Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani clinched a historic, and deeply polarizing, victory by officially receiving the most votes ever recorded in a New York City mayoral primary.
After three rounds, Mamdani received 565,639 votes, surpassing the previous record of 547,901 votes held by David N. Dinkins in 1989, according to updated ranked-choice voting totals released Tuesday by the NYC Board of Elections.
Mamdani celebrated the milestone on X, posting: "With the updated RCV totals just released by the Board of Elections, our campaign has officially earned the most total votes in a primary in New York City history."
The far-left Assemblymember from Queens secured 565,639 votes after just three rounds of ranked-choice voting, defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by nearly 13 points, official BOE data confirms. Cuomo finished with 440,655 votes.
Mamdani’s campaign immediately seized on the numbers, touting the result as a "mandate" for progressive policies like a citywide rent freeze, taxpayer-funded childcare, and even "fast and free" public buses.
"This movement made history on election night," Mamdani said in a statement Tuesday, promising to "fulfill our promises to lower costs and build a city working people can afford."
Mamdani, who openly identifies as a Democratic socialist, currently represents Astoria and Long Island City in the New York State Assembly. His two-term record includes pushing for tenant protections, opposing utility rate hikes, and advocating for mass transit subsidies.
Ranked-choice voting was used for only the second time in a NYC mayoral primary. Mamdani secured 56.2% of the vote after three rounds, compared to Cuomo’s 43.8%.
Mayor Eric Adams needed eight rounds in 2021 to reach a narrow 50.4%.
The leftward political shift in New York City has drawn attention from state and national leaders.
"I had the first of what I consider to be many conversations with the nominee yesterday," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters Tuesday, adding that they discussed shared affordability goals as well as concerns from Jewish communities that "feel under siege." Hochul said Mamdani "understands the need" to engage those constituencies.
When asked about a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump calling Mamdani a "Communist Luncatic" and implying New York could lose funding under a Mamdani administration, Hochul pushed back firmly.
"We’re New Yorkers, we’re not going to be intimidated by threats from Washington, not now, not ever," she said.
With the general election looming, eyes are now on whether Cuomo or other centrist Democrats will mount independent challenges.
"President Trump supports Eric Adams, and we do not believe socialism is the answer," Cuomo campaign spokesman Rich Azzopardi told Fox News Digital. "Most New Yorkers are not Trumpers, and most New Yorkers are not socialists -- the majority lies in the middle. We will continue to assess the current situation in the best interest of the people of the City of New York."
The Cato Institute is warning that the federal government is testing the outer limits of executive power with President Donald Trump’s use of emergency tariffs, and it wants the courts to put a stop to it.
In a new amicus brief filed in V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump, Cato argues that the president overstepped his legal authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by imposing steep tariffs on imports from countries including China, Mexico and Canada.
The libertarian thinktank argues the move undermines the Constitution’s separation of powers and expands executive authority over trade in ways Congress never intended.
"This is an important case about whether the president can impose tariffs essentially whenever he wants," Cato Institute legal fellow Brent Skorup said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "There has to be a limit — and this administration hasn’t offered one."
"Tariff rates went up to 145% on some products from China," he said. "And the president’s lawyers couldn’t offer a limiting principle. That tells you the administration believes there’s no real cap, and that’s a problem."
Cato’s brief urges the appeals court to uphold a lower court ruling that found the tariffs exceeded the president’s statutory authority. The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled earlier this year that the president’s use of IEEPA in this case was not legally authorized. The court said the law does not permit the use of tariffs as a general tool to fight drug trafficking or trade imbalances.
Skorup said in court the administration was unable to define a clear limit on its authority under IEEPA.
"They couldn’t articulate a cap," he said. "There’s nothing in the law that mentions duties or tariffs. That’s a job for Congress."
The administration has defended its actions, arguing that IEEPA provides the necessary tools for the president to act swiftly in times of national emergency. Trump officials maintain that both the fentanyl crisis and America’s trade vulnerabilities qualify.
"There are real emergencies, no one disputes that," Skorup said. "But declaring an emergency to justify global tariffs or solve domestic trade issues goes far beyond what most Americans would recognize as a legitimate use of emergency powers."
Skorup acknowledged that the real issue may be how much discretion Congress gave the president in the first place.
"It’s a bipartisan problem. Presidents from both parties have taken vague laws and stretched them. Congress bears some of the blame for writing them that way," he said, adding that's why courts should "step in and draw the line."
For small businesses like V.O.S. Selections, the costs go beyond legal fees. Skorup said businesses who rely on imports, like V.O.S., have struggled to plan ahead as tariffs have been paused and reinstated repeatedly.
Skorup said there are several small businesses that rely on global imports and it becomes a "matter of survival" when tariff rates change unexpectedly.
"V.O.S. Selections imports wine and spirits and when the tariff rates go up unexpectedly, they can’t get products to their distributors as planned," he said. "And that’s true for others too, like pipe importers and specialized manufacturers. These companies don’t have the flexibility to absorb those costs or adjust overnight."
If the appeals court sides with the administration, it could mark a major expansion of presidential power over trade policy. Skorup warned that such a ruling would allow future presidents to take similar actions with little oversight.
"It would bless Congress’ ability to hand over immense economic power to the president," he said. "That would blur the separation of powers that the Constitution is supposed to protect."
A decision from the appeals court is expected later this year.
Former President Joe Biden's persistent use of a teleprompter during public events, including during a fundraiser with just a couple dozen supporters, left donors complaining for months and dashed their expectations of hearing from the 46th president, a new book claims.
"For most of the campaign, Biden only ever spoke with the assistance of a teleprompter, even for small private audiences," a new book, "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," reported. "The presence of the machine made for extremely awkward interactions in intimate settings, and irked donors who had paid thousands of dollars for a personal view of the president, not expecting a canned speech they could see on TV."
"He once read from a teleprompter in front of thirty people in the open kitchen of a Palo Alto mansion," the book continued. "Donors complained for months about the president’s reliance on the machine. Aides defended the teleprompter as a tool to keep the famously garrulous president on schedule."
"2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America" was released Tuesday and authored by Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post. It details the 2024 presidential campaign cycle, including Biden's cratering health issues.
The book detailed that just days after Biden's disastrous June 2024 debate against President Donald Trump that opened the floodgates to typical Democrat supporters turning their backs on Biden ahead of the election, the president attended a campaign event at Virginia Democrat Rep. Dan Beyers' house without a teleprompter. The book claims Biden only spoke for about six minutes.
"At Beyer’s house, the campaign was eager to prove Biden could speak off the cuff. There was no teleprompter to be found. The president blamed his poor debate performance on a heavy travel schedule and said he ‘almost fell asleep onstage.’ He spoke for about six minutes," the book detailed.
The word "teleprompter" appears in the new book a dozen times, mostly referencing the president's reliance on the machine, as well as concern among some staffers that using a teleprompter was crucial to the president avoiding the unexpected as his health deteriorated.
"The officials who planned events at the White House tried to avoid any surprises or unpredictable situations. If the president was going to speak, he would go to the podium, deliver remarks from a teleprompter, and leave. There was no room for creativity or spontaneity," the book states in a section on how Biden had fallen during a commencement in 2023 and staff devised plans to prevent another public fall in the future.
"Everyone could see the president was aging. He sometimes failed to recognize former staff at functions. Still, current aides insisted his decline was strictly physical, and even then they acknowledged it only by trying to Bubble Wrap the president and avoid any more catastrophes. Staff limited direct access to the president, keeping meetings with him small," the book continued.
Biden entered his 2024 reelection cycle already racked by claims and concerns that his mental acuity had slipped and he was not mentally fit to continue serving as president, which was underscored by special counsel Robert Hur's report in February 2024 that rejected criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials, citing he was "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." Fox News has been reporting on Biden's apparent health decline since at least 2020.
Biden brushed off the claims throughout 2024, until his debate against Trump in June of that year, when he was seen tripping over his words, speaking in a far more subdued tenor than during his vice presidency, and losing his train of thought at times. The debate opened the floodgates to criticism among Democrats that Biden should step aside and pass the mantle to a younger generation of Democrats.
After weeks of the White House and campaign staffers vowing Biden would stay in the race and to "keep the faith," Biden announced in a social media post on a Sunday afternoon in July 2024 that he dropped out of the race. He endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris to run for the Oval Office, giving her just over 100 days to launch her own campaign that failed to rally enough support when up against Trump.
Fox News Digital reached out to Biden's office regarding the claims in the new book, but did not immediately receive a reply.
President Donald Trump warned that New York won’t ever be the same if New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is elected.
Mamdani is a Ugandan-born Muslim who won the Democratic Party’s primary for New York City mayor in June and identifies as a Democratic socialist.
But Trump said that New Yorkers should not cast their ballot for the New York State assemblyman from Queens, who he described as "a man who's not very capable in my opinion, other than he's got a good line of bulls–-."
"No. 1, you have a communist running, and you shouldn't vote for him," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. "He's a disaster. He's leading. He's got the Democrat nomination because that shows you where the Democrats have gone."
"I'm not getting involved, but I can tell you this: I used to say we will not ever be a socialist country. Right. Well, I'll say it again. We're not going to have — if a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same."
Mamdani did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Trump previously has blasted Mamdani, and threatened to arrest him if he refused to comply with federal immigration officials. Trump's remarks came after Mamdani said in June that he would halt "masked" U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from "deporting our neighbors."
"Well, then we'll have to arrest him," Trump told reporters at the White House July 1. "Look, we don't need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I'm going to be watching over them very carefully on behalf of the nation. We send him money. We send him all the things that he needs to run a government."
In response, Mamdani issued a statement claiming that Trump's comments amounted to an assault on democracy.
"The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported," Mamdani said. "Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city."
"His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you," Mamdani said.
Trump has also slammed Mamdani after the 33-year-old refused to condemn the term "globalize the intifada."
"Frankly, I've heard he's a total nut job," Trump told reporters July 1. "I think the people in New York are crazy because they go this route. I think they're crazy. We will have a communist in the for the first time, really a pure, true communist. He wants to operate the grocery stores. The department stores. What about the people that are there? I think it's crazy."
Mamdani said in a June interview with NBC News he didn’t want to condemn the term "globalize the intifada," a phrase used to back Palestinian resistance against Israel, because he didn’t want to "police language."
Mamdami has received criticism from Democrats for refusing to come out with a stance on the phrase, including from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Jeffries told ABC News Sunday in June that the term was not "acceptable phrasing."
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump's White House is waiving executive privilege for a key member of former President Joe Biden's inner circle, Fox News Digital has learned.
Former White House physician Kevin O'Connor was set to testify this week in House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer's probe into allegations that Biden's senior aides covered up his mental and physical decline while president.
"In light of the unique and extraordinary nature of the matters under investigation, President Trump has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the national interest, and therefore is not justified, with respect to particular subjects within the purview of the House Oversight Committee," a letter to O'Connor sent by the White House, obtained by Fox News Digital by a source familiar, said.
"These subjects include your assessment of former President Biden’s fitness for the office of the president and your financial relationship with the Biden family."
When reached for comment, an attorney for O'Connor confirmed receipt of the letter from the White House Counsel's Office.
Comer subpoenaed O'Connor last week after the physician refused to appear voluntarily for a transcribed interview with House investigators.
O'Connor's lawyers petitioned for a delay over the weekend, however, calling the scope of the probe "unprecedented."
"We are unaware of any prior occasion on which a Congressional Committee has subpoenaed a physician to testify about the treatment of an individual patient," O'Connor's legal team wrote. "And the notion that a Congressional Committee would do so without any regard whatsoever for the confidentiality of the physician-patient relationship is alarming."
A House Oversight Committee spokeswoman called their letter a "delay tactic to stonewall the Oversight Committee's investigation."
The deposition date has not been changed, and O'Connor could risk defying a congressional subpoena if he does not appear.
The Tuesday letter from the White House counsel's office read, "The extraordinary events in this matter constitute exceptional circumstances warranting an accommodation to Congress. Evidence that aides to former President Biden concealed information regarding his fitness to exercise the powers of the President — and may have unconstitutionally exercised those powers themselves to aid in their concealment — implicates both Congress’ constitutional and legislative powers."
"After balancing the Legislative and Executive Branch interests, as required under the accommodation process, it is the President’s view that this presents and exceptional situation in which the congressional need for information outweighs the Executive Branch’s interest in maintaining confidentiality, especially given the Executive Branch’s own interest in determining the validity of prior executive actions," the letter said.
Former top Biden aides and the ex-president's current allies have insisted there was no cover-up in the Democratic White House. But Biden's disastrous June 2024 debate performance followed by his stunning exit from the presidential race raised questions about the octogenarian's fitness for office.
Comer has summoned a number of former top Biden aides for closed-door interviews, including O'Connor, former Chief of Staff Ronald Klain, and former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Former staff secretary Neera Tanden appeared for a transcribed interview last month.
EXCLUSIVE: Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump–Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress, Justice Department sources told Fox News Digital.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital.
The sources said that the referral was received and told Fox News Digital that a criminal investigation into Brennan was opened and is underway. DOJ sources declined to provide further details. It is unclear, at this point, if the investigation spans beyond his alleged false statements to Congress.
As for Comey, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital that an investigation into the former director is underway, but could not share details of what specifically is being probed.
The full scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey is unclear, but two sources described the FBI's view of the duo's interactions as a "conspiracy," which could open up a wide range of potential prosecutorial options.
The FBI and CIA declined to comment.
Neither Brennan nor Comey immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Brennan investigation comes after Ratcliffe last week declassified a "lessons learned" review of the creation of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). The 2017 ICA alleged Russia sought to influence the 2016 presidential election to help then-candidate Donald Trump. But the review found that the process of the ICA's creation was rushed with "procedural anomalies," and that officials diverted from intelligence standards.
It also determined that the "decision by agency heads to include the Steele Dossier in the ICA ran counter to fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately undermined the credibility of a key judgment."
The dossier — an anti-Trump document filled with unverified and wholly inaccurate claims that was commissioned by Fusion GPS and paid for by Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign and the DNC — has been widely discredited. Last week's review marks the first time career CIA officials have acknowledged politicization of the process by which the ICA was written, particularly by Obama-era political appointees.
Records declassified as part of that review further revealed that Brennan did, in fact, push for the dossier to be included in the 2017 ICA.
Brennan testified to the House Judiciary Committee in May 2023, however, that he did not believe the dossier should be included in that intelligence product.
Ratcliffe was not surprised by the review's findings, a source familiar told Fox News Digital, given the director's long history of criticizing Brennan's politicization of intelligence. But Ratcliffe was compelled to refer aspects of Brennan’s involvement to the FBI for review of possible criminality, the source said.
The source was unable to share the sensitive details of Ratcliffe’s criminal referral to the FBI with Fox News Digital, but said that Brennan "violated the public’s trust and should be held accountable for it."
The false statements portion of the probe stems from a newly declassified email sent to Brennan by the former deputy CIA director in December 2016. That message said that including the dossier in the ICA in any capacity jeopardized "the credibility of the entire paper."
"Despite these objections, Brennan showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness," the new CIA review states. "When confronted with specific flaws in the Dossier by the two mission center leaders – one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background – he appeared more swayed by the Dossier's general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns."
The review added: "Brennan ultimately formalized his position in writing, stating that ‘my bottomline is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.’"
But Brennan testified the opposite in front of Congress in May 2023.
"The CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele dossier in the Intelligence Community Assessment," Brennan testified before the House committee, according to the transcript of his deposition reviewed by Fox News Digital. "And so they sent over a copy of the dossier to say that this was going to be separate from the rest of that assessment."
CIA officials at the time of its creation pushed back against the FBI, which sought to include the dossier, arguing that the dossier should not be included in the assessment, and casting it as simply "internet rumor."
Ultimately, Steele’s reporting was not included in the body of the final ICA prepared for then-President Barack Obama, but instead detailed in this footnote, "largely at the insistence of FBI’s senior leadership," according to a review by the Justice Department inspector general, and later, the Senate Intelligence Committee.
But back in June 2020, Ratcliffe, while serving as director of national intelligence, declassified a footnote of the 2017 ICA, which revealed that the reporting of Trump dossier author Christopher Steele had only "limited corroboration" regarding whether then-President-elect Trump "knowingly worked with Russian officials to bolster his chances of beating" Hillary Clinton and other claims.
The footnote, also known as "Annex A" of the 2017 ICA, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in June 2020, spanned less than two pages and detailed reporting by Steele, the former British spy who authored the unverified anti-Trump dossier — a document that helped serve as the basis for controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants obtained against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Steele’s reporting, at the time, was commissioned by opposition research firm Fusion GPS and funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) through law firm Perkins Coie.
The footnote made clear the internal concerns officials had over that document.
"An FBI source (Steele) using both identified and unidentified subsources, volunteered highly politically sensitive information from the summer to the fall of 2016 on Russian influence efforts aimed at the US presidential election," the annex read. "We have only limited corroboration of the source’s reporting in this case and did not use it to reach the analytic conclusions of the CIA/FBI/NSA assessment."
"The source collected this information on behalf of private clients and was not compensated for it by the FBI," it continued.
But the annex notes that Steele's reporting was "not developed by the layered subsource network."
"The FBI source caveated that, although similar to previously provided reporting in terms of content, the source was unable to vouch for the additional information's sourcing and accuracy," the annex states. "Hence this information is not included in this product."
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz also reviewed the inclusion of Steele’s reporting in the ICA during his review of alleged misconduct related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.
His report, released in late 2019, found that there were "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in FISA warrants for former Trump campaign aide Page. Those warrants relied heavily on Steele’s reporting, despite the FBI not having had specific information corroborating allegations against Page that were included in Steele’s reporting.
Meanwhile, Fox News Digital exclusively reported in October 2020 that Brennan briefed former President Obama and administration officials on intelligence that then-Democrat nominee former Secretary of State Clinton was stirring up a plan to tie Trump to Russia.
Ratcliffe, as director of national intelligence, declassified Brennan’s handwritten notes memorializing that meeting, which were exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital in October 2020.
On July 28, 2016, Brennan briefed Obama on a plan from one of Clinton's campaign foreign policy advisors "to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service."
Comey, then-Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were in the Brennan-Obama briefing.
After that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL) to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok, with the subject line: "Crossfire Hurricane."
Fox News Digital exclusively obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated: "The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate."
"Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date," the memo continued. "An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server."
The FBI on July 31, 2016, opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether candidate Trump and members of his campaign were colluding or coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 campaign. That investigation was referred to inside the bureau as "Crossfire Hurricane."
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the FBI’s original "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation. After nearly two years, Mueller’s investigation, which concluded in March 2019, yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.
Shortly after, John Durham was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the "Crossfire Hurricane" probe.
Durham found that the FBI "failed to act" on a "clear warning sign" that the bureau was the "target" of a Clinton-led effort to "manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes" ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
"The aforementioned facts reflect a rather startling and inexplicable failure to adequately consider and incorporate the Clinton Plan intelligence into the FBI’s investigative decision-making in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation," Durham’s report states.
"Indeed, had the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation as an assessment and, in turn, gathered and analyzed data in concert with the information from the Clinton Plan intelligence, it is likely that the information received would have been examined, at a minimum, with a more critical eye," the report continued.
Durham, in his report, said the FBI "failed to act on what should have been—when combined with other incontrovertible facts— a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election."
Meanwhile, the White House wants the Obama-era intelligence officials to be held accountable.
"President Trump was right — again," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Those who engaged in this political scandal must be held accountable for the fraud they committed against President Trump and the lies they told to the American people."
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., stood shoulder-to-shoulder with staunch Democrats to celebrate the inclusion of key compensation for survivors of nuclear testing inside President Donald Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill on Tuesday.
Hawley has fought for the passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) since the program was canceled in 2023. It has now been re-upped and greatly expanded thanks to persistent bipartisan advocacy.
Among the cross-aisle attendees was former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who was among the most aggressive critics of Republicans while in Congress. Hawley embraced Bush at the event, however.
"Cori, thank you. We would not be here without you and your work," he said, recounting their multiple prior efforts to pass the legislation.
Also at the event was Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., who voted against the OBBB, but said he supports the RECA legislation. Navajo Nation president Buu Nygren also attended the event and recounted the impact of nuclear testing on his community.
The bill applies to sites across the country where Americans, civilian, military and members of the Navajo Nation, were exposed to radiation due to nuclear weapons testing and the storing of nuclear waste.
The event took place at one such site: St. Cin Park in St. Louis. The surrounding area has been determined to be a cancer hotzone thanks to the storing of nuclear waste nearby.
The legislation applies to similar sites across Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alaska, but advocates of the bill and Hawley himself say there remains more work to be done.
"This is a great first step, but there is definitely more to do," NAACP St. Louis president John Bowman told Fox at the event. "This is a good day, but there are better days to come."
Bowman and others highlighted some zip codes that aren't eligible for the compensation, and they say work needs to be done to expand the documentation Americans can use to prove they qualify for compensation.
Dawn Chapman, founder of Just Moms STL, an advocacy group devoted to the radiation exposure issue, told Fox that the process – while difficult – reinforced her belief in the legislative process.
She recounted seeing staffers from opposite sides of the aisle celebrating and sharing high-fives after the bill was passed. The bill passed through the Senate three times in recent years before finally making it to the president's desk.
"The system still works. It does," she said. "The media just often doesn't share it."
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to move forward, at least for now, with plans to implement large-scale cuts to the federal workforce, issuing a stay that lifts a lower court’s injunction against the administration’s executive order.
In a 6–3 decision, the justices granted the emergency request filed by the White House last week, clearing the way for Executive Order No. 14210 to take effect while legal challenges play out in the Ninth Circuit and potentially the high court.
The order directs federal agencies to carry out sweeping reductions in force (RIFs) and agency reorganizations.
It has been described by administration officials as a lawful effort to "streamline government and eliminate waste." Critics, including labor unions, local governments and nonprofit organizations, argue the president is unlawfully bypassing Congress to dismantle major parts of the federal government.
A majority on the Court stressed that it was not ruling on the legality of specific agency cuts, only the executive order itself.
"Because the Government is likely to succeed on its argument that the Executive Order and Memorandum are lawful—and because the other factors bearing on whether to grant a stay are satisfied—we grant the application," the Court wrote. "We express no view on the legality of any Agency RIF and Reorganization Plan produced or approved pursuant to the Executive Order and Memorandum. The District Court enjoined further implementation or approval of the plans based on its view about the illegality of the Executive Order and Memorandum, not on any assessment of the plans themselves. Those plans are not before this Court."
The district court in California had blocked the order in May, calling it an overreach. But the Supreme Court’s unsigned decision on Tuesday set aside that injunction, pending appeal. The majority said the government is "likely to succeed" in defending the legality of the order.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented forcefully, writing that "this Court sees fit to step in now and release the President’s wrecking ball at the outset of this litigation." She warned that the executive action represents a "structural overhaul that usurps Congress’s policymaking prerogatives" and accused the majority of acting prematurely in an emergency posture without fully understanding the facts.
"This unilateral decision to ‘transform’ the Federal Government was quickly challenged in federal court," she wrote. "The District Judge thoroughly examined the evidence, considered applicable law, and made a reasoned determination that Executive Branch officials should be enjoined from implementing the mandated restructuring… But that temporary, practical, harm-reducing preservation of the status quo was no match for this Court’s demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture."
The executive order, issued in February, instructed agencies to prepare immediate plans for reorganizations and workforce reductions, including eliminating roles deemed "non-critical" or "not statutorily mandated." The administration says it is a necessary response to bloated government and outdated structures, claiming the injunction was forcing agencies to retain "thousands of employees whose continuance in federal service... is not in the government and public interest."
Labor unions and state officials opposing the plan say it goes beyond normal workforce management and could gut services across multiple agencies. They point to proposed cuts of over 50% at the Department of Energy, and nearly 90% at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The court’s ruling is not a final judgment on the legality of the executive order. It only determines that implementation may proceed temporarily while appeals continue. If the Ninth Circuit upholds the injunction or the Supreme Court declines to take up the case later, the order could again be paused.
The American Federal Government Employees Union had a forceful response: "Today’s decision has dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy. This decision does not change the simple and clear fact that reorganizing government functions and laying off federal workers en masse haphazardly without any congressional approval is not allowed by our Constitution. While we are disappointed in this decision, we will continue to fight on behalf of the communities we represent and argue this case to protect critical public services that we rely on to stay safe and healthy."
The case is Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees.
"Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling is another definitive victory for the President and his administration," wrote White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields in an email to Fox News Digital. "It clearly rebukes the continued assaults on the President’s constitutionally authorized executive powers by leftist judges who are trying to prevent the President from achieving government efficiency across the federal government."
Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's campaign did not respond when confronted with a handful of radical platforms and messages that were promoted during an annual gathering of socialist activists and leaders in Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend, Fox News Digital found.
"Socialism 2025" was held in Chicago Thursday through Sunday, where activists promoted "radicalizing" high school students, overthrowing the U.S. government and how to perform a "DIY" abortion and required all attendees to wear N95 or K95 while indoors, in addition to common rhetoric slamming capitalism.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani's campaign Tuesday morning inquiring if the NYC Socialist Democrat agreed or disagreed with the platforms and ideas promoted at the conference, and if they were ones he would implement if elected the next mayor of the Big Apple, but did not immediately receive a response.
Mamdani did not attend the conference in Chicago, but describes himself as a Democratic socialist and has previously embraced radical left-wing policies, such as ending private homeownership in favor of communal living, Fox Digital has previously reported.
The socialism conference included panels dominated by college professors, as well as community organizers, activists and others.
"Socialism 2025 is a four-day conference bringing together thousands of socialists and radical activists from around the country to take part in discussions about social movements, abolition, Marxism, decolonization, working-class history, and the debates and strategies for organizing today," the conference touts on its website.
Fox News Digital provided Mamdani's office with a bullet-point list of six quotes and platforms promoted at the event, including one woman who identified herself as a Wisconsin high school teacher calling for youths to be "radicalized" before they enter college.
"All of you who got radicalized in college, imagine if you got radicalized four years earlier," the woman, who was a member of the audience, was heard saying during the conference.
Another Chicago-based activist who spoke during a panel called for the U.S. government to be overthrown.
"I think it’s important to say the state isn’t democratic. We don’t live in a democracy. We should start saying that more so. I mean, there are so many different ways — I’m not going to go into it — but people are clapping, so there’s general agreement. I’m glad we agree on that," the activist said during a panel Saturday called, "Their End is Our Beginning: Cops, Capitalism, and Abolition," which receive applause from the crowd.
"So, do we capture the state or do we try to replace it with something different?" he continued. "And I think it’s the latter. We have to replace it with something different."
While during another panel on "Gender, Sexuality, Reproduction and the State: Fighting Back Against the So-Called Law," a woman from the audience announced that the conference would hold a do-it-yourself abortion panel to discuss how to use and where to buy legal abortion pills.
While a panel speaker for the same forum appeared to call for the abolition of the family.
"But… the bigger part of abolition as everybody’s reminding us in that tradition is the building of infrastructures of real safety, real accountability, real justice," the activist said during the panel. "You know it’s the same with the family. Capitalist care has to be abolished in the sense that we are all pretty clear that care is a real need. What does the family offer us? What is the promise? It’s like a promise that you will be deeply, profoundly, unconditionally, selflessly and uncalculatedly known and held."
"Is the family really doing that?" she added, before adding that the idea of family has shortcomings and can be replaced with "mutual aid."
While yet another activist declared during a video clip circulating social media that she seeks to "dismantle the United States" and said "everyone" should join her in her activism — "no questions asked."
"I seek to dismantle the United States," the activist said, according to video footage circulating on X. "I hope you seek to dismantle the United States. And if that isn’t your politics, OK. I speak as if everybody has this commitment. And the thing is, you should. You should listen to indigenous people when they are telling you this is the goal. Not only is this the goal, but this is the starting point."
"Decolonization is the only thing that is going to save us as a species. It’s the only thing that’s going to save us as a planet. And everyone should be on board with it, no questions asked."
Mamdani trounced top NYC mayoral competitor and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the polls in June. Mamdani's victory is viewed as the Democrat Party moving farther to the left in New York City after national voters sounded off in the 2024 election that the party's embrace of some left-wing policies alienated Americans.
President Donald Trump has slammed Mamdani as a "Communist Lunatic" and vowed he would "save New York City."
"As President of the United States, I’m not going to let this Communist Lunatic destroy New York," Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier in July. "Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City, and make it 'Hot' and 'Great' again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!"
A federal judge drew enormous backlash from Republicans after she blocked the Trump Administration on Monday from following through on a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that strips federal funding from Planned Parenthood.
Critics of Judge Indira Talwani said her fast-acting decision to grant Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion vendor, a temporary restraining order was an extraordinary overreach of judicial authority.
Tom Jipping, a senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital the judge’s move was "obviously out of bounds."
"What you have here is Congress exercising its explicit constitutional authority to make spending decisions, and you have a district judge arguably trying to exercise power she doesn't have to force Congress to change," Jipping said.
Talwani, a Boston-based judge appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued the temporary order, which lasts 14 days, after Planned Parenthood sued the government over the One Big Beautiful Act, a massive tax and budget bill. The provision stripped Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, which the nonprofit said could force it to close roughly 200 of its 600 facilities and deprive about one million customers of non-abortion-related services.
Congress narrowly passed the bill with no support from Democrats last week, and Trump signed it into law on July 4.
Talwani’s brief two-page order came on the same day Planned Parenthood sued, and it contained only the explanation that the nonprofit showed "good cause" for the temporary relief.
"I don't know how fast that judge reads, but she issued her TRO within a couple of hours," Jipping said. "That makes her court look like a fast food drive-through."
Sen. Mike Lee, a lawyer and Senate Judiciary Committee member, said he believed the judge’s order was not an innocent mistake and floated the idea that the House could initiate impeachment proceedings against the judge.
"We have the best judicial system in the world, but it’s run by fallible, mortal humans. People make mistakes. But unless I’m missing something here, this wasn’t an honest mistake," Lee said. "This was a pretty egregious judicial usurpation of legislative power."
Bill Shipley, a former federal prosecutor who once represented numerous Jan. 6 defendants, suggested on X that the First Circuit Court of Appeals reassign the case.
"The only way District Judges are going to be disciplined to adhere to their role is if they are sanctioned for brazenly ignoring the limits of their authority for partisan ends," Shipley wrote.
Talwani set a hearing for July 21 to consider arguments from Planned Parenthood and the named agencies in the lawsuit, Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) could challenge the order in the interim. DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle said the judge's restraining order amounted to "lawless overreach," and he called for the Supreme Court to intervene.
The order came in response to Planned Parenthood claiming in its lawsuit that Congress's budget bill unconstitutionally targeted Planned Parenthood because it performs abortions.
Opponents of abortion have focused their energy on weakening Planned Parenthood in the years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the passage of the budget bill marked a milestone success for them. Some told Fox News Digital recently that it was one of several steps they needed to take to address the glaring fact that abortions remain prevalent and could even be on the rise.
Attorneys for Planned Parenthood said Medicaid does not cover abortion and that depriving Planned Parenthood of its hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements would cause more than half of its customers to lose access to services that do not include abortion.
Cancer and sexually transmitted infections would go undetected, especially for low-income people, and more unplanned pregnancies would occur because of a lack of contraception access, the Planned Parenthood attorneys said.
"The adverse public health consequences of the Defund Provision will be grave," the attorneys wrote.
Some Democrats celebrated Talwani's order but did not address the legality of it.
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) said on Bluesky that the judge in her home state delivered "some good news" for people who have relied on Planned Parenthood for health care.
"But make no mistake: our fight is far from over," Clark wrote.
They're the kind of headlines that likely put fear into Democrats not only in New York City but across the country.
Since his stunning victory two weeks ago in New York City's Democratic Party primary for mayor, stories have surfaced about democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani's past.
Among the items going viral are reports of a 2020 photo Mamdani posted online that shows him flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus, stories about comments Mamdani made last December, when he said as mayor he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his recent comments in a cable news interview that "I have many critiques of capitalism."
Mamdani's double-digit victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates in last month's primary rocked the Democratic Party, fueling already existing internal divisions between the party's progressive and more moderate wings.
While many progressives cheered Mamdani's victory, saying it was a "clear rejection of the old guard," more moderate Democrats are in panic mode over what his win means for the party.
And Mamdani's primary performance raised fears that a general election victory by the Ugandan-born 33-year-old state assemblyman from Queens – who took a major step toward becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation's most populous city – will only fuel GOP attacks on the party.
Since his primary victory, Republicans have relentlessly painted Mamdani as an extremist and anchored him to Democrats across the country ahead of next year's midterm elections.
The attacks stretched from down ballot on the campaign trail all the way up to the White House, with President Donald Trump claiming that Mamdani was "a 100% Communist Lunatic."
Amid the barrage of Mamdani-focused headlines and political rhetoric, some of his rivals are mulling a plan to try and derail him by joining forces in the general election.
While Cuomo lost the Democratic mayoral nomination to Mamdani, he's running on the November ballot as an independent, which state rules allow.
And Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped his primary bid earlier this year amid sinking poll numbers in the wake of numerous controversies, is seeking re-election as an independent.
Also on the ballot in the general election are Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor running as an independent, and Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who, for a second straight election, is the Republican mayoral nominee.
Walden last week proposed that an independent study should be conducted to see which candidate would be the strongest to take on Mamdani, with the weaker contenders agreeing to drop out.
Mamdani, thanks to his primary victory, is the clear frontrunner in the general election in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a roughly six-to-one margin.
Walden on Monday said in an interview on Fox News Radio's "Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla" that a Mamdani victory in November "would be terrible for the city and would set us back a whole generation, so I proposed a poll in either late September or early October."
"If the candidates agreed to this, we would all agree on a poll that would happen, and it would be winner take all," he said.
Cuomo senior advisor Rich Azzopardi backed the idea, saying that Walden "correctly points out that if he, Mayor Adams, and Gov. Cuomo all run, it all but ensures a socialist victory. Jim proposed a fair independent survey be taken in September to determine whose candidacy and vision for New York is strongest in a one-on-one race in November."
While Mamdani successfully unified the left in the final weeks before the primary – aided by endorsements from progressive heavyweights Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont – his Democratic rivals remain anything but united.
"I think Andrew and Curtis should rally behind me. I won as mayor. You know, I'm the only one that's in this race right now that has ever won as mayor," Adams said Monday at a news conference.
And in an interview with CNBC, Adams said that in a recent conversation, the former governor asked him to step aside.
"I said, 'Andrew, are you that level of arrogant? I'm the sitting mayor!'" Adams said of his conversation with Cuomo. "I'm the sitting mayor of New York City when you just lost to Zohran by 12 points."
Adams' poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged "long-running" scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials.
The mayor made repeated overtures to President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown.
"Mayor Adams did not run in the Democratic primary because he knew he was anathema to Democrats and unelectable. Nothing has changed," Azzopardi claimed.
Mamdani surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living.
Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5, and setting up government-run grocery stores.
And thanks in part to the efforts of a massive grassroots army of volunteers, he rode a wave of support from younger and progressive voters to catapult into first place.
And it's reignited the debate over whether the party's policy, or messaging, was to blame for last November's election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate, and failed to win back the House majority.
Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Stephanie Taylor told Fox News that Mamdani's "victory shows that a new direction for the Democratic Party is possible – a future of dynamic candidates who appeal to young and working-class voters with a platform that fights for people, not corporations."
Matt Bennett, executive vice president for the moderate Democratic-aligned group the Third Way, acknowledged that Mamdani "focused on affordability," which he said is "great."
Bennett added Mamdani is "young, charismatic, a great communicator. All that is great. We want to see that."
But Bennett told Fox News "the problem is he has the wrong prescription."
SCOOP: Rep. Mike Collins is eying a bid in the Georgia Senate race to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Republicans are salivating at the chance to flip the seat, and Collins, in a video first obtained by Fox News Digital, contended that Ossoff "must go."
"It was never in my plans to run for the U.S. Senate," Collins said. "I love what I'm doing now. I think I've been effective for my district, the state. I love my district."
"I mean, just good, solid, hard-working people," he continued. "But I also understand that sometimes you don't do what you want to do, but what you need to do."
Collins, a two-term lawmaker representing Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, still didn't directly say that he was jumping into the race, and noted that he would first consult with his family and President Donald Trump to determine "where we can be the best, most beneficial help in this mission to make sure that we get a Republican in the U.S. Senate from Georgia."
The lawmaker became a staple on the road during Trump's campaign last year, and his bill, the Laken Riley Act, was the first signed into law by the president during his second term.
Collins argued that Ossoff "doesn't represent the Georgia values that I cherish so much," and noted that Republicans have largely dominated the state in recent elections, including Trump’s victory in November.
Still, Ossoff, who is seeking re-election for a second term, was the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the Peach State in roughly two decades.
Devon Cruz, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Georgia, said in a statement to Fox News Digital, "Immediately after voting to rip away health insurance from 750,000 Georgians, Rep. Mike Collins now wants Georgians to give him a promotion?"
Cruz continued, "Collins would join a crowded, messy primary that will leave the GOP nominee badly bruised, while Sen. Jon Ossoff is building massive momentum to take on whichever Donald Trump loyalist limps over the finish line."
Senate Republicans now view Ossoff’s seat as one of the most viable flip opportunities in the upcoming 2026 midterm cycle, when the GOP hopes to keep and expand upon its thin majority in the upper chamber.
Should Collins dive all the way into the race, he will go face-to-face against fellow Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter and Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King in the Republican primary.
Carter was the first Republican to jump into the contest after Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was considered a heavy favorite to run against Ossoff, opted to forgo a Senate bid.
Recent polling on the race has found that Collins may have an edge against his fellow GOP competitors.
The conservative-leaning Trafalgar Group found in a survey conducted in April with 1,426 respondents that Collins held just over a 23-point edge over Carter, who came in second ahead of Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., and King.
In a face-off with Ossoff, however, Collins still trailed the Senator by just shy of 5 points.
In another straw poll conducted during the Georgia Republican Party State Convention earlier this month with roughly 1,200 respondents, Collins earned the support of 39% of those polled compared to Carter’s 13%.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has joined in on the criticism of Zohran Mamdani claiming the Democratic Party candidate is too radical to become the Big Apple's next mayor.
Much of this criticism surrounding Mamdani has stemmed from his history of espousing radical political ideology, often times linked to, or rooted in, communist-style language.
Adams, who ran in 2021 as a Democrat during his first mayoral election but has chosen to run as an Independent this time around, shared a social media post Mamdani put up in 2020 while campaigning for a seat in the New York State Assembly. The post Adams shared included nothing more than the following simple message shared by Mamdani: "Each according to their need, each according to their ability."
To the less politically-inclined social media user, the message might seem innocuous, but, in reality, it is a direct quote from Karl Marx, a revolutionary socialist who penned the infamous "Communist Manifesto" with fellow socialist political philosopher Friedrich Engels during the late 19th-century.
Adams made this clear in his re-post of Mamdani's May 2020 quote from Marx.
"– Karl Marx, Author of The Communist Manifesto" Adams captioned in his re-post of Mamdani's original post that quoted Marx's writings from his book titled "Critique of the Gotha Program."
Ever since Mamdani's shock primary win last month, beating out long-time New York politico and former state governor, Andrew Cuomo, questions have surfaced over whether his views as a self-proclaimed socialist are too radical for someone who wants to be mayor of the largest city in the United States.
Critics have pointed to, for example, comments that Mamdani made at a Young Democratic Socialists of America conference in 2021, during which the then-State Assembly member told attendees not to compromise on goals like "seizing the means of production."
In a separate video from 2021 published online by The Gravel Institute, Mamdani discusses the need to turn housing from a private commodity to a public one. In the video, he called for luxury condos to be replaced with communal-style living that would include things like shared laundry facilities and food co-ops.
"If we want to end the housing crisis, the solution has to be moving toward the full de-commodification of housing," Mamdani urged.
Meanwhile, it isn't just radical comments from Mamdani himself that have been making news, it's also been comments from his Ivy Leage professor father, who Mamdani credits with helping shape his political views as a young person, according to a New York Times article chronicling Mamdani's relationship with his parents.
During a 2022 panel discussion hosted by the Asia Society, Mamdani's father, Mahmood, asserted that America was the "genesis of what we call settler-colonialism" around the world. He also declared that Adolf Hitler drew his inspiration for the Holocaust from Abraham Lincoln.
"With the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln generalized the solution of reservations, they herded American Indians into separate territories," the older Mamdani, Columbia's Herbert Lehman professor of government, said. "For the Nazis, this was the inspiration — Hitler realized two things: one, that genocide is doable. It is possible to do genocide, that's what Hitler realized. Second thing Hitler realized, is that you don't have to have a common citizenship."
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani and his mayoral campaign for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., had harsh words for Democratic colleagues employing heated rhetoric against immigration enforcement officers Tuesday following recent attacks on ICE and Border Patrol facilities in Texas.
Hawley told Fox News Digital in an interview that lawmakers need to turn their focus back to the needs of their constituents, rather than trying to make flash-in-the-pan headlines.
He specifically called out Democrats who have criticized ICE officers for wearing masks during their operations. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., accused officers of acting "like a terrorist force"
"Knock it off," Hawley told his Democratic colleagues on Tuesday. "These are the same people who were in favor of masking our children. I don't want to hear anything about ICE officers masking from them."
"We have a lot of rebuilding to do in America," he added.
Hawley's statement came just minutes after he touted the passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act as part of President Donald Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill. Hawley helped shepherd the legislation alongside staunch Democrats like former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., and members of the NAACP, among others.
His words echoed the sentiment expressed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, who urged Democrats to cool off their rhetoric.
Leavitt urged Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to set up a meeting with ICE and CBP agents.
"We certainly call on Democrats to tone down their rhetoric against ICE and Border Patrol agents, who, again, are everyday men and women. I would encourage AOC and other Democrats to actually meet with the United States Border Patrol," Leavitt told reporters Monday.
"These are honorable Americans who are just simply trying to do their job to enforce the law. They go home to their families every night, just like we all do, and they deserve respect and dignity for trying to enforce our nation's immigration laws and to remove public safety threats from our communities," she added.
The conversation over Democratic rhetoric erupted in recent days after a pair of attacks on ICE and Border Patrol facilities in Texas.
Agents and local police shot and killed the gunman who opened fire on Border Patrol agents in Texas' Rio Grande Valley Monday, according to Department of Homeland Security officials. No officers were killed in the attack but one local police officer was shot.
That attack came on the heels of another shooting near ICE's Prairieland Detention Facility on Friday, where a Texas police officer was shot in the neck.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., had harsh words for Democratic colleagues employing heated rhetoric against immigration enforcement officers Tuesday following recent attacks on ICE and Border Patrol facilities in Texas.
Hawley told Fox News Digital in an interview that lawmakers need to turn their focus back to the needs of their constituents, rather than trying to make flash-in-the-pan headlines.
He specifically called out Democrats who have criticized ICE officers for wearing masks during their operations. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., accused officers of acting "like a terrorist force"
"Knock it off," Hawley told his Democratic colleagues on Tuesday. "These are the same people who were in favor of masking our children. I don't want to hear anything about ICE officers masking from them."
"We have a lot of rebuilding to do in America," he added.
Hawley's statement came just minutes after he touted the passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act as part of President Donald Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill. Hawley helped shepherd the legislation alongside staunch Democrats like former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., and members of the NAACP, among others.
His words echoed the sentiment expressed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, who urged Democrats to cool off their rhetoric.
Leavitt urged Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to set up a meeting with ICE and CBP agents.
"We certainly call on Democrats to tone down their rhetoric against ICE and Border Patrol agents, who, again, are everyday men and women. I would encourage AOC and other Democrats to actually meet with the United States Border Patrol," Leavitt told reporters Monday.
"These are honorable Americans who are just simply trying to do their job to enforce the law. They go home to their families every night, just like we all do, and they deserve respect and dignity for trying to enforce our nation's immigration laws and to remove public safety threats from our communities," she added.
The conversation over Democratic rhetoric erupted in recent days after a pair of attacks on ICE and Border Patrol facilities in Texas.
Agents and local police shot and killed the gunman who opened fire on Border Patrol agents in Texas' Rio Grande Valley Monday, according to Department of Homeland Security officials. No officers were killed in the attack but one local police officer was shot.
That attack came on the heels of another shooting near ICE's Prairieland Detention Facility on Friday, where a Texas police officer was shot in the neck.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris offered a take so "weird" and "not good" in an interview with social media personality Kareem Rahma that they both agreed to nix airing the footage, according to Rahma.
Rahma, who hosts the popular series "Subway Takes," where he asks commuters and sometimes celebrities their opinions, previously told the New York Times that he conducted an interview with Harris during the summer of 2024, but that it was never released.
Rahma said in an interview clip with Forbes’ Steven Bertoni posted on social media Monday that Harris’ take was so "bad" he felt fortunate it didn’t make the cut.
"Her take was really confusing and weird – not good," Rahma told Bertoni. And we "mutually agreed to not publish it. And I got lucky, because I didn’t want to be blamed for her losing."
"Her take was that bad?" Bertoni said.
"It was really, really bad… it like, didn’t make any sense," Rahma said, revealing Harris’ take was "bacon as a spice."
Neither Harris nor Rahma immediately responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Rahma, who is Muslim, told the New York Times in a story published in November 2024 that Harris’ team originally proposed she would share a "hot take" against people removing their shoes on airplanes.
But Harris went on to declare that bacon was a spice – a food that Rahma and other Muslims do not consume for religious reasons. The Times reported that Rahma was "taken aback" by Harris’ statement.
"Think about it, it’s pure flavor," she said, per the unaired footage obtained by the Times.
The Times’ story said two senior campaign managers for Harris said the topic of bacon had been previously raised, while Rahma and his manager said that wasn’t the case. Harris’ campaign reportedly apologized for sharing her take on bacon and offered to re-film the episode, but Rahma declined, according to the Times.
Rahma told the Times that his reasoning for not airing the interview was because he didn’t want to upset the Muslim community, and that he was hoping to ask Harris questions about the Biden administration’s policy regarding the Israel–Hamas war.
"It was so complicated because I’m Muslim and there’s something going on in the world that 100% of Muslims care about," Rahma told the Times. "And then they made it worse by talking about anchovies. Boring!"
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also appeared on Rahma’s series leading up to the 2024 election, where he discussed gutter maintenance. Walz’s interview was posted in August 2024.
Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass sparked controversy on social media this week after she attempted to interfere with ICE agents conducting immigration raids, calling it "outrageous" and "un-American."
Bass, who has been a vocal opponent of immigration raids in the city, appeared at the scene and demanded to speak with ICE leadership when agents were conducting an operation near MacArthur Park on Monday.
"They need to leave, and they need to leave right now. They need to leave because this is unacceptable!" Bass said at the scene.
Bass claimed on social media that there were children playing at the park, which is well known in the area as a hotbed for homelessness and crime even during daylight hours.
"Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through," Bass posted on X. "The SECOND I heard about this, I went to the park to speak to the person in charge to tell them it needed to end NOW. Absolutely outrageous."
Bass’s actions sparked immediate pushback from critics on social media.
"If only Karen Bass worked as hard for fire victims in Los Angeles as she does criminal illegals," GOP Congressman Darrell Issa, who represents California’s 48th Congressional District, posted on X.
"Democrats aren’t used to seeing the law being enforced," Jeremy Redfern, communications director for Florida Republican AG James Uthmeier, posted on X. "But luckily, Karen was able to speak to the manager."
"The federal government would not have to deploy against foreign invaders if you would just stop harboring them," GOP Rep. Mike Collins posted on X.
"If you did your job, those guys wouldn't need to do theirs," Substack writer Jim Treacher posted on X.
"MacArthur Park is a vile, filthy, drug infested, gang sh--hole worthy of Karen Bass," actor James Woods posted on X. "This commie loser would be happier in Cuba."
"Yeah… you’re full of sh--," Independent journalist Tayler Hansen posted on X. "MacArthur park is the fentanyl hub of LA and is a safe haven for violent cartels and gangs. You should take a stroll there without security and maybe even down one of the nearby alleys… I’m sure you’d be fine!"
"Party of publicity stunts," conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller posted on X.
"Her city has managed to issue like 10 rebuilding permits for the victims of the Palisades fire, but she's focused like a laser beam on protecting MS-13 members," Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. "Checks out."
In addition to the social media fallout, Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino told Fox News that he was the official Bass spoke to on the phone at the scene when she demanded the raid be stopped.
"I don’t work for Karen Bass," Bovino said. "Better get used to us now, because this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles."
Fox News Digital reached out to Bass's office for comment.
Fox News Digital's Louis Casiano contributed to this report
President Donald Trump praised the billions of dollars in border security and immigration efforts included in the so-called "big, beautiful bill" he signed into law last week — though he suggested Tuesday the administration may not need to spend as much on enforcement efforts there as previously thought.
Speaking to reporters at the White House Tuesday afternoon, Trump touted the billions of dollars approved in the Republican-led spending package, including billions in funding to turbocharge the hardline immigration crackdown his administration has prioritized in his second White House term.
Among other things, the law includes $45 billion for the construction of new immigration detention centers, and roughly $30 billion in spending to fund Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations — including new spending on transportation, for the maintenance of ICE facilities and to support the hiring of an estimated 10,000 additional deportation officers.
Trump told reporters Tuesday that his administration's border crackdown could allow them to further trim spending at the border, reiterating an earlier claim that "zero" migrants entered the U.S. last month.
He touted the spending on border security, though he noted, "I don't think we're going to need so much of it [there], because we had zero come in last month," he said, in apparent reference to border crossings.
"So I'm not sure how much of it we want to spend."
"You may think about that," he said. "You may actually think about saving a lot of money because the wall has been largely built, and it obviously worked."
Since taking office in January, Trump has embraced an aggressive immigration agenda, prioritizing border security efforts, massively expanding ICE raids, quickly deporting certain migrants, and attempting to end birthright citizenship protections for migrants born in the U.S. by way of executive order, among other things.
In touting the "zero" border crossings, Trump appears to be referencing a June 17 report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
That report is the most recent publicly available data provided by the federal agency, which said it released zero illegal immigrants into the U.S. during the last 30-day period. That's a stark drop from the Biden administration, and the previous month.
The number of border encounters also decreased, CBP said, with U.S. Border Patrol officials reporting only 8,725 encounters with illegal immigrants attempting to enter the U.S. in May, compared to 117,905 such encounters in May 2024 under the Biden administration.
Trump did not immediately detail more specifics on immigration enforcement efforts funded by the Republican spending bill. But he used the moment to excoriate the Biden administration and Democrats for what he criticized as lax border policies — and which he suggested Tuesday that other countries had sought to exploit under his predecessor's White House tenure.
Biden, Trump said Tuesday, allowed people to enter the U.S. "just totally unchecked. Unchecked, unvetted, open borders."
"The whole world was dumped into our country from prisons, from gangs, from mental institutions," Trump claimed. It was not immediately clear what country or asylums Trump was referring to, and he did not elaborate further.
"We have many people walking the streets, walking in areas that we don't know anything about that came out of insane asylums," he said.
"And it's amazing the job that you and Tom Homan are doing, by the way," Trump said, turning to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
"But, we have to get them out, and we have no choice. And we are getting them out."
Trump’s remarks on Tuesday came as he hosted Cabinet leaders at the White House for the first time since April.
It also comes as his enforcement campaign has touched off a mixed response from the American public.
Trump's approval rating on immigration dipped to a new low in a Quinnipiac poll released late last month, with a more than 56% majority of U.S. voters saying they disapprove of how ICE is doing its job.
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. voters, or 64%, also said they prefer giving most immigrants a pathway to legal status, the survey found.
As the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran continues, the Jewish State’s leader said that he would be open to having access to some of America’s most powerful military equipment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a stop on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon to meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson before a later confab with the Senate. It’s his first trip to Washington since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran erupted, and comes on the heels of a stoppage in fighting between the two countries.
When asked if he would be open to Israel gaining access to B-2 stealth bombers and bunker-busting bombs — the same U.S. military equipment used to cripple Iran’s nuclear program — Netanyahu appeared to relish the thought.
"Would I like to see Israel have the capacities that the United States has? Of course we’d like it. Who wouldn’t want it?" he said.
"But we are appreciative of what assistance we’ve received, and I think it’s served not only the interest of Israel’s security but America’s security and the security of the free world," Netanyahu continued.
Netanyahu’s sentiment comes as a bipartisan duo in the House, Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., are pushing to allow President Donald Trump the capability to send Israel the stealth bomber and powerful, 30,000-pound bombs capable of burrowing 200-feet into the ground before exploding, if Iran is found to still be marching forward with its nuclear program.
Their bill currently has three other Democratic co-sponsors, including Reps. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and Juan Vargas, D-Calif.
The same aircraft and munitions were used in Operation Midnight Hammer, the secretive strike authorized by Trump last month to hit some of Iran’s key nuclear facilities, including Fordow, a facility buried below layers of rock that previous Israeli strikes couldn’t crack. Currently, the U.S. does not loan out any of its fleet of B-2s to allies.
Netanyahu’s remarks also came after he met with Trump on Monday, and he lauded his work with the president since his return to the White House.
"I have to say that the coordination between our two countries, the coordination between an American president and Israel Prime Minister has been unmatched," he said. "It offers great promise for Israel, for America, for our region and for the world."
He also hinted that "it may be very likely" the pair may meet again before he leaves Washington.
President Donald Trump compared Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to the famous "Saturday Night Live" character of"Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar."
During a Cabinet meeting in which Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials described the catastrophic flooding that's killed more than 100 people in Texas, Trump turned his attention to Schumer, who has tried to blame the disaster on the Republican president's leadership.
"I saw a Palestinian senator. His name is Schumer. He is a Palestinian. No, he's a Palestinian. He's become a Palestinian. He's abandoned the Jews," Trump said of the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S. "But I saw him say, it's Trump's fault. 'Yeah, yeah, that's right. It's Trump's fault.' He was actually – did you ever see Jon Lovitz, The Liar? Where he goes, 'Yeah, yeah, I went to Harvard. That's right.' Because this was Schumer."
"He goes, 'Yeah, yeah, it's Trump's fault. That's right. It's Trump,'" Trump said, mocking Schumer. "I actually saw that stupid guy try and blame it on me. And I said, man that's that's a tough one to take. But he's – his career is limited because I hear AOC is going to beat him. And she's no bargain either by the way."
Trump was referring to the late 1980s SNL character played by cast member Jon Lovitz. Lovitz would play "Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar," a man who would nervously repeat himself as his lies about politics and other events became more outlandish. With a twitch, the character would tell increasingly absurd claims.
Schumer on Monday sent a letter to Department of Commerce Acting Inspector General Duane Townsend, demanding an immediate investigation "into the scope, breadth, and ramifications of whether staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service (NWS) stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding."
"The mainstream media is deliberately lying about the events leading up to the catastrophic flooding in Texas," the department wrote on X Sunday. "The National Weather Service executed timely, precise forecasting and warnings, despite unprecedented rainfall overwhelming the region."
During Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Noem described the "absolute horrific" devastation she toured in Texas and her experience of comforting family members of the girls who were at Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River.
"I'm extremely grateful for God's hand in that whole situation because hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people were saved, and this is a time for all of us in this country to remember that we were created to serve each other," Noem said. "God created us to take care of each other. And that when we do that, we are happier, we are more fulfilled, and we can walk alongside people on their worst day and help them get through it and come out the other side."
She said the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) "went to an enhanced level immediately."
As soon as Trump signed the major disaster declaration, "we were able to get them resources and dollars right away, just like you envisioned through state block grants to help them with cleanup," she told the president. "And we're still there in presence and FEMA has been deployed, and we're cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA streamlining it, much like your vision of how FEMA should operate."
"It's been a much better response to help these families get through this terrible situation," Noem said.
