White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre volleyed away reporters’ questions on Friday about President Biden’s lack of public appearances amid the ongoing government funding fight as a partial shutdown looms. 

Jean-Pierre refused to answer why the president has not spoken to the American public about his position, and she instead blamed Republicans, President-elect Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and their "billionaire friends" like Elon Musk for the chaos on Capitol Hill. 

"Why hasn’t President Biden said anything in the public about this? Don't the American people deserve to know why millions of federal workers could enter this holiday period without a paycheck?" Jean-Pierre was asked during her daily press briefing. 

RAND PAUL SUGGESTS REPLACING MIKE JOHNSON WITH ELON MUSK AS SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

"All Americans need to know that Republicans are getting in the way here and they are the ones who have created this mess. That's the reality. That's the fact," she responded. "This is not the first time we've been here. And the president has had this approach before. He understands how Congress works. He's been around for some time. He understands what strategy works here to get this done."

Jean-Pierre said Friday that Biden has held phone calls with Democratic leaders in Congress — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. — but would not say if the president has spoken to the House speaker with regard to the ongoing discussions. 

"He has been getting regular updates from his team. His team has been in touch with congressional members from both sides of the aisle," she said. 

A streamlined version of a bill backed by Trump to avert a partial government shutdown failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night.

The bill, which needed two-thirds of the House chamber to pass, failed by a vote of 174 to 235. The national debt has soared to over $36 trillion, and the national deficit is over $1.8 trillion.

Jean-Pierre said Republicans went back on their word and "blew up this deal."

"Republicans need to stop playing politics with a government shutdown. And they are doing the bidding. They're doing the bidding of their billionaire friends. That's what we're seeing at the expense of hard-working Americans," she said. 

SENATE REPUBLICANS TRY TO FAST-TRACK EMERGENCY MILITARY PAY AS THEY BRACE FOR SHUTDOWN

"There is a bipartisan agreement that Republicans tanked because of what they were directed to do by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump. That's what happened. That is the reality that we're in now."

Musk, an outspoken critic of government waste, has weighed in on the spending bill debate and led a conservative revolt against the first 1,547-page bill due to its bloated spending provisions, calling for lawmakers who supported the bill to lose their seats.

He supported the newer, slimmer version, which was ultimately rejected by House members. 

Reporters tried several different ways to try and get Jean-Pierre to comment on the president’s role in the matter, but she continued to sidestep.

"The president is the President of the United States, and he is leading," she told a reporter, to which he responded: "To be clear, the strategy is he is leading by staying in the background?"

"The strategy is that Congress, Republicans in particular, need to do their jobs and get out of their own way and focus on the American people, not their billionaire friends. That is what needs to happen. And that's what the president wants to see," she replied.

Jean-Pierre also warned that a shutdown could disrupt the presidential transition process for the incoming administration.

"If there is a shutdown — and I don't want to get too much into hypotheticals — but this is the reality, transition activities will be restricted with limited exceptions, obviously, such as to prevent imminent threats to the safety of human life or the protection of property," she said.

Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday that Republicans have a "good plan" to avoid a partial government shutdown. 

Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., added: "I think you come to an agreement, then you get together and sit down and figure out, you know, if we can get across the finish line. And that's probably what we're about to do now."

House Democrats are balking at the latest iteration of a spending plan that was released on Thursday by Speaker Mike Johnson.

"The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious, it's laughable. Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. 

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., indicated Democratic leadership would whip their members to vote "no" on the deal.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., lamented that the last deal had been blown up by opposition from conservatives, with input from DOGE leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. 

"Everybody agreed," he said, "and then it was blown up by Elon Musk, who apparently has become the fourth branch of government. And that's just an intolerable way of proceeding."

"Democrats are going to try to figure out how we can salvage the public good as the wreckage that's just been pushed."

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS DURING A PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Chants of "hell no" could be heard inside the room where Democrats were meeting after the bill's text was released. 

The newest continuing resolution, or CR, would extend current government funding levels for three months and also suspend the debt limit for two years, something President-elect Trump has demanded.

It comes after the original 1,500-page CR drew opposition from the right, due to policy and funding riders.

House lawmakers could vote on the new bill as early as Thursday evening.

It's not immediately clear if the new deal would pass – Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who also led opposition to the initial bill, also blasted the new deal.

"More debt. More government. Increasing the Credit Card $4 trillion with ZERO spending restraint and cuts. HARD NO," Roy wrote on X.

HOUSE GOP LEADERS SCRAMBLE FOR PLAN B AFTER TRUMP, MUSK LEAD CONSERVATIVE FURY AGAINST SPENDING BILL

With $36 trillion in debt and a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2024, some conservatives are against a CR, which punts the funding deadline to March and keeps spending at 2024 levels, entirely.

Without conservative Republicans' votes, Johnson will need to rely on Democrats to help get spending legislation across the House floor. 

Trump praised the deal minutes after Fox News Digital reported its contents.

The deal also includes aid for farmers and roughly $110 billion in disaster relief funding for Americans impacted by storms Helene and Milton.

It would also include certain health care provisions minus reforms to the Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) system that some Republicans and Democrats were pushing for – but others vehemently opposed.

Trump said of the deal, "Speaker Mike Johnson and the House have come to a very good Deal for the American People. The newly agreed to American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the Government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes."

"All Republicans, and even the Democrats, should do what is best for our Country, and vote ‘YES’ for this Bill, TONIGHT!" he wrote.

Shortly after Fox News Digital's report, House leaders released the legislative text of the bill. It came in at about 116 pages, a far cry from their original 1,547-page legislation.

It comes after conservatives led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy torpedoed Speaker Mike Johnson's initial government funding plan on Wednesday, prompting fears of a partial government shutdown right before the holidays.

GOP hardliners were furious about what they saw as unrelated measures and policy riders being added to the bill at the last minute.

House Republicans began negotiations for a "clean" bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), but those were also upended when Trump urged GOP lawmakers to pair a CR with action on the debt limit – which was expected to be a contentious battle in the first half of next year.

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Musk and Ramaswamy also lent their voices to the fight, with Musk calling on any Republican who supported the deal to lose their House seats.

In addition to averting a partial government shutdown through March 14, the bill also included a provision to allow for the revitalization of RFK stadium in Washington, D.C.; permits to sell ethanol fuel year-round; and the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009 – both measures that did not get into the latest deal.

House Democrats on Thursday fumed over the spending bill drama and what they characterized as the outsize influence of Elon Musk and others in President-elect Trump’s orbit, after a bipartisan plan brokered by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., collapsed just hours earlier.

Speaking to reporters outside a leadership meeting on Thursday, House Democrats expressed disappointment in Republicans for walking away from the negotiated argument, and many accused them of appearing to take cues from Musk. 

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., labeled the billionaire X owner "President Musk" while speaking to reporters Thursday.

"For the Republicans, for President Musk to come in at the last moment and blow up the deal is just intolerable," Nadler said. "You have to negotiate, and you have to be able to enforce what you're negotiating, and what was negotiated was a very good deal for the American people."

JOHNSON HIT WITH POSSIBLE SPEAKERSHIP RIVALS AS CONSERVATIVES REBEL OVER GOVERNMENT FUNDING PLAN

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said their caucus is "disappointed" in House Speaker Johnson, saying it appeared as though Musk is "president" and Trump "vice president."

This was echoed by Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas. "My main question is just if Elon Musk is kind of cosplaying co-president here, I don't know why Trump doesn't just hand him the Oval Office."

"Speaker Johnson should maybe just hand Elon Musk the gavel if they just want that billionaire to run the country," Casar told reporters outside a House Democrat leadership meeting.

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INTERIM SPENDING BILL

House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., was emotional as she expressed her frustration with the protracted negotiation and a changed debt ceiling agreement, saying that in her view, Republicans "need to do the right thing for once." 

She noted that she has "thousands of neighbors" and others in her district who are waiting for disaster aid or for a Small Business Administration loan. "Those are the loans that help people repair their homes. Those are the loans that help small businesses get back on their feet," Clark said.

She noted that Republicans did not replenish those funds when they passed the last spending bill, so in the meantime, these people "have been left out in the lurch."

"I just wanted to point out that this kind of chaos and dysfunction has real world impacts on hardworking people, and it's irresponsible and wrong," Clark said.

Musk's team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for a response to the comments on his role in the spending bill negotiations. 

Meanwhile, Trump has endorsed getting rid of the debt ceiling as part of the spending package in an interview with NBC News.

The U.S. national debt currently stands at over $36 trillion.

Trump reportedly said abolishing the debt ceiling would be the "smartest thing [Congress] could do. I would support that entirely."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., while speaking at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., called out House Republicans for breaking a bipartisan agreement to fund the government and avoid a government shutdown, accusing them of hurting everyday Americans across the country.

On Wednesday, House GOP leaders scrambled to search for a backup plan after reaching an initial bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown this Friday was buried by a barrage of opposition from conservative leaders.

Jeffries spoke about the failed deal, accusing Republicans and their leaders for not reaching the agreement.

"House Republicans, house democrats, Senate. Republicans and Senate Democrats reached a bipartisan agreement to fund the government, keep it open and meet the needs of the American people," Jeffries said, pointing out the agreement would provide disaster assistance for those affected by extreme weather events. "House Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made. House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt everyday Americans all across this country…An agreement is an agreement. It was bipartisan and there was nothing more to say."

TRUMP SAYS HE'S ‘TOTALLY AGAINST’ PROPOSED CONTINUING RESOLUTION BILL

The minority leader also fired off a post on X, saying, "House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government. And hurt working class Americans they claim to support. You break the bipartisan agreement; you own the consequences that follow."

As of Wednesday, the U.S. national debt – which is a measure of what U.S. taxpayers were on the hook for to the nation’s creditors – had reached $36,189,345,826,140.62, and was climbing at a rapid pace, showing no signs of slowing down. The federal government's budget deficit in the recently concluded fiscal year totaled $1.834 trillion, ranking the third largest in U.S. history.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who was appointed by President-elect Trump to serve as a co-chair of the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, lambasted the bill on his social media platform, saying the 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR) bill is full of "pork."

Musk fired back at Jeffries’ on X. 

"You seem to think the public is dumb. They are not." he wrote.

DANIEL PENNY TO BE TAPPED FOR CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL BY HOUSE GOP LAWMAKER

Musk also wrote in a separate post, "The voice of the people was heard. This was a good day for America."

Trump adamantly opposed the bill on Wednesday through a series of posts on Truth Social.

"Sounds like the ridiculous and extraordinarily expensive Continuing Resolution, PLUS, is dying fast, but can anyone imagine passing it without either terminating, or extending, the Debt Ceiling guillotine coming up in June?" the incoming president asked. "Unless the Democrats terminate or substantially extend [the] Debt Ceiling now, I will fight ‘till the end. This is a nasty TRAP set in place by the Radical Left Democrats!"

He continued, saying Democrats are looking to embarrass Republicans when it comes up for a vote in June, and the people who extended it from Sept. 28 to June 1, "should be ashamed of themselves."

GOP SENATORS ‘VERY IMPRESSED’ WITH MUSK, RAMASWAMY DOGE FRAMEWORK AMID MEETINGS ON CAPITOL HILL

Trump called the extension "political malpractice," and reiterated the bad timing of Congress asking for pay increases.

"Hopefully, you’ll be entitled to such an increase in the near future when we, "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" he said.

In another post, Trump explained that trying to pass a clean CR without all of the bells and whistles Democrats want will be destructive to the country and his administration instead of the Biden administration.

"Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will be Primaried," Trump warned. "Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking office on January 20th, 2025."

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

Congressional leaders released the text of their 1,547-page CR on Tuesday evening after last-minute negotiations delayed its original planned release on Sunday. A source familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital more specifically that the deal was largely struck between the top two Democrats and Republicans in each chamber.

Since its release, the CR has seen fierce pushback from conservatives and House GOP hardliners, many of whom are frustrated with unrelenting policy riders attached to the legislation, rather than a "clean" extension of government funding.

While the bill would avert a partial government shutdown through March 14 if passed, it also includes provisions on health care and ethanol fuel, along with $100 billion in disaster aid funding and measures to fund the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The bill also includes the first pay raise for lawmakers since 2009.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., is not letting backlash in his own party stop him from continuing his verbal crusade against trans athletes in women's and girls' sports. 

Moulton spoke out about his party for its stance on the issue once again on Sunday in an interview on "The Takeout" on CBS News. 

Moulton insisted that he's spoken with individuals in the LGBT community who have agreed on having restrictions to prevent biological males from competing against and sharing locker rooms with females. 

"You wouldn't believe how many LGBTQ people, activists themselves, individuals have reached out completely supportive of what I said, saying, ‘Yes, we need to have these conversations and I even agree on the transgender issue,’" Moulton said. "There are lots of people, including members of the LGBTQ community, who feel that in certain sports, not necessarily all sports, but in certain sports like swimming, for example, there probably should be restrictions on transgender women. These are people who are born biologically male."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Moulton even said he spoke to transgender people who have agreed with him on the issue. 

"I've heard from a number of trans people, and again I'm not speaking for all of them, I'm sharing what I've heard from some who have come to me and said, ‘Yeah, this is pretty reasonable,’" Moulton said. 

Moulton added that the trans people he has spoken with have said that they agree on passing legislation to restrict trans inclusion in women's sports in order to reach a compromise that will provide other civil rights protections for transgenders. 

Moulton also criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for failing to respond to criticisms about the party's stance on transgender rights and her own record of supporting taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners. He says the party has weakened itself by failing to discuss the issue and the consequences of its support for pro-trans legislation in recent years. 

"We have a challenge as a part of even in engaging in debate about certain issues," Moulton said. "We are not allowed to talk about that in the Democratic Party, it's forbidden. This is not up for debate, you can't even raise the issue. This is the same attitude that a lot of Democrats had when problems propped up at the southern border, and we said, ‘Nope, nothing going on there, nothing to see there.' It's the same issue we had when inflation started under President Biden and the White House said, ‘Oh it’s transitory, don't worry, it will go away.'

"We've worked so hard to be tolerant of all these distinct minority groups, that as a whole we've become intolerant if you disagree with the perspectives of any of those distinct groups."

REP MOULTON SAYS FELLOW DEMS PRIVATELY AGREE WITH HIS CRITICISM OF PARTY

Moulton is one of many Democrats who have spoken out against trans athletes in women's sports as it proved to be a major vulnerability for his part in the recent election cycle. 

He was subjected to fierce backlash by Democratic allies for his comments last month in a New York Times article after President-elect Trump's election victory. Moulton spoke out against his own party for making too much of an effort to champion trans inclusion in women's sports, and blamed it as a reason for losing the election. 

"I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that," Moulton said. 

Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., also spoke out against trans inclusion in women's sports in the same article. 

Despite the backlash, Moulton has since defended and doubled-down on his comments. The backlash has included calls to resign, a pro-transgender rally that took place outside his Salem office on Nov. 18, and many Massachusetts Democrats expressing the intent to have him replaced in the 2026 midterms.  

Moulton scolded his party for shutting out opposing opinions and failing to address voters' fears in an opinion article published in the Washington Post at the end of November. 

"Since Election Day, I’ve learned two things about the Democratic Party: The word police will continue to patrol no matter how badly we lose, and a growing number of us are finally ready to move beyond them to start winning again," Moulton wrote in his Post op-ed headlined, "I'm done with Democratic purity tests."

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With just over a month left in office, top members of President Biden’s Cabinet are standing behind their past statements expressing support for his leadership and their belief that he is still fit for office — despite a year of controversy and debate over Biden’s ability to serve out his term.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cabinet officials and their departments, asking them if they believed President Biden was fit to serve, and if they stood by past statements of confidence in his ability to continue.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in a statement in September, said that he has "full confidence in President Biden’s ability to carry out his job. 

"As I’ve said before, I come fully prepared for my meetings with President Biden, knowing his questions will be detail-oriented, probing, and exacting. In our exchanges, the President always draws upon our prior conversations and past events in analyzing the issues and reaching his conclusions," he said.

BIDEN'S PRESIDENCY WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE ‘MAN THAT WAS TOO OLD,’ SAYS BYRON YORK

On Monday, DHS said that the secretary stands by those comments.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has called Biden "one of the most accomplished presidents in American history and continues to effectively lead our country with a steady hand."

"As someone who is actually in the room when the President meets with the cabinet and foreign leaders, I can tell you he is an incisive and extraordinary leader," Raimondo said.

A spokesperson said this week that Raimondo stands by those comments.

Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon press secretary told Fox in September: "As Secretary Austin has said before, he has watched President Biden make tough national security decisions and seen his commitment to keeping our troops safe - he has nothing but total confidence in our Commander-in-Chief."

This week, Singh said those comments still stand.

Biden’s mental acuity was a subject of speculation even preceding him being sworn into office, but discussion about its implications came to a head this year after what was widely seen as a disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump that seemingly initiated the process to replace him on the Democratic ticket in the race for the presidency.

BIDEN'S AGE MUCH MORE OF A LIABILITY THAN TRUMP'S, POLL FINDS AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Biden eventually dropped out of the race, handing the nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris, who would in turn go on to lose in the November election against President-elect Trump. But while Biden said he would not seek re-election, he chose not to step down from office. 

The subject of Biden’s acuity re-emerged in September when he handed over the reins of a Cabinet meeting to first lady Jill Biden. But it was then that Cabinet members backed Biden and said they had no concerns about his ability to serve. 

Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra — one of Biden's staunch defenders — said Biden "has done more as president for this country than any other president whom I have worked with since 1992."

"So yes, not only can he do the job, but he has been doing it," he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "And we are fortunate to have someone who continues to use all of his experience to take us further. If you recall where we were four years ago, the depth of a pandemic, Americans losing their jobs, Americans losing their health care. Today, more Americans are employed than ever before. Today, more Americans have health coverage than ever before. No President in the history of this country has ever placed 700 million vaccines in the arms of Americans to keep them alive and keep them healthy. The result? Our economy is healthy."

"Is he fit? He's proving it," Becerra added. 

An HHS spokesperson said that Becerra’s comments stand.

BIDEN IS SAYING ‘SCREW YOU’ TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, BEN FERGUSON ARGUES

Spokespersons for other agencies that had previously commented, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture, also said they stood by those comments.

As it stands, President Biden will finish his term on Jan. 20 when President-elect Trump is sworn into office.

Biden spoke this week at a DNC holiday celebration in Washington, D.C. During his remarks he argued that the country is in a "resoundingly" better position today than when he and Harris entered the White House.

"The one thing I've always believed about public service, and especially about the presidency, is the importance of asking yourself, have we left the country in better shape than we found it? Today, I can say with every fiber of my being, of all my heart, the answer to that question is a resounding yes," he said.

He went on to encourage staffers to "stay engaged" in the years ahead.

"You're not going anywhere, kid," Biden said of Harris. "Because we're not gonna let you."

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was defeated in her bid to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, losing to Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia.

Connolly, 74, bested the 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez with 131 to 84 votes in what is seen as a blow for progressives who backed Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the progressive "Squad."

"I thank my colleagues for their support and the confidence they’ve placed in me to lead House Democrats on the Oversight Committee," Connolly said in a statement after being elected by the House Democratic Caucus.

Connolly called out "the Republican playbook," in which he accused Republicans of using "debunked conspiracy theories" and enabling "the worst abuses of the Trump Administration."

‘THERE’S ALWAYS CONSEQUENCES': GOP REBELS PLOT MUTINY AGAINST JOHNSON OVER GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN DRAMA

"This will be trench warfare." Connolly said. "Now is not the time to be timid. I promise the American people that our Committee Democrats will be a beacon of truth and prepared from day one to counter Republican gaslighting."

When Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram asked Connolly if he was up for a potential fight against the Trump administration, Connolly said he was "raring to go."

TOP REPUBLICAN TOUTS ‘REAL MOTIVATION’ BEHIND HOUSE DOGE CAUCUS' MISSION BEFORE FIRST MEETING

"I did it before for four years, and bested them on a number of occasions, and I'm raring to go again," he said.

Connolly said that President-elect Trump "may feel more emboldened" after his reelection victory, though "that may also make him more reckless."

"There is a law in this land, and we're going to make sure it's enforced," Connolly said.

In his written statement, Connolly said Democrats will be "disciplined" and "laser focused on getting results on the kitchen table issues that are affecting the American people the most."

"We will stand up for our democracy and for truth," the statement said. "And we will protect the tremendous and historic progress we have made as House Democrats."

Fox News' Chad Pergram and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

A top aide on Vice President Harris' failed presidential campaign recently called for more cultural voices like the vocal anti-America and anti-Israel Twitch star, Hasan Piker, who previously faced backlash for saying that "America deserved 9/11."

Harris' former deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, said during a recent interview that Democrats are "losing hold of culture" and laid out a strategy for them to develop a "whole thriving system" ahead of future elections.

"We need a whole thriving ecosystem," Flaherty told Semafor. "It’s not just Pod Save America, though I think we should have more of them. It’s not just Hasan Piker. We should have more Hasan Pikers. It’s also the cultural creators, the folks who are one rung out who influence the nonpartisan audience. Those things all need to happen together."

"The reality is it’s not going to be big media organizations. It’s going to be a network and a constellation of individual personalities, because that’s how people get their information now," he added.

KAMALA HARRIS AIDE ADMITS DEMOCRATS 'LOSING HOLD OF CULTURE' AS INFLUENCER MEDIA SHIFTS RIGHT

Flaherty, who previously served as the director of digital strategy for the Biden White House, is likely to face backlash for calling for "more Hasan Pikers" due to Piker's past controversial comments. Piker, who previously raised more than $1 million for Palestinian aid, has used his platform with millions of followers to downplay and justify terrorist attacks such as Oct. 7 and 9/11 as acts of resistance in recent years.

During a 2019 livestream, Piker praised the "brave f---ing soldier" who wounded conservative U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, while he was deployed to Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL, asking, "Didn't he go to war and, like, literally lose his eye because some mujahideen, a brave f---ing soldier, f---ed his eyehole with their d---?"

He went on to say that "America deserved 9/11, I’m saying it," before later walking it back and saying it was "inappropriate." However, in another stream this year, Piker joked about 9/11 again, saying, "Oh my god, 9/11 2 is going to be so sick" and "give Saudi Arabia a nuke so they can do 9/11 2."

In another stream, Piker broadcast propaganda from the Houthis, an Iranian-backed group in Yemen that has been designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group. Instead of explicitly addressing the materials as questionable propaganda, the streamer instead expressed sympathy and admiration for the group.

"They do musicals about, like, their f---ing actions all the time," Piker said of the terrorist propaganda. "They love walking over like the American flag and the Israeli flag, side by side."

"They do not care about the heavy missiles … they will literally take the war to them no matter what. … For them, it's an act of resistance. You know what I mean?" he added.

"It doesn't matter if f---ing rapes happened on Oct. 7," Piker said in a May 22 stream. "It doesn't change the dynamic [of Palestinians and Israelis] for me."

FOX NEWS ‘ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED’ NEWSLETTER: TRUMP'S WARNING TO HAMAS GIVES HOSTAGES' FAMILIES NEW HOPE

During an April 18 stream, Piker also expressed that Hamas was the "lesser evil" next to the Israeli military.

While Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others have been on Piker's platform, Dem Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York wrote a letter this year to top executives at Twitch and Amazon expressing "alarm about the amplification of antisemitism on Twitch at the hands of Hasan Piker" and said Piker has "emerged as the poster child for the post-October 7th outbreak of antisemitism in America."

"Outside the context of October 7th, Mr. Piker has even joked and mused about men date-raping women on a college campus and has posted an image of a handgun on top of a United States Senator in what appears to be open invitation to gun violence against a sitting elected official," Torres said. "Inviting one’s followers to shoot an elected official, whether it be done in earnest or in jest, is the kind of threat that warrants serious attention from federal law enforcement."

Piker’s Twitch streams regularly hit more than a million views and often have as many as 30,000 viewers at a given time.  

Fox News Digital reached out to Flaherty for comment but did not receive a response.

Fox News' Andrea Margolis contributed reporting.

Vice President Kamala Harris tried to encourage Democratic staffers facing layoffs from the DNC on Sunday, telling them that their "spirit will not be defeated."

Harris made the comments during the DNC's holiday celebration in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. She spoke alongside President Biden and first lady Jill Biden at the event, which played host to staffers who were let go from the DNC without severance packages after the election.

"This holiday season, like any time of the year, let us really be conscious of all the blessings we have. Let us celebrate the blessings we have; let us celebrate and advance the blessings we have yet to create," Harris said. "And let us always remember our country is worth fighting for, and our spirit will not be defeated."

"And hear me when I say this, that spirit that fuels the countless hours and days and months of work that you have put into this, that spirit. It can never be defeated. Our spirit is not defeated. We are not defeated. Let's be clear about that. We are strong. We are clear about why we are in this. And because you're here right now. I say again, thank you. Because not only are you clear about all of that, you're willing to put in the hard work and that work must continue," she said.

ELIZABETH WARREN SAYS KILLING OF UNITEDHEALTHCARE CEO WAS A WARNING: 'YOU CAN ONLY PUSH PEOPLE SO FAR'

Biden took the stage after Harris and defended the pair's legacy as they prepare to leave office. He argued that the country is in a "resoundingly" better position today than when he and Harris entered the White House.

"The one thing I've always believed about public service, and especially about the presidency, is the importance of asking yourself, have we left the country in better shape than we found it? Today, I can say with every fiber of my being, of all my heart, the answer to that question is a resounding yes," he said.

WHO ELSE IS MULLING A BID TO STEER THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

He went on to encourage staffers to "stay engaged" in the years ahead.

"You're not going anywhere, kid," Biden said of Harris. "Because we're not gonna let you."

Some DNC staffers had expressed frustration at the post-election layoffs, which are relatively common in Washington, D.C. The DNC union objected to the lack of severance packages and other benefits when the layoffs were announced in late November.

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"We find it very cruel that DNC management is trying to claim that layoffs are just part of the job," a DNC union member told Mother Jones. "And we feel strongly that losing an election has not absolved the organization of its responsibility to treat its workers with basic dignity."

DNC Chair Jaime Harrison does not plan to seek re-election to his post, leaving a pool of would-be leaders to vie for the top position.

The next chair will be chosen by the roughly 450 voting members of the national party committee when they meet at the beginning of February at National Harbor in Maryland for the DNC's winter meeting.

The list of candidates seeking to replace Harrison includes Martin O'Malley, the former two-term Maryland governor, Ben Wikler, who has led the Democratic Party in Wisconsin for five years, and Minnesota Democrats chair Ken Martin.

The House voted to pass its yearly defense bill Wednesday, adding about another $1 trillion to the $36 trillion national debt.

The 1,800-page bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), details how $895.2 billion allocated toward defense and national security will be spent.

On Wednesday, the bill passed 281-140, with 16 Republicans voting no. Only 81 Democrats voted yes, while 124 voted no.

The legislation now heads to the Senate for passage before heading to President Biden’s desk for his signature.

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The bill’s passage comes as the U.S. national debt continues to climb at a rapid pace and shows no signs of slowing down.

As of Dec. 11, the national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors, fell to $36,163,442,396,226.61, according to the latest numbers released by the U.S. Treasury Department. The debt represents a decrease of $8.8 billion from the figure released the previous day.

By comparison, 40 years ago, the national debt hovered at about $907 billion.

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The latest findings from the Congressional Budget Office indicate the national debt will grow to an astonishing $54 trillion in the next decade, the result of an aging population and rising federal health care costs. Higher interest rates are also compounding the pain of higher debt.

Should that debt materialize, it could risk America's economic standing in the world.

The spike in the national debt follows a burst of spending by President Biden and Democratic lawmakers.

As of September 2022, Biden had already approved roughly $4.8 trillion in borrowing, including $1.85 trillion for a COVID relief measure dubbed the American Rescue Plan and $370 billion for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a group that advocates for reducing the deficit.

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While that is about half of the $7.5 trillion that President-elect Trump added to the deficit while he was in office, it's far more than the $2.5 trillion Trump approved at that same point during his first term. 

Biden has repeatedly defended the spending by his administration and boasted about cutting the deficit by $1.7 trillion. 

"I might note parenthetically: In my first two years, I reduced the debt by $1.7 trillion. No president has ever done that," Biden said recently. 

That figure, though, refers to a reduction in the national deficit between fiscal years 2020 and 2022. The deficit certainly shrank during that period, though it was largely because emergency measures put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic had expired.

Despite adding to the national debt, the NDAA was strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers were against the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization.

The bill also included a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted service members and a 4.5% increase for others as key to improving the quality of life for those serving in the military.

The defense act also includes measures to strengthen deterrence against China and calls for an investment of $15.6 billion to bolster military capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. The Biden administration had only requested about $10 billion.

Fox News’ Eric Revell and Morgan Phillips, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pledged to try to find agreement with President-elect Trump when the Republican takes power next year.

"Democrats have consistently made clear that we are ready, willing and able, to find bipartisan common ground with the incoming administration on any issue," Jeffries said during his weekly press conference on Wednesday.

One issue he held up in particular was finding bipartisan ways to tackle the cost of living crisis that’s putting a strain on millions of Americans.

He later reasserted that promise when asked by a reporter about how he anticipates navigating a relationship with Trump.

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"We are prepared to find common ground with the incoming administration on any issue, particularly as it relates to the most decisive ones to emerge from this election, which, in our view, is to deal with the high cost of living," Jeffries said.

"The American people are correct that the deck has been stacked against everyday Americans for decades in ways that undermine the ability for far too many Americans to access the American Dream."

The Democratic leader said he has not spoken with Trump yet since his election but anticipated a conversation "in the next few weeks."

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Jeffries will be among the figures to watch next year as lawmakers navigate another Trump-held Washington. 

He is the only one of the four congressional leaders next year to not have any kind of relationship with Trump. 

His predecessor, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had a famously combative relationship with the president-elect.

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But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a close ally of Trump’s, will almost certainly need to have buy-in from Jeffries on critical legislation next year. 

With several Republicans expected to leave the House for Trump administration roles, the likely margin for at least the first few months in Congress will be 217-215 – meaning Republicans must vote in lock-step to pass any bills without Democratic support.

Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., whose once-promising career was seemingly destroyed by sexting scandals, is eyeing a political comeback and exploring a return to New York City Council.

Weiner, 60, who resigned from Congress in 2011 after admitting to sending women explicit photos, has filed to run for a seat on the council where he previously served for six years in the 1990s representing Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach in Brooklyn.

Campaign finance records list a campaign committee that was set up on Friday for Weiner called Weiner 25, in addition to listing him as a candidate for a council seat in Lower Manhattan.

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In a phone conversation Tuesday with The Associated Press, Weiner said he is "still exploring" whether to actually campaign for the office. He said he opened the committee late last week so he could participate in a forum held by the Downtown Independent Democrats later this week.

He said on his weekly radio show that he hasn’t fully decided on a run just yet and is considering the personal dynamics of a return to politics.

Responding to calls from reporters and listeners to his 77WABC radio program last month, Weiner said he wasn’t done with politics and that people in his neighborhood have approached him about returning to office.

"The way I always unpack these things is ‘What does it mean for me and my neighbors?’ The city has always been the way that I have looked at service. And, you know, we are Democrats. We stand up… for each other… we don't like people being victimized by bullies," Weiner said. 

Weiner said New York City should always be the "shining laboratory" of Democratic Party ideals and said that "for years we had Republicans running this town."

From 1994 to 2002, Republican Rudy Giuliani served as mayor. He was succeeded by Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Independent Michael Bloomberg until 2013. 

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The City Council, however, has historically been a supermajority of Democrats and currently has just six Republicans compared to 45 Democrats.

Weiner blamed part of the homeless and migrant problem on a 1979 class action suit brought against then-Gov. Hugh L. Carey and Mayor Ed Koch that resulted in the "Callahan Decree" – which instituted a right-to-shelter for homeless men.

He continued through a litany of things he would like to see improved about the city, such as being able to walk into a Duane Reade with his son and not find most of the store's goods locked up.

Weiner was once seen as then-Rep. Chuck Schumer's protégé and had a close relationship with his fellow Brooklynite. When Schumer gave up his House seat and successfully won the Senate seat of retiring Republican Al D'Amato, Weiner replaced him in 1999 and served 12 years before resigning in disgrace after sending lewd photos.

After his resignation, Weiner continued sexting under the pseudonym "Carlos Danger." The main recipient, Sydney Leathers, who was 22 at the time, claimed the former lawmaker referred to himself as "an argumentative, perpetually horny middle-aged man."

He tried to make a comeback in 2013 to run for mayor but was damaged by new revelations of explicit photos Weiner had sent under the pseudonym.

A few years later, in 2016, he was embroiled in another sexting scandal during which he separated from his wife, longtime Hillary Clinton confidante Huma Abedin, who is now engaged to Alex Soros, the son of left-wing billionaire George Soros. In one image Weiner sent, he was lying in bed with his young son.

Later that year, claims surfaced again, this time that Weiner had sexted a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina and his laptop was seized. Investigators found emails pertinent to Clinton's classified documents scandal that preceded her upset loss to President-elect Donald Trump.

Weiner later checked himself into rehab for sex addiction and in 2017 was sentenced to 21 months in his federal sexting case – which imploded his then-bid for mayor. He was released in 2019 and was ordered to register as a sex offender.

President Biden and key Democrats are now opposing a once bipartisan bill that would have authorized 63 new permanent district judgeships now that President-elect Donald Trump would be the one to fill 21 of those slots once he takes office.

The Senate in August passed the "Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act" or the "JUDGES Act of 2024," which staggers the 63 new permanent judgeships the president may choose over the next 10 years. Citing how courts are burdened by heavy caseloads, the bill says the president shall appoint 11 of those permanent judgeships in 2025 and 11 more in 2027. The president would tap another 10 judges in 2029, 11 in 2031, 10 in 2033 and 10 more in 2035, the bill says. 

Democrats are decrying how the bill did not come to a vote in the House before the election – when control of the next presidency, and therefore which party would choose those next 21 judges, still hung in the balance. 

The White House released a statement on Tuesday saying Biden would now veto the bill if it came to his desk. 

"While judicial staffing is important to the rule of law, S. 4199 is unnecessary to the efficient and effective administration of justice," the White House said. "The bill would create new judgeships in states where Senators have sought to hold open existing judicial vacancies. Those efforts to hold open vacancies suggest that concerns about judicial economy and caseload are not the true motivating force behind passage of this bill now." 

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"In addition, neither the House nor the Senate fully explored how the work of senior status judges and magistrate judges affects the need for new judgeships," the White House continued. "Further, the Senate passed this bill in August, but the House refused to take it up until after the election. Hastily adding judges with just a few weeks left in the 118th Congress would fail to resolve key questions in the legislation, especially regarding how the judges are allocated." 

During a House Rules Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. Chip Roy, R-N.C., and House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, made the argument that a significant number of districts in states, regardless of their political make-up, have sounded the alarm about staffing shortages worsening the backlogs of cases. However, despite the significant need, they argued, the appointment process has become politicized.

"We need the number of judges," Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, admitted. "However, President Trump has shown, he bragged that by his three appointments, he overturned Roe v. Wade. He said he was going to do it. He did it. So don’t tell me it’s not political." 

"Under this legislation, we all promised to give the next three unknown presidents a certain number of judges," Nadler said. "Because no one can tell the future we were all at an equal disadvantage, but for this deal to work, the bill had to be passed before Election Day."

The bill text cites how as of March 31, 2023, there were 686,797 pending cases in the district courts across the country, with an average of 491 weighted case filings per judgeship over a 12-month period.

Shortly before the White House released its statement signaling Biden would veto the bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., gave a speech noting how the JUDGES Act passed the Senate by unanimous consent in August.

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The bipartisan support, McConnell argued, proved "that the right to a speedy trial still enjoys overwhelming popularity." 

"I was particularly encouraged by the vocal endorsement of our friend, the Democratic leader, who recognized the measure as, quote, ‘very responsible, bipartisan and prudent bill that would lead to a better functioning judiciary.’ Soon, we expect the House to take up and pass the JUDGES Act with similar overwhelming support," McConnell said. "And normally, we could rest assured that such popular action would be signed into law without further ado. But maybe not this time." 

"Last week, the White House seemed to suggest, through anonymous comment that President Biden has concerns with the bill. I, for one, would be curious to hear the president's rationale. It's hard to imagine a justification for blocking the JUDGES Act that doesn't smack of naked partisanship," McConnell, who did lead the GOP effort to block former President Obama's appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, said. "It's almost inconceivable that a lame duck president would consider vetoing such an obviously prudential step for any reason other than selfish spite."

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"Litigants across America deserve their day in court," he said. "They deserve to know the federal judiciary has the bandwidth to carefully and thoroughly consider their cases. The president, former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is well equipped to appreciate this fact, and I hope he acts accordingly." 

Progressive Democrats are frustrated with how President Biden is handling his lame duck era, with President-elect Donald Trump dominating the news cycle with Cabinet nominations and meetings with world leaders.

Biden has remained relatively quiet in the weeks since Trump won re-election and has allowed Trump to steal the show at several notable events. Biden sent his wife, first lady Jill Biden, to attend the re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, giving Trump an opportunity to greet French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in front of the cameras.

"This is one of the lamest of lame ducks we’ve seen with a Democratic administration. A massive missed opportunity," Usamah Andrabi, spokesman for the progressive group Justice Democrats, told the Wall Street Journal.

Democrats also feel that Biden and the White House have not been critical enough of Trump's Cabinet nominees. Trump has already had one nominee withdraw, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for defense secretary and a former Fox News host, has also drawn criticism.

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"We should be less hobbled and more spurred. We should be vocal, pushing back against these nominees who are nothing but a disaster in the making," Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee told the Journal.

"Most voters don’t know Kash Patel or even who Matt Gaetz or Tulsi Gabbard are," Waleed Shahid, a progressive Democratic strategist, told the outlet. "But many more Americans would know if President Biden spoke about them… The only way to win the war of attention is by going to the voters and explaining things to them, which President Biden has consistently avoided doing."

However, the White House pushed back on the criticism, arguing that Biden has been busy on foreign trips.

"President Biden is making every day of this term count as he accelerates the implementation of an unprecedented agenda that will benefit hardworking Americans for generations," White House spokesman Andrew Bates told the Journal.

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Top Democratic governors have been far more vocal in criticizing the incoming administration. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared an effort to "Trump-proof" California last month. Part of that plan includes spending $25 million on potential legal battles with the Trump administration.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also said he is prepared to "fight like hell" against the Trump administration, but he acknowledged the need to have a working relationship with the White House.

"If your values are being attacked, or you’ve got communities or people who are being attacked that don’t deserve it, you’ve got to fight like hell," said Murphy. "And then over here, you’ve got to have a relationship with the guy."

The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee suggested Congress should scrap the latest version of its annual defense policy bill over a provision that bans most transgender medical care for minors.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., leads Democrats on the committee that's intimately involved in crafting the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) each year. Fiscal year (FY) 2025’s edition was released over the weekend.

"For the 64th consecutive year, House and Senate Armed Services Committee Democrats and Republicans worked across the aisle to craft a defense bill that invests in the greatest sources of America’s strength: service members and their families, science and technology, modernization, and a commitment to allies and partners," Smith said in a statement on Sunday night.

"However, the final text includes a provision prohibiting medical treatment for military dependents under the age of 18 who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Blanketly denying health care to people who clearly need it, just because of a biased notion against transgender people, is wrong."

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The 1,800-page, $895.2 billion legislation, which lays out U.S. national security and defense priorities for the fiscal year, is the product of bipartisan House and Senate negotiations.

It included a measure that said "medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18," referring to the transgender children of U.S. service members.

Smith said, "This provision injected a level of partisanship not traditionally seen in defense bills. Speaker Johnson is pandering to the most extreme elements of his party to ensure that he retains his speakership. In doing so, he has upended what had been a bipartisan process."

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"I urge the Speaker to abandon this current effort and let the House bring forward a bill – reflective of the traditional bipartisan process – that supports our troops and their families, invests in innovation and modernization, and doesn’t attack the transgender community," Smith finished.

When reached for comment, Johnson’s office pointed Fox News Digital to the speaker’s initial statement lauding the compromise NDAA.

"This legislation includes House-passed provisions to restore our focus on military lethality and to end the radical woke ideology being imposed on our military by permanently banning transgender medical treatment for minors and countering antisemitism," Johnson said Saturday.

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Hesitance from defense hawks like Smith could put the passage of the entire NDAA in question. 

The legislation normally passes with wide bipartisan approval, with expected opposition from progressives and conservatives who are critical of the military industrial base and U.S. interventionism, among other issues.

Its first test will come late on Monday afternoon, when the NDAA is debated before the House Rules Committee – the last barrier before legislation can see a House-wide vote.

If it fails to pass in committee, House leaders will likely be forced to send it to the House floor under suspension of the rules. That would forgo the rules panel's approval in exchange for hiking the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds of the chamber.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., is considering a run for New York governor – and he’s raising his national profile with a tidal wave of criticism against leaders in his own party.

Torres has been vocally opposed to the blue stronghold’s progressive criminal justice policies and has criticized how Gov. Kathy Hochul has managed the Empire State, raising eyebrows about a potentially bruising primary in 2026.

"Hochul has a history of coded stereotyping, falsely claiming that young black Bronxites have never heard of the word ‘computer.’ She knows as much about me and communities of color as she knows about governing effectively. Absolutely nothing," he wrote on X last week.

He was also one of the first Democrats to come out and blame the progressive left for Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to President-elect Trump, saying at the time, "Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Jews from the Democratic Party."

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When reached for comment, Torres’ spokesperson told Fox News Digital that he is weighing a gubernatorial bid "and plans to make a final decision by mid-2025."

The congressman himself gave insight into his thinking when he recently went after New York City Mayor Eric Adams for employing a staffer who had been accused of ripping down posters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas.

"If I were at the helm of NYS or NYC government, antisemites need not apply. Tearing down posters of the hostages is completely unacceptable and would not be tolerated," Torres wrote on social media.

In late November, he accused both Adams and Hochul of being "complicit" in a stabbing spree that left three New Yorkers dead. 

That same month, he lambasted New York’s policies as bad for business.

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"There are regulations in place that make it impossible to do business… and have made it impossible to build," Torres said during a Citizens Budget Commission meeting, according to the New York Post.

Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., who chaired the New York State Republican Party for over a decade, said it was not shocking to see Torres attacking Hochul while mulling his own gubernatorial bid.

"Richie Torres is vocalizing many of the same criticisms Republicans have raised about the dysfunction in Albany. So it’s not surprising that she’s facing a challenge from her own party," Langworthy said.

However, he dismissed Torres’ critiques of progressivism as "posturing in the face of Hochul’s failures and the undeniable success" of Trump’s platform.

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Torres had been a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) until earlier this year, when he left over disagreements about Israel. 

When asked about Torres' criticism, Hochul said at a recent press conference that she was "a little busy" doing her job.

"Those who have government jobs who aren't focused on their jobs, and are focused on an election almost two years off, I would think their constituents would have a problem with that," she said.

Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Riverside, California, addressed a controversy involving a transgender athlete on its cross country team and a lawsuit by two girls on the team alleging their "Save Women's Sports" T-shirts were compared to swastikas by school administrators. 

The school has faced criticism locally from its own students and nationally from women's athlete activists, including Riley Gaines and Jennifer Sey. 

In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) says it has allowed the transgender athlete to compete on the team because it must to comply with California state law. The school said those who are upset by it should direct their anger to state and federal lawmakers. 

"As these matters play out in our courts and the media, opposition and protests should be directed at those in a position to affect those laws and policies, including officials in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento," the statement said. 

The statement also cited language in the California Education Code, California Code of Regulations and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) bylaws, all of which outlined protections for transgender athletes in public schools. 

"It is important to remember that RUSD is bound to follow California law which requires that students be 'permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records,'" the statement said.

"While these rules were not created by RUSD, the district is committed to complying with the law and CIF regulations. California state law prohibits discrimination of students based on gender, gender identity and gender expression and specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in physical education and athletics. The protections we provide to all students are not only aligned with the law but also with our core values, which include equity and well-being." 

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The RUSD's statement did not address the controversy involving the "Save Women's Sports" T-shirts. 

California has had state laws in effect to protect transgender athletes in women's sports dating back to 2014. That year, AB 1266 took effect, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."

And Martin Luther King High School is not the first public institution to blame Democrat-authored state laws for a controversial dispute with student-athletes over sharing spaces with transgender athletes.

The University of Nevada, Reno dealt with a controversy with its women's volleyball players in October, when the athletes' request to forfeit a match against a team with a transgender athlete was initially rejected by the administration. 

The players made their own public statements about intending to forfeit the match and held a press conference where they accused the university of trying to pressure them into playing. Team captain Sia Liilii alleged athletic department officials told the players they "didn't understand the science" of facing a transgender athlete. 

The university provided a statement to Fox News Digital, outlining that it could not fulfill the player's wishes of forfeiting the match without violating Nevada state law. The state's constitution was revised in 2022 when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protections. 

Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman, a Democrat from North Las Vegas who co-sponsored the bill to get it on the ballot, said the law has helped transgender people maintain their identity.

"As a state university, a forfeiture for reasons involving gender identity or expression could constitute per se discrimination and violate the Nevada Constitution," the university's statement added. 

The university ended up forfeiting the match one day before it was scheduled due to not having enough players to compete.

California and Nevada are not the only states that have faced controversy involving public school girls not wanting to face a transgender opponent in the past year. 

Even states with laws in place to restrict transgender inclusion have had incidents of it happening due to decisions by liberal judges. New Hampshire and Virginia, both states with such laws in place, were affected in 2024. 

Judges Landya McCafferty of New Hampshire and M. Hannah Lauck of Virginia, both appointed during the Obama administration, each issued rulings this year that enabled biological males to play on high school girls soccer and tennis teams. McCafferty issued an order that allowed two transgender athletes to compete in New Hampshire, while Lauck ruled that an 11-year-old transgender tennis player was allowed to compete against girls the same age in Virginia. 

The Biden administration issued a sweeping rule that clarified that Title IX’s ban on "sex" discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and "pregnancy or related conditions" in April. The administration insisted the regulation does not address athletic eligibility. However, multiple experts presented evidence to Fox News Digital in June that it would ultimately put more biological men in women's sports. 

The RUSD's message on Friday has given the district a chance to remind the public that it is at the mercy of the Democratic establishment on this topic. 

Still, the students have fought back. 

California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey revealed that more than 150 students have worn the T-shirts to school since the controversy started and alleged that students who refused to comply with the new dress code were forced to spend hours in the principal's office. Lorey says those students plan to keep doing this on a regular basis despite their school's new rule. 

"I received those numbers from parents directly involved," Lorey told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "I then have received word on social media that the students plan to continue to do this every Wednesday."

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Texas Democratic Rep. Greg Casar, the newly elected chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, spent years as a City Council member in Austin and led the charge to strip funding from local law enforcement — at one point bragging about it on social media.

"We did it!!" Casar wrote on X after legislation he drafted in the Austin City Council passed, resulting in a more than $100 million cut in local police funding and an end to three incoming cadet classes. The measure passed unanimously in 2020 after a stint of police shootings involving people of color. 

Casar on Thursday was elevated to the highest-ranking leadership position for progressives in the House of Representatives, following a unanimous vote from his peers in the caucus. The move comes as Democrats continue to conduct a forensic analysis following the election, many of whom have called on the party to take a more centrist approach in the future. 

Casar's history as a public official, particularly at the local level, does not illustrate moderation, according to Dennis Farris, president of the Austin Police Retired Officers Association. 

"'Far-left radical' is a really good way to describe what he did in [Austin]," said Farris.

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In 2017, Casar led a charge to reject a mutually agreed upon contract between the City of Austin and the Austin Police Association, setting off a wave of retirements and hiring issues due to the uncertainty around job security and benefits for officers. Meanwhile, in 2020, Casar led the drafting of legislation to strip more than $100 million in funding to the police department, which included the elimination of funding from three planned police cadet classes. Instead, the reallocated funds went to programs related to abortion access, affordable housing and food security. 

Shortly thereafter, the City of Austin began redirecting certain 911 calls to mental health professionals. Additionally, last year, a shortage of officers compelled police in Austin to ask residents to dial 311, instead of 911, if they got robbed near an ATM. 

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During his time as a City Council member in Austin, Casar also authored two "Freedom City" resolutions, which eliminated the use of discretionary arrests for certain non-violent crimes and required police to inform people that they are legally allowed to deny requests for immigration papers. Other policies Casar supported in his position as City Council member included a ban on non-lethal police munitions and certain chokeholds.

As a member of Congress, Casar has continued putting pressure on Austin's police officers, as well. 

Last year, he called on the Department of Justice to conduct oversight into "the Department's policies and practices of excessive and lethal use of force, racial discrimination, and discrimination against people with mental health conditions."

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"There was a thought in 2020 that the Democrats were actually going to flip the Texas House, and Casar was used in several campaign ads by Republicans all over the state. Democrat friends of mine thought the ‘defund the police movement’ was the reason that Democrats didn't win," Farris said. "I've spoken to several Democratic friends of mine, and they will tell you that [Casar] was a hindrance to the state-level Democrats in 2020."

Following last month's elections, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was among a score of Democratic lawmakers who argued the party has lost its centrist, working-class base.

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"There is more to lose than there is to gain politically from pandering to a far left that is more representative of Twitter, Twitch, and TikTok than it is of the real world," Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said following the election. "The working class is not buying the ivory-towered nonsense that the far left is selling."

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the same day as Casar's caucus election victory, NBC News published a story about the sophomore congressman in which he echoed much of the analysis from other Democrats that an intra-party shift is necessary.   

"We are now at a place where we have to put winning way above being right all the time," he told the outlet. "It’s less of a left-right fight and more of a getting back to a Democratic Party that’s for everyday people, no longer being seen as preachy or disconnected."

Nonetheless, during a press conference following his victory, Casar said, "If the Democratic Party was a little more like Chairwoman [Washington Rep. Pramila] Jayapal and a little less like [West Virginia Sen.] Joe Manchin, I think we would have won this election." Jayapal is the outgoing chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has similarly led efforts to defund the police.

Fox News Digital reached out to Casar's office for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the progressive Democrat from New York, has launched a bid to serve in the top Democratic role on the House committee leading investigation efforts into the federal government.

In a letter to her fellow lawmakers on Friday, AOC announced her candidacy to serve as ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability for the 119th Congress, a position currently held by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

The "Squad" member, in her pitch to colleagues, noted that her focus would be to lead a Democratic effort against the incoming administration under President-elect Trump.

"This is not a position I seek lightly," the congresswoman wrote in the letter. "The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one. Now, more than ever, we must focus on the Committee’s strong history of both holding administrations accountable and taking on the economic precarity and inequality that is challenging the American way of life."

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"In the 119th Congress, Oversight Committee Democrats will face an important task: we must balance our focus on the incoming president’s corrosive actions and corruption with a tangible fight to make life easier for America’s working class," she continued. 

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AOC's announcement comes just days after Raskin, the committee's current ranking member, announced he would be seeking the top Democratic post again during the next Congress.

AOC will also be competing for the seat against Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who recently declared his bid for the Oversight role.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., currently serves as chairman of the committee, which focuses on ensuring efficiency and accountability within the federal government and its agencies. 

Republican lawmakers in Arizona are calling for Pima County recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly to be investigated for her handling of the 2024 General Election, accusing her of closing an early ballot request portal before the legal deadline for early ballot requests, among two other claims of potential misconduct.

Arizona State Representatives Teresa Martinez and Rachel Jones penned a letter to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes last week requesting a probe following reports of "significant and highly concerning issues" involving Cazares-Kelly’s actions leading up to and during the election, the lawmakers said in a joint statement Monday. Cazares-Kelly, a progressive Democrat, has been in office since 2021. 

Martinez and Jones claim the Pima County Recorder’s Office disabled its online ballot request system six days before the legal deadline, impacting nearly 4,000 voters. They say the decision has raised concerns about compliance with Arizona election laws and potential voter disenfranchisement in the county, located in southern Arizona. The county has a population of just over 1 million people, per the 2020 census, making it Arizona's second-most populous county, behind Maricopa County. 

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The pair have also raised concerns that inadequate safeguards in the recorder’s voter registration program for prison inmates may have allowed ineligible individuals to vote. They say previous inquiries into this matter, including a letter sent by Jones and State Representative Cory McGarr on June 5, went unanswered. 

Thirdly, Martinez and Rachel Jones say that the method of how undeliverable ballots were processed, stored and tracked under Cazares-Kelly's leadership, has also been raised.

A follow-up letter sent by Jones and McGarr on Oct. 24 to clarify compliance with Arizona law likewise received no response, according to the letter.

"Election integrity is the foundation of our democracy, and voters deserve to know their elections are being administered fairly, lawfully, and transparently," Martinez said in a statement. "The numerous irregularities and lack of accountability from the Pima County Recorder’s Office demand a full investigation." 

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Jones added that: "When nearly 4,000 voters face barriers to requesting a ballot, and when questions about unlawful voting and ballot processing are met with silence, it’s clear that immediate action is needed to restore public trust."

Cazares-Kelly’s office provided Fox News Digital with a Nov. 19 press release which she addressed concerns regarding the early ballot request portal.

It reads that Pima County discovered a district boundary error weeks before election which led to an "unavoidable delay" in the vendor’s printing and assembly of ballots resulting in many voters flood the online form to request ballots. Some voters did so despite already being on the Active Early Voting List (AEVL), which duplicated their ballot requests.

"The processing of online ballot requests is still a very manual process in our office, requiring us to look up each voter record and review many pieces of information," Cazares-Kelly said, per the release.

"Follow-up communication is often necessary.  After monitoring the progress of the ballot requests during the week leading up to the October 25 deadline, it became clear that our office could not manually process all the online requests in a timely manner. Only 39% of the more than 20,000 ballot requests manually processed before October 19 were valid."

She said that her data team filtered out about 4,000 duplicate requests and emailed the remaining 3,900 voters with unique online early ballot requests, urging them to call the office so it could process the requests more quickly with one phone call versus back-and-forth correspondence.  

"I am confident that most of the voters who requested a ballot using our online form either received their already queued ballots, voted early in person, updated their addresses online or successfully requested a mail ballot," Cazares-Kelly said.

A spokesperson for Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes' office says it has received the letter but is declining to comment further, telling Fox News Digital that the attorney general’s office does not comment on potential investigations. 

Cazares-Kelly is the first Native American woman elected to a seat in Pima County, according to her campaign website. She is the President of the Progressive Democrats of Southern Arizona and Vice President of the Arizona Democratic Party's Native American Caucus.

In Martinez’s and Jones’ letter, the pair made reference to Mayes’ comments last month that her office was investigating whether President-elect Trump’s remarks about former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney qualifies as a death threat under Arizona’s law.

On the campaign trail, Trump called Cheney a war hawk and postulated how she might feel standing in a war zone with "nine barrels shooting at her."

"Arizonans deserve free, fair, and transparent elections," the letter reads. "In light of your recent decision to immediately investigate President-elect Donald Trump over his speech (although you later determined his remarks were protected by the First Amendment), we hope you will agree that Recorder Cazares-Kelly's alarming conduct administering the 2024 General Election warrants a thorough investigation."

READ THE LETTER BELOW. APP USERS CLICK HERE.