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Year: 2025

Missouri House approves redistricting plan as part of nationwide GOP push to defend House majority

Missouri House approves redistricting plan as part of nationwide GOP push to defend House majority

The Missouri House of Representatives passed a new congressional map on Tuesday that is expected to hand Republicans an additional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.  The Missouri Senate is now tasked with passing the new map before it can land on Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk.  A special session of Missouri’s legislature to redraw the solidly red state’s congressional districts began last week. The Midwest state is the latest battleground in the high-stakes partisan fight over congressional redistricting ahead of the midterms.  “Missouri’s conservative, commonsense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that,” Kehoe said as he announced the special session and unveiled the proposed map.  TRUMP-BACKED REDISTRICTING PUSH TURNS MIDWESTERN STATE INTO NEXT POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND Missouri Democrats staged a sit-in over the weekend, refusing to leave the chamber in protest of the Republican-backed map. Missouri state House Minority Leader Ashley Aune has accused Republicans of pushing to “rig our maps and eliminate our representation in Congress.” ABBOTT CLEARS FINAL REDISTRICTING HURDLE AS TEXAS SENATE PASSES NEW TRUMP-APPROVED MAP Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin celebrated the Missouri Democrats’ protest in a statement released Monday.  “The DNC applauds their efforts leading and using every tool at their disposal to raise awareness for the craven scheme by Missouri Republicans. In every corner of this country, Democrats are fighting back. Missouri Democrats can count on the DNC’s support as we protect Missouri voters and save our country from Trump’s billionaire-first agenda,” Martin said.  President Donald Trump argued in a social media post that Missouri voters would have “the tremendous opportunity to elect an additional MAGA Republican in the 2026 Midterm Elections.” Kehoe’s move came hours after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a redistricting bill passed by the Republican supermajority in the state legislature that aims to create up to five right-leaning congressional districts at the expense of currently Democrat-controlled seats in the reliably red state. The efforts in Missouri and Texas are part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Democrats are fighting back against the rare, but not unheard-of mid-decade redistricting. State lawmakers in heavily blue California have approved a special ballot proposition this November to obtain voter approval to temporarily sidetrack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature. The effort in California, which aims to create five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts and counter the shift in Texas, is being spearheaded by two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender. In Missouri, the new map proposed by Kehoe targets longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City area district by shifting it eastward to include rural right-leaning voters.  If passed by the GOP-controlled legislature, the new map would likely flip Cleaver’s seat and give Republicans a seven-to-one advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation. Cleaver, whose seat is threatened, has vowed to take legal action if the new map is signed into law by the governor. With Democrats currently needing just a three-seat pickup in next year’s midterms to win back the House majority, Indiana, South Carolina and Florida are mulling their own GOP-friendly redistricting plans ahead of the 2026 elections. And right-leaning Ohio is under a court order to draw new maps ahead of the midterms. Democrats, as they push back, are looking to New York, Illinois and Maryland in the hopes of creating more left-leaning congressional seats. In Illinois and Maryland, where Govs. J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore are discussing redistricting, Democrats hope to pick up to three more left-leaning seats. And Democrats could pick up a seat in right-leaning Utah, where a judge recently ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to draw new maps after ruling that lawmakers four years ago ignored an independent commission approved by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering. 

Trump administration targets big pharma for deceptive drug advertising

Trump administration targets big pharma for deceptive drug advertising

The Trump administration is targeting “misleading drug advertisements” by initiating rule making to close a 1997 loophole that enables drug advertisers to conceal safety risks in broadcast and digital ads. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) sent thousands of warning letters across the pharmaceutical industry on Tuesday. Sources familiar with the letter told Fox that companies who practice widespread advertising like Hims/Hers are among those receiving the notice.  Fox News Digital also obtained a copy of a letter sent to a pharmaceutical company, which outlines concerns that “patients are not seeing a fair balance of the information regarding a drug product” and directing the company to “remove any noncompliant advertising and bring all promotional communications into compliance.” TRUMP SENDS LETTERS TO 17 PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES ON REDUCING DRUG PRICES “For far too long, the FDA has permitted misleading drug advertisements, distorting the doctor-patient relationship and creating increased demand for medications regardless of clinical appropriateness,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H told Fox News Digital in a statement.  “Drug companies spend up to 25% of their budget on advertising.” “Those billions of dollars would be better spent on lowering drug prices for everyday Americans,” Makary added. The letters to various companies are being sent out over the course of Tuesday afternoon, and it is unclear whether any companies have had the opportunity to respond. Fox News Digital reached out to Hims/Hers but did not receive a response.  I WISH RFK JR.’S HEARING WAS ‘MORE PRODUCTIVE,’ FDA CHIEF SAYS The notice sent by the two health-related agencies also cites a 2024 review in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research which showed that while every pharmaceutical social media post highlights drug benefits, only 33% of these companies mention potential harms. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), a law dating back to 1938 and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, empowers the FDA to enact appropriate regulations for pharmaceutical advertising.  Social media advertisements also apply to the FDCA and regulations set forth by the FDCA. PSYCHEDELIC DRUG POPULAR IN 1960S COULD EASE ANXIETY AS DOCTORS SHARE WARNINGS “Patients deserve the truth about the medicines they’re prescribed,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “For nearly three decades, drug companies have gamed the system to mislead families while pocketing billions.  “Those days are over,” Kennedy continued. “We are restoring honesty and accountability in drug advertising to protect patients and rebuild public trust.” Per FDA regulations, a written warning letter, like the ones sent by the agency on Tuesday, is the first step in reprimanding drug companies and is one of the FDA’s most commonly used methods of enforcement.  

IRS fires top aide linked to Lois Lerner Tea Party targeting scandal

IRS fires top aide linked to Lois Lerner Tea Party targeting scandal

EXCLUSIVE: A top aide and confidante to former Obama official Lois Lerner who targeted conservatives and conservative groups was fired by the Internal Revenue Service, Fox News Digital has learned. Sources told Fox News Digital that Holly Paz, who served as the IRS Commissioner of Large Business and International Division, was terminated Monday. KEY AIDE IN IRS’ TEA PARTY TARGETING CONTROVERSY PUT ON LEAVE AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF NEW ANTI-GOP EFFORT Paz was placed on administrative leave last month and was subsequently fired following an internal review, sources say. Paz had served as Lerner’s deputy during the Obama administration. In 2013, it was revealed that the IRS, under Lerner, had wrongfully scrutinized tax-exempt applications related to the phrases “Tea Party,” “9/12” and “Constitution.” The Treasury’s inspector general later confirmed “inappropriate criteria” were used to target conservative groups and criticized ineffective oversight of systemic bias. The IRS reportedly spent more than two years targeting conservative tax-exempt groups.  Paz reviewed and helped oversee the handling of tax-exempt applications, and has been described as a key link between the Cincinnati, Ohio IRS office where the screenings of applications took place and the IRS headquarters. FLASHBACK: HOLLY PAZ AND LOIS LERNER WANT IRS TESTIMONY SEALED FOREVER, FEARING DEATH THREATS Her dismissal followed scrutiny from lawmakers over a subordinate work unit aimed at auditing pass-through businesses that Biden-era Commissioner Danny Werfel had created and assigned her to lead. Werfel called the new work unit a big step in “ensur[ing] the IRS holds the nation’s wealthiest filers accountable,” and Paz called it an “important change” in the IRS structure. The Trump administration, after years of litigation, in 2017, settled lawsuits with Tea Party and other conservative groups who say they were unfairly targeted by the IRS under the Obama administration.  TRUMP SCORES MAJOR WIN AS SENATE INSTALLS IRS CRITIC TO LEAD THE AGENCY Lerner and Paz, at the time, asked the federal courts to keep their testimonies in the Tea Party targeting case private forever, over fear of death threats. The targeting scandal drew heavy attention in 2013 after the IRS admitted it applied extra scrutiny to conservative groups applying for nonprofit status. Lerner became the public face of the scandal, though many other IRS officials, like Paz, were also involved. In a 2017 settlement, the IRS offered an apology, saying the agency “admits that its treatment of Plaintiffs during the tax-exempt determination process, including screening their applications based on their names or policy positions, subjecting those applications to heightened scrutiny and inordinate delays, and demanding some Plaintiffs’ information that TIGTA determined was unnecessary to the agency’s determination of their tax-exempt status, was wrong.” FLASHBACK: MCCONNELL, BRAUN TO ROLL OUT BILL TO PREVENT DEMOCRATS FROM ‘WEAPONIZING’ IRS TO TARGET CONSERVATIVES “For such treatment, the IRS expresses its sincere apology,” the IRS said at the time.  While the Treasury Department did not comment on the move to fire Paz, it represents the latest step in Secretary Scott Bessent’s efforts to “de-weaponize” the IRS in his role as acting commissioner. Fox News Digital has learned that Bessent has been working closely with Hunter Biden whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, and has met several times with IRS leadership. Sources told Fox News Digital that Bessent and IRS officials are working to improve customer service and outcomes for American taxpayers. They are also working to streamline technical improvements, and cut back on bloated hiring from the Biden administration. Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

Unearthed emails show left-wing group quietly writing policies for progressive DAs: ‘No billing, no publicity’

Unearthed emails show left-wing group quietly writing policies for progressive DAs: ‘No billing, no publicity’

FIRST ON FOX: A little-known consulting firm is quietly steering the policies and messaging of dozens of progressive prosecutors nationwide, according to a searing report exclusively obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital. The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF), a pro-police nonprofit based out of Virginia, is publishing a report Tuesday alleging that a liberal group focused on criminal justice reform called the Wren Collective has helped guide and shape the offices of at least 40 progressive prosecutors across 22 states on their “policies, public communications, and legal decisions,” according to the report exclusively obtained by Fox Digital titled, “Outsourcing Justice.” The report outlines the influence — both direct and indirect — that the Wren Collective has allegedly had in both the campaigns and subsequent policy priorities for certain district attorneys, including at least 40, whom the report alleges held cozy relationships with the group, such as joining weekly meetings to talk communication strategy, heeding advice on specific policy issues or even signing a non-disclosure agreement over a DA’s professional relationship with the group. The Wren Collective is a for-profit organization founded in 2020 by Jessica Brand, a Texas-based attorney who serves as the group’s executive director. Its aim is to “replace ineffective and often disingenuous solutions to crime and safety with solutions that support victims,” according to the website, and is bolstered by a team of policy and legal experts who “design, promote, and defend policies and practices grounded in evidence and compassion.” EPA URGED TO AXE FUNDS FOR ‘RADICAL’ CLIMATE PROJECT ACCUSED OF TRAINING JUDGES, STATE AGS RALLY But the report in question alleges a certain level of influence exerted by the group that goes beyond its stated priorities. Among other things, the report accuses the group of engaging in an “influence-peddling operation,” in part by increasing the access and engagement that certain donors or “well-connected” activists had with the district attorneys’ offices in question, arguing that it “demonstrates that these elected prosecutors’ actions are shaped not by their own ideas or by those of voters and local stakeholders,” but are instead pursued “at the behest” of a certain few. The LELDF report found that since 2015, there have been roughly 100 progressive district attorneys elected to office across the country, with Wren Collective staffers allegedly “embedded” in at least 40 of the offices, based on documents researchers compiled via Freedom of Information Act requests and other public documents showing a cozy relationship between the group and liberal prosecutors. The report identified “hatchlings” of the Wren Collective – which LELDF defined as left-wing DAs tied to the consultancy group – such as former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin, former Los Angeles DA George Gascon, and Travis County, Texas, DA Jose Garza. TOP ENERGY GROUP CALLS FOR PROBE INTO SECRETIVE ‘NATIONAL LAWFARE CAMPAIGN’ TO INFLUENCE JUDGES ON CLIMATE “Based on public information requests (totaling over 50,000 pages of emails and text messages), campaign finance filings, and tax documents, this study demonstrates [how] a handful of left-wing social justice organizations, with significant ties to campaign donors, hold immense influence over these prosecutors through The Wren Collective’s consulting service,” the report alleges. The report pointed to one email exchange in particular that “explains it all,” and shows the alleged cozy ties between the group and the services it can provide to prosecutors. An email sent in June 2020 by a Wren Collective attorney to Multnomah County (Portland) DA-elect Mike Schmidt and his policy advisor included two justice-related model policies on how to abolish bail and reduce jail populations that the group “wrote for Virginia commonwealth attorneys,” as well as a lengthy list of examples of how the group could help the incoming DA. SPECIAL PROSECUTOR WARNS KAREN READ SUPPORTERS’ BEHAVIOR IS ‘ANTITHESIS OF JUSTICE’ “In addition to assistance with staffing issues, office organization, and communications support during policy roll-out and in times of crisis, we have written and could help with policies in the following areas:1. Bail2. Diversion/Declination3. Intake4. Probation5. Plea guidelines6. Fines and Fees7. Prosecutions related to policing8. Brady (related to officer misconduct) and “do not call” or exclusion lists9. Conviction integrity or sentencing review units10. Juvenile transfer11. Felony and Misdemeanor case backlog” The email continued, according to the report, highlighting that the Wren Collective assists DAs in such matters “without any billing or publicity” while adding “these policies will be yours, not ours.” All in, the report includes documents from 23 open records requests, out of a total of 65 requests made, alongside publicly available documents and previous FOIA documents to “cross-reference names and communications to build out a list of 40 progressive prosecutors who themselves or their staff communicated regularly, and substantively directly with The Wren Collective or Jessica Brand on policy, communications, and legal strategy.” Brand defended the Wren Collective’s work in an emailed comment to Fox News on Monday when asked about the report, while critiquing LELDF for publishing the report. LEFT-WING ADVOCACY GROUPS IN THE HOT SEAT AS ANTI-ICE RIOTS TRIGGER INVESTIGATION: ‘NOT PROTECTED SPEECH’ “Wren has spent five years proudly working with prosecutors and law enforcement on policies that reduce crime and improve community safety. I have not seen the report, but Wren’s work is no secret and they could have just gone to our website, which makes clear what we do. Our team is also regularly quoted in major media outlets about our work. It is strange that, when there are major mental health challenges in law enforcement and a recruitment crisis, this organization wants to focus on Wren and what LEDLF surely knows is common practice – among conservative and progressive organizations alike who work with these offices – rather than how to help officers,” she said. On crisis communications, the Wren Collective allegedly helped shape former Loudon County, Virginia, Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj’s handling of the high-profile sexual assault case on a female student in an Ashburn high school by a biological male student. The case became national news in 2021 when the girl’s father, Scott Smith, railed against