Trump hits Iran’s pocketbook as he dangles a carrot in Middle East speech
The Trump administration sanctioned nearly two dozen firms operating in Iran’s illicit international oil trade, as President Donald Trump delivered remarks in the Middle East – tempting the Islamic Republic with a “much brighter future” should it come to a nuclear agreement with the United States. The sanctions, announced by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Tuesday, target firms that operate in Iran’s oil trade. TRUMP TARGETS IRANIAN OIL WITH SANCTIONS, INCREASING PRESSURE ON ISLAMIC REPUBLIC TO MAKE DEAL ON NUKES Officials said the Iranian government allocates billions of dollars worth of oil annually to its armed forces to supplement budget allocations, underwriting the development of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, and financing regional terrorist groups. Treasury Department officials said Iran’s Armed Forces general staff and its main commercial affiliate, Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company, continue to establish front companies and rely on buyers and facilitators to enable their sanctioned oil trade. Sepehr Energy often carries out its oil shipments through a series of “deals” between multiple front companies that it owns or controls, according to the Treasury Department, creating the “illusion of non-sanctionable trade between separate entities.” “Many of the entities involved in Sepehr Energy’s oil shipments are part of an elaborate system of oil smuggling and money laundering, directly controlled by or acting on behalf of Sepehr Energy,” the Treasury Department said, adding that it also controls Hong Kong-based front companies and uses them to “broker and receive shipments of Iranian oil delivered to independent so-called teapot refineries in China.” 4TH ROUND OF US-IRAN TALKS ENDS AS TRUMP SET TO EMBARK ON HISTORIC MIDDLE EAST TOUR The sanctions came shortly after Trump delivered a speech in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, urging Iran to take a “new and a better path.” The Trump administration is in talks with Iran for a new nuclear deal. The president, during his speech, though, warned of “massive maximum pressure” if Iran does not come to an agreement. “As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be profound,” Trump said. “If Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch… we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero.” VANCE PREVIEWS US-IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS, SAYS TRUMP ‘OPEN’ TO SITTING DOWN WITH RUSSIANS, CHINESE IN FUTURE “Iran can have a much brighter future, but we will never allow them to threaten America and our allies with terrorism or a nuclear attack,” Trump said. Trump had announced a 60-day time frame to reach an agreement with Iran over its illegal atomic weapons program. The first U.S. negotiating session with Iran commenced April 12. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Iranian officials for a fourth round of nuclear talks over the weekend. The nuclear talks were “difficult but useful,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, offered more, describing the talks as being both indirect and direct, The Associated Press reported. An “agreement was reached to move forward with the talks to continue working through technical elements,” the U.S. official said. “We are encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Trump administration has said the flawed 2015 Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, did not prevent Iran from building an atomic bomb. Before leaving for his trip to the Middle East, Trump reiterated his stance on Iran’s nuclear goals. “You can’t have a nuclear weapon, but I think that they are talking intelligently,” Trump said. “We’re in the midst of talking to them, and they’re right now acting very intelligent. We want Iran to be wealthy and wonderful and happy and great, but they can’t have… nuclear weapons. Very simple. So I think they understand that.” A day before the start of talks, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei welcomed chants of “Death to America” in Iran’s capital, Tehran. “Your judgment is right,” Khamenei told a crowd of supporters who called for the destruction of the U.S. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
NY AG, 19 others file 2 lawsuits against Trump admin, alleging federal money tied to immigration enforcement
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed two lawsuits against President Donald Trump’s administration Tuesday. James, a longtime legal opponent of Trump, joined 19 other attorneys general in filing the lawsuits, the first of which claims DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has threatened to cut off “emergency preparedness” funding if states do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The second lawsuit targets the Department of Transportation on similar grounds, arguing it is unconstitutional to withhold funds to coerce immigration compliance. “DHS is holding states hostage by forcing them to choose between disaster preparedness and enabling the administration’s illegal and chaotic immigration agenda,” James said in a statement. “This funding is vital to keeping New Yorkers safe during hurricanes, floods, and other catastrophes. “The federal government cannot weaponize disaster relief to coerce states into abandoning public safety and community trust. My office will fight to ensure all New Yorkers are protected — both from tragic disasters and from cruel and unnecessary immigration policies.” TOM HOMAN: MIGRANTS DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR WERE ‘SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC SAFETY THREATS’ The lawsuit claims the Trump administration has presented states “with an impossible choice.” “Either they forego millions of dollars in federal funds that Congress has appropriated — and which their emergency preparedness and response efforts rely on — or they undermine their law enforcement efforts by diverting their resources to enforce federal immigration law,” James’ office wrote. READ THE LAWSUIT AGAINST FEMA – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. In the DOT lawsuit, the attorneys general argue the department’s conditions for receiving funding “put billions in federal funding necessary for vital public safety and reliable transportation projects at risk, including those that prevent injuries and deaths from traffic accidents, protect riders from train collisions, and help improve airport safety measures.” The DOT also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuits come during a massive immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, which has deported over 130,000 illegal immigrants since Trump’s inauguration. Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border have plummeted 93% under the new administration, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released Monday. The CBP says it averaged 279 apprehensions per day at the southern border in April, compared to 4,297 apprehensions in April 2024. The total apprehensions for April this year landed at 8,383, compared to last year’s 129,000. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP CBP officials also noted that just five illegal aliens were temporarily released into the U.S. during April, compared to 68,000 during the same month last year. READ THE LAWSUIT AGAINST THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: “For the first time in years, more agents are back in the field patrolling territories that CBP didn’t have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago,” said Pete Flores, acting commissioner of CBP. “But thanks to this administration’s dramatic shift in security posture at our border, we are now seeing operational control becoming a reality, and it’s only just beginning.”
FLASHBACK: Dem critical of Trump’s Qatari jet gift rode camel in expenses-paid 2021 trip to Gulf emirate
As Democrats attack President Donald Trump for accepting the Qatari royal family’s gift of a $400 million jet to be refurbished to serve as Air Force One, photos have resurfaced of some Democratic lawmakers three years earlier enjoying an expenses-paid trip to the Gulf emirate. The trip, paid for by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council, involved four House Democrats and one Republican who went to Qatar in 2021. During the trip, at least two of the Democrats participated in a sightseeing excursion via camelback for them and their family members. While the trade group that footed the bill for the Democrat excursion is not directly tied to the Qatari royal family, it describes its work as “dedicated exclusively to enhancing the bilateral business relationship between the U.S. and Qatar.” HOUSE DEMOCRAT CALLS FOR ‘IMMEDIATE’ ETHICS PROBE OF QATARI PLANE GIFT TO TRUMP “This you frolicking in the sand on a camel as part of your $84,621.59 trip paid for by the US-Qatar Business Council to the Four Seasons in Doha in 2021?” Republican strategist Steve Guest asked in response to criticism about Trump’s jet from now-Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. The senator accused Trump of engaging in a “pay-to-play” scheme and “selling out U.S. policy.” Gallego, at the time of the trip, was a congressman representing Arizona’s 7th District. “This is pay-to-play, plain and simple,” Gallego said in a post on X. “Trump isn’t making decisions based on what’s best for you – he’s selling out U.S. policy to whoever gives him the biggest jet.” “Gallego’s feaux [sic] outrage would hit hard, except, here he is, shirtless and riding camels in Qatar – all paid for by a special interest group,” conservative writer John Hasson said in response to Gallego’s post. Both Hasson and Guest’s posts included a now-infamous image of Gallego, alongside Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell, sitting on camels – shirtless and smiling – as they participated in an excursion through the desert with their wives during their 2021 trip to Qatar funded by the U.S.-Qatar Business Council. At the time, Swalwell was a prominent member of the House Intelligence Committee, which he was later removed from after it was discovered he allegedly had a romantic tryst with a Chinese Communist Party spy, among other concerns related to his judgment on national security. TRUMP DUBS DEMS ‘OUT OF CONTROL,’ SUGGESTS GOP CONSIDER KICKING THEM OUT OF CONGRESS FOR ‘REAL CRIMES’ Following backlash over their trip to Qatar in 2021, the U.S.-Qatar Business Council told the New York Post that it did not pay for the camel excursion, only “costs directly associated with travel and the working agenda of the trip.” The trip cost roughly $85,000, according to congressional database Legistorm, which noted that the total cost amounted to more than half of the entire congressional travel expenses accounted for in 2021. In addition to Swalwell and Gallego, Reps. Lou Correa, D-Calif., Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Lisa McClain, R-Mich., were part of the American delegation on the trip. In response to the criticism from Republicans over his alleged hypocrisy, a spokesperson for Gallego shot back at the notion that the 2021 trip was anywhere near the same as Trump’s acceptance of the roughly $400 million plane from the Qatari royal family. “If you think traveling on a bipartisan congressional delegation and visiting U.S. troops is the same as corruptly accepting a $400 million plane, then I have beachfront property in Arizona to sell you,” Gallego communications director Jacques Petit told Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell’s office for comment as well, but did not hear back. BYRON DONALDS LEADS BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO PUNISH FEDERAL WORKERS FOR FAILURE TO REPORT FOREIGN GIFTS Trump shot back at criticisms over his planned acceptance of the Qatari gift, which the administration was given to use in place of Air Force One. Trump has been pushing to upgrade Air Force One, but the process that was initiated in 2018 has repeatedly been delayed. “The fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump said in a Truth Social post published Sunday. “Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA”
House Democrat moves to force Trump impeachment vote
A lone House Democrat is moving to force a chamber-wide vote on his impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., introduced his impeachment resolution as privileged on Tuesday afternoon, meaning leaders have two days of the House in session to take up the legislation. House GOP leaders could move to table the motion, a procedural vote aimed to scuttle a piece of legislation without having lawmakers vote on the legislation itself. ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION But an impeachment vote would likely put vulnerable House Democrats in a tough spot. Democrats have struggled to unite behind a potent message since the 2024 election, and such a vote could be politically perilous for their most vulnerable members as they work to win back the House majority in 2026. No Republicans are likely to support impeaching Trump, however, meaning Thanedar’s measure will likely fail. “Donald Trump has unlawfully conducted himself, bringing shame to the presidency and the people of the United States,” Thanedar said when deeming his resolution privileged. BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY Thanedar also took a swing at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), calling it a “flagrantly unconstitutional creation.” The India-born Michigan Democrat first introduced seven articles of impeachment against Trump in late April. They include charges of obstruction of justice, tyranny, bribery and corruption, and abuse of trade powers, among others. But Politico reported that his resolution got off to a bumpy start. Four Democratic co-sponsors who were originally listed on the legislation implied they were mistakenly added and then removed themselves, the outlet reported. Thanedar told Politico at the time he respected their decisions. Thanedar’s filing comes after Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, similarly threatened to file impeachment articles against Trump. Green was later thrown out of Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress for repeatedly protesting the speech. Fox News Digital reached out to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the White House for comment on Thanedar’s move but did not immediately hear back.
Trump says US to lift Syria sanctions, ending years of Washington’s policy
United States President Donald Trump has announced that he will lift all sanctions on Syria, declaring that it was time for the country to “move forward”, giving a nation devastated by years of ruinous civil war a crucial opening in reviving its shattered economy. Speaking at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh during his Middle East tour on Tuesday, Trump said the punitive measures had achieved their “purpose” and were no longer needed. “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” he said. “It’s their time to shine. We’re taking them all off”. The president ended his remarks with a direct message to Damascus: “Good luck, Syria. Show us something very special.” The announcement marks a dramatic shift in Washington’s yearslong policy towards Syria, where sanctions targeted ousted President Bashar al-Assad’s government during years of war, and the country at large over its crackdown on dissent and human rights abuses during that nearly 14-year period. Advertisement Syrians suffered hundreds of thousands of deaths, and millions were displaced during the war. “There’s a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilising the country and keeping peace,” Trump said in Riyadh, referring to the interim government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump noted that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Turkiye later this week, and says his decision to end the sanctions was influenced by conversations with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Al-Shaibani welcomed the announcement, calling it a “a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we move toward a future of stability, self-sufficiency, and true reconstruction after years of devastating war”, according to the state-run SANA news agency. Key obstacle removed, but others remain The sanctions relief will be welcomed by al-Sharaa’s government, which also says it wants to transition away from the corrupt system that gave al-Assad loyalists privileged access to government contracts and kept key industries in the hands of the al-Assad family and its Alawite base. Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, says that while it is important not to overestimate the significance of Trump’s promise to lift sanctions on Syria, it is an important step in the future of a nation devastated by years of war. “It takes away a key obstacle in their ability to establish some kind of economic development, economic prosperity,” he told Al Jazeera. “But there are plenty of other obstacles and challenges the country is facing.” Advertisement Rahman said that Saudi Arabia helped push the US towards its decision to drop sanctions. “I think the United States was really dragging its feet on sanctions – they wanted to use it as leverage in order to push other policies in Syria,” he said, adding that besides Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were also pushing for this pivotal outcome. “This wasn’t something that was too difficult for Trump to do,” Rahman added. “He didn’t need to get permission from anybody. He didn’t even need consent from Congress.” Syria’s new government has sought to rebuild the country’s diplomatic ties, including with international financial institutions. It also counts on wealthy Gulf Arab states to play a critical role in financing the reconstruction of Syria’s war-ravaged infrastructure and reviving its economy. Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced in April that they will settle Syria’s debt to the World Bank totalling roughly $15m. The United Kingdom has also removed its sanctions on 12 Syrian government entities, including the Ministries of Defence and Interior and the General Intelligence Directorate. But military attacks persist. Israel has carried out multiple air strikes in Syria since al-Assad’s removal. The country’s presidency denounced an Israeli attack near the presidential palace in Damascus as a “dangerous escalation” earlier this month. Tensions between Israel and Syria soared after the Israeli government accused the Syrian authorities of failing to protect the country’s Druze minority. Advertisement The Syrian government and Druze came to an agreement after days of violence, the latter saying they did not need Israel’s intervention or protection. Israel has previously called Syria’s interim government a “terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force”. Decades needed to recover A February report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that at current growth rates, Syria would need more than 50 years to return to the economic level it had before the war, and it called for massive investment to accelerate the process. The UNDP study said nine out of 10 Syrians now live in poverty, one-quarter are jobless and Syria’s gross domestic product (GDP) “has shrunk to less than half of its value” in 2011, the year the war began. Syria’s Human Development Index score, which factors in life expectancy, education and standard of living, has fallen to its worst level since it was first included in the index in 1990, meaning the war erased decades of development. The UNDP report estimated that Syria’s “lost GDP” during the 2011-2024 war to be about $800bn. Adblock test (Why?)
Diddy’s lawyers downplay “suggestion of sex-trafficking”
Attorney Areva Martin breaks down Diddy’s first court day, analysing the proceedings and key evidence presented so far. Areva Martin, an attorney and legal affairs commentator, breaks down Diddy’s first day in court, offering insights into the proceedings and the key evidence presented against him so far. Adblock test (Why?)
Will budget cuts cause the end of the UN as we know it?
The UN faces a historic crisis as aid is slashed, staff are laid off, and millions worldwide risk losing urgent support. United Nations agencies are facing an unprecedented financial crisis, with the United States abruptly pulling aid, European contributions shrinking, and global budgets shifting to defence. Deep cuts, mass layoffs and sweeping reforms are under way, jeopardising food, shelter and other aid for millions around the world. How can the UN adapt to survive? Adblock test (Why?)
Gabbard fires ‘deep state’ heads of National Intelligence Council to root out ‘politicization of intel’
EXCLUSIVE: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top officials leading the National Intelligence Council – whom whistleblowers describe as “radically opposed to Trump” — and has moved the agency to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, to ensure she can block any “politicization of intelligence,” Fox News Digital has learned. Gabbard fired Mike Collins, who was serving as the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, Tuesday, senior intelligence officials told Fox News Digital. DNI GABBARD REFERS INTEL OFFICIALS TO DOJ FOR PROSECUTION OVER ALLEGED LEAKS OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION Fox News Digital reached out Langan-Riekhof for comment and did not immediately hear back, and couldn’t immediately find contact information for Collins. Collins also has whistleblower complaints against him for political bias and “deliberately undermining the incoming Trump administration,” officials said. They added that Collins was closely associated with Michael Morrell, the former deputy director of the CIA who worked to write a public letter in 2020 claiming that Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” and to get signatures from top ex-intelligence officials. As for Langan-Reikhof, officials said she has been a “key advocate” for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and is someone who whistleblowers allege is “radically opposed to Trump.” Meanwhile, Gabbard is moving the National Intelligence Council from the CIA to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to “directly hold accountable any improper action and politicization of intelligence,” Fox News Digital has learned. Many intel community leakers are “career bureaucrats that are entrenched in Washington politics,” officials said. “It takes time to weed them out and fire them,” one official told Fox News Digital, adding that “plans to eliminate non-essential offices within ODNI that we know are housing deep state leakers are underway.” A CIA official told Fox News Digital Tuesday that the National Intelligence Council “has always been a DNI component. It makes sense for them to be physically located at DNI.” GABBARD ESTABLISHES NEW INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY TASK FORCE TO RESTORE TRANSPARENCY The moves come as Gabbard has taken steps to root out leakers and alleged “deep state holdovers” who officials say are politicizing intelligence analysis and “trying to sabotage President Trump’s agenda.” FLASHBACK: BIDEN CAMPAIGN, BLINKEN ORCHESTRATED INTEL LETTER TO DISCREDIT HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY, EX-CIA OFFICIAL SAYS So far, Gabbard has referred three intelligence community professionals to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution over alleged leaks of classified information. Fox News Digital first reported on those criminal referrals in April. An ODNI official at that time told Fox News Digital that the intelligence community professionals allegedly leaked classified information to the Washington Post and The New York Times. “Politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation’s security at risk and must end,” Gabbard told Fox News Digital in April. “Those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” A senior intelligence official told Fox News Digital Tuesday that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is investigating 12 other intelligence officials over alleged leaks of classified information. For example, officials told Fox News Digital that ODNI fired two bureaucrats in early May who they say leaked information from an assessment about the violent Tren de Aragua gang to the Times. Officials said those bureaucrats were “CIA detailees” who were fired for “not following proper procedures.” In April, Gabbard established a task force to restore transparency and accountability in the intelligence community. Fox News Digital first reported on the Director’s Initiative Group (DIG), which started by investigating weaponization within the intelligence community. Officials said the group will also work to root out politicization and expose unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence. In addition, it will work to declassify information “that serves a public interest.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Gabbard also has held to account employees who participated in sexually explicit National Security Agency chatrooms, and is pursuing action against those who have made unauthorized leaks of classified information within the intelligence community. All the while, officials have complained about the hold up in confirming intelligence nominees, which they say are “essential” to enacting the Trump agenda. Currently, ODNI is without its nominees for principal deputy director of national intelligence; National Counterterrorism Center; National Counterintelligence and Security Center; intelligence inspector general; and general counsel; among others.
Biden made Harris campaign a ‘nightmare,’ destroyed her chances by staying in 2024 race too long, aides charge
Former President Joe Biden‘s second campaign ruined former Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of defeating President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, according to a top Democratic consultant. David Plouffe, former President Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008 and a senior advisor on Harris’ 2024 campaign, detailed how dire Biden’s run was for the Democrats in a new book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.” “And it’s all Biden,” Plouffe said in the book, authored by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, about Biden’s choice to stay in the race so long and how the White House assured him Biden was capable of winning another election. “He totally f—ed us.” As a result, Plouffe said that Harris’ brief campaign against Trump turned into “a f—ing nightmare,” pointing the blame on Biden. CRITICS PILE ON BIDEN FOLLOWING ABC INTERVIEW, BLAST HIS REFUSAL TO COMMIT TO COGNITIVE TEST: ‘DISQUALIFYING’ Plouffe is far from the only one who believes that Biden undercut his own party running again in 2024 as his faculties began to decline. A senior White House aide described in the book that “we attempted to shield him from his own staff so many people didn’t realize the extent of the decline beginning in 2023.” The aide, who ultimately departed the White House because they did not believe Biden should run in 2024, described Biden’s decision to run for a second term as a “disservice” to the country and Democrats. “I love Joe Biden. When it comes to decency, there are few in politics like him,” the aide said in the book, which is slated for release Tuesday. “Still, it was a disservice to the country and to the party for his family and advisers to allow him to run again.” Spokespeople for Biden and Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. “Original Sin” details the 2024 election cycle and how Biden’s team orchestrated a cover-up to hide just how severely his mental faculties had suffered. The book is one of several that detail Biden’s decision to run in 2024 and assert the dramatic decline of his cognitive function. BIDEN AIDES ‘SCRIPTED’ EVERYTHING, ALLOWED HIS FACULTIES TO ‘ATROPHY,’ NEW BOOK CLAIMS For example, the book, “Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History,” also detailed how the White House kept Biden from socializing even with those he regarded as friends and allies. However, that book, authored by Chris Whipple, a former producer for CBS’ “60 Minutes,” said that one White House aide suggested “walling Biden off from the world was a grave mistake.” “‘They were afraid he might say the wrong thing or might feed the mental acuity narrative,’ he told me. ‘And so he started seeing fewer and fewer people. They allowed his faculties to atrophy. But I think, like knives, they have to be sharpened. They get sharpened by rubbing them up against steel. And they don’t get sharpened by sitting in a drawer,’” Whipple wrote.
SCOOP: Democrats who ‘stormed’ Newark ICE facility could be stripped of committees in new House bill
FIRST ON FOX: A Republican lawmaker is moving to have three of his Democratic colleagues removed from their House committees after they were accused of “storming” a federal detention facility in defense of illegal immigrants in New Jersey. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., introduced a resolution on Tuesday to strip Reps. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., and LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., of their committee assignments. The New Jersey Democrats were part of a group of protesters who rushed into Delaney Hall Detention Center after the gates opened for a bus carrying a group of detainees into the facility. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused them of breaking in and risking the safety of both law enforcement and detainees for what it called a political stunt. BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY The lawmakers and their supporters, however, maintained they were exercising their constitutional duty and accused ICE agents of assaulting McIver and Watson Coleman. “The radical left has lost their minds – they would rather raid an ICE facility to defend criminal illegal immigrants than represent their own constituents,” Carter told Fox News Digital of his legislation. “This behavior constitutes an assault on our brave ICE agents and undermines the rule of law. The three members involved in this stunt do not deserve to sit on committees alongside serious lawmakers.” His legislation would remove Watson Coleman from the House Appropriations Committee, remove Menendez from the House Energy & Commerce Committee and remove McIver from the House committees on Small Business and Homeland Security. Carter’s office is reaching out to other House Republicans to gauge support for the resolution. Fox News Digital reached out to the three Democrats for comment but did not immediately hear back. DHS said in a statement after the incident Friday, “These members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and the detainees at risk.” “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility,” DHS said. The Democrats, meanwhile, have pushed back on the Republican categorization of the event. “The idea we ‘stormed’ a heavily guarded federal detention center is absurd – just more lies from the most dishonest administration in history,” Watson Coleman wrote on X. ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION McIver wrote on the social platform Friday, “This is laid out clearly on ICE’s own website. What happened today, from the manhandling of me and my colleagues to the arrest of [Newark Mayor Ras Baraka], should never have occurred.” Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also defended the trio. “The concerns of elected officials about this unsanctioned facility will not be silenced by the Trump administration’s attempt to intimidate the public. We will never bend the knee,’ Jeffries said. “The masked agents who physically accosted two Congresswomen must be identified immediately and any trumped-up charges against Mayor Baraka dropped.”