Minnesota human services officials skip fraud hearing as Walz promises reform
Minnesota Department of Human Services (MNDHS) officials skipped a key hearing this week held by a state House fraud prevention panel, earning the ire of its chairwoman as Gov. Tim Walz separately promised reform. MNDHS was expected to face tough questions at the hearing, which featured a former judge and Catholic diocesan official appointed by Walz to investigate “program integrity” in the state. “I’m incredibly frustrated that they ghosted us,” House Fraud Prevention Committee Chair Kristin Robbins said, as she has since sent a letter to the department demanding answers. Robbins, a suburban Minneapolis Republican who is also running for governor, previously said state leaders “knew this was going on and they allowed it to continue.” YOUTUBER TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS ON MINNESOTA’S MASSIVE $9B FRAUD NETWORK INVESTIGATION At the top of Monday’s hearing, Robbins verbally recognized the absence of MNDHS, as she introduced the session as one “discussing the roadmap to program integrity and fraud prevention, followed by an informational hearing and discussion of periodic data matching.” “Before we begin, is there anyone in the Department of Human Services in the audience? I don’t see anyone,” she said. “So I just want to note for the record that [MN]DHS was invited to be available in the audience to answer questions today after Judge O’Malley’s presentation. And they have apparently declined to come, which is very frustrating.” MINNESOTA ‘ON THE CLOCK’ AS HHS THREATENS PENALTIES OVER CHILDCARE FRAUD SCANDAL Robbins said it was the second such hearing that MNDHS ignored, and that she would be contacting MNDHS Commissioner Shireen Gandhi. “She may not always be able to attend, but there are a lot of employees at that agency [including] someone who especially can speak to periodic data matching should have been here for that portion of the hearing.” Instead, Robbins moved on to testimony from Tim O’Malley, a retired judge and St. Paul archdiocesan official, who was recently appointed by Walz as state director of Program Integrity. “Minnesota has experienced extensive, well-documented fraud in programs designed to serve the state’s most vulnerable residents. The state’s ineffectiveness in combating that fraud has wasted taxpayer dollars, enriched criminals, eroded public confidence, and impeded the delivery of essential services to Minnesotans in need,” O’Malley said. In a video interview with Fox News Digital, Robbins expounded on her earlier reported comments, saying it was “very disappointing” to see MNDHS no-show. TAFOYA RIPS WALZ ‘DODGING’ ACCOUNTABILITY IN HEARING, UNVEILS PLAN TO FIGHT FRAUD: ‘FULL WEIGHT OF THE LAW’ “What was more shocking is, as we gaveled out, the next hearing was coming in, a Ways and Means Committee hearing, and all the [MN]DHS people walked in the door for the next hearing because they wanted to ask for money from the state … but they couldn’t bother to show up to react to the governor’s own program integrity report. It was unbelievable,” she said. When reached for comment, an MNDHS spokesperson said “the department had a prior commitment Monday morning.” “Monday marked the 19th hearing of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee since it began in February 2025. The Minnesota Department of Human Services has testified before the committee eight times. This was the second time the department was unavailable to attend at the chair’s request,” the spokesperson said, adding that the agency supports O’Malley’s work. Asked about MNDHS’ response to the no-show, Robbins said “it’s not true” and said that when she left the hearing at its end, she ran into MNDHS staff coming in to testify at an ensuing hearing. “[Ours] wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill hearing. It was the public hearing on the governor’s program integrity report with the guy the governor appointed: Judge O’Malley. So, absolutely, they should have been there to ask questions.” Walz said during a press availability broadcast Tuesday that he and O’Malley are working to root out decades of institutional issues that he likened to a “Frankenstein” monster that saw additional “bolts” being soldered on it and complicating its structure instead of it being fixed. MINNESOTA AG BLASTS HOUSE HEARING ON FRAUD SCANDAL IN HIS STATE : ‘A LOT OF BULLS— FROM REPUBLICANS’ “When I came here, the discussion was, if you recall clear back in 2019, that reforms around [MN]DHS as a large organization that does multiple things that we needed to think about modernizing… I talked to my fellow governors and we talked to commissioners in other states, Minnesota system of delivery around social services is a bit of an outlier in how it’s done,” Walz said. The “topline” he said, will be to “moderniz[e] a proposal on how Medicaid is administered … Strengthening oversight of enrollment in these programs by centralizing eligibility decisions, and funding a comprehensive study to examine the role of state, counties, and tribal nations in the delivery of these to provide more transparency and effectiveness.” Walz underlined he was not blaming counties for issues in attempting to restructure the system to a more state-centralized one. The governor did not respond directly to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News’ Mike Tobin and Elise Oggioni con
‘You can cry about it’: Tempers flare in Senate as DHS shutdown debate erupts, stalemate digs deeper
The Senate floor erupted Wednesday as Republicans and Democrats sparred over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with one point becoming clear: neither side was close to reaching a deal. While senators met behind closed doors just steps from the chamber, party leaders accused each other of refusing to negotiate over reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the key sticking point in the standoff. “You can cry about it. You can whine about it. You lost an election over it,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said. “The White House has dealt with you in good faith. You want to prolong this until you get another incident, while your activists are on the street confronting ICE agents in sanctuary jurisdictions, hoping they get some viral moment.” So far, Senate Republicans have delegated final say over any agreement to the White House, though the back and forth between both sides has slowed to a grinding halt. KATIE BRITT BLASTS DEMOCRATS FOR PLAYING ‘POLITICAL GAMES’ WITH SHUTDOWN AMID AIRPORT CHAOS Republicans want DHS reopened in the short term, while negotiations over reforms to ICE continue. Democrats, meanwhile, have offered a funding proposal that would carve out immigration enforcement but reopen other key functions, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). At the center of the dispute is whether either side will agree to formal negotiations. Republicans say Democrats are ignoring their offers to meet, while Democrats contend they have not received an invitation. KRISTI NOEM’S FIRING FAILS TO SWAY DEMOCRATS AS DHS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON “We are here today, and we are trying to close a deal that would enable us to fund all the agencies that the Democrats say they want funded with reforms to ICE,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. “And I’ve seen the offer sheet from the White House, and they have gone a lot farther, a lot farther than any Democrat I thought was even possible.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said their demands for reform are straightforward, though Republicans have drawn red lines against proposals that would require ICE agents to obtain judicial warrants and unmask their identities, citing concerns about doxxing. “But the bottom line is they refused, probably because the right wing doesn’t like it,” Schumer said. “So then let’s fund everything else but ICE and Border Patrol.” SCHUMER WEAPONIZES MULLIN NOMINATION TO DEMAND DHS OVERHAUL, SAYS ‘ROT’ GOES BEYOND NOEM The floor fight was ignited by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and her attempt to force a vote on a DHS spending bill that stripped out funding for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). But both ICE and CBP are flush with billions in funding for the next handful of years thanks to Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill.” Still, she argued that Democrats would not be “blackmailed” into funding immigration operations after the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, who were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota. “I am willing to talk to people, but I’m not willing to sit in a room, have coffee, give away a few things, and have Stephen Miller override whatever we all agreed to in a room,” Murray said. There has been little movement in the stalemate over DHS. The White House made its last offer nearly two weeks ago, and Democrats rejected it. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who was tapped by Thune to lead DHS negotiations for Senate Republicans, contended that Murray and Senate Democrats’ latest offer “would effectively defund our law enforcement.” “Look, we’re not going back to the era of ‘defund the police,’” Britt said. “We’re not doing it.”
Top US court hands Trump a win on deportations as SCOTUS challenge looms
A federal appeals court on Wednesday granted the Trump administration‘s request to pause a lower court order that blocked it from deporting illegal immigrants to so-called “third countries” — granting a near-term reprieve to the administration just hours before the lower court’s order was slated to take effect. Trump administration lawyers had appealed the ruling to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last week, arguing that the order from U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy created an “unworkable scheme” that threatened to derail sensitive negotiations with outside countries, and risked derailing up to “thousands” of planned deportations. They also argued Murphy’s ruling cut against two previous Supreme Court emergency stays last year, after the high court intervened and allowed the administration to continue its deportation policy, for now. US JUDGE ACCUSES TRUMP ADMIN OF ‘MANUFACTURING CHAOS’ IN SOUTH SUDAN DEPORTATIONS, ESCALATING FEUD The case is all but certain to be punted to the high court for a full review on its merits, as senior Trump administration officials acknowledged earlier this year. Murphy, a Biden appointee, sided with migrants last month in his 81-page ruling, determining that the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal process — or the process by which migrants are removed from the U.S. to a country other than their country of origin — is unlawful and violates due process protections under the U.S. Constitution. He ruled that the Trump administration must first try to deport the migrants to their home country, or to a country of removal previously designated by an immigration judge. Only after that process, he said, could migrants be removed to a third country, so long as “meaningful notice” is provided, as well as the opportunity for the migrants to raise any fear of persecution in the third country identified for their removal under a so-called “reasonable fear” interview. The third-country removal policy “fails to satisfy due process for a raft of reasons, not least of which is that nobody really knows anything about these purported ‘assurances,’” Murphy wrote in his ruling, though he stayed it from taking force for 15 days in order to give the administration time to appeal. Barring intervention from the U.S. appeals court, the order was slated to take force on Thursday. FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING DHS officials have previously claimed an “undisputed authority” to deport criminal illegal migrants to third countries that have agreed to accept them. “If these activist judges had their way, aliens who are so uniquely barbaric that their own countries won’t take them back, including convicted murderers, child rapists and drug traffickers, would walk free on American streets,” former Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in June, after the Supreme Court temporarily permitted the Trump administration to continue its deportation policy amid legal challenges. Murphy had presided for months over a class-action lawsuit filed by migrants challenging deportations to third countries, including South Sudan, El Salvador, and both Costa Rica and Guatemala, which the Trump administration has reportedly eyed in its ongoing wave of deportations. He has sparred with the Trump administration while overseeing the case, including in May, when he accused the administration of failing to comply with a court order requiring it to keep in U.S. custody six migrants who were deported to South Sudan without due process or notice. ‘WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT’: US JUDGE REAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR DAYS-LATE DEPORTATION INFO Murphy previously ordered that the migrants remain in U.S. custody at a military base in Djibouti until each of them could be given a “reasonable fear interview,” or a chance to explain to U.S. officials any fear of persecution or torture, should they be released into South Sudanese custody. Murphy previously acknowledged the criminal histories in question after Trump officials blasted the individuals removed as the “worst of the worst.” “The court recognizes that the class members at issue here have criminal histories,” Murphy wrote in an order last year. “But that does not change due process,” he wrote. “The court treats its obligation to these principles with the seriousness that anyone committed to the rule of law should understand.”
Epstein accountant testifies he never saw ‘any type of transaction’ with Trump, Comer says
Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime accountant testified behind closed doors that he was never aware of any payments the late financier and sex offender made to President Donald Trump, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Wednesday. Richard Kahn, one of the executors of Epstein’s estate, is the latest person to be deposed in the committee’s investigation into how the federal government handled Epstein’s case. “Mr. Kahn testified under oath that — because the Democrats asked this question — that he had never seen any type of transaction to Trump or anyone in his family,” Comer told reporters. “That makes the fifth witness now that’s testified under oath that they’ve never seen any involvement by Donald Trump or the family.” NEW MEXICO DOJ ANNOUNCES SEARCH OF FORMER JEFFREY EPSTEIN PROPERTY ZORRO RANCH Comer said Kahn did confirm, however, that five people paid money to Epstein: ex-Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner, hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, businessman Steven Sinofsky, the Rothschilds and investor Leon Black. Epstein was known to have served as a financial advisor for each of them. HOUSE REPUBLICANS DESCEND ON CLINTONS’ HOMETOWN FOR HIGH-STAKES EPSTEIN PROBE GRILLING “What Kahn said is he was under the impression that Epstein made his money as a tax advisor and a financial planner. So, these were the five people that transferred significant sums of money to Epstein,” Comer said. But when it comes to Trump, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., gave a slightly different account of what Kahn said behind closed doors. He told reporters Kahn said a “person who was an accuser of Donald Trump was given a settlement by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.” That does not necessarily mean that the alleged settlement was regarding Trump. A person familiar with the deposition told Fox News Digital, “Earlier testimony from Kahn about the Trump accuser receiving a settlement from the Epstein estate is incorrect. When the Democrats asked about Jane Doe 4, they were talking about someone else. Kahn’s attorneys went back on the record to clarify that the person the Dems thought was Jane Doe 4 was not an individual they had ever heard of.” The president was known to be a friend of Epstein’s until the two had a falling out before the late pedophile’s first federal investigation. He has not been implicated in any wrongdoing related to his crimes. Subramanyam said Kahn also testified that “there was another head of state that was mentioned as having financial transactions with Jeffrey Epstein,” though he did not elaborate on who that was.
Oil prices swing wildly amid mixed messages over Iran war
Crude oil prices fall sharply as energy markets remain on tenterhooks over effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 4 mins info Published On 11 Mar 202611 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Oil prices are seeing dramatic swings as traders struggle to make sense of mixed messages about the impact of the United States and Israel’s war on Iran. Brent crude, the international benchmark, on Tuesday plunged 17 percent to fall below $80 a barrel, then rebounded to near $90 after US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright posted on the X platform – but then quickly deleted – a claim that the US Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later told reporters that there had been no armed escort through the strait, which has been effectively closed to shipping in the region due to Iranian threats. Oil prices fell sharply again early on Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the International Energy Agency was considering the largest release of oil reserves in its history to help keep global supplies stable. Brent crude futures were hovering below $85 a barrel as of 02:00 GMT following the news. After rising as much as 50 percent to nearly $120 a barrel before falling, oil prices still remain about 17 percent higher than they were before the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28. Global energy markets have been on tenterhooks amid the near halt of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the global oil supply transits, as well as attacks on energy facilities across the Middle East. The effective closure of the waterway has forced Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq to cut oil production amid a growing stock of barrels with nowhere to go and depleting storage capacity. A cargo ship sails off the coast of the city of Fujairah, the UAE, on February 25, 2026 [Giuseppe Cacace/AFP] Threat of Iranian sea mines A sustained rise in oil prices would have serious knock-on effects for the global economy, pushing up the cost of everyday goods and dragging down growth. Advertisement According to an analysis by the International Monetary Fund, every 10 percent rise in oil prices corresponds with a 0.4 percent rise in inflation and a 0.15 percent reduction in economic growth. US petroleum prices have risen about 17 percent since the start of the war, while authorities in South Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh and Pakistan have introduced measures such as price caps and rationing to keep costs down. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that the US Navy could be deployed to keep the strait open “if necessary”. Some analysts have cast doubt on the feasibility of such plans due to the massive backlog of ships in the region and the threat of drone and missile attacks from nearby Iranian shores. The US military said on Tuesday that it had attacked 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the strait after Trump had earlier warned Tehran against placing mines in the waterway. Trump and administration officials have also given conflicting accounts of how long the war might last, exacerbating unease in energy markets. On Tuesday, Trump said he expected the war to be over “very soon”, but he also said that US attacks on Iran would not stop “until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated”, and US forces had still not “won enough”. “Analysts talk about geopolitical risk constantly, but most of the time, it remains hypothetical. What we saw this week was the market briefly treating that risk as real and repricing supply disruption in earnest,” Chad Norville, president of industry publication Rigzone, told Al Jazeera. “At the same time, escorting a single tanker does not materially change the supply equation when well over a hundred vessels typically move through the strait each day. What the market is really trying to determine is whether the overall flow of oil can revert to normal operations,” Norville said. Adblock test (Why?)
Can the Lebanese government deal with the displacement crisis?
NewsFeed Israeli attacks on Lebanon have continued to escalate as the war in Iran rages on. The UN estimates around 700,000 people have been displaced from their homes, fleeing relentless bombing and a looming invasion. Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Saleh breaks down the humanitarian and political crisis unfolding in Lebanon. Published On 11 Mar 202611 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Bam Adebayo scores 83 points, passes Kobe Bryant for second-most in NBA
Miami Heat player’s historic night is second behind the famous Wilt Chamberlain who scored 100 points back in 1962. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info By Reuters Published On 11 Mar 202611 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Bam Adebayo produced the second-highest single-game scoring total in NBA history, putting up 83 points as hosts Miami Heat beat the Washington Wizards 150-129 on Tuesday night. The 28-year-old centre scored 31 points in the first quarter en route to passing Kobe Bryant (81 points in 2006) for second place on the single-game list. Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point outing has stood as the record since March 2, 1962. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Adebayo set Heat records for the highest-scoring game and the highest-scoring quarter. The old club mark for a game was 61 points, set in 2014 by LeBron James. Adebayo’s previous career best was 41 on January 23, 2021, against the Brooklyn Nets. In 42 minutes on Tuesday, Adebayo shot 20-for-43 from the floor, 7-for-22 from 3-point range and 36-for-43 at the free-throw line. He also grabbed nine rebounds. Abebayo set NBA single-game records for most free throws made and most free-throw attempts. Chamberlain and Adrian Dantley were the prior record-holders for made foul shots, with 28 each. Dwight Howard had the old mark for attempts of 39, which he reached twice. The Heat earned their sixth straight win, matching their longest streak of the season. They improved to 22-11 at home. Adebayo’s heroics were needed because Miami was without three of its top four scorers due to injuries: Tyler Herro (quadriceps), Norman Powell (groin) and Andrew Wiggins (toe). The Heat were also without Kel’el Ware (shoulder) and Nikola Jovic (back). Washington has lost nine straight games, five short of its longest skid of the season. Alex Sarr led the Wizards with 28 points. Advertisement Wizards star Trae Young sat out due to injury management related to his right knee. Adebayo shot 20-for-43 from the field in the history-making performance [Megan Briggs /Getty Images via AFP] Adebayo, in his blistering-hot first quarter, shot 10-for-16 on field-goal attempts, 5-for-8 on 3-point tries and 6-of-7 on free-throw attempts. Miami, which led 40-29 after the first quarter, stretched its advantage to 19 points in the second. However, the Wizards closed relatively well, going into halftime trailing 76-62. Adebayo had 43 points in the first half, another Heat record. His first half came on 13-of-24 shooting overall, 5-of-11 success from beyond the arc and 12-of-14 accuracy at the free-throw line. His shooting overshadowed Sarr, who had 23 points at halftime. Adebayo scored 19 points in the third, giving Miami a 113-97 lead by the end of the quarter. He dunked with 22.2 seconds left in the third, giving him 62 points and breaking James’s record. In the fourth quarter, with the victory assured, Miami kept Adebayo in the game, passing the ball to him on every possession as he hunted for records. His last two points came from the foul line with 1:16 to go as he surpassed Bryant. Adebayo, right, celebrates with his Miami Heat teammates at Kaseya Center after the game [Megan Briggs/Getty Images via AFP] Adblock test (Why?)
US-Iran war: Air India flights to cost more as it imposes fuel surcharge amid energy crisis
In its statement, Air India said that without the surcharge revision, some of its flights risked becoming commercially unviable and could face cancellations. “Absent such fuel surcharges, it is likely that some flights would be unable to cover operating costs and would have to be cancelled.”
EXCLUSIVE: ICE says El Paso detention facility will stay open under new contractor after $1.2B deal scrapped
EXCLUSIVE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas will remain open and is undergoing an operational upgrade, Fox News Digital has learned. “Camp East Montana is NOT closing, quite the opposite,” an ICE spokesperson exclusively told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “Rather, ICE has contracted with a new provider following Secretary Noem’s termination of the old contract inherited from the Department of War. ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody.” BLUE-STATE GOVERNORS MOVE TO KEEP HEAT ON NOEM AS DHS FIRES BACK The spokesperson said the new contract will allow the facility to maintain what the agency described as the “highest detention standards” while expanding oversight. According to ICE, the new contractor will also provide increased on-site medical care, additional staffing and a “PRECISE quality assurance surveillance plan.” The agency said the updated agreement also strengthens ICE’s direct oversight of operations at the El Paso-area facility. “Far from closing, Camp East Montana is upgrading,” the spokesperson said. FOUR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS LINKED TO MS-13 INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY MURDERING 14-YEAR-OLD BOY IN MARYLAND PARK The news that the facility will remain open comes after The Washington Post reported that the facility could face closure amid scrutiny over operations. A document was distributed to ICE staff, the Post reports, indicated that the agency was drafting a letter to terminate the facility’s $1.2 billion contract at an unspecified date. ICE officials, however, characterized the contract termination as a deliberate effort by Noem to raise standards and improve services. The facility, located at Fort Bliss in Texas, has been used to house thousands of detainees as part of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. ICE did not immediately provide details on the identity of the new contractor or the timeline for full implementation.
Sen. Hyde-Smith set for November clash with Dem foe she once vanquished
The race for Mississippi’s Senate seat is set for November and will feature a clash of a sitting incumbent battling a foe she once blocked from a lifetime judicial appointment. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., cruised to a victory in her primary to earn the GOP nomination for Senate in Mississippi. She beat Sarah Adlakha, a political newcomer who challenged Hyde-Smith’s effectiveness in Washington, D.C., since being appointed to the position in 2018. Hyde-Smith is running for a second term in the upper chamber and, in deep-red Mississippi, is expected to hold onto her job in the GOP’s sprawling battle to maintain control of the Senate. PAXTON VOWS HE’S ‘STAYING IN THIS RACE’ EVEN IF TRUMP BACKS CORNYN IN TEXAS GOP CLASH But she’ll face a Democratic opponent she’s dealt with before — just not on the election battlefield. Mississippi District Attorney Scott Colom came out on top of his crowded primary to earn the Democratic nomination for Senate in the Magnolia State. He toppled U.S. Marine Corps veteran Albert Littell and Priscilla Till, the cousin of Emmett Till, who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in the 1950s. Hyde-Smith and Colom have a history dating back to the Biden administration, when the lawmaker blocked his nomination to serve as a district court judge in Mississippi. TRUMP TEASES ENDORSEMENT COMING SOON IN CRUCIAL GOP CLASH At the time, she used the veto power each home-state senator has, known as a blue slip in the upper chamber, to weigh in on a judicial nominee — it’s a tradition that President Donald Trump has demanded be done away with to nullify Democratic resistance to his own judicial nominees. Hyde-Smith told the Magnolia Tribune at the time that while she recognized that Colom was “smart and well-liked in his district,” she had concerns over his record. Nathan Calvert, spokesperson for the Hyde-Smith campaign, told Fox News Digital in a statement that “Colom has never seen a Biden/Harris policy he didn’t like.” “Senator Hyde-Smith is proud of opposing judicial nominations for extreme leftists who support a radical transgender agenda,” Calvert said. “She opposes allowing men to participate in women’s sports and believes we need judges who will take the same stance.” “Senator Hyde-Smith believes we need to cut government spending, fight inflation (driven by excessive government spending), and reduce (not increase) our soaring national debt, and she’ll continue voting to do that,” he continued. CONTENTIOUS REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY IN TEXAS HEADED INTO OVERTIME “As someone with a strong interest in protecting the rights of girls and women, I am concerned about Scott Colom’s opposition to legislation to protect female athletes,” Hyde-Smith said. “The significant support his campaign received from George Soros also weighs heavily against his nomination, in my view. I simply cannot support his nomination to serve on the federal bench in Mississippi for a lifetime.” Meanwhile, Colom has gone after Hyde-Smith for voting against federal funding coming into Mississippi, which has consistently ranked as the poorest state in the country. His website accused Hyde-Smith of not “working for us anymore, voting against Mississippi jobs and investments because it serves her donors’ agenda.” Fox News Digital reached out for comment to Colom’s campaign, but did not immediately hear back.