in their new book, as Hunter's federal trial fell in the middle of his father's re-election campaign in June 2024. 

Jill Biden, with Bernal by her side, went to great lengths to attend Hunter Biden's federal trial, often traveling long distances from overseas trips or campaign events. 

She attended the first three days of the trial, flew to France to join the president at the D-Day commemoration and then returned to Wilmington less than 24 hours later for the fifth day of the trial. 

As described in "2024," West Wing staffers were surprised when Jill Biden arrived at the trial. Most senior aides had no idea the first lady planned to attend, revealing her willingness to act independently. 

But while Jill Biden demonstrated her independence from the White House, Bernal was right there with her leading the East Wing. 

"He quickly bonded with Jill Biden and never left her side, becoming unflinchingly loyal to her and using his proximity to her to exert power wherever he decided. It was often unclear if the opinion he was expressing was his own or the first lady’s. Sometimes, when donors or voters asked her questions, Bernal would jump in to answer," the authors said. 

Just as Jill jumped to Hunter's defense during his high-profile trial, she became the president's staunchest supporter following his disastrous debate performance against President Donald Trump.

"Joe isn’t just the right person for the job," the first lady said at a fundraiser soon after the debate. "He’s the only person for the job." 

The book alleges that Jill Biden had always played the "role of the protective spouse, encouraging the president to eat vegetables, keeping him on time, and questioning staffers when she felt they erred."

In one such case in January 2022, a Biden aide apologized to the first lady when she questioned why they allowed a press conference to go on for too long, according to the book. 

As Biden struggled to successfully defend his debate performance, with donors and Democratic politicians growing weary, and "her husband in the fight of his political life, Jill was making clear: The Democratic Party had to stick with Joe," the authors said. 

After the debate, the Bidens took a pre-planned family trip to Camp David.

"The president was not entertaining the idea of dropping out of the race; he was taking stock of how bad things really were," the authors said of Biden's trip to Camp David. 

The authors described how dropping out "was not even a consideration" at Camp David, and how the first lady was part of those in the inner family circle who persuaded Biden to stay in the race, despite mounting pressure from party leaders and donors to step down. 

Biden huddled with his family in Camp David during the last few days of June, then appeared for debate damage-control interviews on network TV in the weeks following, referring to the debate as a bad night and blaming a cold for his off-night.

"Biden also acknowledged he needed more sleep and said he told his staff that he should not participate in events that start after 8 p.m. But his message was clear: He was staying in the race," the authors said. 

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Less than a month after the debate, and one week after an assassination attempt on Trump, Biden announced he was suspending his re-election campaign, and later endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. 

Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden's cognitive decline and his inner circle’s alleged role in covering it up.

A Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt blasted California Gov. Gavin Newsom for providing health benefits to millions of illegal migrants through the state's Medi-Cal program, and called on Newsom to conduct a full audit of the state's Medicaid expansion.

In a scathing letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Hunt called on Newsom to fully audit California's Medi-Cal enrollment, publicly release the findings of ineligible individuals receiving benefits, and revoke waivers that allow the state to provide Medi-Cal to illegal migrants. 

"Given the posture of Democrats in Congress and California Governor Gavin Newsom's public opposition to ICE operations, it's only logical to demand transparency on how many illegal immigrants in California are receiving benefits meant solely for American citizens," Hunt wrote.

GAVIN NEWSOM IS MAKING A STRATEGIC VISIT TO A KEY PRIMARY STATE, RAISING EYEBROWS

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Census Bureau estimates that one in five immigrants in California are illegal aliens.

Sources at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) say that the state of California is obligated to report Medi-Cal data to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Newsom cut back on funding for illegal migrant healthcare in the state's budget he signed late last month, freezing California taxpayer-funded Medi-Cal for new illegal immigrant applicants starting January 2026. The governor also plans to charge illegal migrants on the program a premium beginning in 2027.

But Hunt honed in specifically on Newsom's use of waivers previously granted by the Biden administration that allow the state to make Medi-Cal easier for illegal migrants to obtain. 

FROM NEW YORK TO ARIZONA, MIGRANT FACILITIES SHUTTERING IN WAKE OF TRUMP'S BORDER CRACKDOWN

"I'm especially alarmed by Newsom’s use of Section 1115 waivers under the Social Security Act, which have opened the door for undocumented immigrants to access Medicaid at the expense of American taxpayers," Hunt added.

Section 1115 of the Social Security Act grants the federal government power to waive specific Medicaid requirements. States can request waivers from Section 1115, allowing them to bend and potentially reduce these requirements.

"Does California's Medicaid system fully comply with federal law?" Hunt questioned. "How many other Democrat-run states are exploiting similar loopholes? It’s time to shine a light on this abuse and shut it down."

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Hunt also sent a copy of the letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Centers for CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

"Californians deserve transparency, accountability, and adherence to the law in the administration of public health programs," the letter reads. "Policies that divert limited resources away from lawful recipients not only violate federal standards—they destroy public trust and threaten the sustainability of programs designed to serve our most vulnerable citizens."

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office, but did not receive a response.

South Carolina Republicans say they’re ready to give California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom "a HUGE Southern welcome" when he arrives in the key presidential primary state on Tuesday.

Newsom is teaming up with the South Carolina Democratic Party for two days of meetings with voters in the state that officially held the first primary in the Democrats' 2024 calendar.

The trip by the term-limited governor with a large national profile is sure to spark plenty of 2028 speculation, since Newsom is considered a potential contender for the next Democratic presidential nomination.

Republicans in the GOP-dominated state are taking notice.

TWENTY-ONE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY WANT TO RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028

"Gavin Newsom is bringing his Crazy California agenda to Trump Country. It’s up to us to show him what real leadership looks like," the South Carolina GOP said in an email to supporters.

The email included Newsom's itinerary during his Tuesday-Wednesday swing, which is full of stops at cafes, coffee shops, community centers and churches.

SUCCEEDING TRUMP IN 2028: SIX REPUBLICANS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON

"The dates, times, and locations are listed below," the South Carolina GOP said. "Show up loud, proud, and decked out in your Trump gear and flags."

State GOP chair Drew McKissic, in a separate statement, argued that "Gavin Newsom should go sell Crazy California somewhere else. He won't find many takers here."

It was a similar message from South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who earlier this year launched a Republican campaign for governor in 2026.

"We don’t need Gavin Newsom’s twisted version of America in the Palmetto State," Wilson argued in a statement. "If Gavin Newsom wants to test his national message here, he’ll be met by a united conservative front that knows exactly what’s at stake."

The South Carolina Democratic Party, which announced Newsom's trip last week, said it's part of their effort to bring national Democrats to parts of the Palmetto State that they say have long been overlooked and "left behind" by Republican officials.

SUCCEEDING TRUMP IN 2028: SIX REPUBLICANS TO KEEP YOUR EYES ON

"Governor Newsom leads the largest economy in America and the fourth largest in the world, and he’s coming to meet folks in towns that have been hollowed out by decades of Republican control," state party chair Christale Spain said in a statement.

Newsom stopped in South Carolina in January of last year to campaign on behalf of then-President Joe Biden during the state's 2024 presidential primary. Newsom also visited Nevada, another early-voting state in the party's primary calendar.

And Newsom traveled last summer on behalf of Biden to New Hampshire, the state that for a century has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. 

The former president was the Democrats' 2024 standardbearer before dropping out of the race last July following a disastrous debate performance against now-President Donald Trump. Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Biden at the top of the Democratic national ticket.

South Carolina, New Hampshire and Nevada are vying for the lead-off position in the next presidential election cycle, and the Democratic National Committee is expected to decide on their 2028 calendar by early 2027.

Newsom has long been thought to harbor national ambitions and is considered one of many Democrats who may make a run for the party's 2028 presidential nomination.

The two-day swing through South Carolina will give Newsom an opportunity to make connections not only with voters, but also with local party and elected officials. The relationships forged this week could possibly pay dividends down the road for Newsom if he eventually decides to launch a 2028 presidential campaign.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that business magnate Elon Musk push for balanced budget and congressional term limit amendments to the U.S. Constitution, rather than build a new political party.

Musk, who has been beating the drum about the need to rein in government spending, announced that he is launching a new political party called the America Party. 

"Backing a candidate for president is not out of the question, but the focus for the next 12 months is on the House and the Senate," he noted in a post on X.

ELON MUSK INDICATES HIS NEW POLITICAL PARTY WILL BE PRO-GUN, PRO-BITCOIN: ‘THE SECOND AMENDMENT IS SACRED’

DeSantis is not on board with the idea. 

The governor suggested that if Musk funds candidates in competitive Senate and House contests, Democrats will likely win.

But DeSantis acknowledged that the GOP has an issue with people running on spending less, but then failing to do so. "There's a gap between the campaign rhetoric, and then the performance," he said.

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He explained that he does not believe "electing a few better people" will alter the "trajectory" on the debt issue.

DeSantis said that the "incentives" in D.C. will "lead to these outcomes, really, regardless of the outcome of elections at this point," asserting that a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution is needed.

TRUMP SAYS HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE-TIME RIVAL DESANTIS NOW A ‘9.9’

Musk "would have a monumental impact" if he got involved, DeSantis said, adding that the U.S. also needs term limits for lawmakers.

A top advisor to former President Joe Biden reportedly labeled Hunter Biden’s presence on a call about the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that former presidents have some immunity from prosecution "inappropriate," according to a new book. 

The book, "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," was published Tuesday and chronicles how Biden’s team dismissed concerns about his age during the 2024 election cycle, along with how President Donald Trump secured his victory. 

The book said Biden’s White House chief of staff, Jeff Zients, coordinated a video call with key Biden staffers, including White House Counsel Ed Siskel, communications director Ben LaBolt, senior advisor Mike Donilon and others to discuss whether Biden should provide an on-camera statement to the Supreme Court’s July 2024 decision. 

TRUMP IMMUNITY CASE: SUPREME COURT RULES EX-PRESIDENTS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL POWER FROM PROSECUTION 

While Donilon already had drafted a written statement, Biden wanted to speak about the matter on-camera, the book claims. Staffers on the call started to hash out specifics of such an appearance, when Biden’s son started to chime into the call. 

"Suddenly an unidentified voice piped up from Biden’s screen and recommended an Oval Office address," the book said. "At first, some aides had no idea who was speaking. It soon became clear the voice belonged to Hunter Biden, who the White House staff had not known was on the call. Siskel expressed some concern about the appearance of using the Oval Office."

SCOTUS WEIGHS MONUMENTAL CONSTITUTIONAL FIGHT OVER TRUMP IMMUNITY CLAIM

"Hunter snapped back: ‘This is one of the most consequential decisions the Supreme Court has ever made.’ He said his father had every right to use the powerful imagery of the Oval Office to deliver that message," the book said. "They later settled on the Cross Hall, the long hallway on the first floor of the White House. After the call ended, Siskel told colleagues. Hunter’s presence was inappropriate."

Biden ultimately delivered a brief speech responding to the Supreme Court’s ruling and took no questions from the press, per the suggestion of his son, the book claimed.  

Siskel and a spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. 

On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court issued a 6–3 ruling in Trump v. United States that former presidents have significant immunity from prosecution for acts they committed in an official capacity. The case made its way to the Supreme Court after Trump faced charges stemming from then-Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and engaged in any other alleged election interference. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges, and claimed a former president could not face a prosecution without a House impeachment and a Senate conviction. 

BIDEN AIDES PUSHED FOR EARLY DEBATE TO SHOW OFF BIDEN'S ‘STRENGTH,’ EXPOSE TRUMP'S ‘WEAKNESS,’ BOOK SAYS 

The book "2024" is one of several that have been released in this year detailing Biden’s mental deterioration while in office and how Trump won the election. It is authored by Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post. 

Another book covering similar material is "Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," released May 20.

Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden's cognitive decline and his inner circle’s alleged role in covering it up.

According to Dawsey, Hunter Biden’s involvement in his father’s affairs as president was not out of the ordinary during the former president’s time in office. 

"What we found out over the course of reporting for our book is, Hunter Biden (was) a major figure in the president's orbit," Dawsey said in a Sunday interview with ABC's "This Week." "He was often on these calls, he would pipe in to calls, he was helping him make campaign decisions, and the president was very concerned about his son. It was one of the things that was an albatross on him as he tried to run for re-election."

Former White House physician Kevin O'Connor, who served as doctor to former President Joe Biden, requested a delay to his upcoming testimony before the House Oversight Committee this week.

O'Connor was scheduled to testify on Wednesday, but is now in a disagreement with the committee over the scope of the questions he will be expected to answer during his testimony. The committee, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is interviewing the doctor as part of its investigation into Biden's mental fitness and his administration's use of an autopen.

A lawyer for O'Connor requested the testimony be delayed to July 28 or August 4 in a letter to Comer.

"Dr. O’Connor has legal and ethical obligations that he must satisfy and for which violations carry serious consequences to him professionally and personally," the letter says.

BIDEN INSISTS 'I MADE THE DECISIONS' AS REPUBLICANS INVESTIGATE WHITE HOUSE AUTOPEN USE

"We are unaware of any prior occasion on which a Congressional Committee has subpoenaed a physician to testify about the treatment of an individual patient.  And the notion that a Congressional Committee would do so without any regard whatsoever for the confidentiality of the physician-patient relationship is alarming."

A spokesman for the Oversight Committee replied in a statement to NBC News that O'Connor and his legal team were merely trying to "stonewall" the process.

The committee said O'Connor is welcome to object to individual questions during his testimony. But O'Connor is not allowed, in the committee's view, to delay or decline a congressional subpoena due to concerns over questions about potentially privileged information.

WHO IS NEERA TANDEN? THE CONTROVERSIAL DEM OPERATIVE WHO TESTIFIED ON BIDEN'S MENTAL ACUITY

The debate over O'Connor's testimony comes weeks after a former top aide to Biden, Neera Tanden, told the Oversight Committee that she was authorized to direct autopen signatures but was unaware of who in the president's inner circle was giving her final clearance.

During Tanden's interview before Congress last month, which lasted more than five hours, she told lawmakers that, in her role as staff secretary and senior advisor to the former president between 2021 and 2023, she was authorized to direct autopen signatures on behalf of Biden, an Oversight Committee official told Fox News.

"Ms. Tanden testified that she had minimal interaction with President Biden, despite wielding tremendous authority," Comer said at the time. "She explained that to obtain approval for autopen signatures, she would send decision memos to members of the President’s inner circle and had no visibility of what occurred between sending the memo and receiving it back with approval. Her testimony raises serious questions about who was really calling the shots in the Biden White House amid the President’s obvious decline. We will continue to pursue the truth for the American people."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Salena Zito, a veteran political reporter with more than 20 years of storytelling experience, is telling her own story in her book, "Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland."

Zito's novel, released Tuesday, takes readers back to July 13, 2024, when a young shooter unleashed gunfire into the crowd at President Donald Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

"I didn't get down," Zito told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview ahead of the release. "There was this inner voice that told me, ‘You have a job to do, continue doing it.’"

When 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks began firing toward Trump, Zito found herself in the Secret Service's secure perimeter, right by the stage where Trump was delivering his remarks.  

FOX NATION REVEALS NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN FOOTAGE FROM TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN BUTLER

"Time has these layers that happen," Zito said. "It's not remembering them. It's experiencing them. It's this interesting thing that happens. I see a sea of navy blue suits immediately surround him. Then, I hear the second four shots. I still didn't get down."

PHOTOGRAPHER WINS PULITZER FOR ICONIC PHOTO OF BULLET SPEEDING BY TRUMP'S HEAD DURING ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

As a gun owner, Zito recognized the sound of the gunshots right away. But as a journalist, she quickly began to commit the historic moment to memory as it was unfolding. 

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Zito described the scene she saw first-hand, that was caught on video by the network pool camera and watched across the world.

Just over eight minutes into Trump's speech, Zito was standing in the "buffer" with her daughter, her son-in-law and a Trump campaign aide, Michel Picard. It was Picard who finally brought Zito to the ground. 

"Michel Picard takes me down and lies on top of me and covers me," Zito explained. "This young man didn't have to do this. He will always be a hero in my heart. He lies on the top of my daughter. My son-in-law has already taken my daughter down."

Zito said, even from that vantage point, she could still see and hear the situation unfolding as Trump shouted out for his shoes, someone called out for a medic and a woman screamed. 

"I had my recorder on my phone because I thought I was going to be recording the rally, his speech. I wanted to make sure I got the nuance. I always do that. I could see, and I could hear everything that was happening."

She said Trump was saying, "USA," from the ground as the crowd began to chant. When the Secret Service helped Trump onto his feet, he shouted, "Fight! Fight! Fight," Zito said she saw a different side of Trump, which is revealed in her book. 

The journalist, who is a political reporter for the Washington Examiner, is a special contributor for the Washington Post and has been a columnist for the New York Post, said Trump must have called her seven times in the 24 hours after the shooting. 

Zito was slated to interview Trump ahead of his rally in Butler, but such is the case with presidential campaign schedules, the interview time kept slipping. Zito was planning to fly with Trump to Bedminster, N.J., to interview him after the rally. 

Trump recovered from his near assassination with little more than a bullet graze to the ear, thanks to the immigration chart he was turning his head to face. One rally attendee, firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed, and two others were critically injured by Crooks' gunshots. 

Comperatore shielded his wife and daughters from the shots, saving his family. Trump honored their family when he returned to Butler to finish the rally later that year. 

"This book is for everyone," Zito told Fox News Digital. "First of all, it was a witness to history. And it's told in a way that is very conversational and told in way that's very real and authentic. I tell the story exactly the way that it happened."

"But it's also a book about understanding why place and rootedness [are] so important in American politics. There have been very few Republicans or Democrats that have understood that. It is part of America's experience, no matter what happens next, that there's a light shining on it, so that you understand people better."

FIRST ON FOX: As Planned Parenthood sues the Trump administration for provisions of the Big, Beautiful Bill defunding abortion providers, pro-life medical groups are urging Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reexamine the FDA’s broad approval of abortion drugs.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, six anti-abortion medical organizations, representing approximately 30,000 medical professionals, urge Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary to reinstate safety guards on the abortion pill mifepristone that have been removed since it was first approved in 2000.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, medication abortion accounts for 63 percent of all U.S. abortions. The most common form of medication abortion method involves ingesting mifepristone, a pill that cuts off progesterone flow to the womb, essentially starving the fetus of nutrients. A second pill, called misoprostol, is then ingested to expel the dead fetus.

Under the Biden administration, the FDA significantly expanded its approval of mifepristone, allowing the drugs to be obtained via telemedicine, without in-person doctor appointments and to be mailed.  

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In the letter, the groups, which include the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and the American College of Family Medicine, warn that the latest data on mifepristone "strongly suggests" that hundreds of thousands of women have been harmed by using the drug.

Planned Parenthood states on its website that chemical abortion is "safer than many other medicines like penicillin, Tylenol, and Viagra." The letter, however, calls mifepristone "a high-risk abortion-inducing drug that is known to cause serious adverse effects and medical emergencies, including hemorrhage, sepsis, and incomplete abortions requiring surgical intervention."

The letter cites two reports released this May, one by the Foundation for the Restoration of America and the other by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, that they say showed as many as one out of every nine women using mifepristone suffered serious adverse events.

The studies claimed that, based on an analysis of health insurance records covering 330 million U.S. patients of 860,000 women receiving mifepristone prescriptions, 10.93 percent of those women experienced sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, surgical intervention or another serious adverse event within 45 days following using the drug.

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Based on this, the letter says that real-world data on mifepristone use "shows real patients experience very real medical emergencies at an alarming rate – a rate that is consistent with what our members are seeing in their clinical practice."

"The data strongly suggest that mifepristone poses a far greater risk of causing harm than previously stated. In fact, the risk of serious complications may be 22 times higher than previously disclosed," the letter states.

In light of this, AAPLOG and the other groups signing onto the letter are urging the FDA to conduct its own evaluation of real-world data to determine the overall safety of mifepristone in both the adult and adolescent populations.

The groups also urge Kennedy and Makary to reinstate reporting of all adverse events related to mifepristone use and reinstate the pre-2016 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies on the drug’s use, including limiting the use of the drug to 7 weeks of gestation and requiring in-person dispensing as well as follow-up appointments.

WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT DECIDES ABORTION CASE THAT PROMPTED MOST EXPENSIVE JUDICIAL ELECTION IN US HISTORY

The letter stressed that requiring ultrasounds is also essential to confirm the gestational age of the fetus, which the groups said is "crucial to accurately dating a pregnancy and determining the risk of complications."

 "A basic tenet of medical ethics is informed consent — which requires a review of accurate risks and benefits of any proposed intervention that is specific to the patient sitting in front of us which is based on actual data, not ideologically-driven rhetoric," the letter states. "Women deserve to know the true risk of serious adverse events and medical emergencies after using mifepristone – no matter how politically charged the discussion surrounding this drug."

"Americans must be able to trust that no matter what, the FDA will rely on the most robust safety standards before and after approving any drug and that they can have truly informed consent by knowing what the risks to taking FDA-approved drugs are," the letter says.

The FDA’s broad approval of mifepristone has been the subject of intense legal debate in recent years, including in the Supreme Court. In 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine challenging the FDA’s abortion pill approval on the grounds that the group lacked standing.

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At the time, Dr. Jack Resneck Jr., then president of the American Medical Association, claimed that restricting mifepristone "would have devastating health consequences for people living in states where abortion is still legal."

Resneck Jr. claimed that "hundreds upon hundreds of peer-reviewed clinical studies and decades of evidence-based research disprove the assertions of the plaintiffs in this case and demonstrate the safety of mifepristone," which he said, "has a safety profile comparable to ibuprofen."

After the Ethics and Public Policy report was released, Dr. Céline Gounder, a CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, disputed the findings, accusing the study of lacking transparency and not disclosing its data source, according to CBS. 

Gounder also said the study lacked a comparison group to examine how experiences compare to pregnant women not taking mifepristone. 

A spokesperson for Danco, mifepristone's manufacturer, also told the outlet that the company "stands confidently behind the product's established safety and efficacy record."

GOP REP SPEAKS OUT AFTER BEING FORCED TO EVACUATE OFFICES OVER THREATS FROM PRO-ABORTION ACTIVISTS

In a statement emailed to Fox News Digital, Dr. Christina Francis, an OB-GYN and CEO of AAPLOG, said that the FDA’s deregulation of mifepristone "subjects pregnant women to an unacceptably low standard of care, leaving them vulnerable to life-threatening complications, and empowers abusers and traffickers who wish to force unwanted abortions on their victims."

"Our doctors have seen the devastating impact this recklessness has had on patients, which makes clear the dire need for the FDA to reprioritize women and girls by reexamining the drug's safety and reinstating basic safeguards that should never have been lifted," she said.

The other groups that signed onto the letter are the Christian Medical and Dental Association, the American College of Pediatricians and the Coptic Medical Association of North America.

Donald Trump has just had the best few weeks of his presidency. 

No question. No argument. Period, end of paragraph. 

It began with a bold gamble to send pilots to destroy Iran's nuclear sites. 

Then Trump managed to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Iran. 

TRUMP’S ACHIEVEMENTS EMBOLDEN HIM TO BE EVEN MORE AGGRESSIVE

Meanwhile, as Trump delayed his sky-high tariffs, the stock market hit record highs. 

And he won a $16-million settlement from CBS's parent company in his lawsuit against unfair editing by "60 Minutes." That means he has now beaten two of the three broadcast networks, having won the same sum from ABC in a suit involving a crucial mistake by George Stephanopoulos. 

And after days of pressure and arm-twisting, he managed to pass the Big Beautiful Bill. 

Make no mistake, the bill was always going to pass. What were Republicans going to say, never mind, we just tanked the president's main legislative priority because we didn't like this or that? 

They didn't need Democratic votes, under so-called reconciliation. And Trump controls the GOP. So its members fell into line. 

Now the question is why, through this successful stretch, has Trump continued to draw such negative coverage?

TRUMP SIGNS 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL' BILL IN SWEEPING VICTORY FOR SECOND TERM AGENDA, OVERCOMING DEMS AND GOP REBELS

For starters, many in the media just can’t stand the guy. And this has largely been true since 2015. So anything that helps him must be wrong and must be denigrated. 

Even the successful strike on Iran drew only scattered instances of grudging praise, when under any other president there would have been standing ovations. 

The press immediately reframed this as a debate over whether the bunker-busting bombs had only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a few months. 

In fairness, that’s what the preliminary, classified Intel report leaked to the press said. And there’s nothing wrong with reporting that accurately, even though the assessment was made with low confidence. 

But Trump wants reporters for CNN and the New York Times, which broke the story, fired over this, and with an FBI leak probe under way, says he may force journalists to reveal their confidential sources. 

Once the White House could no longer blame anonymous sources, there is nothing wrong with quoting a government report – even if if turns out to be wrong. 

The cease-fire between Israel and Iran was fine, but that quickly morphed into chatter about why Trump couldn’t pull off an end to the fighting between Israel and Hamas, a far more difficult task. 

AFTER SETBACK TO IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM, TRUMP EXPECTED TO LEVERAGE MILITARY SUPPORT IN NETANYAHU MEETING

Not to mention his freezing of weapons shipments to Ukraine, when despite his "very disappointing" call with Vladimir Putin, who promptly unleashed the biggest drone and missile attack against Kyiv since the illegal invasion of its sovereign neighbor. 

Perhaps the president is learning what has been obvious to the rest of us: Putin has no conceivable interest in peace. 

Everyone had to report the stock market surge, though not with the enthusiasm of the earlier plunge, and Trump yesterday announced that he’d hit Japan and South Korea, two allies, with a 25 percent hike in tariffs. But they don’t take effect till Aug. 1, so this could just be another negotiating tactic. 

There was almost no television coverage of Trump’s $16 million settlement with Paramount, which is nothing more than the news business protecting its own. If this had been any other kind of company – with the backstory that someone like Shari Redstone needed administration approval to sell the company and pocket $2 billion – the press would have gone haywire. 

Now there’s a new twist. Fox’s Charlie Gasparino, writing for the New York Post, reported the Paramount settlement includes a side deal between Trump and for the buyer David Ellison, son of tech mogul Larry Ellison, for him to run $15 to $20 million in advertising supporting causes backed by the president. 

And Trump confirmed it. 

"We did a deal for about $16 million plus $16 million, or maybe more than that in advertising," he told reporters. 

Paramount denied any knowledge of the side deal. 

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE'S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY'S HOTTEST STORIES

The president has also been drawn into a war of words with Elon Musk, calling him a "train wreck" who’s gone "off the rails" in forming a third party and raising the Epstein files again. Musk says the lack of an Epstein client list is the "final straw" – he had once apologized for raising it – and there’s no difference between the Republican and Democratic parties. 

But there was one moment, in my view, that was a misstep by Trump.

The president had no need to negotiate with Democrats, who strongly opposed a tax cut tilted toward the wealthy while making deep cuts to Medicaid.

"Every Democrat in Congress voted against the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill…They wouldn’t vote only because they hate Trump, but I hate them, too, you know? I really do. I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country."

I don’t believe the overwhelming majority of Democrats hate their country. And that was hardly a unifying message on July 4 weekend. Maybe many in the media hate him and he was just counterpunching. But he didn’t need to go there.

On the other hand, Donald Trump has been getting terrible coverage since 2015, and he’s clearly grown tired of it.

As Elon Musk moves forward with forming a third party in hopes of rocking the nation's longstanding two-party system, the world's richest person is reaching out to a one-time presidential candidate who has started his own independent party.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who spent the first four months of President Donald Trump's second administration as a special White House advisor steering the recently created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spoke with Andrew Yang, Fox News has confirmed.

A source familiar with the conversation said that the two discussed Musk’s push to create the "America Party," which Musk aims to field some candidates in next year's midterm elections.

TRUMP DISMISSED MUSK'S MOVE TO FORM THIRD PARTY 

"I’m excited for anyone who wants to move on from the duopoly," Yang said in a statement to Fox News. "And I’m happy to help give someone a sense of what the path looks like." News of the conversation was first reported by Politico.

Yang grabbed national attention in the 2020 election cycle, as the entrepreneur went from an extreme longshot to briefly being a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. 

But Yang soured on the two-party system after an unsuccessful 2021 run for New York City mayor. He then formed the independent Forward Party, which has been recognized in a handful of states and aims to eventually gain ballot access from coast to coast.

ELON MUSK LAUNCHES ‘AMERICA PARTY’ AFTER TRUMP SIGNS HISTORIC SPENDING BILL: 'WASTE & GRAFT'

Yang and Musk are far from strangers. Musk in 2019 supported Yang's unsuccessful presidential bid. 

Musk became the top donor of the 2024 election cycle, dishing out nearly $300 million in support of Trump's bid through America PAC, a mostly Musk-funded super PAC aligned with Trump.

Trump named Musk to steer DOGE soon after the November election, and the president repeatedly praised Musk during his headline-making and controversial tenure at the cost-cutting effort.

But a feud between Musk and Trump broke out days after Musk left the White House in late May, as Musk dubbed the administration's massive landmark spending bill - which Trump called his "big, beautiful bill" - a "disgusting abomination," which he said would sink the nation into unsustainable debt.

POLL POSITION: MUSK'S FAVORABILTY AMONG REPUBILCANS PLUNGES AFTER FEUD WITH TRUMP

Musk also argued that Trump would not have won last year's presidential election without all of his support. 

Musk announced the launch of the "America Party" on his social media platform X on Saturday, a day after Trump signed the sweeping domestic policy package into law. The measure narrowly passed the Senate and House last week along near party-line votes in the Republican-controlled chambers.

Trump on Sunday ridiculed Musk's move.

"I think it’s ridiculous to start a third party," Trump told reporters. "It’s always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion.

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The president added that "third parties have never worked. So, he can have fun with it, but I think it’s ridiculous."

Starting an independent or third party, and gaining ballot access in states across the country, is extremely difficult.

After Zohran Mamdani, New York City's leading mayoral candidate, pledged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the city, Netanyahu responded to questions about whether he's worried. 

In December, Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist and is the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor, said, "as mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu."

"This is a city that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our actions are also," Mamdani said, referring to the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant against Netanyahu as well as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. 

Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday evening to discuss a range of topics, including Iran and Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.  

NETANYAHU SURPRISES TRUMP WITH FORMAL NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINATION DURING HISTORIC WHITE HOUSE MEETING

When asked whether he was worried about the possibility of facing arrest in America’s largest city, Netanyahu said, "I'm not concerned about that."

The prime minister added, "I'm going to come there with the President Trump and we'll see." 

He went on to say that Mamdani’s threat is "silly in many ways, because it's just not serious."

Trump also chimed in, saying, "We don’t know who the mayor is going to be yet, but this is a communist. He's not a socialist. He's a communist, and he's said some really bad things about Jewish people."

TOP IRANIAN CLERIC CALLS FOR TRUMP'S EXECUTION

"He might make it," Trump said. "But, you know, it all comes through the White House. He needs the money through the White House. He needs a lot.

"He's going to behave. He'll behave. He better behave. Otherwise, he’s going to have big problems." 

Hearkening back to an earlier question asked by reporters, Netanyahu said, "what is serious" is whether there can be a two-state solution in Gaza that does not pose an existential threat to the Israeli people. 

"Look, there's enough craziness in the world, but I guess it never ends," he said. "After October 7th, people said the Palestinians had a state, Hamas state in Gaza, and look what they did with it. They didn't build it up. They built down two bunkers into terror tunnels, after which they massacred our people, raped our women, beheaded our men, invaded our cities and our towns and our kibbutzim and did horrendous, horrendous massacres, the kind of which we didn't see since World War two and the Nazis, the Holocaust."

ISRAEL HAMMERS HOUTHIS WITH AIRSTRIKES, REBELS RESPOND AMID RED SEA FLARE-UP

"So people aren't likely to say, let's just give them another state. It'll be a platform to destroy Israel," he added. "We'll work up a peace with our Palestinian neighbors, those who don't want to destroy us, and we'll work out a peace in which our security, the sovereign power of security, always remains in our hands."

"Now, people will say it's not a complete state. It's not a state, it's not that, we don't care," he said. "You know, we vowed, ‘never again.’ Never again is now, it's not going to happen again."

A federal judge on Monday prevented the Trump administration from enforcing part of a massive tax and spending bill that would block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood health centers.

The temporary restraining order by Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts blocks the "big, beautiful bill's" provision to defund the family planning provider. 

At issue is the provision in the new tax and spending bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 that eliminates one year of Medicaid payments from Planned Parenthood health centers because the organization also provides abortions.

SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN OKS BAN ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERAL FUNDING IN TRUMP MEGABILL

A White House official told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration is committed to ending the use of federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortions. The official noted that the administration's stance is a commonsense position that the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with.

On Monday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah filed a lawsuit in federal court.

"The prohibition specifically targets Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member health care providers in order to punish them for lawful activity, namely advocating for and providing legal abortion access wholly outside the Medicaid program and without using any federal funds," the lawsuit states. 

SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN MEDICAID FUNDING DISPUTE

If allowed to stand, Planned Parenthood said the provision would have "devastating consequences" for the more than 1 million patients who use Medicaid as their insurance at Planned Parenthood health centers across the country to get birth control and cancer screenings, among other services. 

Dominique Lee, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said the organization has a long history of fighting for sexual and reproductive freedom.

"The Trump administration’s hell-bent ambitions to close our clinics and abandon our patients won’t stop us. Let me be crystal clear: We are not intimidated. We were built for this moment," she said. "Here in Massachusetts, we fight back, and we will never be bullied into turning our backs on health care or human rights."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he had sent a letter to the Nobel Prize Committee to nominate President Donald Trump for the peace prize.

Trump and Netanyahu met at the White House on Monday to discuss developments in the Middle East.

While speaking to reporters, Netanyahu spoke about the relationship between Israel and the U.S.

AFTER SETBACK TO IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM, TRUMP EXPECTED TO LEVERAGE MILITARY SUPPORT IN NETANYAHU MEETING

"I want to express the appreciation and admiration not only of all Israelis, but of the Jewish people and many, many admirers around the world, for your leadership, your leadership of the free world, your leadership of a just cause, and the pursuit of peace and security," he said. "The president has an extraordinary team, and I think our teams, together, make, an extraordinary combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities.

"But the president has already realized great opportunities. He forged the Abraham Accords. He's forging peace as we speak, in one country and one region after the other," Netanyahu continued. "So, I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize committee. It's nominating you for the peace prize, which is well-deserved."

Trump accepted the letter, saying he was unaware of the nomination and thanking the prime minister.

The U.S. Navy will drop from 11 to 10 aircraft carriers for about a year once the USS Nimitz is decommissioned next year, as recent budget documents show a new carrier will be delayed from its original delivery date.

According to the Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget estimates, Newport News Shipbuilders was expected to deliver the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) to the Navy by July 2025, but that has since shifted to March 2027.

"The CVN 79 delivery date shifted from July 2025 to March 2027 (preliminary acceptance TBD) to support completion of Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) certification and continued Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) work," FY 2026 shipbuilding budget book reads.

Both the Advanced Arresting Gear certification and Advanced Weapons Elevator work are systems that were incorporated into the Ford class carriers.

INSIDE AMERICA’S 6TH-GEN ARSENAL: B-21, F-47, AND THE FUTURE OF AIR DOMINANCE

HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia told USNI News that it is taking lessons learned and applying them with the new ships in its class.

"Specifically, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) construction was fairly advanced when many Ford lessons were realized, precluding timely implementation of lessons learned for Kennedy," Todd Corillo, HII company spokesperson, told the publication. "In contrast, Enterprise (CVN 80) and Doris Miller (CVN 81) have been able to incorporate, leverage and capitalize on Ford lessons learned earlier in the construction process."

Also being shifted was the delivery of the USS Enterprise (CVN-80), which was expected to be delivered in September 2029, but has since been pushed back to July 2030.

USS NIMITZ CARRIER STRIKE GROUP SAILING TOWARD MIDDLE EAST AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, US OFFICIAL SAYS

"The CVN 80 delivery date shifted from September 2029 to July 203 due to delays in material availability and industry/supply chain performance," the document’s footnotes read.

USNI reported that the Navy originally planned to pursue a dual-phase delivery approach for the Kennedy but has since switched to a single-phase delivery, which added two additional years of work to the vessel’s design and construction contract.

Under the new plans, the Kennedy would be outfitted to handle the fifth-generation F-35C Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II and be outfitted with the new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, USNI reported.

SECOND NAVY FIGHTER JET GOES OVERBOARD FROM TRUMAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER, PILOTS EJECTED

Officials originally thought the dual-phase approach would save the Navy money when it came to construction costs and by minimizing the downtime between the Nimitz decommissioning and Kennedy delivery.

These delays come as the USS Nimitz prepares to be decommissioned.

Commissioned on May 3, 1975, the Nimitz is the oldest active aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy.

It is currently on its final sea voyage in the Middle East, as the Nimitz is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2026.

The deployment is significant because the Nimitz was also deployed in 1980 when its helicopters were part of the failed U.S. effort known as Operation Eagle Claw to rescue the American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The U.S. has been in a shadow war against Iran ever since.

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

Despite his socialist proposals, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has several millionaires backing his candidacy amid his calls to tax the wealthy to fund expansive social programs.

James Hueston, a 27-year-old venture capitalist, is part of a group called the Mamdani Millionaires in a Wall Street Journal piece published Monday. 

"In my eyes, I should absolutely be paying my fair share for the people that need it," Hueston told the newspaper. "I don’t think that he’s increasing taxation for the sake of it. I think that he’s doing it to fund very explicitly good policies."

SOCIALIST'S NYC MAYORAL WIN SPARKS FIERCE DEBATE OVER FEASIBILITY OF RADICAL POLICY AGENDA

Voting data showed that about a third of the city’s wealthiest residents supported Mamdani in the primary, the New York Post reported. Many donors, some from Wall Street and large law firms, have remained anonymous.

Other high-earning supporters of Mamdani include Ahmed Haque, the founder and CEO of consulting firm Didactic Labs. 

"For immigrants coming to this country, these small businesses represent the single path for upward mobility that they have," he said. 

Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist who ran Michael Bloomberg’s third campaign for mayor of New York City, wrote on LinkedIn that New Yorkers should "do what we can to help him succeed."

SOCIALIST MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI UNDER FIRE FOR PLAN TO TAX 'RICHER AND WHITER NEIGHBORHOODS'

In an Instagram post, Keith McNally, owner of Balthazar, a French restaurant, called Mamdani "fantastic." 

"More so, when my affluent, paranoid friends tell me Mamdani’s dangerous," he wrote. 

Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a major business group, told The Journal that she met with Mandani in September, long before his candidacy was taken seriously. 

"I’m not in favor of government taking over your business," Wylde recalled him telling her.

She added that "he has already acknowledged that the housing crisis is only going to be addressed if there’s an increase in private supply. So he’s not just talking about social or socialized housing solutions."

After it was reported that democratic socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani identified as "Asian" and "Black/African American" in his application to Columbia University, his SAT scores were revealed to be below the median score for students admitted into the school, according to a new report. 

Independent journalist Christopher Rufo reported on Monday that, according to Mamdani’s full Columbia application, he scored 2140 out of 2400 on the SAT, which is below the median score of students admitted to the university in 2009.

A 2009 statement by the university said that students admitted into the Class of 2013 scored between 2110 and 2300 on the SAT, which would have placed Mamdani within the range but below the median.

Mamdani has said he identifies as "an American who was born in Africa," and stated that checking multiple boxes was an effort to reflect his "complex background," not to gain an advantage in the competitive admissions process.

DEM SOCIALIST'S NYC PRIMARY UPSET SIGNALS 'GENERATIONAL' SHIFT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, STRATEGISTS SAY

But at the time, Columbia, like many elite universities, used race-conscious admissions, a system the Supreme Court struck down in 2023.

Mamdani, who is the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, identified as "Black or African American" on his 2009 Columbia University application even though he now says he does not consider himself Black, The New York Times reported Thursday.

According to The Times, the internal data came from a leaked database of past Columbia applications which was part of a recent hack targeting the Ivy League school.

Mamdani, then a high school senior, also checked "Asian" and reportedly wrote in "Ugandan" in the space for additional background. He was ultimately not accepted to Columbia even though his father is a professor at the elite school.

NYC MAYORAL FRONTRUNNER ZOHRAN MAMDANI'S PROFESSOR FATHER CLAIMED HITLER INSPIRED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN

"Even though these boxes are constraining," Mamdani said, "I wanted my college application to reflect who I was."

Mamdani told The Times that aside from those college forms, he doesn’t recall ever identifying as Black or African American. 

RESURFACED VIDEO SHOWS NYC MAYORAL HOPEFUL SAYING HE WANTS TO REPLACE PRIVATE HOMES WITH COMMUNAL LIVING

His parents are both of Indian descent. His father, Columbia professor Mahmood Mamdani, has lived in East Africa for generations, but Mamdani said there had been no intermarriage in the family with native African groups.

Mamdani has leaned into his South Asian and Muslim identity on the campaign trail. During a June speech at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, he also stressed his African roots: "I was born in Kampala, Uganda... I was given my middle name, Kwame, by my father, who named me after the first Prime Minister of Ghana."

Mamdani has proposed a list of policy changes to radically alter New York City more in line with his democratic socialist vision. He is running to unseat incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected as a Democrat but is now running for re-election as an independent. 

Former New York Democratic Mayor Andrew Cuomo is also running for mayor as an independent. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani and Columbia University for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication. 

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and current New York City Mayor Eric Adams are each urging the other to drop their mayoral bids in the 2025 race against Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani.

"I think that everyone should align behind the person who has won one as mayor," Adams said Monday at a news conference.

Meanwhile, Cuomo's top advisor argued in a statement that "we do not see any path to victory for Mayor Adams."

Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist assemblyman from Queens, two weeks ago topped Cuomo by 12 points to win the Democratic Party mayoral primary. Mamdani instantly became the clear frontrunner in November's general election in heavily blue New York City, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly a six-to-one margin.

MAMDANI OFFICIALLY WINS PRIMARY, BUT CUOMO STAYING IN BATTLE FOR NEW YORK CITY MAYOR

With his victory over Cuomo and nine other Democratic candidates, Mamdani sent political shockwaves across the country, and took a big step towards becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation's most populous city.

Cuomo, the three-term governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals and who was aiming for a political comeback, had been the frontrunner in the mayoral primary race for months until Mamdani closed the gap in the closing weeks of the campaign.

MAMDANI'S POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE ROCKS DEMOCRATS 

Mamdani will face off in November against Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels. Sliwa is the GOP nominee for a second straight election cycle.

Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor running as an independent, is also on the ballot.

Adams, who won election as mayor in 2021 as a Democrat, is running as an independent. The mayor dropped his Democratic re-election bid earlier this year amid sinking poll numbers in the wake of multiple controversies.

While he acknowledged Mamdani's victory on primary night, Cuomo left the door open for running as an independent candidate, which election rules in New York State permit.

REPUBLICANS USE MAMDANI BOMBSHELL VICTORY OVER CUOMO AS AMMUNITION TO BLAST DEMOCRATS AS EXTREMISTS

And Cuomo recently let a deadline pass for candidates who had already qualified to run as independents to decline that independent ballot line. 

"I think Andrew and Curtis should rally behind me. I won as mayor. You know, I'm the only one that's in this race right now that has ever won as mayor," Adams said at his news conference.

And in an interview with CNBC, Adams said that in a recent conversation, the former governor asked him to step aside. 

"I said, 'Andrew, are you that level of arrogant? I'm the sitting mayor!'" Adams said of his conversation with Cuomo. "I'm the sitting mayor of New York City when you just lost to Zohran by 12 points."

"They heard your message. You lost," Adams added. "That’s the highest level of arrogance."

THESE DEMOCRATS HAVEN'T ENDORSED MAMDANI, BUT THEY'RE DEFENDING HIM AGAINST TRUMP

Adams' poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged "long-running" scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials.

The mayor made repeated overtures to President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown.

"Mayor Adams did not run in the Democratic primary because he knew he was anathema to Democrats and unelectable. Nothing has changed," top Cuomo advisor Rich Azzopardi charged in a statement on Monday.

And Azzopardi highlighted a proposal made last week by Walden that an independent study should be conducted to see which candidate would be the strongest to take on Mamdani, with the weaker contenders agreeing to drop out.

Azzopardi argued that Walden "correctly points out that if he, Mayor Adams, and Governor Cuomo all run, it all but ensures a socialist victory. Jim proposed a fair independent survey be taken in September to determine whose candidacy and vision for New York is strongest in a one-on-one race in November."

"This is the time to put aside the usual political selfishness and agree to do what is truly best for all New Yorkers," Azzopardi added. "While we review this proposal, we call on other candidates to do the same."

Walden on Monday said in an interview on Fox News Radio's "Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla" that a Mamdani victory in November "would be terrible for the city and would sit us back a whole generation so I proposed a poll in either late September early October."

"If the candidates agreed to this we would all agree on a poll that would happen and it would be winner take all," he explained.

Mamdani surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living.

Endorsements from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — New York City's most prominent progressive — and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the two-time Democratic presidential runner-up, helped Mamdani solidify support on the left.

Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5, and setting up government-run grocery stores.

And thanks in part to the efforts of a massive grassroots army of volunteers, he rode a wave of support from younger and progressive voters to catapult into first place.

Mamdani's victory has reignited long-standing debates within the Democratic Party between its more moderate and progressive wings, and between outsiders and the establishment. 

And it's reignited the debate over whether the party's policy, or messaging, was to blame for last November's election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate, and failed to win back the House majority.

A shooter who allegedly opened fire on Border Patrol agents outside a federal building in McAllen, Texas, has been identified by authorities as 27-year-old Michigan resident Ryan Louis Mosqueda. 

An active shooter armed with tactical gear and a rifle opened fire upon Border Patrol agents as they arrived at a Border Patrol annex facility in McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley on Monday. Law enforcement believes the attack was a purposeful ambush targeting Border Patrol officials.

In a press conference after the shooting, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez identified the suspected shooter as Mosqueda, saying he allegedly opened fire on the agents, firing "many, many dozens of rounds" at the building.

Rodriguez confirmed that the suspect was killed on the scene by agents returning fire. 

FEDERAL AGENTS CONDUCT IMMIGRATION RAID IN LOS ANGELES DESPITE FIERCE OPPOSITION FROM DEMOCRAT MAYOR

According to the police chief, there is no known motive yet for why Mosqueda allegedly opened fire on Border Patrol agents. 

He said the suspect is associated with an address in Michigan and that he arrived at the scene driving a vehicle with Michigan plates. He also mentioned that the suspect’s car had spray-painting on it with "some language on it," possibly Latin, that he could not decipher. 

According to Rodriguez, Mosqueda was reported missing from an address in nearby Weslaco and "an hour and a few minutes later he was at this particular location, opening fire on a federal building." 

RED STATES CONSIDER ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ SPINOFFS AS WH URGES THEM TO FOLLOW DESANTIS’ LEAD: 'LOTS OF BEARS'

In a statement emailed to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for FBI San Antonio said that McAllen police received calls of shots being heard by a local Border Patrol facility near the McAllen International Airport at approximately 5:53 a.m. 

The spokesperson said the armed suspect, who they did not identify as Mosqueda but rather an "adult male," "engaged the law enforcement officers responding to the scene and officers returned fire." 

According to the spokesperson, one responding officer was injured in the gunfire and was transported to a local hospital for treatment. The officer is now in stable condition. 

TRUMP'S 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL' BOLSTERS BORDER SECURITY BY $100 BILLION

The FBI representative said there is "currently no threat to public safety that we are aware of" and that the investigation is ongoing.

According to a statement by DHS on X, two officers and a Border Patrol employee were injured during the shooting, including one shot in the knee. 

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…

- After setback to Iran's nuclear program, Trump expected to leverage military support in Netanyahu meeting

- The battle over the 'big, beautiful bill' moves from Capitol Hill to the campaign trail

- Homan warns Democrats about anti-ICE rhetoric, says it is only a matter of time before agents are attacked

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Donald Trump on Monday, just over two weeks after Washington levied strikes against Iran’s nuclear program in support of a previous military operation carried out by Jerusalem.

But even as the pair appear to be relishing the reported success of the missions — which the Pentagon last week said had set back Tehran’s nuclear program by up to two years — several security issues remain on the table. 

Here’s what to expect from the talks Monday… READ MORE.

SPENDING STANDOFF: Trump's $5 trillion debt ceiling strategy could force Democrats to the negotiating table

FAILING UP: Liberal critics question why architect of failed Biden foreign policy is advising ‘Project 2029’

'HONORABLE AMERICANS': Border agent ambush shows Dems need to 'tone down rhetoric,' White House says, pushing AOC to meet with ICE

'DEPRAVED LIE': White House blasts Schumer, Democrats for 'depraved lie' blaming Trump for Texas flash flood

FAMILY FIRST: Hunter Biden helped make campaign decisions, was major fixture in father's orbit, author says

SUMMIT SHOWDOWN: Trump threatens additional 10% tariffs on "anti-American" BRICS nations

COURT IN SESSION: Judge to rule on motion to dismiss in high-stakes Abrego Garcia case hearing

XINIS BRINGS HEAT: Judge Xinis grills Trump lawyers over plans to deport Abrego Garcia in high-profile hearing

GAME ON: The battle over the "big, beautiful bill" moves from Capitol Hill to the campaign trail

REGIME RESET: Sen. Steve Daines says regime change is the best long-term plan in Iran

NEW CHAPTER?: Outgoing GOP Rep. Don Bacon expresses interest in presidency, governorship

DANGEROUS LANGUAGE: Homan warns Democrats about anti-ICE rhetoric, says it is only a matter of time before agents are attacked

SUPREME DECISION: What key battleground state Supreme Court's rejection of congressional redistricting lawsuits means for midterms

MOVE SPARKS BUZZ: Gavin Newsom is making a strategic visit to a key primary state, raising eyebrows

'SHAMEFUL': Dems, media hijack devastating Texas flooding to push 'shameful' climate change, anti-Trump narrative

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing scrutiny for remarks she made this year about Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case after the Department of Justice and FBI brought their Epstein inquiry to an abrupt close over the weekend.

The White House was grilled by reporters Monday about Bondi's remarks, which appeared to contradict a memo the DOJ and FBI released earlier in the day stating that their Epstein review was complete and that they had nothing further to share with the public about it.

Fox News's Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about Bondi apparently confirming in February that a nonpublic list of Epstein's sex-trafficking clients existed.

"She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper, in relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, that's what the attorney general was referring to, and I'll let her speak for that," Leavitt said.

JEFFREY EPSTEIN DIED BY SUICIDE, DID NOT HAVE CLIENT LIST: DOJ MEMO

The question was a reference to Fox News's John Roberts asking Bondi during a television interview if the DOJ planned to release a "list of Epstein's clients."

"It's sitting on my desk right now to review," Bondi said at the time. "That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that."

Asked for comment, a DOJ spokesperson pointed to Leavitt's remarks and said the Trump administration has been more transparent than its predecessor.

"We've delivered more transparency in 6 months than the Biden administration did in 4 years," the spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The newly released DOJ and FBI memo quashed theories about a nonpublic Epstein list, which was promoted for years by a vocal faction of Trump supporters, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino before they joined the bureau. The list was said to include names of powerful figures who were sexual predators associated with Epstein.

"This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’" the memo read.

FBI BOSSES INSIST JEFFREY EPSTEIN KILLED HIMSELF AFTER REVIEWING HIS FILE

Bondi first drew criticism in February after teasing the release of damaging evidence related to Epstein. The attorney general, however, failed to deliver any new information to the public and blamed the FBI's New York field office for withholding "thousands of pages of documents" from her.

At the time, the Trump administration invited a group of right-wing social media influencers to the White House and gave them binders of what appeared to be a first look at the highly anticipated Epstein-related material.

Widely circulated photos showed the White House visitors smiling with the binders, which were labeled "classified" and the "Esptein Files: Phase 1."  The Epstein information, later published online, was largely a compilation of public court documents.

Some of the same influencers took to X to express incredulity over the new memo and call for Bondi's replacement.

"I'm supposed to be on vacation, but it’s time to fire Pam Bondi," Liz Wheeler wrote.

Mike Cernovich wrote that "nobody can even understand" why the FBI and DOJ put out the memo and that "everyone is p*****."

Rogan O'Handley called the memo a "shameful chapter in our country's history."

In response to a question from another reporter, Leavitt said nonpublic material was too explicit to release.

"There was material they did not release because, frankly, it was incredibly graphic, and it contained child pornography, which is not something that's appropriate for public consumption," Leavitt said.

BONDI VOWS TO 'PROTECT EVERY RELIGION IN THIS COUNTRY' AFTER WRAY-ERA CONTROVERSY

The DOJ and FBI's memo also reiterated what the FBI and DOJ inspector general found in 2023, that Epstein died by suicide.

Following the botched rollout of the files, Bondi raised eyebrows once again by claiming to reporters in May that there were "tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn, and there are hundreds of victims."

But public court filings and the newly released memo do not corroborate that statement. The memo stated, however, that "files relating to Epstein" included "ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography."

Epstein was indicted in 2019 for allegedly recruiting dozens of women and girls as young as 14 and engaging in sexual relations with them at his homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach, and elsewhere. He allegedly sexually abused some of them.

Authorities confirmed that Epstein hanged himself in his prison cell in New York City in 2019, before he could stand trial. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of conspiring to sexually abuse minors and sentenced to 20 years in prison.