WATCH: GOP senator warns ‘hammer-and-sickle’ politics will define Democrats’ 2028 primary
FIRST ON FOX: One Senate Republican warned that the “radical leftist” surge in the Democratic Party today will be the roadmap for Democrats in 2028, when candidates will jockey for the White House. “You get this hammer-and-sickle wave we saw in New York — that is not going to be an isolated incident,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital. “That is a flashing red light. It is a red flag.” “Their primaries now are going to be dominated by these people who want to go to war with Western civilization,” he continued. “I mean, I’m not making this up, this is what they say they want to do. And so their [2028] presidential primary will be defined by this ideology.” MAMDANI-BACKED SOCIALISTS LOOK TO TAKE NEW YORK PLAYBOOK NATIONWIDE AFTER PRIMARY VICTORIES Several insurgent progressive and far-left candidates have toppled more moderate incumbents in primary contests during this midterm election cycle. In New York City, as Schmitt pointed out, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s chosen candidates made a clean sweep in June. Two incumbents, Reps. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., and Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., were felled by progressives with the Mamdani stamp of approval — Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier, respectively. And in the race for the majority in the Senate, one of the most notable far-left candidates is Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, who is locked in a messy primary fight with Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich. DEMOCRATS’ CIVIL WAR HEADS TO MICHIGAN, WHERE PROGRESSIVES FACE BIGGEST TEST YET IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE SHOWDOWN Schmitt contended that it was Democrats’ position on immigration, in particular, that was defining their policies and candidates moving forward. “I think they’ve just decided that their only chance of being successful electorally is through their immigration policy, and so, they’ve completely dismissed the arguments of Bill Clinton and even Harry Reid,” Schmitt said. “I mean, it sounds crazy to even say that, but they were at least, I guess what you would make a centrist argument on that they’ve totally abandoned.” Specifically, Senate Democrats are bucking an old policy that was once championed by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. In the 1990s, Reid pushed legislation that would have changed birthright citizenship — just like how Schmitt and other Republicans are doing now after the Supreme Court’s decision upholding birthright citizenship earlier this month. DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA LEADER SAYS ‘MANY’ IN GROUP WOULD BE ‘THRILLED’ AT AOC IN 2028 Schmitt said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who was mentored by Reid, was on notice by his own party given the further left the political winds were blowing. His main political adversary could be one of the poster children of the progressive movement: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. “You know, Chuck Schumer, if he survives to even be minority leader again, you know, next term, there’s just no way he’s not going to have a primary challenge by AOC or somebody else,” Schmitt said. “I mean, I think he’s probably going to chair the ‘AOC for president campaign’ so … she doesn’t run against him, but there’s going to be somebody else. And the money and the energy on the Democrat side right now are these radical leftist communists.”
Trump’s EPA chief pushes back on climate skeptics being labeled ‘science deniers’
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argues that climate projections represent a range of possible outcomes — not certainties — and warned against labeling those who disagree with them as “science deniers.” “When someone looks at 2050 or 2100 and they say ‘This is exactly what the sea level is going to be. This is what the temperature is going to be,’ it doesn’t acknowledge correctly that there really is a range from the optimistic to the pessimistic,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head told Fox News Digital. Zeldin’s comments at the Great American State Fair on Thursday come as he was asked what climate predictions made during under President Joe Biden’s administration he believes have been disproven by new evidence. BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK Rather than take a the layup on the former president by citing a specific prediction, he argued that climate projections, especially those decades in the future, should be interpreted as evolving estimates that need to be regularly updated as new data emerges. “Relying on present day facts rather than bad assumptions from the past is incredibly important,” Zeldin insisted. “Every day that goes by we learn what the reality is at that point in the future, and we’re able to compare it to what the predictions are,” he added. Zeldin emphasized the importance of hearing out newer perspectives on climate change, alluding to the idea that using both long-term forecasts and current real-world data can more accurately estimate the present implications and impacts of climate change. BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK He argued that people who disagree with these climate projections, which could possibly reflect outdated research or data, should not automatically be labeled “science deniers.” “I don’t think it’s a good idea that if someone disagrees with someone else’s prediction of exactly what the temperature’s gonna be in the year 2100, that all of a sudden that person is just automatically some science denier,” Zeldin said. “Hear them out,” he advised. “Maybe they have an opinion on some other study that they looked on, or other studies they looked on, because there really is a range of predictions, especially when you look further in the future.” BIDEN-ERA ENVIRO RULE ACCUSED OF STRANGLING TRUCKERS, SQUEEZING AMERICANS LANDS ON TRUMP CHOPPING BLOCK The Trump administration has moved to revisit several climate-related regulations, including efforts to reconsider the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, which serves as the legal basis for many federal greenhouse gas regulations, as well as other greenhouse gas emissions rules. Since taking over the EPA, Zeldin has spearheaded re-evaluating the agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding and is revisiting a number of climate-related regulations adopted under previous Democratic administrations.
Inside the slapdash Platner vetting job that ignored warnings before bid blew up: source
Graham Platner’s Senate campaign repeatedly ignored warnings from its own vetting team that he needed a more robust background check, a source familiar with the early stages of the campaign told Fox News Digital. An in-depth vetting process could have saved Democrats a massive headache in one of the most important Senate races of the 2026 cycle, something that has led many on the left to blame Dan Moraff and Morris Katz — the political staffers behind Platner’s meteoric rise — for not doing their due diligence before putting him forward. The source confirmed to Fox News Digital that the vetting process was largely handled by Moraff and Katz, who limited investigators to a three-day review of Platner. PLATNER’S THREE-DAY VETTING JOB COMES BACK TO HAUNT DEMS AS RAPE ALLEGATION ROCKS SENATE BID The firm that vetted Platner repeatedly reached out to the campaign, warning them that additional vetting was required as the initial review had turned up several concerning pieces of information that could lead to more serious issues — warnings that were ignored by Platner’s staff, according to the source familiar with the early stages of the campaign. During the vetting process, campaign staff didn’t allow the individuals investigating Platner to interview him, the source told Fox News Digital. In addition to the vetting process identifying Platner’s Reddit posts, which the Wall Street Journal previously reported, it also turned up information that cast doubt on Platner’s blue-collar image, the source added. ACTIVISTS BEHIND GRAHAM PLATNER’S RISE ADMIT VETTING PROCESS DIDN’T BRING UP NAZI-LINKED TATTOO “The firm sent us a thing and it had some of the posts, but it didn’t have all of them,” Moraff told the Wall Street Journal in June of the vetting process, referencing Platner’s now-deleted Reddit posts. Many of the scandals that went on to rock the Platner campaign — such as his DUI, his relatively affluent upbringing and Nazi-linked tattoo — were discoverable via public information and later reported by the press. Platner suspended his senatorial campaign on Wednesday after an ex-girlfriend accused him of raping her. His withdrawal followed a string of scandals stemming from controversial posts he made on his deleted Reddit account, a Nazi-linked tattoo he acquired during his time in the armed forces and his alleged mistreatment of women. He filed the paperwork necessary to officially withdraw from the election on Friday. MILLIONS IN DEM AD MONEY VANISHED FROM PLATNER RACE DAYS BEFORE RAPE ALLEGATION DOOMED SENATE BID “That’s odd … no one asks for, like, three days’ worth of research,” an individual familiar with candidate vetting told Fox News Digital. “It’s not unusual to have to rush an initial triage research product,” the source said, explaining that truncated background checks like that are almost always followed by “a comprehensive doc or a more thorough doc.” Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Platner’s campaign defended its decision to commission an abridged vetting process on the grounds that they didn’t have the financial resources to afford a more complete investigation at the outset. The campaign paid just over $6,000 for its vetting, compared to the tens of thousands of dollars usually required for a full background check of a political candidate. Platner, however, very quickly became one of the strongest Democratic fundraisers in the nation, bringing in over $16 million in contributions between July 2025 and June 2026, raising questions as to why his campaign didn’t seek out a complete vetting once it had the resources to do so. Democrats in Maine are holding a nominating convention to replace Platner ahead of the July 13 statutory deadline to remove him from the ballot. Party delegates will vote to choose the Democratic nominee for the November general election. The Platner campaign, Moraff and Katz did not respond to requests for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Friday.
WATCH: Early Graham Platner critic unloads on ‘unapologetic’ Senate candidate in scathing rebuke
As Democrats scrambled to abandon embattled candidate Graham Platner, after a rape allegation against him torpedoed his insurgent campaign, one progressive lawmaker said it “was a very easy call” to never back him in the first place. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., had no endorsement to rescind, having been among a small handful of Democrats who publicly warned against Platner amid growing controversies, even as much of the party continued embracing him. “I’m relieved. I’m sure Mainers are relieved. He disqualified himself,” Dean told Fox News Digital in an interview after Platner announced his intent to drop out of Maine’s Senate race. He later officially dropped out Friday evening. “Suspending his campaign, he took no accounting for himself,” Dean said, referring to Platner’s 11-minute exit video, in which he fiercely denied the allegations and blamed the Democratic establishment for forcing him from the race. EXPLOSIVE SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATION ROCKS PLATNER CAMPAIGN AHEAD OF KEY DEADLINE IN CRUCIAL SENATE RACE “That’s not the kind of person we want as a senator,” she continued. “I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat.” Dean’s comments echoed a viral CNN interview in early June, when she described the rapidly accumulating controversies surrounding Platner as “distressing” and argued he had already “disqualified himself.” Her warning came a month before a 41-year-old Maine resident, Jenny Racicot, went public with allegations that Platner, while intoxicated, forced her to have non-consensual sex in 2021. Platner has repeatedly denied her accusation, which was first reported by Politico. At the time Dean spoke out publicly, Platner was the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nomination. Few Democrats had publicly broken with him despite a growing list of scandals, including a Nazi-linked tattoo, offensive Reddit posts, infidelity and allegations of misconduct in prior relationships, including an account of physical abuse from Lyndsey Fifield, who dated Platner between 2013 and 2015. Even Democrats who broke with Platner, including Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., drew fierce backlash from supporters who argued they were jeopardizing the party’s effort to unseat incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “I said in my mind he had disqualified himself in at least two ways. One was the choice to have a Nazi emblem tattooed to his body. And the other was, of course, the credible allegations of his abuse of women,” Dean told Fox News Digital. “So, to me, it was a very easy call. I wasn’t trying to weigh in. I was asked by a CNN reporter and I just said he has disqualified himself. Not a tough call.” SANDERS UNDER FIRE FOR PROPPING UP PLATNER AS DEMS TORCH HIS TOXIC ENDORSEMENT ‘PATTERN’ Still, many Democrats continued to defend Platner despite the mounting controversies. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a Platner supporter, said the allegations from ex-girlfriends “seem like a lot of nothing” in an interview with NOTUS, while suggesting that Fifield’s background in Republican politics gave her account a partisan taint. Other loyal Platner supporters, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., argued that voters should focus on policy issues rather than personal scandal, while appearing to dismiss alleged misconduct. “I think it’s important for us to focus on the issues facing working families a little bit more than Graham Platner’s marriage,” Sanders told reporters in June in remarks obtained by NBC. Asked whether she thought Democrats waited too long to denounce Platner, Dean largely declined to weigh in. “I don’t have a judgment on that,” she told Fox News Digital. “They had to do it in their own way. I did it in my way.” “Simply…because I was asked,” the Pennsylvania Democrat continued. “I just called it as I saw it. It was not a tough call. The timeline for anybody else, I have no judgment.” Collins, who is seeking a sixth Senate term, is widely viewed as the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbent, making Maine one of Democrats’ best pickup opportunities — a political calculus Dean said did not justify backing Platner. “I didn’t want to fall into the trap of contorting myself in order to support a candidate who had succeeded in a primary,” Dean told Fox News Digital. “Democrats are better than that. We have values that we live by.” “When we get it wrong, we need to simply say that,” she continued. Some Democrats have admitted fault in the days after the Platner campaign’s implosion. “I got the Platner call wrong, obviously,” Khanna, one of Platner’s top allies, told Politico’s Playbook, adding the candidate’s unraveling “doesn’t negate the progressive movement.” Platner is expected to officially file paperwork withdrawing from the race on Monday — the last day he can do so to allow Democrats to replace him on the ballot. Now, Democrats are working furiously to create a selection process to choose Platner’s replacement. Whoever Democrats nominate will face an immediate barrage of GOP spending. Collins’ allies have already pledged $8 million in negative advertising against the new nominee. Fox News Digital reached out to Platner for comment.
Former top cop warns of loophole exploited by illicit Chinese vape companies ‘targeting our youth’
A former top law enforcement official is sounding the alarm on an attempt by illicit Chinese vape companies to exploit legal loopholes by replacing nicotine with an unregulated substitute to continue selling flavored disposable vapes to children. “These Chinese organized crime groups, what they realized is if they go ahead and just change the ingredients in the packaging, then they create confusion and there is no enforcement or regulatory agency that then is responsible to address these illicit, illegal, disposable vapes,” former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Deputy Director Edgar Domenech told Fox News Digital in an interview. The synthetic compound, 6-methyl nicotine, also known as 6MN or “NIX,” is a nicotine analog marketed under brand names including Nixodine and Metatine, with some manufacturers arguing 6-methyl nicotine products fall outside the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authority. Domenech, the former sheriff of New York City, said that while nicotine is a well-known addictive substance regulated by the FDA, the nicotine substitute “manufactured illegally in China” is an “unknown variable” that hasn’t been studied enough. FORMER ACTING DHS SECRETARY WARNS CHINESE CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE INFILTRATING AMERICA’S HEMP INDUSTRY “It’s a different type of substance,” he said. “Now, all of a sudden, the FDA doesn’t have oversight, but it’s the same product. It’s a disposable vape product with flavors targeting our kids and our youth with unknown chemicals.” Pointing to law enforcement’s role in combating the illicit trade, Domenech said the companies create “confusion” by changing the product’s ingredients, causing law enforcement and regulatory agencies to “take no action.” “The organized crime groups — they’re five steps in front of us,” he said. “By changing the substance, they are now creating additional new obstacles to figure out.” Domenech said the companies keep the same branding, packaging, and flavors while changing just one ingredient, allowing them to profit from children who may not realize what they’re consuming. CORPORATE AMERICA’S CHINA ADDICTION HAS BECOME A NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT “They’re putting these products side by side in these big shops, because the packaging is all the same,” he said. “All they’ve done is changed one of the ingredients in the product.” Domenech said the companies are targeting “our youngest, most vulnerable generation” with flavored disposable vapes containing chemicals whose long-term health effects remain unknown. “They’re targeting our youth with flavors,” he said. “Whether it’s fruity flavors, candy-type flavors, dessert flavors. They’re targeting our kids to go ahead and ingest these products with unknown consequences because we don’t know what’s in them to begin with.” As youth vaping has become more widespread, Domenech said some schools have installed bathroom sensors that detect vaping, adding, “We’ve got 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 14-year-olds vaping these products.” EXPLOSIVE HOUSE REPORT REVEALS SECRET OPERATION INSIDE CHINA AT CENTER OF SOUTH KOREA’S FIGHT WITH US COMPANY He said that the products could lead to “unknown health and mental well-being issues down the line.” “There is nothing healthy about the illegal disposable vapes that are flavored targeting our kids,” he said. A recent Duke University study found 6-methyl nicotine may be stronger than nicotine, raising concerns it could be more addictive. Public patent records list Geoff Habicht, CEO of Arizona-based Mi-Pod, which Fox News Digital previously reported on as part of an investigation examining ties between the vaping industry and China, as an inventor on U.S. patents referencing 6-methyl nicotine and related compounds. Raising awareness among lawmakers, health professionals, parents, and schools is vital to closing regulatory gaps and preventing more children from using the products, according to Domenech. “Education is paramount for us to combat this issue,” he said. “We need to educate our policymakers, we need to educate our health professionals, we need to educate our parents, the educational system to make them understand that these products are illegal, they have unknown substances that can have unknown consequences, health consequences.” Domenech said lawmakers and law enforcement need clearer guidance to identify and seize the products. “We need to have a concerted effort to educate our policymakers at the federal level but also at the state and local levels because we need boots on the ground to understand what they can do legally in seizing these products,” he said. Domenech called the companies a “national security problem,” saying the products “should be seized the moment they enter this country, period.” “We’re losing a generation of our future, our future leaders to this product,” he said.
America’s cheapest city to grab a cheeseburger, fries and soda isn’t where you’d expect
A cheeseburger, fries and a soda remain one of America’s classic comfort meals, but what Americans pay for that combo depends heavily on where they live, according to the so-called Cheeseburger Index. A new DoorDash State of Local Commerce report, which compares the average price of a cheeseburger, fries and a soda across U.S. cities, found the average price of the meal is lowest in Austin, Texas, at $12.94. DoorDash said cities in the South and Southeast tend to be more affordable because of structurally lower operating costs, helping the region rank well across both grocery and restaurant price indexes. The highest cost topped out in Anchorage, Alaska at $28.28 for the same meal, according to the report. The 10 best-value cities in the study are concentrated in the Midwest and Texas, with four cities in the Lone Star State making the list — Laredo, Texas ($13.39), Lincoln, Nebraska ($13.86), Detroit ($14.99) and Philadelphia ($15.41) rounded out the top five. The rankings come as eating out continues to get more expensive, even as prices for many grocery and household staples have stabilized. DoorDash found the average price of a cheeseburger, fries and soda climbed 3.2% over the past year. THE COST OF THIS GROCERY STAPLE IS NEARING RECORD HIGHS — AND AMERICANS CAN’T GET ENOUGH While rising beef prices have drawn attention this year, DoorDash said higher restaurant prices appear to reflect broader operating costs — including labor, rent and energy — rather than food costs alone. Local labor markets and operating expenses also help explain why the same meal costs less than $13 in Austin than in Anchorage where it’s more than double that cost. “There isn’t one economy. There are a lot of local economies,” Jessica Lachs, chief analytics officer at DoorDash, told Fox News Digital. She said the Cheeseburger Index was designed to illustrate how those local differences translate into everyday prices for consumers. “Really, the story here is local variation,” Lachs said. “The same basket of goods — a cheeseburger, fries and a drink — costs $12.94 on average in Austin, Texas, but $28.28 in Anchorage, Alaska. Same basket, same quarter, but a very different local reality.” ONE LITTLE-KNOWN MEETING HELPS DECIDE WHAT AMERICANS CAN AFFORD — AND WHAT THEY CAN’T The Cheeseburger Index is one of three affordability measures included in the State of Local Commerce Report. DoorDash also publishes a Breakfast Basics Index, which tracks the cost of common breakfast items, and an Everyday Essentials Index, which measures the price of household staples. Sections of the report found prices for many household essentials remained relatively flat, while some grocery items have begun climbing again. Egg prices, which helped pull grocery costs lower earlier this year, have eased, but avocado and milk prices rose 12.4% and 8.3%, respectively, from the previous quarter. “The Cheeseburger Index is a really great way to distill the information into a simple, fun and relatable metric,” Lachs said. “If you were to place that same order for a cheeseburger, fries and a drink every month, how much would it cost you? It’s a great way to showcase price changes,” she added.
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool drained again as Trump administration resumes repairs
Crews began draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Friday as the Trump administration launched another round of repairs following the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration. The latest repairs come after problems emerged shortly after the initial restoration project was completed last month, which President Donald Trump largely blamed on vandals. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose department oversees the National Park Service (NPS), told conservative podcaster Katie Miller this week that the latest round of work had been planned and that crews also needed to remove debris left behind after the July Fourth fireworks celebration on the National Mall. BURGUM CLASHES WITH CNN HOST, BLASTS MEDIA FOR QUESTIONING VANDALISM OF LINCOLN MEMORIAL REFLECTING POOL “Drain the water, clean up the fireworks stuff,” Burgum said. “Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again.” Trump ordered the restoration project earlier this year as part of his effort to refurbish the landmark ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The project was later beset by an algae bloom, and sections of the new blue coating began peeling from the bottom of the pool. FORMER US OLYMPIAN DAVID HEARN PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN REFLECTING POOL VANDALISM CASE Trump declared victory over the algae last Sunday, sharing photos on Truth Social showing the Reflecting Pool and its reflection appearing clear and blue. Court records previously indicated the National Park Service planned to drain the pool again after the July Fourth celebrations to repair damage authorities attributed to vandalism. According to court documents, U.S. Park Police responded to a report of damage at the Reflecting Pool on June 9. Investigators said caulk had been spread over foam sealant that had been cut with a “sharp knife or razor,” the newly applied surface coating had been damaged, and approximately 70 fence post caps had been thrown into the pool. JIM ACOSTA CLAIMS DONALD TRUMP VANITY PROJECTS LOOK LIKE ‘END DAYS OF SADDAM HUSSEIN’ Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty Thursday to damaging the recently renovated Reflecting Pool. Hearn was indicted last week on a felony destruction of property charge following his arrest on charges related to a June 19 incident at the pool. He has denied damaging the Reflecting Pool, saying he stopped during a bike ride and touched a loose piece of the peeling blue coating “to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen.” At least three other people have also been charged with misdemeanors on allegations they removed pieces of the Reflecting Pool’s coating, according to online court records. All three pleaded not guilty during their initial court appearances Wednesday. Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo, Ryan Canfield, Eric Mack and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump warns US would ‘decimate and destroy’ Iran over assassination attempt
President Donald Trump on Friday warned Iran that the United States would “decimate and destroy” the country if Tehran carried out an assassination attempt against him. “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The president said he had already directed the U.S. military to be prepared to retaliate if Iran carried out an assassination attempt against him. ISRAEL SHARES INTELLIGENCE WARNING IRAN PLOTTED NEW ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST TRUMP: REPORT “Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran – PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!” Trump said. Trump’s comments came one day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli intelligence recently shared information with U.S. officials indicating Iran was considering a new plot to assassinate the president. Earlier this week, Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, that he remains Iran’s top target. TRUMP SAYS HE’S IRAN’S ‘NO. 1’ TARGET AS RENEWED CONFLICT RAISES ASSASSINATION FEARS “I’m No. 1 on the kill list for Iran,” the president said. Earlier Friday, Trump also told the New York Post he had left standing instructions to strike Iran if an assassination attempt against him succeeded. “I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with,” Trump said. “… The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.” TRUMP SAYS HE LEFT INSTRUCTIONS TO ‘BOMB’ IRAN ‘AT LEVELS’ NEVER SEEN IF HE IS ASSASSINATED Trump also dismissed reports that Israeli intelligence had uncovered a new Iranian assassination plot against him. “No, no, Israel came up with nothing,” Trump told the newspaper. “I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.” The New York Times reported that following Trump’s trip to Turkey, the U.S. Secret Service recommended he travel aboard the older Air Force One rather than the newly retrofitted Boeing 747 donated by Qatar as a security precaution amid renewed hostilities with Iran. The White House has not said whether the aircraft change was related to specific security concerns, but said the new Air Force One is equipped with advanced security features. “The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung previously told Fox News Digital. “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.” Iran has sought Trump’s assassination since he ordered the 2020 military strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. This week, mourners repeatedly called for Trump’s death during the funeral for Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The comments also come as a U.S.-Iran ceasefire has unraveled in recent days. Iran attacked commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz this week, prompting renewed U.S. military action, including a new round of strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure tied to maritime operations and other military sites. Trump has since declared the ceasefire “over” and warned of further action if Iran continues its attacks. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and the U.S. Secret Service for comment. Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
Trump takes unusual step, lets bipartisan housing bill become law unsigned amid SAVE pressure campaign
A bipartisan housing bill became law Saturday at midnight after President Donald Trump declined to sign it, capping a weeks-long saga over whether the president would veto the measure amid frustrations with Congress over his stalled agenda. Trump refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act — legislation aimed at expanding the nation’s housing stock and lowering costs — in an attempt to pressure Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, despite the housing bill clearing both chambers with overwhelming majorities. “I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, which is polling at 97% with the Republican Party, and very high with the non-politician Dumocrats,” he declared on Truth Social Friday morning. The Trump-backed election measure, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and impose voter ID requirements, has struggled to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. Meanwhile, the House has not passed a version of the bill that includes the president’s proposed crackdown on mail-in voting and banning men from women’s sports. HOUSE CONSERVATIVES DERAIL GOP AGENDA IN SAVE AMERICA ACT SHOWDOWN Under the U.S. Constitution, Trump had 10 days, not including Sundays, to sign or veto the housing measure after the House formally transmitted the legislation to the White House in late June. The president ultimately chose neither option, allowing the measure to become law without his signature. Though Trump declined to veto the legislation, he sharply criticized elements of the bill and argued it should not have been a legislative priority in recent weeks. “It’s so unimportant … compared to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in late June. “I think the SAVE America Act is exactly what it says. It’s saving America from crooked elections.” Trump went on to call the housing bill “a yawn,” adding, “compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.” It would have taken a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override a veto — a margin the House and Senate exceeded when they passed the legislation. However, it remains unclear whether so many Republicans would have defied the president had he vetoed the bill. Trump also appeared to criticize the bill over a provision restricting Wall Street investors from purchasing single-family homes — a policy he first proposed during his January State of the Union address and later urged Congress to pass. Trump previously argued the investor ban would give individual homebuyers a leg up against private equity firms in the housing market. “I don’t want to hurt people that own houses, too,” Trump later told reporters, appearing to reference the provision. “These people, for the first time in their lives, they have valuable houses. They’ve become rich. I don’t want to hurt them either. What you want to do is what’s good for everyone, get the interest rates down.” The law also aims to boost housing supply by streamlining federal environmental reviews, loosening rules around the construction of factory-built homes, and incentivizing local governments to modify their zoning laws to allow more housing, among roughly 60 provisions. Trump’s souring on the legislation created headaches for Republicans, who touted the bill as an affordability win as voters grapple with high housing costs. “It’s irresponsible to postpone signing the Housing bill due to the SAVE Act,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a retiring lawmaker who lost re-election to a Trump-backed challenger, wrote on social media. “We need to start delivering relief to people for the high cost of housing ASAP!!” WARREN TELLS TRUMP TO ‘SIGN THE DAMN BILL’ AS BIPARTISAN HOUSING PACKAGE REMAINS STALLED IN WASHINGTON Trump abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation at the U.S. Capitol in June with GOP leaders. The stage had already been set, with at least one senior Republican arriving unaware the president had called off the event shortly before it was scheduled to begin. The president then declared he would not sign the legislation until Congress passed the SAVE America Act, despite Senate GOP leaders insisting the votes do not exist to advance the measure. Trump has also expressed frustration with the Republican-controlled Senate for declining to weaken the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the upper chamber. “GET SMART REPUBLICANS, IF YOU DON’T, YOU WON’T BE IN OFFICE FOR LONG!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday. Before Trump came out against the bill, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it “one of the most significant pieces of housing affordability legislation in American history” and said it included an array of policies “long championed” by Trump. Meanwhile, Trump political operative James Blair touted the legislation for including the president’s Wall Street investor ban, which he referred to as a “signature commitment.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has argued that Republicans will still promote the landmark housing bill ahead of November. “We’ll still celebrate it, but he’s trying to make a point, and I think he’s making it very effectively,” the speaker recently told reporters, referring to Trump. “And the fact that you all ask me every three steps down the hallway illustrates that he has achieved the desired objective, and that is to make SAVE America the number one thing, because if we don’t get that right, everybody’s concerned about what happens next.”
Kelley Paul: America’s Founders were the ‘first civil rights heroes’
Kelley Paul is no stranger to the American political scene. As the wife of Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and the daughter-in-law of longtime former Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas), she has seen her fair share of the campaign trail, emerging as a powerful surrogate during her husband’s 2016 presidential run. She is also an accomplished writer, speaker, and public relations professional. As America ushers in its 250th anniversary, Paul saw the perfect opportunity to branch out into the world of children’s literature. Recently she sat down with Fox News Digital in Las Vegas at Freedom Fest to discuss her new book, “Good Night, Young American.” Paul credits her family for giving her the inspiration for the new project: “I have to give a lot of credit to my daughter-in-law, Kate. She and our son were over for dinner last summer with our grandson, who was only six months old at the time. And Kate was like, you know, we need more patriotic books for babies. She wasn’t really happy with a lot of the book options she was seeing. And that night at dinner, we kind of played around with some ideas. And I came up with ‘Good Night Young American.’ And a year later, here it is.” EXCLUSIVE: RAND AND KELLEY PAUL OPEN UP ABOUT 2016 RACE “Good Night, Young American,” recommended for children ages 4–8, takes kids on a visually and thematically engaging journey through early and colonial history. “Well, our revolutionary history is such a great adventure, right? So when I came up with the concept that my little boy would start out on the 4th of July with his parents, asking, what is it all about? I knew we’d be celebrating the 250th. Kids ask, what are we really celebrating? And his dad describes the Declaration of Independence to him in the signing. So I tried to think what is going to appeal to children in this great adventure of our revolution. So when he falls asleep that night, he’s in the crow’s nest of the Mayflower. He is a pilgrim, he’s a colonist, and then he makes friends with all the great revolutionary heroes that we know. So he makes friends with Sam Adams, he joins the Sons of Liberty, he meets at the Green Dragon. This is so exciting for children, right? It’s visual stuff. He makes friends with Ben Franklin, and he’s flying the kite. Dramatically rides on the midnight ride with Paul Revere. He and his dog, his little dog, are with him for all the adventures. And of course, he crosses the Delaware with George Washington. And I wanted to make the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the writing of it something that was dynamic and exciting visually. So I have him swinging on the Liberty Bell when the declaration is signed.” Paul worked closely with the illustrator, Marika Monesi, to bring the events of America’s founding to life in an engaging and visually appealing way for children. “She really captured the excitement on the little boy’s face, his personality, but I worked very close with her,” Paul said. “I wanted there to be a lot of movement, a lot of dynamic images. So, for example, with the Liberty Bell, for kids, a bunch of men standing around writing a document…I wanted to bring it to life. So I said, let’s have him running up to the top of the bell tower in Philadelphia at Freedom Hall and swinging on the Liberty Bell. And she was just such a great artist. With the George Washington scenes, he’s crossing the Delaware because that, again, is so visual. I wanted drive home to children the incredible bravery and courage of our founders, how cold and miserable and hard that war was. “Also, I love the illustration that she did of the King of England reading the Declaration of Independence. I have to give my husband Rand a little credit there. On the first couple of drafts that she did, Rand was like, ‘He needs to be fatter. King George was famously fat!’ So it was a lot of fun. It was very collaborative.” KELLEY PAUL ‘EXHAUSTED AND ANGRY’ THAT THOSE WHO HARASSED HER AND HER HUSBAND FACE NO CHARGES Part of Paul’s motivation for the book was related to the teaching of American history today, and the controversies therein: “I do think that we’ve gotten away from really celebrating our founders and our heroes. What they were doing in 1776 was incredibly radical, if you think about it. At that time, everyone accepted the divine right of kings. Everyone accepted hereditary rule. And our founders took Enlightenment ideas from John Locke and philosophers, and they turned it into the framework for a government. The idea of self-government and that our rights come from our Creator, that we have inalienable rights that are given to us by God and not from a king. Those were radical ideas of the time. I like to say our founders were the first civil rights heroes, the first civil libertarians. And I think our education system has gotten away from that. They don’t view them in the time that they existed, and suddenly now everything is oppressor versus oppressed narrative. And they are labeled more like colonizers or enslavers, and that’s the only view that they’re looked at, and not as human beings who sacrificed their very lives to write the Declaration of Independence, to form this country…it was an incredible, bold, and courageous act, but it was also an act of moral courage and philosophical courage.” Ultimately, Paul hopes that her books will stimulate the natural curiosity of America’s youth to learn more about their rich history: “Well, I hope that my books, especially with America’s 250, will spark a lot of questions and that they will give a framework for parents to talk to their kids about the founding of this country. And I hope children from a very, very young age will come