WATCH: Battleground Democrat called Iowa a ‘backwater’ over transgender athletes ban
A Democrat hoping to flip one of the country’s most competitive House seats called her state a “backwater” over Republican efforts to bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, according to unearthed footage obtained by Fox News Digital. House candidate Christina Bohannan made the comments during a 2021 legislative forum while opposing a GOP proposal barring biological males from competing on female sports teams. Bohannan’s comments could provide fresh ammunition for Republicans as the repeat candidate seeks a third bid against Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, in a swing district that President Donald Trump carried by more than eight points in 2024. “They’re introducing these bills and making these comments to try to make a point,” Bohannan, who previously served in the Iowa state legislature, said, referring to her GOP colleagues. “And I think even that is really damaging to people and sends a very bad message about our state that’s going to make the state look like a backwater.” FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: DEMOCRATS LEAD IN THE HOUSE, BUT REDISTRICTING KEEPS THE GOP IN THE GAME Iowa, under Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, enacted a transgender athletes ban in 2022. Bohannan voted against the measure. The comments are the latest instance of Bohannan torching Iowa for rejecting left-wing policies. Bohannan also said in 2021 the Hawkeye State would be seen as “backwards” if lawmakers approved a bill prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training at public schools and universities. Reynolds signed the legislation later that year. “I think that it’s going to send a very bad message about Iowa and that it is going to seem like…this backwards state that doesn’t understand there are things like systemic racism,” the Democrat hopeful said on the “Under the Dome” podcast in 2021. Bohannan notably served as chairwoman of the University of Iowa College of Law’s DEI committee, where she urged students to support the Black Lives Matter movement, Fox News Digital previously reported. In that role, she sent students a letter encouraging them to financially contribute to several activist funds, some of which supported defunding police. Bohannan lost to Miller-Meeks by fewer than 800 votes in 2024, making it the closest House race in the nation. She also launched a failed run for the seat in 2022. BATTLEGROUND DEMOCRAT FLIP-FLOPS ON CONVERSION THERAPY AFTER LEFT-WING BACKLASH The nonpartisan Cook Political Report says the rematch contest is a “toss-up.” The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which is aggressively working to re-elect Miller-Meeks to a third House term, sharply criticized Bohannan’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Liberal Christina Bohannan didn’t just vote against protecting girls’ sports, she mocked Iowans for standing up for women and girls,” NRCC spokeswoman Emily Tuttle said. “Bohannan has made it clear she’s for they/them, not Iowa families,” Tuttle continued, invoking Trump’s signature attack line against former Vice President Kamala Harris. Fox News Digital reached out to Bohannan for comment. Bohannan’s remarks come as transgender issues continue to split Democrats, while public polling has shown broad support for limiting girls’ and women’s sports to biological females. A New York Times/Ipsos poll released in 2025 found that nearly eight in 10 Americans opposed biological males participating in women’s sports. Roughly 70% of Democrats or Democrat-leaning respondents held the same position, according to the survey. Miller-Meeks cheered the Supreme Court in June upholding state-level bans on biological males participating on female sports teams. “Today’s Supreme Court decision is a win for girls’ sports,” the Iowa lawmaker said in a statement following the ruling. “I have and will continue to fight to ensure every female athlete has a fair chance.” Bohannan, by contrast, did not appear to publicly comment on the ruling. Fox News Digital’s Elaine Mallon contributed to this report.
WATCH: Rand Paul says there’s one thing Americans have never heard from Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci ran point as the COVID-19 explainer-in-chief under two different administrations, steering policy and messaging on the virus that rattled the country and world for years. But there is one thing in all of his media appearances, profiles, interviews and congressional hearings that Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., contended Fauci never said that he was sorry. “I mean, I’d like to hear him say he’s sorry,” Paul said. “Can he say he is sorry for funding — the research was dangerous research in China? Almost everybody agrees with that.” EXCLUSIVE: BIDEN PARDON WON’T SHIELD FAUCI IF HE LIES TO CONGRESS, COMER SAYS “Now he says, ‘Oh, well, it didn’t meet this definition or this definition, it was dangerous research,” he continued. “It was a judgment error. It was a profound judgment error.” Paul and Fauci are set to square off Wednesday morning in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the panel that Paul leads, in a clash that has been years in the making. In the lead up to Wednesday’s hearing, Paul unveiled over 1,000 pages of Fauci’s diary, providing his own color commentary online about Fauci’s motivations leading up to and during the pandemic. WATCH: RAND PAUL SAYS FAUCI LOBBIED FOR $1M PRIZE WHILE LEADING COVID RESPONSE The lawmaker has had his sights set on Fauci since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and accused him of funding research in China that led to the eventual outbreak of the virus. And though Fauci has been out of the public spotlight since 2022, when he stepped down from his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the two will finally get the chance to square up and settle the feud. “I think he actually could do better in the hearing if he’d come forward and apologize for funding this research,” Paul said. “No one’s ever heard an apology from him. All they hear is sort of the idea that he never did anything wrong and that there’s nothing wrong with that.” HARVARD TOPS NATION IN FOREIGN CASH HAUL AS COTTON DEMANDS PROBE INTO CHINA FUNDING Paul has said that the former chief medical advisor to the president deserves to be in prison for his alleged role in funding gain-of-function research, and warned that his pardon from former President Joe Biden wouldn’t hold up. Notably, Fauci’s former top advisor at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. David Morens, was indicted by the Justice Department earlier this year on charges of allegedly conspiring to evade public records laws, hide communications regarding the origins of COVID-19, and destroy federal records. Gain-of-function research, or work that enhances a virus’s transmissibility or lethality, and Fauci’s alleged role in funding that type of research through his position at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China has been Paul’s focal point for years in his crusade against the former COVID-19 czar. And he argued that the issue of researching the spread of a virus, or its killing potential, predates the pandemic. Paul charged that in 2010, research conducted by Ron Fouchier, a Dutch virologist, produced a version of H5N1, commonly known as bird flu, that was transmissible “through the air between mammals.” “And half the scientific community said, ‘Oh my God, this could be the end of the world. We’re doing this s—,’” Paul said. “And Fauci was on the other side, and he said at the time in a Washington Post op-ed that even if a pandemic should occur from a scientist being bitten or somehow infected, the knowledge is worth the risk,” he continued. “That needs to be debated by the country. Is the knowledge of creating viruses that could kill the world worth the risks? And I don’t think it is.”
‘They fed him his own ears’: Top Republican shares horrifying stories of gang rule in Haiti
Walls full of bullet holes and police in “full armor” were among the sights that greeted a group of U.S. House lawmakers who recently traveled to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, a city that has been ravaged by gang rule since the July 2021 assassination of its former president. “The gangs will essentially block the streets with rubble, with debris, they’ll dig giant ditches in the road, and so these military and police units can’t traverse,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. “Some of these areas are like Afghanistan, and it is probably the poorest place I’ve ever been through in my life.” Mast led a group of bipartisan members of Congress on a trip to Venezuela and Haiti recently, which he said was the first congressional delegation in either country in a decade. In Haiti, they were hosted by the country’s prime minister, whose palace “a year ago, would have been a war zone,” Mast said. “They have been actively working to take back land across the breadth of Port-au-Prince.” REPUBLICAN REP MARÍA ELVIRA SALAZAR DECLARES, ‘AFTER CUBA, NICARAGUA IS NEXT’ But while he saw signs of slow improvement thanks to an international coalition of forces as well as a U.S. paramilitary group run by Erik Prince, Mast said the realities of gang violence were ever-present. A video he was shown, for example, depicted Haitian gang torture of a heavy machinery operator helping police clear gang-made blockages in the city streets. FIRST TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBER EXTRADITED TO US ON HISTORIC TERRORISM CHARGES APPEARS BEFORE HOUSTON JUDGE “They took this guy who was this equipment operator, and for working with the police, they kidnapped his family. And then they told him they’ll trade his family for him. He turned himself over,” Mast said. “They brutally killed him. I mean it’s all on video. They cut off his ears, fed him his own ears… Then they hacked at him for probably at least five minutes with machetes. His limbs looked like a Christmas tree afterwards, with just bone and skin and other things coming off of him, until ultimately they killed him. That is who these gangs are.” And it’s not just adult allies of the local police forces suffering from gang violence, according to the Florida Republican. Another chilling incident Mast said he became aware of while in Haiti was the kidnapping of a 6-year-old U.S. citizen by a local gang who he said may have committed sexual crimes against her. MIKE WALTZ, TIM TEBOW LAUNCH EFFORT TO COMBAT ONLINE CHILD EXPLOITATION: ‘IT’S HAPPENING IN THEIR BACKYARD’ “There was a 6-year-old American citizen girl. I don’t want to say that she was raped, but there were health issues that led to believe that she was also raped, as a 6-year-old girl, by these gangs,” Mast said. “It appears as though we were able to secure the release yesterday.” He said there was ultimately an “agreement” on the ransom money the girl’s family would pay after she had been held hostage for at least 46 days. “It appears as though we were able to get an exchange finally made yesterday. But again, it’s just another example of who these gangs are and the forces that are being brought to bear, to bring them to heel,” Mast said. A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the administration has no higher priority than the safety and security of Americans, and that it was aware of reports of an American child kidnapped for ransom in Haiti but would not provide further details out of respect for the family’s privacy. Beyond the current level of assistance, however, Mast said he doubted there was more the U.S. could do to help the country as a whole. “This started with political people starting gangs there for their own benefit. And most of the politicians there are beyond guilty of pillaging their own country instead of doing something good for their country. That’s how Haiti is in the state that it’s in,” he said. It comes as thousands of Haitians in the U.S. are facing a potential return to their home country after the Trump administration ended their temporary protected status (TPS) that was first granted after an earthquake in 2010. Mast argued, however, that the return of those Haitians who did not get permanent residency in those 16 years could potentially help bolster security there. “One of the big things would be to take the able-bodied males and put them into the police and military, which are actively recruiting, which were so decimated by the TPS taking place in the first place,” he said. “All of these people took the chance to say ‘Okay, I’m leaving,’ and it left their forces that are supposed to protect the country essentially with no forces, which is one of the other parts of how the gangs came to be.”
‘Tip of the iceberg’: NJ illegal voting scandal explodes with more key systems at risk
The top Republican on New Jersey’s Judiciary Committee says she repeatedly warned state officials that automatic voter registration lacked adequate safeguards but was routinely dismissed, as thousands more noncitizens have now been found on sensitive systems. Sen. Kristin Corrado, R-Totowa, told Fox News Digital that Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s motor voter controversy reinforced Republican demands for a bipartisan investigation with subpoena power, warning the administration’s review was too narrowly focused and likely failed to capture the full scope of the problem. “We didn’t just reach out to the Motor Vehicle Commissioner. We reached out to secretary of state [at the time, Lt. Gov. Taheshia Way]. We were not satisfied with the answers that we got from the motor vehicle commissioner, which I can tell you were basically, ‘we have signs up, they’re put on notice… that if you’re not a citizen, you can’t register to vote’.” “So people were on the honor system. We did not think that was acceptable or satisfactory or enough of a safeguard,” she said, adding that the common refrain was of an “honor system.” RNC LEGAL VICTORY CLEARS NORTH CAROLINA VOTER ROLL PURGE OF NONCITIZENS THROUGH JURY RESPONSES Corrado and others, including Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, are now demanding a bipartisan special investigation with subpoena power. Asked if they had heard from Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D-Linden, Corrado said his team indicated they wanted to wait for Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s own internal probe to finish. “I have concerns about that because this independent investigation is very limited in scope. It is limited to what they’re calling the motor vehicle ‘glitch’,” she said, warning scrutiny should go far beyond the initial area of discovery. Shortly after Corrado spoke to Fox News Digital, reports surfaced that roughly 75,000 noncitizens had been summoned for jury duty through state databases, according to multiple reports, broadening the controversy beyond the Motor Vehicle Commission and prompting additional Republican calls for a wider investigation. Corrado pointed to her repeated requests over the years for clarity on the security of the voting systems and how she was rebuffed as proof the probe needs to be substantial. Asked about the demand for a full-scale investigation, Scutari credited what the governor is already doing and said he would hold fire until her probe finishes. “A healthy democracy depends on the security of our voter registration systems and the stewardship of the individuals entrusted with ensuring our elections are free, fair, and accessible. It also depends on public trust, and Governor Sherrill deserves credit for being transparent about these failures… [and] launch[ing] an independent investigation…,” Scutari said in part, confirming Corrado’s comment that he would wait for it to finish. ‘SHAME ON YOU’: SHERRILL KNEW VOTER-ROLL BOMBSHELL WAS COMING WHEN SHE CALLED TRUMP A LIAR, DOJ OFFICIAL SAYS Former Gov. Phil Murphy’s spokesman Mahen Gunaratna also told Fox News last week that his boss had “no knowledge” of the issues at the MVC. “I find that hard to believe, but it’s incredibly troubling that the governor did not know what his cabinet members were doing or what was going on right underneath him,” Corrado responded. “All [this] put our election integrity at risk, all questions that have to be answered. And the only way to answer those questions is through a bipartisan, legislative committee.” State Joint Budget Committee ranking member Declan O’Scanlon agreed the scandal validated GOP concerns. “The fact is that the people in charge for so long said this absolutely was impossible; Republicans were ‘conspiracy theorists’,” said O’Scanlon, R-Little Silver. “There are some folks on the extreme on both sides, but those of us in the middle who have said there are real issues here, and they were ignored, and we were accused of being conspiracy theorists, only to find out that we were absolutely right; again.” O’Scanlon said he believed the motor-voter revelations were the “tip of the iceberg,” and was hours later proven true, as reports surfaced about the 75,000 noncitizens summoned for jury duty. “This has the potential to be a real scandal,” he warned, agreeing that subpoena-powered hearings are a must. “We need to get on this quickly because we have elections coming up that are critical, that could be slim margins. And also you want the people of New Jersey to believe in the integrity of their voter rolls and their elections,” he said. “We shouldn’t dig this hole any deeper.” Fox News Digital reached out to NJCourts and to Sherrill’s office for comment. Peter McAleer, a spokesman for the state court system, told Fox News Digital the jury system pulls from the MVC as well as taxation and elections department lists, with the taxation department legally being permitted to have noncitizens on its own rolls. “Prospective jurors are asked about their citizenship and other qualifications when they complete the mandatory juror qualification questionnaire. Prospective jurors must certify that they understand that if they submit a knowingly false answer, they can be subject to punishment for contempt of court,” he said. “Approximately 75,000 individuals per year are disqualified from juror service based solely on lack of United States citizenship.” Corrado and Bucco also dropped a bill to eliminate motor-voter and implement voter-ID and regular audits of election data systems. “New Jerseyans need more than just excuses and finger pointing, they deserve action, and there are commonsense steps we can take right now,” said Bucco, R-Morristown. “Get the MVC out of the voter registration business.” State Sen. Joe Pennacchio, R-Boonton, who recently requested additional scrutiny from Attorney General Todd Blanche himself, told Fox News Digital on Saturday the 75,000 figure is a red-flag that Trenton can’t police itself. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “The disclosure that 75,000 noncitizens were summoned as potential members of juries screams for a thorough federal investigation,” Pennacchio said in a Monday statement. “The governor has blamed [French software firm] IDEMIA, the Murphy administration and, of course, President Donald Trump for their ever-increasing numbers,” he said, calling Sherrill’s investigatory effort a “whitewash.” “As
Assam floods: 7 new deaths push toll to 75, over 3 lakh people affected, govt rolls out more relief measures
The current number of people affected stands at 3,32,639. Charaideo is the worst-hit with 1,42,756 people impacted, followed by Sivasagar with 97,074 and Jorhat with 57,371.
Assam floods: 7 new deaths push toll to 75, over 3 lakh people affected, govt rolls out more relief measures
The current number of people affected stands at 3,32,639. Charaideo is the worst-hit with 1,42,756 people impacted, followed by Sivasagar with 97,074 and Jorhat with 57,371.
India may face 100% US tariffs next as Senate pushes Russia sanctions bill, check other countries in list
The US Senate has moved forward with a bipartisan sanctions bill aimed at Russia’s energy income, which could let the US impose tariffs on nations such as India for purchasing Russian oil.
Community colleges brace for local cuts after Texas funding shortchanges them millions
Hiring and spending will be impacted, college administrators say. The performance-based model is proving unpredictable in its early years.
New Maine law limits police cooperation with federal immigration officials
A new law in Maine will limit state and local law enforcement agencies’ cooperation with federal immigration officials. The law is set to take effect on Wednesday, along with other measures that seek to restrict the state’s cooperation with civil immigration enforcement. The “ICE Out of Policing” law restricts state and local law enforcement agencies, including jails, from assisting federal authorities with civil immigration enforcement. Law enforcement agencies will be prohibited from reaching out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents for translation services if they encounter a person who does not speak English, and they generally may not provide personal information for civil immigration enforcement, although the law includes exceptions for criminal investigations and certain legally permitted information exchanges. TRUMP-APPOINTED JUDGE TORPEDOES DOJ LAWSUIT AGAINST MINNESOTA’S SANCTUARY IMMIGRATION RULES The law also restricts local and state agencies from holding people for ICE based solely on civil immigration enforcement, and jails generally will be prohibited from notifying ICE about nonpublic inmate release dates or honoring civil detainer requests, subject to exceptions involving serious crimes, outstanding warrants, final removal orders and certain public-safety concerns. Another law also taking effect on Wednesday generally prohibits employees at public schools, state colleges, public libraries, healthcare facilities and child-care facilities from voluntarily allowing immigration officers into nonpublic areas or granting access to protected records without a judicial warrant or other applicable legal authority. A third law restricts landlords from disclosing tenants’ personal information without consent, including information related to immigration status, while preserving exceptions for warrants, subpoenas, emergencies and certain legitimate housing or legal purposes. The policing measure became law without Mills’ signature in January. Mills signed the schools, libraries and healthcare measure in April, while the tenant-privacy measure became law without her signature later that month. Several Maine cities, including Portland, Lewiston, Waterville and Rockland, have already adopted their own laws restricting local police from communicating with ICE and Border Patrol. Local governments across the country have also sought to pass similar legislation. The Maine State Police announced in December that it would begin following the policing restrictions before the law took effect. Some agencies continued contacting immigration officials, while Scott Stewart, president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, warned that limiting cooperation could expose Maine agencies to federal funding cuts or increased enforcement. Immigrant rights advocates said the new laws will improve community trust in Maine officials to ensure public safety, regardless of immigration status. GOP SENATORS RALLY AROUND NEW DHS PROPOSAL TARGETING SANCTUARY CITIES: ‘SHOULD PAY A PRICE’ The ACLU of Maine, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and civil legal aid provider Maine Equal Justice held a news conference on Tuesday about the new laws targeting ICE operations, according to the Portland Press Herald. Sue Roche, executive director for the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, said she was aware of more than 50 incidents last year where state and local police contacted immigration officials, leading to arrests. “The vast majority of people who have been handed over to ICE or Border Patrol by Maine’s law enforcement were people in lawful immigration processes who had no criminal record,” Roche said. Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE for comment.
GOP governor survives challenge from Bitcoin evangelist in gubernatorial runoff
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden fended off a primary challenge from businessman and Bitcoin evangelist Toby Doeden on Tuesday, winning the first gubernatorial primary runoff in state history and advancing to the November general election. The Associated Press called the race for Rhoden within minutes of final polls closing. He had received 70.5% of the vote compared with Doeden’s 29.5% at the time it was called, with approximately 25% of the expected vote counted. The election marked the first time South Dakota voters were asked to settle a gubernatorial nomination through a primary runoff. State law requires a runoff between the two leading candidates when no contender for governor, U.S. Senate or U.S. House receives at least 35% of the primary vote. TRUMP-BACKED FIREBRAND WINS ARIZONA GOP GOVERNOR PRIMARY, SETTING UP HIGH-STAKES SHOWDOWN The head-to-head contest followed a four-way June primary in which Doeden finished first with 30.6% of the vote and Rhoden placed second with 25.2%, leaving both short of the 35% needed to secure the nomination outright. Rhoden became governor in early 2025 after Kristi Noem left to join the Trump administration, while Doeden entered the race as a businessman and political newcomer. Doeden also built a public profile as a Bitcoin evangelist. He said he began investing “very, very heavily” in the cryptocurrency around 2020 after devoting roughly 500 hours to researching it, eventually converting nearly all the cash reserves from his companies that he did not expect to need into Bitcoin. “I will buy bitcoin forever, every single day,” Doeden previously said on his podcast, according to the South Dakota Searchlight. “We mine bitcoin, we buy bitcoin.” Doeden also supported legislation that would have allowed the South Dakota Investment Council, which manages public employee pension funds and other state investments, to invest in Bitcoin. He went further by calling for South Dakota to establish a state Bitcoin reserve – a move state investment and budget officials opposed. TRUMP FLEXES GOP MUSCLE IN ARIZONA PRIMARIES AS DEMS DODGE FAR-LEFT UPSET Tuesday’s winner advances to face former Democratic state Sen. Dan Ahlers in November. South Dakota has not had a Democratic governor since Harvey Wollman left office in 1979, and no Democrat has been elected to the office there since Richard Kneip won re-election in 1974. Wollman became governor automatically as lieutenant governor when Kneip resigned. In the run-up to Tuesday’s primary runoff, property taxes were among the defining issues of the campaign. Doeden campaigned on eliminating property taxes, while Rhoden’s campaign portrayed Doeden’s proposal as fiscally reckless, arguing it could leave local governments and schools with a major funding shortfall. Meanwhile, Rhoden’s campaign highlighted other tax relief measures that the governor signed back in March, which Rhoden’s campaign website describes as the “largest” property tax cut in the state’s history. During the race, Doeden portrayed Rhoden as part of South Dakota’s entrenched political class, declaring after the June primary that “the career politicians told me” an outsider could not break through against three longtime officeholders. Rhoden pushed back on the attack, saying Doeden was trying to “make hay” out of calling him a career politician and describing that characterization as “such a warped viewpoint,” during an interview with the South Dakota Public Broadcasting network. Rhoden argued that his years in the Legislature gave him practical experience writing laws and then returning home to live under them. President Donald Trump did not publicly weigh in with an endorsement in the runoff, according to a review by Fox News Digital. Trump thanked Rhoden by name during his July 3 remarks at Mount Rushmore but did not mention the governor’s race. Doeden, meanwhile, campaigned as a “fierce Trump supporter” who said he would help implement the president’s “America First agenda.”