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Year: 2026

Jeb Bush heaps praise on Trump’s ‘unprecedented support’ for Iranians 10 years after heated primary

Jeb Bush heaps praise on Trump’s ‘unprecedented support’ for Iranians 10 years after heated primary

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush credited his former political foe President Donald Trump‘s “historic leadership” on pushing for a denuclearized and democratized Iran, saying that his current organization — United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) – stands ready to help Trump and the people of Iran against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. With Trump’s emergence into presidential politics in 2015, he found his top rival in the former Florida governor, notably dubbing him “Low Energy Jeb” — as the Republican scion hit back that the mogul could not “insult his way to the presidency.” This week, détente appeared to emerge between the two as Bush heaped praise on Trump’s position after the president urged Iranian “patriots [to] keep protesting.” EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE APPEALS TO TRUMP AS IRAN PROTESTS MARK ‘DEFINING’ MOMENT “Take over your institutions. Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “President Trump continues to demonstrate historic leadership on Iran, with unprecedented support for the Iranian people as they face bullets for freedom. We at UANI join him in standing with the brave people of Iran.” Bush leads UANI alongside former Ambassador Mark Wallace, the ex-husband of MS-NOW host Nicolle Wallace and a key diplomat in Bush’s brother’s White House. FREED IRANIAN PRISONER SAYS ‘IN TRUMP, THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC HAS MET ITS MATCH’ “UANI applauds President Trump’s unprecedented support of the people of Iran as they fight to reclaim their country,” Bush and Wallace said in a statement. “For far too long, the United States and the West have equivocated in expressing support for the people of Iran in the face of the Ayatollah’s violence and repression.” “President Trump’s post made clear that no longer will the United States and the West lack the moral clarity to support the people of Iran as they face bullets for freedom. That change is historic.” TRUMP CREDITS IRAN NUCLEAR STRIKES FOR KICKSTARTING ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL Trump has been praised for taking a harder line than recent presidents against Iran, cancelling talks with Tehran leaders after reports surfaced that they were shooting and killing protesters in the streets. “UANI joins with President Trump and stands with the brave people of Iran in their struggle against the Ayatollah,” Bush and Wallace added. Their group is a nonprofit, nonpartisan one, formed to combat threats posed by Iran. POMPEO SAYS IRANIAN REGIME HAS ARRIVED AT ‘NATURAL TERMINUS’: ‘LET’S NOT WASTE THIS HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY’ The tenor between the two Republican stalwarts is a marked change from the turbulent 2016 sweeps. At the time, Trump often mocked Bush for his family’s involvement in the race, reportedly saying, “Your mom can’t help you with ISIS” after former first lady Barbara Bush cut a campaign ad for her son. “Donald is great at the one-liners,” Bush quipped during a 2015 debate. “But he’s a chaos candidate.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the two leaders’ new common ground. On Iran, a senior administration official said the administration supports the people of Iran against the regime’s continued human rights abuses and authoritarian repression, and that the regime is one of the world’s worst violators of human rights; oppressing its people to maintain its grip on power.

‘LA DOGE’ delivers nearly $1 billion in savings for red state: ‘Unbelievably tremendous effort’

‘LA DOGE’ delivers nearly billion in savings for red state: ‘Unbelievably tremendous effort’

Though the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency has been largely disbanded, a Louisiana state version, dubbed “LA DOGE,” has pushed on and, according to an official report, is set to garner $1 billion in annual tax dollar savings. LA DOGE will achieve $999.5 million in annual cost savings of both federal and state tax dollars across 17 state departments, according to a report by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s office reviewed by Fox News Digital. The report posits that these savings will be achieved “without any reductions in service.” LA DOGE was established by an executive order signed by Landry in December 2024 as the Louisiana Fiscal Responsibility Program. Similar to Elon Musk’s vision for the federal DOGE, the Louisiana version was set up with the intent to eliminate wasteful spending, improve government efficiency and modernize government operations. Since being established, LA DOGE has been spearheaded by Louisiana Fiscal Responsibility Czar Steve Orlando, an oil and gas executive who had worked exclusively in the private sphere until being appointed to the role. The report said the department worked closely with Louisiana legislative leadership, the Louisiana legislative auditor, and the commissioner of administration to identify and implement the cuts. PRITZKER CHALLENGERS DEMAND AUDIT, PITCH ‘DOGE FOR ILLINOIS’ AND POINT TO WALZ-STYLE FAILURES Of the nearly $1 billion in savings, the report said that $367 million was from Louisiana’s state general fund, $601 million from federal tax dollars and $65 million from other funding sources. From the state fund, LA DOGE was able to cut $407.6 million in spending by improving the governmental workforce and service inefficiencies amongst state staff. An additional $206.4 million was cut through renegotiated and canceled contracts. Critically, Louisiana was able to cut $285.5 million through Medicaid cuts that included improved eligibility determination processes to remove ineligible recipients and the implementation of an optimized process of monthly checks of residency of Medicaid members by utilizing data from the Office of Motor Vehicles. An additional $14.9 million was cut in similar eligibility determination improvements for SNAP beneficiaries. An official in the governor’s office emphasized to Fox News Digital that the state has been able to do all these cuts while simultaneously improving the state’s services to citizens.   TRUMP’S MAIN DOGE OFFICE SHUTTERS — BUT ITS WAR ON GOVERNMENT WASTE ISN’T OVER “We have been able to keep the budget down and not have a fiscal cliff, wean ourselves off of one time money used for recurring expenses, improve our roads and bridges, fund SNAP through these savings during the government shutdown, and give the largest tax cuts in state history,” she said. Meanwhile, the official said that this has allowed the governor’s office to “continue to push for no income tax.” Landry, who has been in office just two years, referred to LA DOGE as an “unbelievably tremendous effort” during a press conference touting its success. The governor told Fox News Digital that he was “shocked” by the “sheer amount of federal and state matching dollars that we were able to save in the welfare program by doing simple things like cross-checking IDs, license verifications, things that have been pointed out as best practices in order to control the abuses inside the welfare system and nobody would do them. And we just did them and we just immediately started seeing savings.” Landry compared some of the cuts the state made to a family going back and cancelling its unused subscriptions.  “Sometimes it’s as just checking to find out about subscriptions,” he said. “In our households, we have a tendency to maybe go back and do that, especially when times get tight, inflation starts biting into people’s pockets. But in government, it’s really not their money, they don’t have to generate the revenue like you have to generate in businesses.”  ‘MISSISSIPPI MUSK’: STATE AUDITOR’S MOGE REPORT FINDS $400M IN GOVERNMENT WASTE Though he said LA DOGE’s mission is complete, Landry noted that “our goal and efforts toward improving government and continuing to seek efficiencies are not complete.” “In fact, we are just getting started,” he said.  The governor shared that he plans to reform the Office of the Inspector General to “take on a new, expansive role as a reformed office also focused on optimization and efficiency within state government.” “We haven’t stopped, and we won’t stop in finding efficiencies and actually improving the services we have provided through state government,” said Landry. In a word of advice to other states hoping to emulate LA DOGE’s success, Landry urged governors to “just go out and challenge your cabinet members to reach into the bureaucracy and take a look at where the spending is occurring.”

Philadelphia’s threat to prosecute ICE could trigger landmark court fight over authority, experts warn

Philadelphia’s threat to prosecute ICE could trigger landmark court fight over authority, experts warn

The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and legal scholars laid out what could happen if Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner follows through on his promise to prosecute ICE for acts committed in the line of their duty, should operations in Pennsylvania reach a flashpoint. Last week, Krasner warned he would prosecute agents who “come to Philly to commit crimes” in an apparent reference to allegations an agent acted unlawfully in shooting a Minnesota woman who appeared to intentionally hit him with her car while disrupting an operation. Philadelphia County Sheriff Rochelle Bilal doubled down, calling ICE officers “fake, wannabe law enforcement” and warned them they “don’t want this smoke ‘cause we will bring it to you.” GOP, DEMOCRATS CLASH ON CAPITOL HILL AS REPUBLICANS TARGET CARTELS AND DEMS PUSH TO CURB ICE PARTNERSHIPS Krasner argued President Donald Trump could not pardon arrested agents because any cases would be brought at the state level, leading Fox News Digital to ask officials and experts to weigh in on what the true case may be. César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, the chair of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at Ohio State’s college of law, and an expert in immigration and criminal law that is at nexus in this case, said interfering with federal law enforcement carrying out their job duties is just as much of a crime as killing someone without legal justification. “Immigration agents are permitted to enforce federal immigration laws within any community in the United States, including Philadelphia, but local police officers there are equally authorized to investigate anyone who they suspect of having committed a violent crime.” TOP REPUBLICAN REBUKES NOTIONS TO ARREST DHS AGENTS WITH PLAN TO PULL FUNDING FROM PROBLEM CITIES While federal and local authorities often work in tandem in important operations to deconflict potential flash points, Hernandez said that dynamic has “clearly broken down in cities like Minneapolis” and that Krasner’s comments suggest it’s “frayed” in Philadelphia. If trust is broken between local and federal authorities, actions like Krasner’s pledge may lead to court battles to determine supremacy. Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano — a former professor of strategic studies at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle — predicted the feds would win any litigation due to the Supremacy Clause, which reads that “the supreme law of the land and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.” ICE HEAD SAYS AGENTS FACING ‘CONSTANT IMPEDIMENTS’ AFTER MIGRANT SEEN RAMMING CARS WHILE TRYING TO FLEE He added in recent comments to Fox News Digital that the “Constitution is not optional” and if Philadelphia officials think they can “bully” Washington, they will find out “that’s not how America works.” Hernandez said, “It is absolutely clear that no one — not even federal law enforcement officers — can do anything they like in the course of carrying out their job duties.” “The hard question is where the line is drawn. That is what courts are set up to do, but they can only play their part if law enforcement officials investigate what happened, then prosecutors dig in to see whether there is a legal basis for filing criminal charges.” When asked how they would treat such a case, a Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital the DOJ has a “zero-tolerance policy for violence against law enforcement and will hold offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” A top attorney at the Washington investigative nonprofit Oversight Project said that Philadelphia officials have to be “bluffing.” “Any local arrest of a federal law enforcement official for performing federal law enforcement functions would be blatantly unlawful. Any ICE agents would be immediately released and the local officials should face charges for obstructing federal law enforcement.” “This is hornbook constitutional law that every law student in America learns early in their schooling,” he said, adding that residents in cities where prosecutors believe they can pursue federal agents deserve officials with a “basic rudimentary understanding of law.” DHS also weighed in, saying that the city would have no legal leg to stand on if prosecutors were to decide to interfere in any Minneapolis-style operations on Broad Street. “Enforcing federal immigration laws is a clear federal responsibility under Article I, Article II and the Supremacy clause,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. It would be up to Congress then to give local officials any carveouts, she suggested. MINNESOTA AG SAYS ‘THERE IS NO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON MURDER’ AFTER FATAL ICE SHOOTING OF RENEE GOOD “Our law enforcement is enforcing federal law — if politicians and activists don’t like the law, they should try to change it instead of demonizing our brave men and women in uniform.” McLaughlin said Philadelphia is not alone in anti-enforcement rhetoric, and laid out the stakes of what kind of lawlessness could have continued in Pennsylvania if her agency hadn’t already begun taking criminal illegal immigrants off the streets. She pointed to DHS’ recent capture of Yehia Badawi, an Egyptian illegal immigrant convicted of aggravated assault and robbery in Philadelphia. McLaughlin also shared the names of a Cuban drug trafficker, a Cambodian methamphetamine dealer and several other illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes, including rape. Krasner’s office did not return a request for comment, and Bilal referred further questions to the DA after a spokesperson told Fox News Digital that lawmakers in Harrisburg do not decide who gets arrested in Philadelphia.

White House torches Newsom as ‘inauthentic slimeball’ after California governor walks back ICE rhetoric

White House torches Newsom as ‘inauthentic slimeball’ after California governor walks back ICE rhetoric

The White House slammed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom  as an “inauthentic slimeball” after he attempted to walk back his staff’s description of an ICE officer-involved shooting as “state-sponsored terrorism.” “Newscum is an inauthentic slimeball who has no principles — he simply says whatever he thinks he needs to, in the moment, to get attention,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox Digital on Friday.  “He’s happy to smear ICE officers and incite violence against them when he thinks it will score points with his radical left base, but as soon as he’s pressed on his dangerous claims he throws his staffers under the bus and tries to distance himself from the content they put out under his name. Newscum will never be ready for primetime,” she added.  Jackson was responding to Newsom’s comments on his podcast published Thursday, when he walked back his office’s message on X following an ICE-involved fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 was “STATE. SPONSORED. TERRORISM.”  NEWSOM RETREATS AFTER SHAPIRO PUTS HIM ON THE SPOT OVER CHILLING ICE TERRORISM CLAIM Federal authorities and the administration said the ICE officer had opened fire on Good after she had allegedly used her vehicle as a weapon against the agent. Democrats have described the death as a “murder” and amplified criticisms of federal law enforcement officers in the days following.  Newsom was joined on the podcast by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who pressed him about his office’s message linking ICE to terrorists.  “And then your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism, which I mean, governor, I do have to ask you about that,” Shapiro said on the podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” “That sort of thing makes our politics worse. Yeah, I mean, it does. I mean, our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state-sponsored terrorism.” Newsom responded: “Yeah, I think that’s fair.” Newsom continued during their conversation that he has bucked Democrat colleagues’ calls to “defund ICE” while adding his state cooperates with federal immigration officers.  DEMOCRATS WORRY ‘ABOLISH ICE’ SLOGAN WILL BACKFIRE POLITICALLY LIKE ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ DID “I disagreed when I think a candidate for president by the name of Harris said that in the last campaign. I remember being on [MSNBC show hosted by] Chris Hayes hours later saying, ‘I think that’s a mistake.’ So absolutely,” Newsom said. Former Vice President Kamala Harris called for “a complete overhaul of the agency, mission, culture, operations” of ICE back in 2018.  President Donald Trump has for years slammed Newsom’s immigration policies, arguing the sanctuary state weakens border enforcement, protects illegal immigrants, and puts public safety at risk.  The Democratic governor defended his state’s policies by saying that California allegedly cooperates with ICE, and that his state’s sanctuary policies would be “unnecessary” if the U.S. had “comprehensive immigration reform.” “We work very directly with ICE as it relates to [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] state prison,” Newsom said on the podcast. “California has cooperated with more ICE transfers probably than any other state in the country. And I vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that have come from my legislature to stop the ability for the state of California to do that.” TRUMP ADMIN WARNS OF ‘WIDESCALE DOXXING’ OF ICE IF HOUSE DEM’S NEW BILL PASSES “TRUMP IS TRYING TO CANCEL THE GOVERNOR – VERY WOKE!” Newsom spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo responded to Fox Digital in an email Friday when approached for comment.  “EVERYDAY AMERICANS ARE EXPERIENCING STATE SPONSORED TERROR BY OUR INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!” Newsom’s office added on X that the governor supports removing “child molesters, rapists and violent criminals” from California but opposes what they called federal “masked agents” sweeping up innocent people, urging an immediate halt to such roundups and calling for federal reform to protect immigrants and U.S. citizens. In the wake of Good’s death, chaos has broken out in Minneapolis, including on Wednesday, as agitators clashed with law enforcement officials after the second ICE-involved shooting in the city.  White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pinned blame on Democrats and their rhetoric for heightened threats against federal immigration law enforcement officers.  “The Democrat Party has demeaned these individuals,” Leavitt said Thursday of federal immigration officers. “They’ve even referred to them as ‘Nazis’ and as ‘the Gestapo.’ And that is absolutely leading to the violence we’re seeing in the streets. “If you look at some of the images out of Minneapolis last night, look at this vehicle, look at what it says,” Leavitt added. “It says, ‘F ICE.’ You have these individuals who are putting their middle finger, proudly so, at the camera, another ICE individual, a vehicle that was vandalized last night by these left-wing agitators.” The Department of Homeland Security reported in December that assaults and violent attacks against ICE law enforcement officers have surged more than 1,150% compared to attacks under the Biden administration. It found there were 238 assaults on ICE officers between Jan. 21, 2025 to Nov. 21, 2025, up from just 19 during the same timeframe in 2024.  Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. 

Virginia Democrats move to seize redistricting power, opening door to 4 new left-leaning seats

Virginia Democrats move to seize redistricting power, opening door to 4 new left-leaning seats

The Virginia state Senate on Friday greenlit a constitutional amendment that would clear the way for the Democrat-controlled legislature to redraw the state’s U.S. House maps ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The move by state senators, following a similar vote on Wednesday in the state House, was the final step needed to send the amendment to Virginia voters. If the ballot measure is approved this spring, the legislature, rather than the current non-partisan commission, would redraw the state’s congressional maps through 2030. Virginia is the latest battleground in the ongoing high-stakes battle between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats to alter congressional maps ahead of November’s elections. And Virginia Democrats, who currently control six of the state’s 11 U.S. House districts, are aiming to draw up to four additional left-leaning seats. Republicans are defending their razor-thin House majority in the midterms, and Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win back control of the chamber. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) called Friday’s development “a critical step in giving Virginia voters the opportunity to ensure they have fair and equal representation in Congress.” THE NEXT BATTLEGROUNDS IN THE HIGH-STAKES MAP FIGHT And charging that “Donald Trump and Republicans are doing everything they can to rig the midterms in their favor through unprecedented mid-decade gerrymandering,” DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene argued that “Virginians — not politicians — will now have the chance to vote for a temporary, emergency exception that will restore fairness, level the playing field, and stand up to extremists seeking to silence their voices.” But the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus accused the state Senate Democrats of passing “a partisan gerrymandering amendment to entrench their party in power.” And the Republican National Committee (RNC) called it a “power grab.” “This is just the most recent example of Democrats’ multi-decade campaign to gerrymander in every state where they gain power,” RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels argued in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This is exactly why red states are fighting back to level the playing field after years of states like Illinois, New York, and California drawing their districts to disenfranchise Republicans.” STUNNING SETBACK FOR TRUMP IN REDISTRICTING WARS Virginia Democratic lawmakers have indicated they will release a proposed map later this month. And on Thursday, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit titled “Virginians for Fair Elections” launched, to urge voters to vote in favor of the redistricting ballot measure. Aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterms, Trump last spring first floated the idea of rare, but not unheard of, mid-decade congressional redistricting. The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP’s razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Trump’s first target was Texas. BIG WIN FOR TRUMP AS SUPREME COURT GREENLIGHTS TEXAS’ NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP When asked by reporters last summer about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map. But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill, energized Democrats across the country. Among those leading the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. California voters in November overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that temporarily sidetracked the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and returned the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature. That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps. The fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California. Republican-controlled Missouri and Ohio, and swing state North Carolina, where the GOP dominates the legislature, have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push. And Florida Republicans, in a move pushed by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers are also hoping to pick up an additional three to five seats through a redistricting push during a special legislative session in April. In blows to Republicans, a Utah district judge late last year rejected a congressional district map drawn up by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the midterms. And Republicans in Indiana’s Senate in December defied Trump, shooting down a redistricting bill that had passed the state House. But Trump scored a big victory when the conservative majority on the Supreme Court greenlit Texas’ new map. Other states that might step into the redistricting war are Democratic-dominated Illinois and Maryland and two red states with Democratic governors, Kentucky and Kansas. Hovering over the redistricting wars is the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in Louisiana v. Callais, a crucial case that may lead to the overturning of a key provision in the Voting Rights Act. If the ruling goes the way of the conservatives on the high court, it could lead to the redrawing of a slew of majority-minority districts across the county, which would greatly favor Republicans. But it is very much up in the air — when the court will rule, and what it will actually do.