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Year: 2025

Dem lawmaker sets litmus test for party with 5th Trump impeachment effort

Dem lawmaker sets litmus test for party with 5th Trump impeachment effort

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, announced that he would submit articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Thursday morning, framing the vote as a sort of litmus test for his party on its opposition to the administration. “There will be articles of impeachment filed before the Christmas break. This, I pledge,” Green said. “We have to participate. This is a participatory democracy. The impeachment requires the hands and the guidance of all of us.” ANTI-TRUMP NETWORK BEHIND MASS PROTESTS CRACKS OPEN WAR CHEST AGAINST DEMS WHO BACKED REOPENING GOVERNMENT He confirmed he would introduce the motion as privileged, a status that forces its consideration within two legislative days. The motion can be tabled before the impeachment itself comes to a vote. Green also said he and other advocates would hold a peaceful protest at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday. The announcement of Green’s impeachment effort — his fifth set of filed articles — comes as the Democrat base in Congress has wrestled with how to effectively fight Trump. Some in the more progressive wing of the party have spoken out against figures like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., over Senate Democrats’ failing to secure concessions out of a 43-day government shutdown. Even before the shutdown, other figures in the party, like Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, had called for new party leadership in Congress to more effectively put up resistance to Republican momentum in Congress. REPUBLICANS TORCH ANTI-TRUMP ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTS, SAY DEMS FEAR ANGERING LEFTISTS IN SHUTDOWN FIGHT Dave Mytych, outreach lead at For Liberation and Resistance Everywhere (FLARE), called out congressional Democrat leadership by name on Thursday. He joined Green at the press conference. “This is what the American people want. They want fighters that hold the line. Democrats, are you listening? Leader Schumer, are you listening? Leader Jeffries, are you listening?” Mytych said. The House of Representatives has impeached Trump twice before — once in 2019 over abuse of power charges and again in 2021 for inciting an insurrection. In both cases, the U.S. Senate voted to dismiss the charges.  When asked if he believed this most recent impeachment attempt would reflect poorly on Jeffries and Schumer if they failed to support the measure, Green dodged the question. He said that as many as 80 members have supported his efforts in the past. MIKE JOHNSON, INFURIATED BY DEMS, SAYS PARTY ‘PLAYING POLITICS’ WITH AMERICANS’ LIVES AS SHUTDOWN CONTINUES “Here’s my perspective. I believe in the Constitution,” Green answered. “People who vote to table the articles are voting against impeachment.” Green did not expound on what specific counts of impeachment he would file.

Zeldin, McCain hammer Crockett on Epstein donations claim

Zeldin, McCain hammer Crockett on Epstein donations claim

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin — who clapped back after House Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett said that he and others had taken money from someone by the name of Jeffrey Epstein — took to social media again after Crockett defended her comments and claimed that she was not seeking to “mislead” anyone. Zeldin began his Wednesday post on X with an exploding head emoji and then declared, “When you find yourself in a hole, it’s best to stop digging.” “The public FEC report Crockett referenced on the House floor very clearly states that the Jeffrey Epstein who donated to my past campaign was a physician, and the donation date was well AFTER the [drum emoji] other [drum emoji] Jeffrey [drum emoji] Epstein [drum emoji] WAS [drum emoji] ALREADY [drum emoji] DEAD!!!” he exclaimed. TRUMP OFFICIAL FIRES BACK AT DEM’S EPSTEIN DONOR CLAIM: ‘TOTALLY DIFFERENT PERSON’ The dust-up originated because Crockett, during remarks on Tuesday, listed figures and entities she said had taken money from “somebody” with the name Jeffrey Epstein. Noting that she had her “team dig in very quickly,” she ran through the following list: “Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin, George Bush, WinRed, McCain-Palin, Rick Lazio.” Zeldin fired back on X, pointing out that the donation was not from the notorious Jeffrey Epstein, but from a completely different individual. “Yes Crockett, a physician named Dr. Jeffrey Epstein (who is a totally different person than the other Jeffrey Epstein) donated to a prior campaign of mine,” Zeldin wrote. “NO [clap emoji] FREAKIN [clap emoji] RELATION [clap emoji] YOU [clap emoji] GENIUS!!!” Meghan McCain, who is the daughter of the late Republican senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, also fired back at Crockett. SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS AFTER FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND BOTCHES EPSTEIN CLAIMS: ‘INSANE ACCUSATION’ “My Dad has been dead 7 years @RepJasmine. He never met Jeffrey Epstein, let alone took money from him. The Jeffrey Epstein you are referencing is an entirely different human being. Do you have mashed potatoes for brains, you absolute joke?!” she wrote in a Wednesday post on X. When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins confronted Crockett on Wednesday about Zeldin’s Tuesday post that pushed back against the notion that he had accepted a donation from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Texas Democrat said that she “never said that it was that Jeffrey Epstein.”  FAR-LEFT FIREBRAND SPENDS EYE-POPPING AMOUNT OF CAMPAIGN CASH ON LUXURY HOTELS, ‘TOP-TIER’ LIMO SERVICES CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Unlike Republicans, I at least don’t go out and just tell lies,” she later said. “So, number one, I made sure that I was clear that it was a Jeffrey Epstein, but I never said that it was specifically that Jeffrey Epstein,” Crockett said later during the interview.

Trump’s trillion-dollar Saudi deal could reshape markets — if the money ever materializes

Trump’s trillion-dollar Saudi deal could reshape markets — if the money ever materializes

President Donald Trump loves a deal and few partners have proven more willing or more powerful than Saudi Arabia. This week, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to channel $1 trillion in investments from the oil-rich kingdom into the U.S.  Trump embraced the announcement as validation of his close ties with Riyadh and proof that international money is eager to flow back into the U.S. economy. Yet beneath the impressive headline figure lies a familiar reality: much of the promised investment exists only on paper, and experts caution that the actual cash flow could take years to materialize. “The term investment implies long-term capital, but in this case it really means purchases like aircraft, tanks, even computer chips,” said Simon Henderson, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “And those figures, $600 billion, a trillion, who really knows how accurate they are, or over what time frame?” SAUDI ARABIA IS ALREADY AMERICA’S TOP ARMS BUYER AND NOW TRUMP WANTS TO ADD F-35S “Perhaps the real story is that Saudi finances are in bad shape,” added Henderson, who specializes in the Gulf region and energy policy. “Oil prices are too low, they need about $100 a barrel, and extravagant spending on prestige projects like The Line and NEOM are being scaled back.” The Line is a proposed 105-mile car-free city and NEOM is a $500 billion futuristic mega-development on the Red Sea. Both are part of the crown prince’s “Vision 2030” plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil. Others note that Saudi Arabia’s short-term fiscal strains don’t necessarily preclude large-scale investments over time. “It’s perfectly within the realm of possibilities that Saudi Arabia could make a $1 trillion investment into the United States over many years,” explained E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, citing the kingdom’s vast oil wealth and long-term economic ambitions. Antoni noted that much depends on how such an investment ultimately takes shape. For now, the White House has offered few details about what exactly the Saudi funds would be directed toward or when they might arrive. “What does it look like in practice? It could take a whole host of different forms,” he said. “We don’t know yet if this is going to look like an investment in infrastructure and even if it is, in what industry?” He pointed to petrochemicals as one possible fit but said other sectors could also attract Saudi money. “In terms of beneficiaries, clearly you have the American taxpayer, who’s going to benefit from a larger economy,” Antoni continued. “That broadens the tax base and reduces the overall tax burden on each individual. So that’s very, very positive.” SAUDI ARABIA’S 40-YEAR-OLD DISRUPTOR: HOW MBS REWIRED THE KINGDOM IN 10 SHORT YEARS He added that while such deals can stimulate confidence and markets in the short term, their most meaningful returns often unfold over years, well beyond a single presidential term. “Most of what President Donald Trump has done is to accrue benefits that will not appear until after he has already left office,” Antoni told Fox News Digital.  “That’s not to say there are no initial gains, there clearly are. Every time another company announces more investment in the United States, it helps buoy the stock market, because equity prices are ultimately based on future earnings and those earnings rise when there’s additional investment coming.” For now, the pledge bolsters Trump’s economic narrative but also sets up a long-term test of U.S.–Saudi relations, one whose true impact may not be clear for years.

Survey says: Issue that helped Trump and Republicans in 2024 hurts them now

Survey says: Issue that helped Trump and Republicans in 2024 hurts them now

It was the issue that boosted President Donald Trump and Republicans in the 2024 elections, as they won back the White House and Senate majority and kept control of the House. But a year later, the economy, and everyday expenses in particular, are working against the president and his party. Democrats, with an across-the-board focus on affordability, outperformed at the polls as they enjoyed sweeping success at the ballot box in the 2025 elections earlier this month. And a new Fox News national poll released on Wednesday evening is another warning sign for Trump and the GOP. FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS SAY WHITE HOUSE IS DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD ON ECONOMY Three-quarters of voters questioned in the survey, which was conducted Friday through Monday, viewed the economy negatively, and large numbers of respondents, including Republicans, said their costs for groceries, utilities, healthcare  and housing have gone up this year. The poll indicated that voters blame the president, with nearly twice as many pointing fingers at Trump than former President Joe Biden, when asked who is responsible for the current economy. Only 38% of those questioned gave the president a thumbs-up on how he’s handling the economy. And Trump’s overall approval rating, at 41%, is the lowest of his second term in office in Fox News polling. SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT THE 2025 ELECTIONS SIGNAL FOR NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM SHOWDOWNS “The situation isn’t complicated,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who helps run the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “People are struggling to afford necessities and blaming those in charge. What’s interesting is watching Democrats gain politically from a problem they arguably caused — and that crushed them in 2024. But that’s politics.” Trump enjoyed some positive economic news on Thursday, with the release of a stronger-than-expected jobs report after several months of weakness. U.S. employers added 119,000 jobs in September, according to federal government data delayed for weeks due to the government shutdown. But the report also indicated the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%. The Fox News survey is the latest national poll to point to political anxiety over the economy. Jack Heath, the host of a popular statewide news-talk morning radio program in swing state New Hampshire, told Fox News Digital when he interviews congressional candidates and asks them what’s on the minds of voters they meet on the campaign trail, they tell him voters are “talking about how they can’t afford anything. It’s affordability. It’s cost of living.” “I think there’s a very short window to the midterms where the president needs to . . . get back to the blue-collar people who are working. They feel optimistic, but they’re growing more pessimistic that ‘I’m not keeping as much money as I want to and I’m working hard,’” Heath said, as he referred to next year’s midterm elections, when the GOP will defend its congressional majorities. ELECTION REFLECTION: ‘DEMOCRATS FLIPPED THE SCRIPT’ ON AFFORDABILITY IN BALLOT BOX SHOWDOWNS Pointing to the 2025 election’s double-digit gubernatorial wins for Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as ballot box showdowns in battlegrounds Georgia and Pennsylvania and left-tilting New York City and California, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said his party’s candidates “are meeting voters at the kitchen table. . . . From New Jersey and Virginia and New York, to Georgia and beyond, Democrats ran campaigns relentlessly focused on costs and affordability.” Trump, in his first post-2025 election interview, told Fox News’ Bret Baier earlier this month that, on inflation, “We’ve done so much. . . . Energy is way down. . . . We’re going to have $2 gasoline. I did that. That brings everything else down. Groceries are way down, other than beef. Now, beef is going to come down . . . . The fact is, we have prices way down.” And the president argued in his “Special Report” interview that it’s more of a messaging problem for the GOP. “As Republicans, you have to talk about it.” But Trump and his team have turned the spotlight since the elections this month on battling high prices. “We’re making incredible strides to make America affordable again,” Trump said Wednesday. But the polls suggest Americans aren’t buying the message from the White House. “Voters are remarkably consistent in their priorities: the economy, the economy, the economy,” noted Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and president of New England College. “When you win an election, voters expect you are going to do something to address those concerns and the reality is that the questions of affordability remain unchanged in their importance to the everyday voter,” Lesperance emphasized.