The Trump administration reversed a Biden-era legal opinion from the Department of Justice on Thursday that permitted taxpayer dollars to be used for ancillary services associated with helping someone obtain an abortion, such as transportation costs.
The policy was particularly used in aiding unaccompanied minor migrants to get abortions, according to the Trump administration.
In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Health and Human Services Department took the view that taxpayer dollars – even though prohibited by Congress from being used to pay for abortions directly under the Hyde Amendment – could be used to provide transportation services for patients seeking an abortion. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), charged with interpreting the laws for the president and executive branch agencies, agreed at the time under the Biden administration.
However, that interpretation and opinion have been upended after Trump's OLC issued a new one Thursday that bars taxpayer funds from going toward any "ancillary services" that might help someone get an abortion.
The 2022 Biden-era OLC opinion formed the basis for HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to use federal funds to help unaccompanied minors obtain transportation and other services in support of getting an abortion, according to the July 11 opinion released Thursday.
"Current regulations require ORR to ‘ensure that all unaccompanied children in ORR custody… be provided with… access to… family planning services,’ and recognize that ‘transportation across State lines and associated ancillary services’ may be ‘necessary to access’ such ‘family planning services,'" the new opinion stated.
"Where such transportation services are necessary for an individual to obtain an abortion, the associated costs constitute the kind of indirect expense that the post-1993 Hyde Amendment limits," the opinion continues. "Under current circumstances, interstate transportation expenses could dwarf the cost of the abortion procedure itself. It would thus be inconsistent with longstanding congressional policy – as reflected in the Hyde Amendment’s textual bar on ‘expend[itures] for any abortion’ – for HHS to fund such expenses merely because they do not go directly to the person or entity performing the abortion."
In 1993, Congress changed the statutory language of the Hyde Amendment, which resulted in years of disputes over the measure's interpretation.
The new OLC opinion released Thursday argues that the 1993 change expanded the Hyde Amendment to include anything done in service of someone receiving an abortion, not just the abortion itself.
Fox News Digital did not receive a response from the Justice Department prior to publication of this story.
The move to strengthen the Hyde Amendment's protections follows the president's Executive Order 14182, instructing agencies to "end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion."
As suspected Maryland MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia stands trial in a high-profile criminal case, three more alleged MS-13 members in the state are being charged with racketeering conspiracy, including murder and drug trafficking.
Commenting on the charges, acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti said the men's actions "furthered MS-13’s reign of terror across communities in Maryland."
The charges, filed against Salvadoran nationals living in Maryland – Maxwell Ariel Quijano-Casco, 24, Daniel Isaias Villanueva-Bautista, 19, and Hyattsville, Maryland man, Josue Mauricio Lainez, 21 – were announced in a Department of Justice statement on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the three men allegedly killed a homeless man as part of their involvement with MS-13. The DOJ said the three allegedly killed the man on July 4, 2024, in a "retaliatory murder."
The victim was found dead in a blue Dodge Caravan that was parked in a used car lot in Hyattsville the next day.
The department said a nearby surveillance camera caught the murder on video. According to the statement, the video shows the victim wielding what appears to be a pole at Quijano-Casco, who then flees and returns with Villanueva-Bautista, Lainez and another unnamed person. The four approach the blue van where the victim fled, open the door and appear to strike someone inside.
Police arriving at the scene the next day found the victim, who appeared to have been stabbed in the neck.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ, FBI and Prince George’s County Police Department to request to review the video. Neither agency immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request.
Quijano-Casco and Villanueva-Bautista were arrested by Prince George’s County Police on Aug. 23, according to the DOJ. Quijano-Casco was found in possession of a semi-automatic handgun and about eight grams of cocaine at the time of his arrest. Both admitted that they were present for the altercation where the victim was murdered and Quijano-Casco allegedly admitted to police to stabbing the individual.
The three are being charged with racketeering conspiracy, including the July 4, 2024, murder. If convicted, they face sentences of up to life in prison.
In the statement, Galeotti of the DOJ’s Criminal Division said the "senseless murder" was carried out "in exchange for promotions within the gang and drugs."
Galeotti said, "Their actions furthered MS-13’s reign of terror across communities in Maryland."
U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Kelly Hayes called the killing a "brutal retaliatory murder" that serves as a "chilling reminder of the MS-13 gang’s callous disregard for human life."
She said her office will continue to work with law enforcement to dismantle criminal organizations such as MS-13 that "terrorize our communities."
This comes as Abrego Garcia, 29, another Salvadoran national who was living in Maryland, faces charges of human smuggling and conspiracy.
According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia played a "significant role" in a human smuggling ring operating for nearly a decade. Attorney General Pam Bondi described him as a full-time smuggler who made more than 100 trips, transporting women, children and MS-13 gang-affiliated persons throughout the U.S.
According to police and court records shared with Fox News Digital, Abrego Garcia was arrested in Hyattsville in October 2019, at which point he was identified by the Prince George's County Police Gang Unit as a member of MS-13.
The State Department will now only weigh in on foreign elections when there is a "clear and compelling" U.S. interest to do so, focusing on strategic significance over spreading democratic values.
"Consistent with the administration’s emphasis on national sovereignty, the Department will comment publicly on elections only when there is a clear and compelling U.S. foreign policy interest to do so," according to a new memo articulating Secretary Marco Rubio’s directive obtained by Fox News Digital.
"Messages should avoid opining on the fairness or integrity of an electoral process, its legitimacy, or the democratic values of the country in question."
The memo, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, said the U.S. would "hold firm to its own democratic values and celebrate those values when other countries choose a similar path," but would continue relationships where "strategic interests align," instead of focusing on values.
Overseas outposts can still post public messages congratulating the winner of an election without high-level signoff, unless the outcome is contested, but are instructed to focus on the "outcome of an election, not the process."
If a bureau wants to post messages denouncing the process of an election, such as in the case of violence during voting or sham elections, they need a senior-level signoff from the bureau and such permissions will be "rare."
"DO use messaging on elections to advance a U.S. foreign policy goal," the memo read. "DON’T use it to promote an ideology."
Those writing official statements are instructed to ask themselves, "Would the president say it?"
The U.S.’ view on an election is closely watched by opposition groups and human rights activitists, and sometimes defines whether a nation is sanctioned or granted foreign aid.
In a speech in Saudi Arabia in May, President Donald Trump said the U.S. would refrain from telling other countries how to manage their domestic affairs, reorienting U.S. policy that prompted interventions across the Middle East for decades.
But still, in some cases, Trump has weighed in on the affairs of other countries: last week he imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil due to the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who prosecutors accuse of trying to overturn the 2022 election results in a violent coup plot.
EXCLUSIVE: An environmental advocacy group accused of trying to manipulate judges organized a years-long, nationwide online forum with jurists to promote favorable info and litigation updates regarding climate issues – until the email-styled group chat was abruptly made private, Fox News Digital found.
The Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) was founded in 2018 by a left-wing environmental nonprofit, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), and pitches itself as a "first-of-its-kind effort" that "provides judges with authoritative, objective, and trusted education on climate science, the impacts of climate change, and the ways climate science is arising in the law."
But critics, such as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, say CJP is funded by China and left-wing activists for one purpose.
"They fund CJP to train judges," Cruz said during a June hearing. "So, quote, unquote, train in climate science and make them agreeable to creative climate litigation tactics. Then, these left-wing bankrollers turn around and fund the climate litigators who will bring these bogus cases before those same judges that they've just indoctrinated.
"This is like paying the players to play and paying the umpire to call the shots the way you want."
The group, however, says it provides "neutral, objective information to the judiciary about the science of climate change as it is understood by the expert scientific community and relevant to current and future litigation."
One of the efforts CJP launched included rolling out an email-styled listserv by which leaders from the Climate Judiciary Project could message directly with judges, documents obtained by Fox News Digital show. The listserv was launched in September 2022 and maintained until May 2024, according to the documents. A portal website page for the forum was previously publicly available, with an archived link saved in July 2024 showing there were 29 members in the group.
"Judicial Leaders in Climate Science," the archived website link reviewed by Fox Digital reads, accompanied by a short description that the group was a "Forum for Judicial Leaders in Climate Science to share resources."
A link to the forum now leads to an error warning, stating, "Sorry, but that group does not exist."
Fox News Digital obtained the archived chat history of the forum, which detailed numerous messages between at least five judges and CJP employees trading links on climate studies, congratulating one another on hosting recent environmental events, sharing updates on recent climate cases that were remanded to state courts, and encouraging each other to participate in other CJP meet-ups.
One message posted by Delaware Judge Travis Laster, vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, features a YouTube video of a 2022 climate presentation delivered by a Delaware official and a Columbia University professor that focused on the onslaught of climate lawsuits since the mid-2000s. It also included claims that such lawsuits could one day bankrupt the fuel industry.
Laster shared the video in the group with a disclaimer to others: "Please do not forward or use without checking with me" as the video is "unlisted" on YouTube and not publicly available.
A handful of other judges responded to Laster's video and message, praising it as "great work."
"This is great work/great stuff, Travis; congrats on a job well-done, & thank you so much for sharing this!," Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Scheele responded, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Another judge in a Nebraska county court added that he had not watched the video yet but said the state court administrator's office was interested in a similar program focused on "litigation and climate change." The Nebraska judge said he "may need to lean on all of you for guidance and direction."
The judges' correspondence on the forum included their typical email signatures, showcasing their job titles as "judge" as well as which court they preside over.
The climate activists also posted messages directed to the judges on the listserv, Fox News Digital found, including a science and policy analyst at the Environmental Law Institute posting a lengthy message on Nov. 15, 2023. The message encouraged judges and climate activists alike to review the government's publication of the Fifth National Climate Assessment that year, which the environmental crusader said contained "good news and bad news."
"The bad news is that the impacts of climate change are being felt throughout all regions of the United States, and these impacts are expected to worsen with every fraction of a degree of additional warming. The report finds that climate change will continue to affect our nation's health, food security, water supply, and economy," the message read.
"The good news is that the report also notes that it isn't too late for us to act," the message continued, before encouraging the 28 other members of the group to go over CJP's climate curricula, such as "Climate Science 101" and "Climate Litigation 101," and send over any feedback.
"As you know, our Climate Judiciary Project exists to be as beneficial to judges as possible, so any insights you might have for us would be very helpful!" the message added when asking members to review the curricula.
In another message, CJP's manager, Jared Mummert, sent a message to the group in May 2024 praising the judges for their mentorship of a second group of "Judicial Leaders in Climate Science" – which included 14 judges from 12 states and Puerto Rico – as part of a partnership between CJP and the National Judicial College. The National Judicial College provides judicial training for judges across the country from its Reno, Nevada, campus.
"We want to give a special ‘thank you’ to those who are serving as mentors to this second cohort!" the message read. It added that CJP was ramping up its number of "engagement opportunities" to "every six months for both cohorts of judges to come together to share updates and connect with one another."
Fox News Digital reached out to five of the judges on the listserv for comment, four of whom did not respond.
Scheele's office told Fox News Digital on Thursday that he first joined the 2022 National Judicial Conference on Climate Science, more than two years before he was appointed to the Court of Appeals of Indiana, after another delegate was unable to attend.
"At the last minute, when another appointed delegate was unexpectedly unable to attend, Judge Scheele was asked by Indiana’s state court administration to fill in as Indiana’s representative, and he accepted the invitation. As is normal in conferences attended by our judges, this conference addressed emerging, hot button issues that might come before the courts," Scheele's office said.
It added: "Judge Scheele does not recall any substantive communication on the ‘listserv’ mentioned. He, like all of our Court of Appeals of Indiana judges, is dedicated to the unbiased, apolitical administration of justice in the State. He, like all of our judges, educates himself on emergent topics in the law and applies his legal training to evaluate the legal issues before him."
CJP, for its part, said the now-defunct email list was created in September 2022 to help members of its Judicial Leaders in Climate Science program communicate and network with one another for the duration of the program.
The one-year program, established by CJP in coordination with the National Judicial College, "trains state court judges on judicial leadership skills integrated with consensus climate science and how it is arising in the law," the group told Fox News Digital.
Judges quietly working behind the scenes with climate and environmental activists have drawn criticism from conservative lawmakers in recent years as climate-focused suits increased, including those who have accused CJP of manipulating the justice system.
Cruz, for example, has been at the forefront of condemning CJP for joining forces with the National Judicial College. Cruz argued in a 2024 opinion piece that he is "concerned that this collaboration means court staff are helping far-left climate activists lobby and direct judges behind closed doors."
Cruz again railed against CJP during a Senate subcommittee hearing in June, called "Enter the Dragon – China and the Left’s Lawfare Against American Energy Dominance," where the Texas Republican argued there is a "systematic campaign" launched by the Chinese Communist Party and American left-wing activists to weaponize the court systems to "undermine American energy dominance." CJP, Cruz said, is a pivotal player in the "lawfare" as it works to secure "judicial capture."
Cruz said CJP's claims of neutrality are bluster, and the group instead allegedly promotes "ex parte indoctrination, pressuring judges to set aside the rule of law, and rule instead according to a predetermined political narrative."
Judges have previously landed in hot water over climate-related issues in group forums, including in 2019, when a federal judge hit "reply all" to an email chain with 45 other judges and court staff regarding an invitation to a climate seminar for judges hosted by the Environmental Law Institute. The judge was subsequently chastised by colleagues for sharing "this nonsense" and suggested it was an ethics violation, while others defended that flagging the event to others was not unethical.
Fox News Digital spoke with Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith, who explained there has been an overarching increase in courts promoting trainings for judges on issues they would eventually be asked to preside over impartially, pointing to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts’ DEI trainings for judges during the Biden era. The office works as the administrative agency for the U.S. court system, handling issues from finances to tech support.
"There's a problem right now with many courts putting forward, seeming to take sides on issues they will be asked to address through the trainings that they're putting forward. And this was a particular problem with the DEI trainings that different federal district courts were putting on, that the Administrative Office of U.S. courts were sponsoring. It appeared that the judiciary itself was encouraging violations of the Constitution, violations of federal law, and most problematically was taking sides in issues they would eventually be asked to sit and preside over impartially," he said.
Justice Department officials did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on the CJP program in question, or other efforts to educate judges more directly on climate issues.
Still, news of the program’s outreach comes as the U.S. has seen a sharp uptick in climate-related lawsuits in recent years, including cases targeting oil majors Shell, BP and ExxonMobil for allegedly engaging in "deceptive" marketing practices and downplaying the risks of climate change, as well as lawsuits bought against state governments and U.S. agencies, including the Interior Department, for failing to adequately address risks from pollution or adequately protect against the harm caused by climate change, according to plaintiffs who filed the suits.
CJP's educational events are done "in partnership with leading national judicial education institutions and state judicial authorities, in accordance with their accepted standards," a spokesperson for the group said in an emailed statement. "Its curriculum is fact-based and science-first, grounded in consensus reports and developed with a robust peer review process that meets the highest scholarly standards."
"CJP’s work is no different than the work of other continuing judicial education organizations that address important complex topics, including medicine, tech and neuroscience," this person added.
The number of climate-related lawsuits in the U.S. has increased significantly in recent years, including during the last two years of the Biden administration. To some extent, the educational efforts led by CJP appear to have been enacted in earnest to address real questions or concerns judges might have in presiding over these cases for the first time – many of which seek tens of millions of dollars in damages.
The Supreme Court agreed earlier this month to grant a request from ExxonMobil and Chevron to transfer two Louisiana lawsuits from state to federal court.
While the move itself is not immediately significant, it will be closely watched by oil and gas majors, as they look to navigate the complex landscape of environmental lawsuits, including lawsuits filed by state and local governments. Oil majors typically prefer to have their cases heard by federal courts, which are seen as more sympathetic to their interests.
Since Trump’s re-election in 2024, the cases appeared to have died down, at least to an extent. U.S. appeals courts have declined to take up many challenges filed on behalf of plaintiffs in several states who have sued claiming government inaction and failure to act to protect against known harms from fossil fuel extraction and production in the U.S.
CJP’s program is run by ELI in partnership with the Federal Judicial Center, the latter of which bills itself as the "research and education center" for judges across the country.
Their work includes partnerships with myriad outside groups beyond the CJP aimed at informing and educating judges on a range of issues, including neuroscience and bioscience, constitutional law, and bankruptcy, among other things.
According to their website, the effort is important to help judges understand relevant case law and ethics, sentencing guidelines, and other types of issue-specific programs they might be encountering for the first time.
Fox News Digital has previously reported on CJP's cozy relationship with judges, including when the group's president, Jordan Diamond, detailed in a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor in September that the group "doesn’t participate in litigation, support or coordinate with any parties in litigation, or advise judges on how they should rule in any case."
A subsequent Fox News Digital review published in December found that several CJP expert lawyers and judges continued to have close ties to the curriculum and are deeply involved in climate litigation, including tapping insight from university professors who have also filed several climate-related amicus briefs.
"CJP doesn’t participate in litigation, support or coordinate with any parties in litigation, or advise judges on how they should rule in any case," an ELI spokesperson defended in a comment to Fox News Digital in December. "Our courses provide judges with access to evidence-based information about climate science and trends in the law."
Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this piece.
In the 2026 midterm elections battle for control of the House, when Republicans will be defending their razor-thin majority, it seems nothing's out of bounds.
The GOP-controlled state legislature in Texas meets in special session next week, as top Republicans in the red state push to redraw the current congressional maps to reduce the number of districts controlled by already marginalized Democrats.
It's part of a broader effort by the GOP across the country to keep control of the chamber, and cushion losses elsewhere in the country, as the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.
And President Donald Trump is aiming to prevent what happened during his first term, when Democrats stormed back to grab the House majority in the 2018 midterms.
"Texas will be the biggest one," the president told reporters earlier this week, as he predicted the number of GOP-friendly seats that could be added through redistricting in the Lone Star State. "Just a simple redrawing, we pick up five seats."
Hours earlier, Trump held a call with Texas' Republican congressional delegation and sources confirmed to Fox News that the president told the lawmakers that he was aiming to redraw the maps to create five new winnable seats.
Democrats control just 12 of the state's 38 congressional districts, with a blue-leaning seat vacant after the death in March of Rep. Sylvester Turner.
The idea is to relocate Democratic voters from competitive seats into nearby GOP-leaning districts, and move Republican voters into neighboring districts the Democrats currently control.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both conservative Republicans and Trump allies, said they needed to redistrict because of constitutional concerns raised by the Justice Department over a handful of minority-dominated districts.
But the move is potentially risky.
"There is some risk of making safe Republican seats more competitive, and I think that the incumbents are certainly worried about that," veteran Texas-based Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser told Fox News. "If you talk to Republican members of Congress, they're going to be worried about their own seats. They don't want to be in a seat that's more competitive."
Steinhauser noted "that's the tradeoff for Republicans, if you want to grow the majority."
But he added that "the people drawing the maps… they don't want to make any seat too competitive because that will defeat the purpose."
Redistricting typically takes place at the start of each decade, based on the latest U.S. Census data. Mid-decade redistricting is uncommon – but not without precedent.
Democrats are slamming Trump and Texas Republicans for what they describe as a power grab, and vowing to take legal action to prevent any shift in the current congressional maps.
"Democrats are going to push back aggressively because it’s the right thing to do," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters this week.
Democrats in blue-dominated states are now considering similar tactics.
"Two can play this game," California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on social media this week.
The next day, after a meeting, Democrats in California's congressional delegation said they were on board with an ambitious plan to try and gain at least five seats through redistricting. Democrats currently control 43 of the Golden State's 52 congressional districts.
But it won't be easy to enact the change, because in California, congressional maps are drawn by an independent commission that is not supposed to let partisanship influence their work.
Newsom this week suggested that the state's Democratic-controlled legislature move forward with a mid-decade redrawing of the maps, arguing that it might not be forbidden by the 17-year-old ballot initiative that created the independent commission.
The governor also proposed quickly holding a special election to repeal the commission ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Both plans are considered long shots, as they would face plenty of legislative, legal and financial hurdles.
Democrats are also hoping to alter congressional maps in battleground Wisconsin, but the new liberal majority on the state Supreme Court recently declined to hear the case. Democrats and their allies are now in the midst of a second legal push for redistricting in Wisconsin.
Democrats have also filed redistricting litigation in Utah and Florida, which are both red states.
Meanwhile, Ohio is required by law to redistrict this year, and a redrawing of the maps in the red-leaning state could provide the GOP with up to three more congressional seats.
The White House dismissed comments that the Trump administration's efforts to yank already approved federal funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting pose a public safety threat.
The rescissions package the Senate approved early Thursday pulls more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that provides federal funding for NPR and PBS.
"These are not honest news organizations," Leavitt told reporters Thursday. "These are partisan left wing outlets that are funded by the taxpayers. And this administration does not believe it's a good use of the taxpayers' time and money."
PBS and NPR could not be immediately reached for comment by Fox News Digital.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated.
The White House dismissed comments that the Trump administration's efforts to yank already approved federal funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting pose a public safety threat.
The rescissions package the Senate approved early Thursday pulls more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) that provides federal funding for NPR and PBS.
"These are not honest news organizations," Leavitt told reporters Thursday. "These are partisan left wing outlets that are funded by the taxpayers. And this administration does not believe it's a good use of the taxpayers' time and money."
PBS and NPR could not be immediately reached for comment by Fox News Digital.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed additional details on President Donald Trump's health after photos showed some bruising on the back of his hands, and apparently swollen legs.
"I know that many in the media have been speculating about bruising on the president's hand and also swelling in the president's legs," she said Thursday. "So in the effort of transparency, the president wanted me to share a note from his physician with all of you today."
Leavitt went on to read a memo explaining that the swollen legs were part of a "benign and common condition" for individuals older than age 70, while the bruising on his hands were attributable to "frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin."
"In recent weeks, President Trump noted mild swelling in his lower legs," Leavitt said Thursday during a press briefing. "In keeping with routine medical care and out of an abundance of caution, this concern was thoroughly evaluated by the White House Medical Unit."
"The president underwent a comprehensive examination including diagnostic vascular studies, bilateral lower extremity … venous Doppler ultrasounds were performed and revealed chronic venous insufficiency, a benign and common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70," Leavitt said.
"Importantly, there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease," she continued. "Laboratory testing included a complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel coagulation profile, D-dimer, B-type natriuretic peptide, and cardiac biomarkers. All results were within normal limits. An echocardiogram was also performed and confirmed normal cardiac structure and function. No signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness were identified."
Photos of Trump's swollen legs circulated in July, when he joined the FIFA Club World Cup final Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, spurring headlines and social media speculation that the president was allegedly concealing a health issue. While concern also spread after photos of Trump's hands showed bruising when he met with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Wednesday.
Leavitt went on to explain that the bruising on the back of Trump's hands was due to his Asprin intake and frequently shaking hands with other people.
"Additionally, recent photos of the president have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand," Leavitt said. "This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen. This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy, and the president remains in excellent health, which I think all of you witness on a daily basis here. So the president wanted me to share that note with all of you."
Trump's White House physician released his medical report in April that found was in "excellent health."
"President Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and general physical function," read the release by Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president.
The release included Trump’s vital statistics, noting that the president is 75 inches tall, weighs 224 pounds, has a resting heart rate of 62 beats per minute, a blood pressure of 128/74 mmHg, a pulse oximetry of 99% on room air and a temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
FIRST ON FOX: Kentucky’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Thursday against e-commerce giant Temu, alleging that its app illegally gives the Chinese government access to Americans’ user data and that the company lifts intellectual property from U.S.-owned companies.
In a complaint filed in Woodford County Circuit Court, state attorneys asked for an injunction against Temu, an Amazon rival with a China-originating parent company, for what they described as "multifold" harms.
Kentucky investigators identified "code-level behaviors" in the Temu app that involved the collection of users' sensitive personal data in a manner that was not secure, in violation of state consumer protection laws, the attorneys said.
"These privacy and security harms are compounded both because the Temu app is purposely designed to evade detection … and because Defendants — by their own [acknowledgment] — have a portion of their operations located on mainland China, where cybersecurity laws allow the government unfettered access to data owned by Chinese businesses whenever it wishes," the attorneys wrote.
The complaint alleged that Temu improperly collects users' Wi-Fi and GPS information, as well as camera data without appropriate permission.
The attorneys also alleged that Temu brazenly sells products using stolen intellectual property of large and small brands, including that of Kentucky’s historic horse racetrack in Louisville.
"As of the date of this filing, Temu features dozens of what appear to be unlicensed products claiming to be from Kentucky brands like the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Buffalo Trace Distillery and Churchill Downs," the complaint reads.
Temu’s parent company is PDD Holdings, which originated in China but moved to Ireland. Before launching Temu in the United States in 2022, PDD Holdings founded Temu’s sister company, Pinduoduo, a Chinese online retailer.
Temu has become known for its heavily discounted products and aggressive advertising strategy, which included three multimillion-dollar animated Super Bowl ads last year. Temu was Apple's most downloaded free app in 2023, according to TechCrunch.
Temu's tagline is "Shop like a billionaire," though its pricing structure has in recent months been disrupted by Trump's trade war with China.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said the company's "cheap products and flashy marketing" distract from more insidious problems.
"Their platform can infect Kentuckians’ devices with malware, steal their personal data and send it directly to the Chinese government," Coleman, an elected Republican and former U.S. attorney, said in a statement. "At the same time, they’re eroding trust in some of Kentucky’s most iconic brands, which could lead to job losses and hardship."
The lawsuit is the latest instance of Temu coming under scrutiny, mainly by Republicans, for its ties to China, a top U.S. adversary. Last year, 20 GOP state attorneys general demanded information from Temu's ownership about allegations brought by Congress that its China-based suppliers used forced labor. Temu denied the claim at the time.
Zohran Mamdani's past comments are once again coming back to haunt his New York City mayoral campaign, as a resurfaced video reveals the socialist candidate floated the "abolition of private property."
"My platform is that every single person should have housing, and I think faced with these two options, the system has hundreds of thousands of people unhoused, right? For what?" Mamdani questioned in a resurfaced video that has been clipped and reposted across conservative social media.
"If there was any system that could guarantee each person housing, whether you call it the abolition of private property or you call it, you know, just a statewide housing guarantee, it is preferable to what is going on right now," Mamdani said.
"People try and play like gotcha games about these kinds of things, and it's like, look, I care more about whether somebody has a home," he said.
The clip drew widespread condemnation from conservatives, including GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who told Fox News Digital, "He claims to be a socialist, whether it's wanting to abolish private property or wanting to seize the means of production, these are communist ideas right out of the playbook of Karl Marx."
"The fact that too many members of the media, too many members of the Democrat Party, are willing to go along instead of calling him out on it is disturbing, and I think that if the majority of New Yorkers knew what this guy truly stands for and how destructive and dangerous his policies are, there's no way that they vote from, because so many in our city. Led places where socialism and communism destroyed their lives," Malliotakis, whose mother fled communism to the United States from Cuba, said.
GOP Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents New York's 17th Congressional District, also took issue with the post.
"Zohran Mamdani’s call to abolish private property is dangerous and un-American," Lawler said.
"It’s the kind of radical socialist nonsense that would destroy livelihoods in the Hudson Valley and across New York. This will bring economic chaos, and New Yorkers deserve better than out-of-touch extremists pushing communist agendas that threaten our way of life."
"Mamdani’s call to abolish private property isn’t just radical, it’s dangerous," Rep. Claudia Tenney told Fox News Digital. "Stripping this fundamental right would devastate families, close small businesses, and destroy entire communities, all while handing more power to the government. Private property is a cornerstone Constitutional principle. It represents the essence of personal freedom, economic opportunity, and the American Dream. We must defend it."
"Mamdani isn’t offering a housing plan — he’s pushing a communist manifesto. The idea of abolishing private property is fundamentally anti-American and wildly out of touch with the real issues New Yorkers face," Rep. Nick Langworthy told Fox News Digital. "Families are fleeing the City and our State because of high costs, crime, and broken leadership — not because there’s too much freedom. New York City has to decide: do they want a mayor who believes in safety and prosperity, or a communist who wants to seize your home?"
The comments sparked a social media firestorm as well.
"Yea, this guy is definitely not a communist," Donald Trump Jr., who recently spoke to Fox News Digital about the prospect of Mamdani being mayor, sarcastically posted on X.
"He is a communist," GOP Sen. Ted Cruz responded to the viral clip on X.
"Like I said he’s a communist," Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen posted on X.
"Yes, you heard that right," New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik posted on X. "Like the true Communist he is, Commie Mamdani supports the "abolition of private property." This is the NY Democrat Party @KathyHochul you lead and you have failed to condemn this dangerous insanity."
"Meet the new leader of the Democrat party, everyone," GOP Sen. Roger Marshall posted on X. "He's a literal communist."
Since his surprise victory in the Democratic primary rocketed him to nationwide recognition, Mamdani has faced heated criticism and been labeled a "communist" for a variety of positions he has espoused, including on social media where resurfaced clips have come back to haunt him.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas — who is up for re-election next year and facing a primary challenge from Lone Star State Attorney General Ken Paxton — told NBC News that he has spoken to President Donald Trump about a potential endorsement.
"I’ve talked to him about it a number of times. He is not ready to make that endorsement," Cornyn told the outlet. "I think as we start advertising and closing the gap in the polls, hopefully he’ll see fit to make that endorsement, but we can’t wait."
"I pointed out to him, and he knows this, that if he endorsed me, the race would be over," the senator noted, according to the outlet.
Cornyn has spent more than two decades in the Senate — prior to taking office in late 2002, he served as Texas attorney general, the post that Paxton currently occupies.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak said that "President Trump’s endorsement is the most powerful endorsement in the modern history of the Republican Party."
"Senator Cornyn and President Trump are good friends and close allies and Senator Cornyn is proud to have voted with President Trump 99.2% of the time while he has been in office. We respect that the President will take his time to make a decision and in the meantime we are focused on running a first rate, winning campaign, as Senator Cornyn always has."
Fox News Digital also reached out to the White House and to Paxton's campaign for comment.
Paxton's wife, Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, a Republican, declared in social media posts last week that "after 38 years of marriage" she "filed for divorce on biblical grounds."
FIRST ON FOX: A bipartisan House duo is teaming up for a resolution to urge elected leaders in the U.S. to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada."
The legislation, being led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Rudy Yakym, R-Ind., would condemn the phrase "as a call to violence against Israeli and Jewish people across the world."
"Globalize the intifada," as a call, has been a subject of national controversy since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas in southern Israel, though it sparked new tension in recent weeks with New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's refusal to publicly condemn it. He reportedly recently distanced himself from the slogan during a private meeting, however.
While the bipartisan legislation does not expressly mention Mamdani, the four-page bill is notably being released a day after his trip to meet with national Democrats in Washington, D.C.
"Condemning it should be common sense, but some would rather play politics than tell the truth. The violence and hatred directed at Jewish and Israeli people is reprehensible," Yakym told Fox News Digital. "No one, especially in America, should have to live in fear for their safety, or even their life, because of their religion or ethnicity."
Gottheimer, who is Jewish, said, "'The Intifada’ refers to a horrific wave of terror attacks that killed thousands of Jews. Globalizing it is a direct call for violence against Jews, and it must be condemned."
"I’m against hate speech targeting anyone — and everyone should be. It’s insane and unacceptable to me that this antisemitic rhetoric is spreading rampant across our country," he said.
A moderate Democrat who helps lead the Problem Solvers Caucus, Gottheimer was one of the Democrats present at Mamdani's breakfast event with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Wednesday.
Their legislation cites several instances of violence against Jews in recent months, including the attack on pro-Israel demonstrators in Colorado, the fatal shooting of a pair of Israeli embassy staffers in D.C., and arson at the Pennsylvania governor's mansion while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were holding a Passover seder.
If passed in the House, the resolution would affirm that lawmakers believe "globalize the intifada" is a "call for violence against Israeli and Jewish people across the world" that "undermines the safety and security of Israeli and Jewish people in their communities."
It would also declare that "those truly committed to Middle East peace should refrain from affirming, chanting, or displaying the slogan" and "the slogan must be strongly and unequivocally condemned by national, State, and local leaders."
"Globalize the intifada" has become a well-worn refrain at pro-Palestine demonstrations across the U.S., in response to Israel's invasion of Gaza following the Hamas attack.
Others have warned, however, that it's part of an increasingly alarming trend of antisemitic rhetoric that's broken out in the U.S. since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
Mamdani, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist who won the Democratic primary in the New York City mayoral race, has been slammed by his critics for refusing to condemn calls to "globalize the intifada."
He is not being accused of using the phrase himself, however.
The New York Times reported that Mamdani said in a Tuesday meeting with business leaders that he would "discourage" the use of the phrase.
Like many on the progressive left, he's a fierce critic of Israel's military operation in Gaza.
Fox News Digital's Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.
The federal immigration operations in Los Angeles have created a sense of "political irony" in the Golden State, according to Los Angeles County Republican Party Chair Roxanne Hoge.
The region continues to make waves after anti-ICE riots in June, as well as authorities recently conducting a massive operation on a cannabis farm in Southern California that resulted in a riot, hundreds of illegal immigrant arrests and a child labor investigation into the company. The operation was the result of a criminal search warrant, and the company, Glass House Brands, has denied intentional wrongdoing.
"The political irony of the Trump administration coming in to clean up the mess that the California Democrats has made, is it will make Los Angeles livable, right?" Hoge said.
"They're gonna end up looking better because the traffic will be easier, ERs will be easy to get to, and people will realize that there isn't a two-tiered justice system," Hoge continued. "If you want to open a restaurant in Los Angeles, you're looking at years before you can get the permits and build something. Just look at the poor people in the Palisades. If you're illegal, Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom have rolled out the welcome mat for you and your cart on the street. And people are noticing that."
In a deep blue area, Republicans generally have an uphill battle, and Hoge said that the message for the party to Independents and "disaffected Democrats" is to "continue to espouse public safety." In November, Los Angeles County voters ousted progressive District Attorney George Gascon and swapped him out with Nathan Hochman, an independent, by a wide margin.
"That really is the number one role of government, and it is the thing that the Democrats have completely failed at," Hoge said. "They own Los Angeles, all of it. The encampments, the inability to run a business, the inability of your kids to get a good education. That all lies on the feet of California Democrats, and we're just going to keep pointing out that we can do better."
The fires in Los Angeles brought heightened scrutiny to California leadership earlier this year, but the attention on them quickly shifted to immigration nationally. Mayor Bass and Gov. Newsom have been vocal opponents of the administration, with the mayor even directly meeting with ICE during a sweep earlier this month near MacArthur Park.
"They need to leave, and they need to leave right now. They need to leave because this is unacceptable!" Bass said at the time, and later said at a press conference that ICE needs to "go home."
"I don’t know if there’s a deal to be made. Like I told you, the deal that needs to be made is for them to go home," the Democrat said at the press conference.
Newsom has also remained firm in his stance against the administration, including a lawsuit against National Guard troop deployment by President Donald Trump over the riots in June.
"For more than a month, [Trump] has been exploiting [the California National Guard] as his political pawns," Newsom posted to X on July 15, as some of the troops were taken off their orders. "Thousands of members are still federalized in Los Angeles for no reason and unable to carry out their critical duties across the state. End this theater and send everyone home."
Hoge said voters should consider the broader issues that stem from the border crisis and illegal immigration, created in her view.
"My message is the same to everyone, including disaffected Democrats, of which I was a classic liberal. I'm an immigrant. I came here legally and became a naturalized citizen," Hoge said, adding that Democrats are "taking advantage" of people coming to the country illegally and opening the door to "exploitation by employers," sex crimes, and "all sorts of horrible things."
"I would say just remember that the fruit of the poison tree is the original sanctuary laws," Hoge said.
However, the Republican noted that the political implications are "tough to tell," adding that the left "has the advantage of just playing the same emotional notes over and over."
Los Angeles is considered a sanctuary city as of November 2024, which acts as a roadblock for the city to be "utilized" or "to cooperate" with the federal government on "immigration enforcement," according to a news release. The policy is currently facing a federal lawsuit.
As for the state of California, the governor's office recently said to Fox News Digital on background that state law "does not impede criminal investigations or sharing of information about an individual’s criminal history. California does not interfere with the federal government’s authority to enforce federal immigration laws with federal resources."
The governor's office noted on background that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has "coordinated" on over 11,000 cases with ICE, including serious crimes.
Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is expected to sit down with House Oversight Committee investigators behind closed doors in September, Fox News Digital has learned.
A House Oversight Committee aide told Fox News Digital that she's one of four high-profile former Biden officials who have scheduled interviews with the panel.
Also expected to appear in the coming weeks are Ian Sams, former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor in the White House Counsel’s Office; Andrew Bates, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Deputy Press Secretary; and Jeff Zients, former White House Chief of Staff, the aide said.
Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is investigating allegations that Biden's former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president's full knowledge. Biden allies have pushed back against those claims.
In an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, Biden affirmed he "made every decision" on his own.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to advance PresidentDonald Trump's former defense attorney Emil Bove to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, clearing his nomination out of the committee to the full Senate for a vote.
The narrow vote came after roughly an hour of sharp debate from Democrats on the panel, who stormed out of the committee room shortly before the vote was held. Sens. Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-NY, had unsuccessfully urged Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa to allow for more time to consider Bove's nomination, citing concerns made by a former Justice Department attorney and whistleblower, Erez Reuveni.
The lack of candor prompted Whitehouse to declare, "there's something rotten in Denmark," invoking Shakespeare and Booker, moments later, to unsuccessfully appeal to Grassley's "decency and decorum."
"Debating the nomination, putting things on the record — Dear God, that's what we are here for," Booker erupted. "What are you afraid of?"
In the end, their appeal was unsuccessful, and Booker joined Democrats on the panel in walking out of the room before the vote was held.
The narrow confirmation vote from Republicans on the panel advances Bove's nomination to the full Senate for a vote. It comes as Bove, a hard-charging former federal prosecutor whom Trump installed earlier this year as a senior official at the Justice Department, faces fresh scrutiny over his role in the administration. In recent weeks, a group of former federal judges and several Democrats on the committee have urged senators to reject his nomination.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would serve a lifetime appointment on the federal bench, which has jurisdiction in the districts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
Grassley rejected a request Tuesday afternoon from Democrats on the panel to hold a second round of hearings on Bove's nomination, noting that, under the Democrat majority, the panel rejected at least four such requests made by Republicans.
"Many times during the last Administration, then-chairman Durbin said ‘there cannot be one set of rules for Republicans on this committee and another set of rules for Democrats,’" Grassley said. "I agree with this statement and intend to adhere to the precedent of then-Chairman Durbin."
Grassley added that Bove had participated in a lengthy confirmation hearing last month, testifying under oath about whistleblower allegations made by a former Justice Department attorney.
Bove said under oath at the time, "I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order." Grassley also noted that Bove provided members of the panel with 165 pages of written responses to their questions.
"Following a comprehensive review of the additional documents that you published following the hearing and discussed in the media, I do not believe that they substantiate any misconduct by Mr. Bove," Grassley said, outlining plans to move forward with the vote as planned.
"I am not anybody’s henchman," Bove told the committee at his confirmation hearing last month. "I’m not an enforcer. I’m a lawyer from a small town, who never expected to be in an arena like this."
Bove, who spent nearly 10 years as a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, previously represented Trump as his personal attorney in two criminal cases following his first term as president. As a prosecutor and at the Justice Department, he has earned a reputation for his fierce — and at times, aggressive — leadership style.
One longtime defense lawyer who crossed paths with Bove in New York told Fox News Digital the nominee was an arrogant "bully" and browbeat people.
At the Justice Department, Bove has also emerged as the man behind some of the administration's most contentious actions, including the decision to drop federal corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, prompting some officials to resign rather than carry out his marching orders.
These allegations were detailed in part by an explosive whistleblower report last month from former Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni, who also detailed Bove's role in ousting some federal prosecutors involved in the investigations into the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot, and his alleged role in ordering department officials to ignore court orders with regard to the Alien Enemies Act
According to Reuveni, Bove "explicitly plotted to violate court orders" and directed law enforcement officers "to engage in illegal acts," among other things.
Reuveni, a 15-year DOJ veteran who was fired after struggling to defend the Trump administration's deportations in a U.S. court case in Maryland, said in the whistleblower complaint that Bove shocked longtime career officials handling immigration cases by telling them they would "need to consider telling the courts ‘f*** you’ and ignore any such court order."
The report prompted new concerns from former judges, including a group of more than 75 former federal and state judges, who urged lawmakers Tuesday to reject Bove's nomination — citing what they described in a letter as his "egregious record" at the Justice Department, according to the allegations from Reuveni.
"These are not actions of someone committed to equal justice under the law," the group said in a letter. "Rather, they reflect a troubling pattern of abusing prosecutorial discretion to shield political allies."
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has worked closely with Bove for years, told Fox News Digital in an interview ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing last month that Bove is a "freaking brilliant lawyer," and described his nomination to the appellate court as a "no-brainer."
Blanche described his colleague as the "most gentle, empathetic, great person that anybody could ever work with."
Longtime President Donald Trump political foe Democrat California Sen. Adam Schiff was referred to the Department of Justice to face criminal prosecution over alleged mortgage fraud that reportedly stretches back years.
Schiff, who was elected to the Senate in the 2024 election cycle following decades as a House lawmaker, is under scrutiny after the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sent a letter to the Department of Justice in May sounding the alarm that in "multiple instances," Schiff allegedly "falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, impacting payments from 2003-2019 for a Potomac, Maryland-based property."
FHFA is an independent federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System.
This week, Trump publicly lambasted Schiff over the alleged mortgage fraud, while Fannie Mae's financial crimes investigations concluded Monday in a letter to the FHFA that Schiff allegedly engaged in "a sustained pattern of possible occupancy misrepresentation" on five Fannie Mae loans, Fox News Digital previously reported this week.
"I have always suspected Shifty Adam Schiff was a scam artist," Trump posted to Truth Social Tuesday. "And now I learn that Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes Division have concluded that Adam Schiff has engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud."
"Adam Schiff said that his primary residence was in MARYLAND to get a cheaper mortgage and rip off America, when he must LIVE in CALIFORNIA because he was a Congressman from CALIFORNIA. I always knew Adam Schiff was a Crook. The FRAUD began with the refinance of his Maryland property on February 6, 2009, and continued through multiple transactions until the Maryland property was correctly designated as a second home on October 13, 2020."
Potomac, Maryland, is a suburb of Washington, D.C., located just more than 10 miles away from the nation's capital across the Maryland border.
Trump and Schiff have long been political foes, which was underscored during Trump's first administration when Schiff served as the lead House manager during the first impeachment trial against Trump in 2020 and when Schiff repeatedly promoted claims that Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russia
Fox News Digital took a look back at the timeline of Schiff's Maryland home, and when the public was first made aware in 2023 of allegations that Schiff claimed a more than 3,000-square-foot home in the suburbs of Washington as his primary residence, while taking a homeowner’s tax exemption on a small condo in his home state of California.
The investigation into Schiff's mortgages and homes follows a similar mortgage investigation earlier in 2025 focused on New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is also a longtime political Trump foe. The FHFA sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice in April arguing the attorney general appeared to have falsified mortgage records to obtain more favorable loans.
At the heart of that case is a Norfolk, Virginia, home James purchased in 2023, which she identified on mortgage documents and a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac form as a property that would serve as her primary residence, according to the FHFA letter from April. James is legally required to live in New York as a statewide elected official in the Empire State.
Fox News Digital reached out to Schiff's office for additional comment on the matter, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Fox News Digital's Danielle Wallace and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
