‘Red carpet for a despot’: Trump’s lavish Xi welcome collides with GOP anti-communism message
As President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping comes to its end, some Republicans aren’t happy with the red carpet treatment the face of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) received. “Quite frankly, had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome here in the United States of America, based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said. Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been one of the more vocal Republicans about his disdain for the meeting, which kicked off Wednesday afternoon when Trump met Xi at Joint Base Andrews — the first time a president has met with a foreign dignitary there since 2015. BIPARTISAN DUO WANTS TO REMIND CONGRESS, TRUMP OF CHINA’S ‘ATROCITIES’ AHEAD OF XI VISIT The White House argued in a statement to Fox News Digital that Trump was returning the sentiment to Jinping after his visit to Beijing earlier this year. “President Xi hosted President Trump in China for a historic summit this summer, and President Trump is reciprocating his hospitality by welcoming the Chinese delegation for a reciprocal visit this week,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. “The President will forge relationships with anyone in order to advance our national interests and make good deals for the American people.” It comes as Republicans are running to hold onto power in the Senate. They departed their midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month with a rallying cry: “Common sense versus communism,” as progressive candidates surge across the country. The convention was designed to remind voters that while his name is not on the ballot, Trump’s agenda is. But his meeting with Xi, optically, runs afoul of that. “I mean, the president campaigned on an anti-China policy,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. “You go look at those MAGA rallies and look at everybody cheering when he said he’s gonna take it to China.” “Any time we roll out the red carpet for a despot from Russia, or a despot from China, I feel the same way,” he continued. “It’s kind of not good.” GOP FACES BRUTAL MIDTERM HEADWINDS AS REPUBLICANS PAINT ELECTION AS ‘COMPETITION WITH COMMUNISM’ Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he was not “enthusiastic” about the summit, and said that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea were an “axis opposed” to the U.S. “I hope the president’s clear-eyed about who he’s dealing with,” Cornyn told Fox News Digital. “I mean, he tends to call some of these dictators friends, and they’re no friend. I can guarantee.” Some Republicans are willing to accept that a meeting between Trump and Xi is a necessary step in building a relationship between the two superpowers, even with the lavish nature of the summit. “I think there’s value in being able to talk with your adversaries,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital. “And I think, in this case, you know, our two countries, the biggest economies in the world, have a symbiotic relationship.” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., was invited to attend the dinner after spending years working in China before running for office. Daines told Fox News Digital that he understood his colleagues’ apprehension, but that the U.S. and China, and particularly Trump and Xi’s relationship, had to work. TRUMP-XI SUMMIT COULD HOLD KEY TO LOWER GAS PRICES, GOP CHAIRMAN SAYS “This relationship is too big to fail, and it’s only appropriate that President Trump and his team extends respect to Xi Jinping, and it’s really reciprocal to what they did for President Trump back in May when they showed him great respect when he showed up in Beijing,” Daines said. Still, that doesn’t mean Republicans have to like it. “It is one of his strengths, his ability to sort of win individuals over with hospitality,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told Fox News Digital. “He’s in the business. So I don’t, again, I’m not gonna second guess it. You know, I hate seeing it at a personal level, but I trust his instincts on it.” Lawmakers hoped that the two-and-a-half-day summit would yield deals on the artificial intelligence (AI) race, trade deals that would end the trade war between the U.S. and China and for Xi to use his influence to get oil and natural gas flowing through the Strait of Hormuz again. Trump kept tight-lipped about the nature of their bilateral meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday, but so far, Xi has promised two new pandas while the president is mulling allowing Chinese electric vehicles to be built in the U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., took no issue with the meeting, but hoped that Trump would see through any smokescreen Xi deployed. “I just suggested, and I don’t think he will — the president’s a pretty good judge of character — not to believe President Xi’s bulls—, because he’s lying. Particularly about helping Iran, and Xi could get the Strait open immediately if he wanted,” Kennedy told Fox News Digital.
Ex-Dem insider blows lid off fundraising ‘gimmicks’ during 2024 election: ‘Pyramid scheme’
Lindy Li, a former Democratic fundraiser who switched her party affiliation over unheeded warning signs of President Joe Biden’s decline in the 2024 election, believes the party badly misallocated its fundraising, misled donors and rewarded party operatives who propped up Biden’s image. “It was: ‘maintain this very obvious lie in return for access,’” Li recalled in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, referring to assertions that Biden was not experiencing cognitive decline. “And whoever maintained, whoever was most strident in propounding that lie got the most access. And whoever subverted it or dared to ask questions would see their access quickly diminish.” Li herself would find her access completely cut off after she began questioning Biden’s physical ability to serve another four years as president. But before leaving, Li became a top operative and is now chronicling the months leading up to Biden’s withdrawal from the race in her new book, “Unburdened.” Her revelations include what then-Vice President Kamala Harris did with a historic, billion-dollar war chest. NANCY PELOSI DENIES KNOWING ABOUT BIDEN’S DECLINE, CLAIMS THOSE WHO KNEW ‘SHOULD HAVE ACTED’ For starters, Li believes that the numbers themselves weren’t what they appeared to be from the outside. “I sincerely believe it’s a pyramid scheme,” Li said. She explained how fundraisers would sometimes take credit for each other’s work. In some cases, top recruiters could effectively double-dip on work that their subordinates had done. “When you recruit somebody, you can claim up to $250,000 of what they raise,” Li said. “In fact, you could poach other people’s donors and move money around. And that is how some people reach like $10 million without actually raising a thing. It’s like accounting gimmicks and machinations rather than real money. I know there were people who were double counted.” As a top fundraiser for both Biden and Harris, Li worked closely with top donors, high-profile members of the party and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Li described how she had a front-row seat for many of the party’s spending decisions. Li recounted that most of the Harris campaign’s spending went through four large media contracting companies. These contractors, Li said, collected enormous fees and received over half a billion dollars. The companies that were listed in her book included Media Buying & Analytics, Gambit Strategies, Bully Pulpit Interactive and Dupont Circle Strategies. CARVILLE SHREDS DEMS’ 2024 AUTOPSY, SAYS HARRIS CAMPAIGN WAS ‘MOST INEFFECTIVE $2 BILLION EVER SPENT’ “This tsunami of money represented about 70 percent of the campaign’s expenditures in the final days, enriching a handful of well-connected consultants while the broader effort collapsed,” Li wrote. In interviews with Fox, Li described how the payments to the firms came partially as off-the-top fees. “The vast majority of the money raised went into TV ads. And so… You know, people talk about 10% for the big guy. Okay, but I actually think the bigger grift is 15% for the big grift for these media people. They get 15%, 15 points off of hundreds of millions of dollars. You can do the math,” Li said. “The consultants get the money, the consultants that are hired by the campaign, and they’re friends of the candidate or friends of Jen O’Malley-Dillon. It’s a very incestuous process,” Li said, referring to the Harris campaign chair. In addition to the media companies and the lucrative contracts they paid out, Li believes that the party focused too much on expenses that didn’t advance the campaign while, in her view, neglecting strategic opportunities. “$350,000 a night slapping her face in the Las Vegas sphere, spending that money on Gulfstream so they wouldn’t have to fly commercial, spending it on Ritz-Carlton hotels. I mean, that definitely happened because the National Finance Committee was hosting its final meeting there. Spending its money on tote bags,” Li said. “None of that in Philadelphia,” she added, referring to the critical electoral center in Pennsylvania — a state that had been projected to be a pathway to victory in 2024. HARRIS BACKS RELEASING DNC’S 2024 ELECTION AUTOPSY DESPITE LEADERSHIP BURYING REPORT Part of what shocked Li was how brazen the party had been with the money she helped raise. She also expressed disbelief at the message the party spun to voters who had contributed their earnings in hopes of “saving democracy,” a refrain Biden used to convince voters to side with him over President Donald Trump. “Some people forked over their life savings. Like people were liquidating their savings on the hope that they were saving the country. They absolutely did, and I truly believe that they donated $2.5 billion over seven weeks, not so much primarily because of Kamala’s strength as a candidate, but rather their hatred for Trump and their fear of Trump,” Li said. “Everyone knew, everyone played along.”
Trump revives Supreme Court immigration showdown after Hochul pardon torpedoed first case
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to revive a major immigration fight over whether criminal aliens can be held without bond throughout removal proceedings or are entitled to a hearing when their detention drags on. Solicitor General John Sauer asked the Supreme Court on Monday to take up Genalo v. D.C., reviving a constitutional fight the justices had been set to hear this term in Genalo v. Black before New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pardon rendered that case moot. At the center of the dispute is D.C., a Dominican national who is facing removal after a criminal history that includes drug trafficking and domestic violence charges. He had previously been removed from the United States on six occasions, according to ICE. Federal law requires certain criminal aliens to remain in custody while their deportation cases play out. But the Second Circuit has ruled that if they are detained for too long, they are entitled to a bond hearing at which the government must make the case for keeping them in custody. BLUE STATE GOVERNOR’S PARDON OF CONVICTED FELON TORPEDOS A MAJOR SUPREME COURT IMMIGRATION FIGHT Other appeals courts have taken different approaches, leaving the Supreme Court with a nationwide split over what constitutional protections apply. “So the rights of these criminal aliens who were being detained, whether or not they’re entitled to a bond hearing as of right now depends on which jurisdiction they happen to fall in,” Michael Morley, a Florida State University law professor, told Fox News Digital. “And so the government is asking the Supreme Court to set one uniform interpretation for the entire country.” The Trump administration’s petition is procedurally unusual because Genalo v. D.C. is still pending before the Second Circuit. Sauer is asking the Supreme Court to intervene before the appeals court issues its decision. “Rather than making the court go through those motions, you just hear this case now, hear this case directly, even before the Second Circuit has had the opportunity to rule,” Morley told Fox News Digital. The legal dispute could also determine who carries the burden when a bond hearing is required. Under the Second Circuit’s approach, the government must show that a detainee poses a flight risk or danger to the community. The administration argued that if the Constitution requires such hearings, the burden should instead fall on the detainee seeking release. Lawyers supporting the administration argue that some detainees could delay their removal cases, then use the length of their detention to seek release on bond. “The biggest issue that happens here is gamemanship,” Chad Mizelle, chair of litigation at the America First Policy Institute and a former acting associate attorney general, told Fox News Digital. “A lot of times these aliens will file multiple applications for asylum, withholding removal. They’ll get new attorneys, switch out attorneys, ask for continuances, ask for delays,” Mizelle said. “So all of a sudden they’ve been in detention now, six, seven, eight months, completely of their own making.” FEDERAL APPEALS COURT DEALS BLOW TO TRUMP DEPORTATION AGENDA Mizelle argued that if prolonged detention eventually gives a detainee the right to seek bond, it could create an incentive to stretch proceedings long enough to reach that point. “They would switch out attorneys. They would make frivolous filings regarding asylum, regarding withholding of removal. They would ask for delays and continuances upon delays and continuances,” Mizelle said. “They’ll do everything they can to try to stretch this out, six months, seven months, eight months, file a habeas petition, say that they’re entitled to a bond hearing, and then if they are released, abscond.” Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, similarly described the additional litigation as “a foot dragging, sand in the gears exercise.” “This is attempting to stall, attempting to run out the clock or just, you know, the question is whether there even is a clock,” Severino told Fox News Digital. She pointed to cases such as Demore v. Kim, in which detainees themselves sought additional time during proceedings before later challenging the length of their detention. OBAMA, BIDEN JUDGES DRAW FRESH FIRE AS TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION COURT CLASHES HEAT UP: ‘ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE’ SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “So, it’s often a situation where people are playing both sides of it,” Severino said. “But they’re asking for more time on different things, but then at the same time complaining that the whole process is taking too long.” However, Severino cautioned that she could not speak to the motivations of every detainee. The Supreme Court has previously upheld mandatory detention during removal proceedings, but Morley said the high court has left open the constitutional question now at the center of the administration’s petition. “This is a question that the [Supreme Court] itself went out of its way, you can say, to leave open for adjudication in a future case,” Morley said. The administration is now asking the justices not to wait for another one. “You wanted to resolve this case. Here’s another case that presents the same exact question that lets you resolve the circuit split this term,” Morley said. “So basically, substitute this case for the moot case.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
Liberal justice hammers Supreme Court for fast-tracking emergency docket cases
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ripped her colleagues for fast-tracking cases on the high court’s emergency docket, saying “it has been noticeably less restrained, especially with respect to pending cases that involve controversial matters.” The emergency docket, sometimes known as the shadow or interim docket, allows parties to ask the Supreme Court to quickly intervene in lawsuits and temporarily pause lower court rulings. The process can take a couple of days, weeks or months, and is viewed as a much speedier, although temporary, way to secure court relief than when the court fully considers the merits of a case, which can include a long briefing schedule and oral arguments. “Why is it that one party should get a fast pass to the Supreme Court of the United States, when so many other parties are queued up, waiting patiently for the court’s attention?” Jackson said Thursday during a speech at the University of the District of Columbia’s law school, according to The Hill. “If we’re not careful, the emergency docket can and will become an end run around the standard review process, a special avenue that certain privileged litigants can use selectively,” she added. SUPREME COURT DECLINES TO INTERVENE IN CASE OF SURROGATE MOTHER WHO REFUSED ABORTION Jackson’s speech comes as the Trump administration has submitted 40 emergency applications to the Supreme Court since the start of the president’s second term, The Hill reported. Through the emergency docket, the Supreme Court has greenlit Trump’s mass firings of career employees and high-profile terminations of Democratic appointees. It has curtailed nationwide injunctions and cleared the way for controversial deportations and immigration stops. Since the start of Trump’s second term, his administration has won about 80% of its appeals on the emergency docket, according to Politico. KAVANAUGH THROWS TRUMP ‘A LIFELINE’ ON MAIL BALLOT RULES DESPITE SUPREME COURT LOSS BEFORE MIDTERMS The Supreme Court’s majority has often split along ideological lines and offered little reason for its emergency decisions. This differs from final orders from the court, which can be lengthy and include numerous concurring opinions and dissents. Jackson also said Thursday that parties should be required to prove impending harm in cases that cannot wait for full adjudication by the lower courts, as opposed to the Supreme Court granting stay applications based on whether lower courts could have made mistakes, Courthouse News Service reported. “Significant real-world harms can follow Supreme Court stay rulings, and when the court’s orders do not acknowledge that reality, they seem oblivious and ring hollow,” Jackson was quoted as saying. “We cannot expect the public to have faith in our judicial system if, without clear explanation, we are consistently greenlighting harmful acts that do real damage to litigating plaintiffs without a court decision fully and fairly determining the lawfulness of that challenged conduct on the merits.” Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.
‘Castro’s playbook’: Ex-AG warns dozens of congressional bills are pushing socialist ideas
Federal guarantees for jobs and housing, the elimination of private health insurance, a massive Green New Deal expansion, and new taxes on unrealized wealth are among dozens of current congressional proposals being called out by a national free-market group led by former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. Miyares, whose family fled Fidel Castro’s communist regime, described the proposed laws seen on Capitol Hill as “straight from Castro’s playbook” in a sit-down interview with Fox News Digital. Miyares recently became the honorary chairman at the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, a conservative trade organization representing American businesses, which just launched a “Socialism Watch” initiative tracking 32 bills that have been introduced on Capitol Hill aiming to implement what the group describes as socialist policy goals across healthcare, energy, labor, housing, taxation and more. “The year Fidel Castro took power in Cuba, Cuba had the same GDP as Greece. The year that he died, too bad the same GDP as Sudan,” Miyares told Fox News Digital. “Socialism doesn’t work. It impoverishes every country that embraces it.” DSA-BACKED CANDIDATES ARE WINNING PRIMARIES AND THEIR VISION FOR AMERICA IS VERY DIFFERENT Among the bills highlighted by Miyares and the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce is legislation that would ban fracking nationwide beginning in 2029, prohibit greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants and restrict new liquefied natural gas infrastructure and most U.S. oil and natural gas exports. Others would create government-backed job-guarantee programs offering employment to qualifying applicants, replace private health insurance with a national Medicare for All program and impose annual taxes on accumulated wealth, even when those gains have not been realized through a sale. The group is also zeroing in on a massive progressive push to overhaul American real estate: the “Housing is a Human Right Act.” While supporters pitch the $300 billion bill as a moral crusade to end homelessness, critics like Miyares see it differently. They argue that by officially declaring shelter a government-guaranteed right and pumping billions into “social housing,” the legislation is actively trying to push private landlords out of the market. TODAY’S LEFTISTS ARE DANGEROUSLY WRONG ABOUT COMMUNISM. JUST LISTEN TO THE SURVIVORS Other measures flagged by the group include a proposal to create a quasi-governmental “National Infrastructure Bank” to fund politically favored state projects, alongside a $1.6 trillion “Green New Deal for Public Schools” that the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce warns would hand local school district operations over to the federal government. “These young people are embracing socialism thinking that it leads to helping those that are poor, disadvantaged. The reality is it does the opposite,” Miyares told Fox News Digital. “It actually hurts the very people that it wants to help.” Miyares’ warnings about socialism are rooted in his family’s history in Cuba. His mother, Miriam, fled Fidel Castro’s communist regime in 1965 at 19 years old, arriving in the United States after leaving nearly everything behind. Miyares has said his uncle, an opponent of Castro, was arrested following the Bay of Pigs invasion and subjected to a mock execution, an experience he has said helped drive his mother’s decision to leave the island. “So many young people have forgotten really, really painful lessons of history that you cannot judge a bill or an economic system based on intentions, you have to judge it on results,” Miyares said. “What we’ve seen time and time again is socialism fails everywhere it’s been tried.” But Miyares argued the debate is no longer confined to activists or ideological arguments outside Washington, pointing to the 32 bills tracked through the American Free Enterprise Chamber’s newly launched “Socialism Watch” initiative as evidence that policies associated with the socialist-left have made their way into actual legislation before Congress. “AOC joked that woke one was crazy,” Miyares said. “Well, it’s clear that woke two should belong in an insane asylum because it’s a full-blown embrace of Marxism and socialism.”
Xi caps Trump state visit with symbolic final stop before leaving Washington
Chinese President Xi Jinping, leader of the country’s ruling Communist Party, will depart the United States today, but not before a final stop at the National Archives. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will first meet President Xi Jinping and his wife, Madame Peng Liyuan, for morning tea at the White House’s Red Room. After that, the couples will head to the National Archives for what the White House describes as a viewing of “a variety of important records and documents significant to the American and Chinese relationship throughout history.” From there, Trump will bid Xi farewell, and the whirlwind two-and-a-half day summit, underscored by a palpable tension, will conclude. The National Archives houses some of America’s most important documents, including the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. TRUMP-XI SUMMIT SHOULD MAKE SURE AMERICAN STRENGTH DELIVERS AMERICAN RESULTS The two heads of state met at the White House on Thursday morning, which began with a state arrival ceremony consisting of military honors, a review of troops, the Chinese and American national anthems and a flyover by a B-2 stealth bomber in formation with four fighter jets. A frenzied press, foreign and domestic, scurried around the White House grounds to catch glimpses of Trump and Xi, who does not often visit the West. Trump and his administration officials held bilateral talks with the Chinese delegation from the late morning into the early afternoon, lasting for several hours. Xi and Trump also spoke behind closed doors in the Oval Office. After the meetings, Trump escorted Xi to the White House’s South Lawn, where the pair viewed Marine One, and the new helipad on which it sits. They also toured the White House ballroom, which is under construction, and Trump showed Xi the Presidential Walk of Fame outside the West Wing, which features headshots of presidents past. Trump installed an image of an autopen in Biden’s place on the Presidential Walk of Fame, a reference to Trump’s repeated attacks on the former president’s use of an autopen while in office. Xi and Trump could both be seen laughing at the image, according to footage on social media. Outside the White House gates, protesters against Chinese oppression could be heard chanting throughout the day of meetings. The protests carried into the evening, with chants of “Free Hong Kong,” “Xi Jinping, you’re not welcome” and “freedom for political prisoners” at times drowning out the state dinner at the White House, Fox News Digital reported. XI CAN’T ESCAPE PROTESTERS’ CRIES AT DEAFENING DINNER DEMONSTRATION A White House official told Fox News Digital before the visit that Trump would explore a wide-ranging deal on possible tariff reductions on non-strategic goods in the meeting with Xi. That official also said the nation’s leaders would discuss rare-earth exports and possible export controls, and that Trump was expected to press China to do more to curb fentanyl precursor chemical exports. Trump called the meeting “great,” but didn’t elaborate and didn’t take questions from the press during the day. China will send two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, to Zoo Atlanta under a conservation agreement, Xi announced. Xi also invited 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years. Xi departed the White House for several hours after the meeting, but returned for a state dinner that officially began at 8:00 p.m. Trump kicked off the dinner with a toast to peace and prosperity for both nations. Guests at the dinner included the second family, Cabinet officials and their spouses, and titans of industry in banking and tech. XI PREPARES CHINA ‘FOR BATTLE’ AS EXPERT WARNS OF GRAVE DANGER FACING US AHEAD OF DC SUMMIT Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, SpaceX founder and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and Apple Board of Directors Chairman Tim Cook were all in attendance. The inclusion of American artificial intelligence leaders was notable, given that the powerful technology was a hotbed summit issue as China and the United States race for AI dominance.
Frontline NATO ally shares shocking take on Russian invasion threat
NEW YORK — Fears that Russia is preparing for a broader war with NATO aren’t rattling Estonia’s foreign minister, who told Fox News Digital that his country’s intelligence sees no signs Moscow is preparing for a full-scale invasion of the alliance. “We have more and more this kind of panic in Europe that Russia will invade and will be full-scale aggressive against NATO and Europe and the Baltic states, Poland,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in an interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City before quipping, “But we don’t see it.” Estonia shares a roughly 180-mile border with Russia and has long been among NATO’s most vocal members warning about the threat from Moscow under President Vladimir Putin. But Tsahkna drew a distinction between preparations for a conventional attack and the growing campaign of drone incursions, sabotage, cyberattacks and other provocations that European governments have blamed on Russia. BATTLE-TESTED ZELENSKYY SOUNDS CHILLING ALARM ON WHERE PUTIN’S WAR COULD HEAD NEXT “Our intelligence, we see very, very deep into Russia, we don’t see any change,” Tsahkna said. “We don’t see that Russia is preparing a full-scale invasion or aggression. The other side of our borders is pretty empty.” Tsahkna, who served as Estonia’s defense minister from 2016 to 2017, contrasted the current picture with what he saw a decade ago, when he said roughly 120,000 Russian troops were positioned across the region’s borders and could be ready to move within 48 hours. “It’s empty,” he said of the Russian side of Estonia’s border today. His assessment comes as European officials grapple with a series of Russian airspace violations and suspected hybrid attacks, including a Russian military helicopter that crossed into Polish airspace Wednesday. Poland’s military said the incursion appeared to be another attempt to test the readiness of its air defenses. RUSSIA’S SHADOW WAR IS PUTTING EUROPE ON EDGE AS GERMANY CONFRONTS A GROWING THREAT European and NATO officials have also warned that Russia could rebuild sufficient military capability to pose a direct threat to the alliance in the coming years. Estonia’s own intelligence service said earlier this year that it saw no Russian intention to attack a NATO member in the immediate term, while warning that Moscow’s military reforms are increasing its longer-term capabilities. Tsahkna argued that the more immediate threat is a Russian campaign of provocations and hybrid attacks designed to remain below NATO’s Article 5 threshold. “What Russia is doing now is waging these attacks, which are not crossing Article 5,” he said. “It’s sabotage attacks, terror attacks.” “The main purpose for Putin is to play with the Western part of the fear of escalation,” Tsahkna went on. “He’s trying to divide the Western parts of the world. Divide the unity, divide this kind of consensus.” Estonia has dealt with GPS interference, cyberattacks and disinformation it has attributed to Russia, while drones have also crossed into its airspace as the war in neighboring Ukraine continues. Tsahkna said Estonia recorded roughly 40,000 cyberattacks last year, a particular challenge for a country where virtually all public services are available online. “We are witnessing already, yes, any kind of different level attacks,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s already like normality.” Tsahkna said NATO needs to become more flexible in responding to attacks that fall below the alliance’s collective-defense threshold. “NATO must be more flex and more dynamic, because these are the attacks which are not crossing Article 5,” he said, pointing to sanctions, public attribution and political responses as tools available to the alliance. “Putin wants to boil Europe and Western part of the world as a frog,” Tsahkna said. “Turning on the heat piece by piece is a test of us.” Tsahkna also pointed to an incident last year in which three Russian fighter jets violated Estonian airspace for roughly 12 minutes, prompting Tallinn to request consultations under NATO’s Article 4 and raise the incident at the U.N. Security Council. He recalled President Donald Trump later saying Russian aircraft that violate NATO airspace should be shot down, and said Estonia has not experienced another comparable fighter-jet incursion since. “We have now drones coming in,” Tsahkna said. “NATO is working as a Swiss clock.” Tsahkna said NATO may need cheaper and more efficient ways to bring down drones rather than relying on expensive fighter aircraft. On Ukraine, Tsahkna called for increasing pressure on Moscow, arguing that Russia’s economic and battlefield losses could eventually push Putin toward serious negotiations. “What we see, and I also visited Ukraine last week, is that we need to put more pressure on Russia, because Putin understands only very clear language through strength,” he said. Tsahkna also pointed to Ukraine’s growing ability to strike targets deep inside Russia as a source of pressure on the Kremlin. “If Putin is under heavier pressure, and also Ukraine is delivering more deep-strike capabilities and attacks, there will be a momentum when Putin may really start some kind of ceasefire or energy ceasefire, or real talks,” he said. Tsahkna said Trump had devoted significant effort to seeking an end to the war, but argued that Putin has used the diplomatic process to buy time. “President Trump has put lots of energy during the last year to find a way, but Putin has just played with him and also winning the time,” Tsahkna said. He said Ukraine’s deep strikes are already weakening Russia economically, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly signaled his willingness to agree to a ceasefire. “Putin can just decide like today or tomorrow to have a ceasefire,” Tsahkna said. “Unfortunately, we don’t see any change for now.” Tsahkna also said Estonia has been assured that U.S. forces will remain in the region for the next rotation, amid the Trump administration’s broader review of the American military footprint in Europe. “We got the information that it will happen soon,” he said of the next rotation. Tsahkna said the presence of American forces remains an important part of deterrence on NATO’s eastern flank.
GOP handed new lifeline on biggest pocketbook fight of midterms
FIRST ON FOX: Republicans are being given a new playbook on an issue that is all but certain to be the biggest political lightning rod of the November midterms. Conservative group Club for Growth is sending a memo to Capitol Hill lawmakers on Friday arguing that Americans’ struggle with high living costs cannot be ignored — and that the fault lies with an expanding federal government. “Americans are not asking whether the inflation rate has slowed; they are asking why the same basket of goods is permanently more expensive,” the information packets being distributed to Republican lawmakers read. “[G]overnment made core costs higher through deficit spending, subsidies, mandates, and restrictions on supply.” It’s an argument that could be a lifeline for the GOP as it fights an uphill battle to keep control of the House and Senate. While Democrats attack Republicans for how Americans feel about prices today, Club for Growth’s memo is urging Republicans to point to the rapid federal expansion the Biden administration presided over during the COVID-19 pandemic. REPUBLICANS JUST GOT A POWERFUL NEW PLAYBOOK FOR THE BATTLE FOR CONGRESS. HERE’S WHAT’S INSIDE The materials, a two-page memo for lawmakers and a more in-depth 76-page policy packet, also urge Republicans to push policies that Club for Growth says will actually lower those costs. AMERICA’S BROKEN PERMITTING SYSTEM IS QUIETLY RAISING YOUR COST OF LIVING The strategy would be a gamble, given the midterms are traditionally a referendum on how people feel about how they are doing under the party currently in power. But it gives Republicans a potential economic platform and a roadmap to pitch for lowering costs if they keep the majority for the next two years. “The free-market answer is structural cost relief: spend less, build more, produce more energy, make healthcare compete, let workers earn, and let families choose,” the memo said. BILLIONS SPENT BY KEY FEDERAL AGENCY HASN’T MADE AMERICAN DREAM OF HOMEOWNERSHIP ANY EASIER: REPORT It urged Republicans to resist calling for subsidies for areas of the economy where prices are skyrocketing, arguing that handing out taxpayer money would only increase costs in the longer-term. An example the memo used is Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which Republicans have long blamed for skyrocketing healthcare costs before the COVID-era subsidy expired at the beginning of this year. “Subsidies and regulation function as a back door for government control and involvement in private industry,” the memo argued. “The only way to address the affordability crisis properly is to undo misguided government intervention and stop pretending more of the same will suddenly work.” But it could put GOP lawmakers at odds with President Donald Trump and his promise to give each American adult $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms. Several GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital last week were hesitant to embrace the idea. Among the solutions offered are reforming Social Security, which fiscal hawks have long warned will soon run out of cash if changes are not made to current age requirements and other guidelines. GOP FISCAL HAWK SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘OUT OF CONTROL’ FEDERAL SPENDING, SAYING ‘BOTH PARTIES HAVE FAILED US’ On high housing costs, the memo urges lawmakers to increase supply by targeting land use and building regulations rather than offering subsidies to make existing housing more affordable. Energy costs, which were a flashpoint in the 2025 off-year elections as well, could be brought down by furthering the Trump administration’s goals to unleash U.S. energy sources rather than Democrats’ push for net-zero carbon emissions, the memo said. A focus on nuclear energy policies could also help drive down energy costs, which will be at the forefront of most Americans’ minds during the November election. And while Democrats have pushed free early childcare as a solution for struggling families, the Club for Growth memo is urging Republicans to find a more lasting solution in reforming regulations surrounding the industry. “Health and safety training in specific areas, adherence to building, fire, and health codes, and comprehensive background checks, including fingerprinting, are reasonable,” the memo said. “However, strict and complex rules about work-child ratios, rigid staffing mandates, and regulations on facility specifications, including equipment requirements and zoning classifications, increase operating costs without demonstrable improvements in child wellbeing.” The election is less than 50 days away, and both sides are working overtime to prove they are best positioned to help ease rising costs.
Donalds rips opponent’s ‘complete 180’ as Dem’s own 2016 words come back to haunt him in tightening gov race
Florida gubernatorial candidate, Republican Congressman Byron Donalds, is taking aim at his Democratic opponent David Jolly over his shifting political positions and party affiliation, in a contest that is resurfacing themes from the 2016 congressional race between Jolly and Charlie Crist. “You were pro-choice, then you were pro-life, then you were pro-choice. It was only after you switched parties that you switched your position. This was not a matter of conviction for you; it was for political convenience,” Jolly said about Charlie Crist when Jolly was a Republican running against Crist, a Democrat, for Congress in 2016. Ten years later, Jolly is now a Democrat running for Florida governor and facing the same criticism for allegedly changing his positions for political gain, this time, in his race for governor against Donalds. “The shift in positions by David Jolly is not because of personal conviction, it is purely because of political convenience,” Donalds told Fox News Digital, referencing that 2016 exchange. DESANTIS ENDORSES FLORIDA GOP SLATE INCLUDING BYRON DONALDS IN GOVERNOR’S RACE Some of the shifts in Jolly’s positions include issues like abortion, immigration and drilling off the coast of Florida. As a Republican, Jolly said he believed “life begins at conception,” authored legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and co-sponsored fetal-personhood legislation. He also voted for a federal 20-week abortion ban. Now running as a Democrat, Jolly calls himself “pro-choice,” supports codifying the Roe v. Wade framework and says he would veto legislation restricting abortion access as governor. Jolly’s immigration views have also shifted sharply as he attempts to run for governor in a state that voted for Trump each of the last three presidential cycles by wide margins, with many voters motivated by Trump’s immigration policies. As a Republican, he campaigned on securing the border, supported tighter screening for Syrian and Iraqi refugees and voted for the American SAFE Act. Today, he says the country should have “wide gates” for people coming to work or seek asylum, argues that crossing the border without legal status should not necessarily be treated as a crime in those circumstances and has called the Republican link between immigration and crime “gross,” “immoral” and “wrong.” As voters consistently say that affordability is a top-of-mind concern, Donalds is also hitting Jolly’s record on healthcare as an example of inconsistency that shows a lack of credibility on the issue. NEVER-TRUMP REPUBLICAN IS TOP DEM CHOICE IN CRUCIAL FLORIDA PRIMARY “When David Jolly was in Congress, he opposed Obamacare,” Donalds said. “Now trying to run for governor, he wants to expand Obamacare in Florida. I mean, these are just some of the complete shifts that we’ve seen in what he stands for.” Another issue Donalds is taking issue with involves the period after the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which sent oil and tar balls washing ashore along roughly 178 miles of Florida coastline, contributed to an estimated loss of 1.88 million planned recreational visits in northwest Florida and cost the region $1.3 billion in visitor spending, $2.04 billion in economic output and more than 20,000 job-years. Within a year of the spill, Jolly’s lobbying firm represented a client that publicly advocated for legislation that could have expanded offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Three Bridges Advisors listed H.R. 909, the Roadmap for America’s Energy Future, among the subjects of its 2011 lobbying activity for the Free Enterprise Nation, which supported the bill. Jolly also wrote a post on the group’s website stating that Free Enterprise Nation was “advocating for” the legislation. BYRON DONALDS SHUTS DOWN BILL MAHER’S CLAIM ON GOP PRIMARY RACISM, SAYS ‘FLORIDA IS A MERITOCRACY’ Jolly said he had “never lobbied for offshore drilling,” but PolitiFact rated that claim “Mostly False” after finding that Jolly acknowledged attending a meeting where the bill was discussed, which lobbying experts said technically counted as lobbying. Donalds cited the controversy to Fox News Digital saying, “Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of America, David Jolly went and became a lobbyist for more oil drilling off the coast of Florida, that is a fact and so, what we’re seeing is a history of somebody who does everything possible, will say whatever, will be paid by whomever that are only in the interest of David Jolly.” With polls showing a tightening race, the RealClearPolitics average gives Donalds a nearly 4-point lead. The candidates are also sparring over debate scheduling: Donalds has agreed to three proposed debates, while Jolly, who previously accepted two other debate invitations, has now ruled out participating in debates this cycle. “Now he’s ducking debates,” Donalds told Fox News Digital. “He won’t debate me because he knows that on a debate stage, I will hold him accountable for these things.” Jolly has hit Donalds on the campaign trail on a variety of issues as he tries to become the first Democrat to win a governor’s race in Florida since Lawton Chiles won re-election in 1994. Primarily, Jolly has focused on data centers and labeled Donalds as a candidate more interested in partisan culture-war battles than addressing Florida’s rising housing, insurance and healthcare costs. Fox News Digital reached out to the Jolly campaign for comment. Donalds told Fox News Digital that Jolly’s flips on both party registration and the issues are things his campaign will continue to focus on. “What you find with David Jolly is somebody who’s done a complete 180 simply to run for office again and to gain relevance again and the people of Florida simply cannot trust David Jolly because we cannot afford David Jolly’s flip-flopping when it comes to the great state of Florida,” Donalds said.
WATCH: Mike Lee explodes on voting error that ‘keeps happening’ as huge number of noncitizens found on rolls
Firebrand conservative Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, slammed both Democrats and Republicans who have resisted passage of the SAVE America Act after a report found that 30,000 noncitizens were “mistakenly” registered to vote in states across the country since 2000. Reuters reported on Wednesday that more than 30,000 self-declared noncitizens have been added to U.S. voter rolls since 2000. The outlet attributed the erroneous registrations to “software glitches and clerical errors” and said that its review suggested “inadvertent bureaucratic failures, rather than organized efforts to register immigrants illegally.” The outlet said that this raised “questions about whether legislative efforts to require proof of citizenship for voter registration would eliminate the issue.” However, while speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Lee, who introduced the SAVE America Act earlier this year, said that “even though we have laws that prohibit things like noncitizen voting, those laws have been rendered difficult and essentially impossible to enforce.” “That thing that they claim never happens, voter fraud or noncitizen voting, just keeps happening over and over and over again,” he railed. ‘RAW MATERIAL FOR ELECTION FRAUD’: EXPERT FLAGS VOTER-ROLL PROBLEMS FAR BEYOND ONE STATE Reuters reported that the errors occurred in California, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Virginia. The outlet said it was unable to determine how many noncitizens actually cast ballots and further noted that the numbers are not precise because “state data is often tentative and subject to revision.” This follows New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s disclosure that 6,600 self-identified noncitizens were registered to vote and fewer than 400 of those individuals cast ballots. Lee attributed problems with ineligible voter registration and voting to reliance on the “honor system” for self-attestation of voter eligibility. MORE THAN A QUARTER-MILLION NONCITIZENS MAY BE REGISTERED TO VOTE IN 4 KEY STATES, DHS ALLEGES Referencing an all-you-can-eat deal at a popular chain restaurant that requires customers to show I.D., Lee said that “it should not be any easier for someone to get away with voter fraud at a polling location on voting day than it is to cheat Olive Garden through its never-ending pasta pass.” “And yet, that’s exactly where we are today,” he said. Lee presented his SAVE America Act as a solution. President Donald Trump supports the bill, which passed the House but has stalled in the Senate. RNC SUES NEW JERSEY ELECTION OFFICIALS OVER ALLEGED WITHHELD VOTER ROLL RECORDS Lee argued that the bill would address both ineligible voter registration and fraudulent voting by requiring registrants to verify citizenship and eligibility at the time of registration and requiring voter ID and photo identification at the polls. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Don Palmer, senior legal fellow for election integrity at the Heritage Foundation, said that “this story really provides proof that one way forward is to simply upgrade and sort of help the driver’s license agencies across the country improve their verification of citizenship while they’re providing those services to voters.” SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “All joking aside with the Olive Garden scenario, I love their food, and I’m more than happy to show the ID. I think the issue is I wish that the driver’s license agencies and state agencies would take voter registration as serious as Italian food,” he quipped. “I think that that would be a bipartisan way of improving that verification of citizenship with databases, and I think there’s some bipartisan support for that. And so that might be a way forward, not necessarily, showing documentation of citizenship, but let’s improve the driver’s license agencies to verify citizenship, and let’s improve REAL ID,” he said.