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Virginia GOP Chair steps down after crushing 2025 loss — vows to rally party against Democrats’ ‘power grab’

Virginia GOP Chair steps down after crushing 2025 loss — vows to rally party against Democrats’ ‘power grab’

Virginia’s Republican Party (RPV) chair was praised Tuesday, as he announced his resignation after a short but electorally tumultuous tenure, promising a renewed personal focus on fighting Democrats’ redistricting “power grab.” RPV Chairman Mark Peake, who is also a state senator representing Lynchburg, Bedford and Forest, will have held the role for about eight months – taking the reins in April after previous chairman, Col. Rich Anderson [Ret.], resigned to accept President Donald Trump’s nomination as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. Peake’s resignation comes after the GOP suffered crippling election losses in November, including a total flip of statewide offices and the loss of about a dozen House of Delegates seats. Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears lost in her quest to succeed outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin, while Attorney General Jason Miyares was ousted by scandal-plagued Norfolk Democrat Jay Jones. More than a dozen Republican delegates in both swing districts like Del. Geary Higgins of Lovettsville and friendlier districts like Del. Chris Obenshain of Blacksburg also lost reelection. In a lengthy letter to Virginia Republican leaders obtained by Fox News Digital, Peake wrote that he made his decision after much “reflection, prayer and conversations with my family.” WINSOME SEARS BLASTS VIRGINIA DEMS’ SURPRISE REDISTRICTING SESSION AS A ‘STUNT’ TO PULL HER OFF THE TRAIL “While my time as chairman will soon come to an end, my work on behalf of Virginians will not. I will continue serving in the State Senate, where I remain committed to standing firmly against radical Democratic policies and fighting for a brighter future for every corner of the commonwealth,” Peake said. Peake suggested his resignation from leading the party and simultaneously serving in Richmond would allow him to focus completely on combating Virginia Democrats’ full-scale attempts to shift the commonwealth far to the left. His decision was praised by the Senate’s top Republican, Sen. Ryan McDougle of Hanover, who told Fox News Digital that Peake stood up to lead the party when “no one else would.” “I’m proud of the work he’s done this past year to protect your paycheck and keep Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” McDougle said Tuesday. “I’m glad to have him on my team in the Senate as we keep fighting to put more money in your pocket and reduce costs for Virginia families.” Peake noted the October 31 resolution — heralded by Senate Leader L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, which may redraw congressional maps and potentially leave just Rep. Morgan Griffith in the far southwest as Virginia’s only Republican in Washington – saying it will “destroy our constitutional process.” “The Democrats are intent on setting a state-wide referendum for April 2026, which will include 45 days of early voting. As a state senator, I will be fully engrossed in our legislative session, which lasts from January to March,” he said. RAMASWAMY ENDORSES WINSOME EARLE-SEARS FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR, RALLY PLANNED NEXT WEEK IN SWING SUBURB During session, RPV must have a leader who can fully focus on his role at the state party level, versus someone like himself who would have to keep one eye on the party and its 2026 elections – where all state senators, state delegates, congressmen and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., are up — and one eye on elected Democrats and their “power grab,” Peake wrote to GOP officials. He thanked Youngkin, Earle-Sears and Miyares for their partnership as they prepare to leave office. Peake also credited McDougle and state House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Cumberland Gap, for their work together, as he looks to pivot back to working alongside them in Richmond. Turning to the state of the commonwealth, Peake remarked that while it feels like the “cold, dark depths of winter” in more ways than one, he is confident RPV and the elected Republicans it supports will continue to fight for “values embodied in the Republican Creed, which can lead us to a victorious spring.” “Our ideas are strong, our voters are energized, and our mission – to secure a freer, safer, more prosperous Virginia – endures. I believe that the foundations of our party remain strong, and that this organization is filled with passionate individuals who have proven their loyalty to our commonwealth and to the conservative movement,” he said. Fox News Digital reached out to Kilgore as well as Lucas for comment.

Top Dem blasts Trump’s cartel strikes, says admin overstepping war powers

Top Dem blasts Trump’s cartel strikes, says admin overstepping war powers

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, blasted the Trump administration’s airstrikes in the Caribbean, arguing that they resemble powers the president would only have during wartime. To conduct any of the strikes — and to continue them — Trump should seek congressional approval, Raskin argued. “Congress has got to assert our institutional prerogative. We have the power to declare war. Not Donald Trump, not JD Vance, not Pete Hegseth, not Tulsi Gabbard,” Raskin said, referring to the country’s top security officials. “Nobody in the administration has the right to declare war. Only Congress has the right to declare war. And we’ve got to take that back.” GOP LAWMAKERS RALLY BEHIND TRUMP’S VENEZUELA STRIKES AS CRITICS QUESTION LEGALITY Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, the administration designated several drug cartels operating in the United States — and internationally — as terrorist organizations. In recent months, it has used Navy strikes in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela to eliminate what it has identified as credible terrorist threats in the United States. The administration has conducted over 20 strikes since November.  That framing has come under fire in recent weeks as questions have emerged about whether striking boats in international waters violates international law. To Raskin, the strikes have encroached on questions of due process. HEGSETH SAYS MILITARY CONDUCTED ANOTHER STRIKE ON BOAT CARRYING ALLEGED NARCO-TERRORISTS “We don’t allow the military to act as [a] police officer, the prosecutor, the judge, the jury and executioner. And we don’t just give massive death penalties by virtue of some imaginary collective punishment or guilt by association. So, we’ve got to rein the administration in and bring them back to the rule of law in the Constitution,” Raskin said. Some lawmakers, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, have pushed back on Raskin’s criticisms by noting the United States has conducted strikes in other countries in the absence of a declaration of war. Under the Obama administration, for instance, the United States carried out thousands of strikes in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya — all without a formal war designation. Congress did, however, pass the Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001, allowing the Bush administration to “use all necessary and appropriate force” to combat the terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. It fell short of a formal war declaration. DEM PRESSURE BUILDS FOR ANSWERS ON TRUMP’S CARIBBEAN STRIKES, COMMANDER’S SUDDEN EXIT Raskin did not readily address why analogous strikes in the Middle East didn’t compare directly to the strikes off the coast of Venezuela or why the terrorist designation fell outside the norm of what past administrations have done. He said he believed a difference in location wasn’t the issue. “[Arguing] if this were a different event that took place in a different place at a different time, it would be lawful. Well, it’s gobbledygook,” Raskin said. The Department of War did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for a response to Raskin’s criticism.

Hegseth backs special ops chief’s ‘combat decisions’ in deadly Caribbean strike ahead of classified briefing

Hegseth backs special ops chief’s ‘combat decisions’ in deadly Caribbean strike ahead of classified briefing

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he stands by the “combat decisions” of a military commander involved in a deadly Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean as lawmakers are gearing up for a classified briefing on the matter later this week.  Hegseth’s comment comes after The Washington Post reported Friday that he verbally ordered everyone onboard the alleged drug boat to be killed in the Sept. 2 operation. The Post reported that a second strike was conducted to take out the remaining survivors on the boat.   The White House said Monday that Hegseth authorized the second strike, but the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, Adm. Frank Bradley, ordered and directed it. At the time of the strike, Bradley was serving as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, which falls under U.S. Special Operations Command.   “Let’s make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since,” Hegseth wrote on X on Monday night. TRUMP SAYS HE BELIEVES HEGSETH ‘100%’ ON VENEZUELAN DRUG BOAT STRIKE DENIAL AMID ALLEGATIONS  “America is fortunate to have such men protecting us. When this Department of War says we have the back of our warriors — we mean it,” he added.  Bradley is set to provide a classified briefing Thursday to lawmakers overseeing the military, according to The Associated Press.  White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that the Sept. 2 strike was conducted “in self-defense” in international waters “in accordance with the law of armed conflict.” “On Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Adm. Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” Leavitt said. “Adm. Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”  LAWMAKERS SKEPTICAL OF ALLEGED HEGSETH KILL ORDERS IN VENEZUELA — BUT ISSUE STARK WARNING Leavitt also disputed that Hegseth ever gave an initial order to ensure that everyone on board was killed, when asked specifically about Hegseth’s instructions.   “I would reject that the secretary of war ever said that,” Leavitt said. “However, the president has made it quite clear that if narco-terrorists, again, are trafficking illegal drugs toward the United States, he has the authority to kill them.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Monday said the committees in the upper and lower chambers of Congress will look into what happened.   “I don’t think you want to draw any conclusions or deductions until you have all the facts,” he said of the Sept. 2 strike, according to the AP. “We’ll see where they lead.”  HEGSETH DEFENDS LETHAL STRIKES AGAINST ALLEGED DRUG TRAFFICKERS: ‘BIDEN CODDLED TERRORISTS, WE KILL THEM’  Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pledged that his panel’s investigation would be “done by the numbers.” Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the committee who has called for the Trump administration to release the video of the strike, said its inquiry would start “with briefings about what actually happened” from the officials involved.  “If they’ve done nothing wrong, then that video should exonerate them completely. Why don’t they release it?” he asked.  In the House, Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chair of its Armed Services Committee, said he was “satisfied” following a conversation with Hegseth about the attack, but that he also wanted to hear from Bradley. “We’ll all have clarity on Thursday afternoon,” Rogers said.  The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Mace campaign staffer quits governor bid team, accusing her of disloyalty to Trump

Mace campaign staffer quits governor bid team, accusing her of disloyalty to Trump

A campaign consultant to Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., announced he had resigned his post Monday, voicing concerns about Mace’s future alignment within the Republican Party. “This is about loyalty,” J. Austin McCubbin wrote in an X post.  McCubbin said Mace had positioned herself too close to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., driving a wedge between hers and President Donald Trump’s visions for the country. TRUMP REACTS TO MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE RESIGNATION, SAYS HE ‘REFUSED TO RETURN’ HER ‘BARRAGE OF PHONE CALLS’ “When I talked to Nancy last Wednesday, it became clear she has fully embraced the Rand Paul PAC. She told me she is directing a personal friend to fund a 7-figure check to Rand’s PAC. She distanced herself, and now she’s fully embracing the Rand Paul + Thomas Massie wing for money,” McCubbin alleged. “Nancy Mace is wittingly or unwittingly a proxy for Rand Paul’s 2028 presidential campaign. That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.” When asked about McCubbin’s resignation, a spokesperson for Mace said his departure had stemmed from disagreements over compensation.  “Mr. McCubbin didn’t raise a dime for the campaign or, better yet, never even bothered showing up. When he demanded $10,000 a month for ‘services’ and was told no, he ran straight to X. Good luck with that,” the campaign spokesperson said.  REPUBLICANS TRY TO QUASH CONCERNS OF MORE EXITS FOLLOWING MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE’S SURPRISE RESIGNATION McCubbin’s resignation comes as the Mace campaign navigates a crowded field in the South Carolina’s governor’s race and highlights questions about the GOP’s unity. Massie and Paul represent a small but increasingly vocal fraction of the Republican Party who have clashed with Trump on the country’s spending, foreign engagements and the scale of government. But they’re not the only source of discord in the party. McCubbin’s concerns about Mace’s political position follow on the heels of a shocking resignation announcement from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., — once one of Trump’s most fervent supporters in the House of Representatives. It also closely trails a small-scale rebellion that unlocked consideration of whether to release the DOJ’s files on Jeffrey Epstein against the president’s wishes. Mace was one of those rebels, joining three other Republicans to support the measure alongside all the chamber’s Democrats. Although Mace has repeatedly pledged to support the president’s direction, she has clashed with the president on questions about transparency on Epstein and initially criticized Trump’s rhetoric in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Despite a handful of high-profile disagreements in the past, Mace has voted with the majority of the party on most occasions in this session of Congress, bucking the majority’s trend just 5% of the time.  To McCubbin, it was her proximity to the far more frequent nonconformists like Massie and Paul that prompted his resignation.  “She wouldn’t hear it when I warned her about the political risks and offered alternative solutions,” McCubbin said of her support for Paul. “Anyone who knows me knows that I have nothing personally against Rand or Nancy. This is about loyalty. My loyalty lies with President Trump,” he added.  ‘AMERICA FIRST’ ATTORNEY GENERAL DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM MCCONNELL — HIS FORMER BOSS — AS KENTUCKY RACE DEFINES GOP FUTURE In response to McCubbin’s statements, the Mace campaign said she stood firmly with the president. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Nancy Mace has stood with President Trump since Day ONE. Mr. McCubbin said it himself: ‘Nancy Mace will be the most pro-Trump and America First Governor in the country,’” the campaign spokesperson told FOX Digital.  McCubbin, Paul, Massie and the RNC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Trump orders sweeping review of green-card holders after West Virginia shooting

Trump orders sweeping review of green-card holders after West Virginia shooting

After an Afghan asylee allegedly shot two West Virginia National Guardsmen on Wednesday, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow to commence a “full-scale, rigorous reexamination” of green-card holders from “countries of concern.” The directive highlights the legal avenues through which a green card — lawful permanent residence granted through an Adjustment of Status application — can be withdrawn, and those through which it cannot. There are several major ways lawful permanent residency can be revoked. Several immigration law firms — including Sedki and Rebecca Black — cite similar orders and descriptions on their sites, and related details appear across various federal webpages, but Fox News Digital did not find any single official source that consolidates them. First, green-card holders can be placed in removal proceedings if they are convicted of certain crimes – including “aggravated felonies” such as murder, some serious sex and drug-trafficking offenses, as well as crimes involving moral turpitude like certain theft, fraud or violent-offense convictions, depending on the sentence and timing. TRUMP BANS TRAVEL TO US FROM SEVERAL COUNTRIES TO BLOCK ‘DANGEROUS FOREIGN ACTORS’ They can also lose their green cards over convictions connected to terrorism or espionage for foreign governments. Green-card holders also cannot vote in federal elections, and convictions connected to attempts to do so can also result in revocation of their residency status. A second basis for withdrawal is evidence that the noncitizen obtained the green card through fraud or misrepresentation. HOMELAND SECURITY TO SCAN MIGRANTS’ SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FOR ANTISEMITISM: ‘NO ROOM FOR TERRORIST SYMPATHIZERS’ Examples include foreign nationals who used identity theft, lied on their applications, or omitted parts of their criminal history or prior contact with U.S. immigration authorities. USCIS may also revisit Adjustment of Status applications for lawful permanent residents who became such through a marriage that ends in divorce within two years. The agency can revoke a green card if it is found the foreign national married a U.S. citizen strictly in order to achieve residency. VETERANS GROUPS URGE TRUMP ADMIN TO CONTINUE AFGHAN ALLY SUPPORT PROGRAM AMID BUDGET CUT CONCERNS Home address issues and questions arising out of where – including in which country – a green-card holder truly resides can also be grounds for revocation. Lawful permanent residents must be just that: people residing permanently in the U.S. with a primary residence stateside. Leaving the country for more than a year without obtaining a reentry permit can lead the feds to consider a green card abandoned. Changes of address within the U.S. must also be reported to USCIS. While most people who would fall under the subsection have since died or would be in their 90s at the least, a Cold War provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) bars any noncitizen who, between March 1933 and May 1945, participated in or ordered persecutions under Germany’s Nazi regime or in German-occupied territories. Relatedly, any immigrant who has been affiliated with communism or any “totalitarian party” in another country, is also banned from holding a green card. One avenue the Trump administration, however, may pursue as it commences a full-scale review of green-card holders from Afghanistan and other “countries of concern” is the final major way residency status may be questioned or revoked: what some firms describe as the public charge rule. FEDERAL JUDGE IN MAJOR BLUE CITY BLOCKS KEY TRUMP MOVE ON REFUGEES: ‘NOT LIMITLESS’ According to various immigration law firms’ websites, such residents relying too heavily on public assistance and government programs may find themselves in removal proceedings if they are “deemed a public charge” under the law – but with a key caveat. Under the INA, simply receiving public benefits does not make a noncitizen deportable. They must have become a public charge within five years of admission “from causes not affirmatively shown to have arisen since entry.” This standard is rarely invoked. Additionally, relevant to Trump’s Afghan example, any noncitizen previously arrested or deported from the U.S., or removed as an “enemy” or at government expense in lieu of deportation, may not hold a green card. ‘HE IS DELIVERING’: TRUMP’S FIRST MONTH FLIPS SCRIPT ON RADICAL BIDEN-HARRIS BORDER POLICIES Sections of the INA finalized in 1995 and 2025 also list other grounds of inadmissibility or deportability. A noncitizen with a communicable disease of “public health significance” can be denied status, as can those with a “mental disorder” posing a threat, or individuals deemed “drug addicts.” Polygamy is also a disqualifying factor. TRUMP’S BORDER GROUND GAME IS OFF TO A FAST START. TO GUARANTEE CHANGE CONGRESS MUST DO 3 THINGS While many of the Afghan refugees reportedly came with little to no documentation at the time of the mass withdrawal from Kabul, the INA also prescribes that foreign nationals who were never qualified to obtain full citizenship for various reasons are also ineligible for lawful permanent residence. The administration could, potentially, investigate whether any of the largely unvetted noncitizens have disqualifying history and enforce that subsection of the INA against them. While former President Joe Biden’s Operation Welcoming Heroes was an official mission, 8 USC Sec 1182(a) 5(d) also lays out how “any alien who is a stowaway is excludable.” That definition would likely be up to legal interpretation, as the current administration signals a no-holds barred audit of current green-card holders. UP TO 1M MIGRANTS WHO USED BIDEN’S CBP ONE APP ORDERED TO DEPORT BY TRUMP ADMIN Federal law states that immigration officers must state the negative determination to the green-card holder, and list the specific provision under the law that their disqualification or rescission falls under. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, DOJ, DHS and officials at USCIS for comment and clarification on any of the major grounds collected for a green card’s withdrawal. In comments to CBS News, Edlow said his agency has followed the president’s order and “halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible. The safety