Letitia James’ underdog rival turns AG’s own playbook against her with scathing 52-count campaign ‘indictment’
The Republican challenging New York Attorney General Letitia James released a mock 52-count indictment Thursday, accusing the Democratic incumbent of neglecting her duties as the state’s top law enforcement official. The 52-count mock indictment accuses James of failing to address mentally ill people living on the streets, repeat offenders, hate crimes and fraud while focusing instead on political battles with President Donald Trump. Rather than tackle these issues, GOP candidate Saritha Komatireddy charges that James has been too focused on sparring with President Donald Trump. The attack comes just hours before James and Komatireddy are set to face off Thursday night in their first televised debate of the general election campaign. Komatireddy is a former federal prosecutor who secured convictions against Islamist terrorists and prosecuted Mexican drug cartel leaders. The indictment-style press release appears to turn James’ own legal playbook against her, with Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor, casting the attorney general as the defendant. CORNELL SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE REVIVES SCRUTINY OF A LITTLE-KNOWN NEW YORK LAW ON INTOXICATED VICTIMS “When a law keeps prosecutors from charging rape, it is the chief law enforcement officer’s job to get it changed,” Komatireddy wrote. “The defendant (James) had eight legislative sessions and a Legislature led by her own party. Beyond one social media post, the People have found no evidence that she made the bill a priority.” James’ campaign has dismissed Komatireddy’s messaging as a simple campaign stunt. “Attorney General Letitia James files real lawsuits in real courts every day to protect New Yorkers’ rights and their wallets,” a James campaign spokeswoman told Fox News Digital. “While Saritha Komatireddy spent today writing this press release, the attorney general announced the arrest and indictment of a Queens pharmacy owner for defrauding Medicaid to the tune of $31 million.” NY AG HOPEFUL BLASTS LETITIA JAMES AS MEDICAID FRAUD RECOVERIES COLLAPSE: ‘SHE’S NOT DOING THE JOB’ A Komatireddy spokeswoman fired back, arguing that such a charge was rich coming from James. “Tish James is one to talk about campaign stunts! Her entire tenure as attorney general has been one long political campaign stunt,” Komatireddy spokeswoman Nicole Kiprilov told Fox News Digital. “While Letitia was busy chasing her next political headline, crime rose 26%, homelessness rose 38%, and New York became the laughingstock of the nation in prosecuting Medicaid fraud — dead last. Those are the real consequences of an Attorney General more interested in political theater than public safety.” TRUMP LAWYERS TARGET WHAT LETITIA JAMES WON’T SAY ABOUT EVIDENCE IN $450M CASE New York is a deep blue state, and Komatireddy’s odds of coming out on top in November are slim. A Siena University poll released last month had James leading Komatireddy 52% to 39%. While James’ lead is commanding, it’s also shrinking, with her advantage over Komatireddy narrowing by five points between August and September in Siena University’s polling. James has pursued a number of high-profile legal actions during her tenure as New York attorney general, including a civil fraud case against Trump and a sexual harassment investigation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo that preceded his resignation.
Hillary Clinton issues endorsement in US midterm elections
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made her first endorsement of a U.S. Senate candidate in the 2026 midterm elections, backing Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. “Minnesota, you have an opportunity to select an extraordinary person and public servant as your next U.S. senator. Please take it!” Clinton wrote in a post on the social media platform Bluesky when sharing a post in which Flanagan touted Clinton’s endorsement. Flanagan declared in her post, “@hillaryclinton.bsky.social has spent five decades fighting for working families, dedicating her career to making the case that every child in this country deserves a fair shot. I’m honored to have Secretary Clinton’s support, and I’ll proudly carry on her fight in the US Senate.” HILLARY CLINTON: ‘I HATE’ TRUMP AND NETANYAHU’S GOVERNMENTS BUT LOVE AMERICA AND ISRAEL Clinton, a former first lady and former U.S. senator from New York, was the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate defeated by Republican Donald Trump when he won his first White House contest. “Donald Trump has made it harder for families to afford childcare, groceries, and health care for their kids. His tariffs and war in Iran are driving up prices, and his budget ripped health care and food assistance away from children so billionaires could get another tax cut,” Clinton said in a statement, according to reports. PEGGY FLANAGAN VOWS TO ‘RIP ICE APART’ AFTER TOPPLING MODERATE DEM IN KEY SENATE BATTLE “Peggy Flanagan has spent her career fighting for children and families, from the Children’s Defense Fund to the Lieutenant Governor’s office, and she’s delivered for them,” she noted. “I know she’ll be that same champion in the Senate, and I’m proud to endorse her.” In a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Thursday, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said, “Did Hillary Clinton forget that her political party created the ‘affordability’ crisis? President Trump is fixing it by delivering real results: he signed the largest working-class tax cuts in history, drastically cut the cost of prescription drugs, added more than one million private-sector jobs, launched a manufacturing renaissance, and sent 401(k)s to record highs. Democrats pretend to care about ‘affordability’ while supporting socialist candidates whose policies would cost every American household $355,000 over 10 years while adding $49 trillion to the deficit.” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement to Fox News Digital, “President Trump is creating good-paying jobs, securing trillions of dollars in investments, and positioning our country to dominate the remainder of the 21st century. Meanwhile, Crooked Hillary Clinton is still whining about her spectacular 2016 election defeat. It’s time for Hillary to move on.’ Flanagan is facing Republican candidate Michele Tafoya in the Minnesota U.S. Senate contest. GOP SENATE HOPEFUL SOUNDS ALARM AFTER ALLEGED MALL OF AMERICA TERROR PLOT THWARTED U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., announced last year that she would not seek re-election in 2026.
GOP accuses Walz allies of burying $52M Medicaid fraud report before election
Minnesota Republicans are accusing Democrats of keeping lawmakers in the dark for months about a state-commissioned Medicaid assessment that flagged more than $52 million in improper payments, arguing the delay denied them a chance to act on the report’s specific findings during the legislative session before the election. “Fraud here has exploded under the Walz administration,” Minnesota Republican Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth told Fox News Digital. “Governor Walz has held no one in his entire administration accountable for the level of fraud. It definitely brings into question what is in that report and why are they hiding it?” The Walz administration hired Optum to conduct a third-party review of Minnesota’s Medicaid program, scrutinizing 14 high-risk services. The report identified more than $52 million in improper payments but cautioned that improper payments do not necessarily constitute “fraud, waste or abuse.” The Department of Human Services released a heavily redacted version to the public in February, prompting calls from Republican lawmakers to make the full version available so they could address the risks raised during the legislative session. “Our election here in Minnesota is 29 days away. We’re just four weeks out, and you really have to wonder why they are refusing to do this,” Demuth, who is the GOP gubernatorial candidate, told Fox News Digital. WALZ ADMINISTRATION IGNORED FRAUD WARNINGS AS BILLIONS VANISHED, HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT ALLEGES Minnesota currently has a divided state legislature, with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) holding a slim 34-33 majority in the Senate and a rare 67-67 partisan tie in the House. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz announced the audit in October 2025, months before allegations of widespread fraud involving members of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora drew national attention. Mounting scrutiny of the Walz administration’s handling of alleged fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs contributed to growing political pressure before Walz ended his re-election campaign in January. WALZ’S ‘EXIT INTERVIEW’ REFLECTING ON HIS TENURE SPARKS LAWMAKER DEBATE ABOUT HIS LEGACY: ‘NEVER SERIOUS’ Republican state Sen. Jordan Rasmusson is also accusing the Walz administration and his Democratic counterparts of seeking to “minimize” the fraud issue in the state. “I think it’s really hard for Democrats, elected Democrats in Minnesota, to admit that we have a fraud problem of this scale, and to take accountability for those failings,” Rasmusson told Fox News Digital. The Department of Human Services said the report was heavily redacted to protect Optum’s trade secrets and prevent the release of sensitive security information that could provide criminals a “roadmap” for committing fraud. Rasmusson introduced an amendment in April to make the full Optum report public, but it failed along party lines. A version of Rasmusson’s provision was later passed in May as part of a broader budget package. MINNESOTA’S ANTI-ICE AID FUND BECOMES LATEST CASUALTY OF STATE’S EMBARRASSING FRAUD PROBLEM Under the law, DHS must provide the initial Optum reports to members of a legislative committee with “jurisdiction over human services policy and finance” following a joint request from the committee’s chair and ranking minority member. Lawmakers may review the report but cannot publicly release protected nonpublic information it contains. Rasmusson said he issued a request for the full report in June. State Rep. Mohamud Noor, DFL co-chair of the Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, and former GOP House co-Chair Joe Schomacker requested the report in May. The report did not become available to a select group of lawmakers until last week. “I’m grateful that it’s out, but it’s very disappointing we couldn’t have returned to St. Paul to address it,” Republican state Rep. Dawn Gillman told Fox News Digital, noting that lawmakers will have to wait until January to address the report. “The broader takeaway is that the Walz administration could have given us more access to those months ago,” Rasmusson told Fox News Digital. “Legislative Democrats could have joined Republicans and got access to this information months ago during session.” However, state Sen. John Hoffman, who now has access to the report, pushed back on the notion that lawmakers needed full access to enact meaningful changes. “This is a report about vulnerabilities in public programs,” Hoffman said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Why would we release that to the public before we fixed them? We wouldn’t publish a report about which banks don’t lock their doors, either.” EXPLOSIVE SLEEPER ISSUE COULD FUEL MIDTERM SHAKEUPS, TOP REPUBLICAN PREDICTS: ‘YOU’RE GONNA SEE SURPRISES’ “The rest of us got to work passing legislation to ensure high-quality services, continuity of care for people in need and safeguards to protect against fraud,” Hoffman continued. “Having reviewed the report, I can tell you it is already outdated, and the gaps and weaknesses it raises have already been addressed by laws we passed this year.” But Rasmusson, who also has the report, disagreed with Hoffman. “After reviewing the unredacted Optum report, my main takeaway is that it underscores the systemic failures of the Walz administration and Minnesota Democrats to protect Minnesota from fraud,” Rasmusson told Fox News Digital. “Whether it is issues with determining the eligibility of program recipients, determining whether providers are actually providing real services or not, or even some of the basic analytics that would catch fraud, Minnesota is very far behind where it should be in program integrity initiatives,” Rasmusson continued. Fox News Digital reached out to DHS, which confirmed that select lawmakers now had the report. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “We appreciate legislators’ interest in receiving a copy of the unredacted initial Optum report from February 2026,” Minnesota Department of Human Services Temporary Commissioner John Connolly said in a statement. “In alignment with the law passed by the Legislature last session, the Minnesota Department of Human Services released the Optum reports last week.” Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment.
Hecklers interrupt Trump Texas rally multiple times
President Donald Trump did not let multiple protesters step on his messaging in Texas on Wednesday night; in fact, he used the moments to claim that a Democrat-run city is using America’s own freedom of speech to spread a left-wing agenda against his administration in the midterm elections. “You know, many of these protesters are paid — you know that, right?” Trump told the packed Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio. “Because you come in and, you know, they’ll have like this perfect shirt on, made by the best printer money can buy.” “I love where they all have the same exact size, beautiful pink and purple and blue and all different colors. And they’re perfect, made by the same printer, very expensive signs,” he added. TRUMP TOUTS ‘GOLDEN AGE’ AT OHIO RALLY, URGES VOTERS TO DELIVER GOP MIDTERM WINS “They don’t make these signs. These are paid protesters,” Trump claimed. “They’re paid by enemies of our nation. No, I’m telling you, they pay them for this.” Trump pivoted to his supporters who came out to rally with him for Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, some waving cowboy hats. GOP FACES BRUTAL MIDTERM HEADWINDS AS REPUBLICANS PAINT ELECTION AS ‘COMPETITION WITH COMMUNISM’ As the crowd chanted “USA,” drowning out several protesters who interrupted the event multiple times in a Texas city led by a Democrat, Trump added, “If there are any more paid protesters, please raise your hand and get the hell out of here.” Trump is urging his base to turn out as if he is on the ballot in the midterms — because, as he says, the ability to pass his agenda in Congress is and his backers must help keep Congress in Republican hands. “We will not allow our country, our culture, our history and our heritage to be looted and plundered anymore,” Trump said. “What they did to this country,” Trump continued, pointing back to former President Joe Biden and his 2024 opponent Kamala Harris, “I said the other day, if Kamala won — or if that ideology won, forget about Kamala — if that ideology won, I don’t believe we’d have a country anymore. I don’t believe it. And now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.” REPUBLICAN CAVALRY ARRIVES FOR KEN PAXTON AS BIG-BUCKS TEXAS OFFENSIVE OPENS CASH FLOODGATES The battle for the Texas Senate seat between Paxton and Democrat James Talarico is one of the midterm battlegrounds that could determine Trump’s fate in his final two years in office. “I will not let my legacy of having the highest vote in the history of Texas be tarnished or destroyed by allowing that travesty to happen again,” he continued. “If they get in and do that and remember, like a guy like Talarico, it’s basically one vote. It’s so important — forget about for Texas, it’s still just one vote — it’s a killer in Congress because we have a very close majority. We can’t let that happen. “If they get in, they will open your borders and let the entire world pour into our country like they did before. And we can’t let that happen. We’re not going to let it happen again.” At least a dozen demonstrators interrupted the president, including one who appeared to be close to the stage. Some were led away by police. Trump stepped away from the microphone briefly after one interruption. TRUMP FIRES BACK AFTER PROTESTER INTERRUPTS MYRTLE BEACH RALLY FOR GRAHAM: ‘MOM IS VOTING FOR US’ “You know, I never talk about looks of a person, but those are really bad-looking people,” Trump said about one protester. “You have to say they are bad-looking people. Come on.” “No, he’s going back to home to mom right now,” Trump quipped. “What he doesn’t know is that his mom voted for Trump.” TRUMP-LINKED MAGA INC POURS $10M INTO KEN PAXTON’S TEXAS SENATE RACE AGAINST JAMES TALARICO Trump was in San Antonio for his third trip to Texas in less than a month as Republicans try to stave off Democratic gains in the nation’s most populous red state.
House Republican warns CBDC ‘communist money’ could lead US to ‘dystopian’ future
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, plans to introduce legislation that puts the prospect of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the crosshairs. The lawmaker, who has served in the U.S. House since mid-2016 and is currently seeking re-election, characterized central bank digital currency as “communist money for the digital age,” during an interview with Fox News Digital. “They could just freeze your money. You could program it. Some people call it a feature,” Davidson said. He provided a scenario in which a pickup truck driver pays $10 per gallon for fuel while a hybrid driver could get their fuel for just $2 per gallon. “And people see this as a feature. I think it’s dystopian,” Davidson said, adding, “I definitely want to stop it.” Last month, in a post on X, Davidson wrote, “I’m drafting a bill to regulate Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as counterfeit money. Planning a CBDC? Conspiracy. Designing a CBDC? Same as designing counterfeit plates. Launching CBDC? Counterfeiting. Prison for counterfeiters and their accomplices. No CBDC!” TRUMP TAKES UNUSUAL STEP, LETS BIPARTISAN HOUSING BILL BECOME LAW UNSIGNED AMID SAVE PRESSURE CAMPAIGN In another post on X last month, Davidson warned, “CBDC = communist money for the digital age. Programmable money puts the government between you and your money. You will only have access with their permission. This is an existential threat to western civilization.” While a section within the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that became law earlier this year temporarily prohibits the creation of a CBDC, that ban sunsets in a few years — language in the ban notes that “provisions of this section shall cease to be effective on December 31, 2030.” Davidson told Fox News Digital during the interview on Tuesday that “the fundamentals for sound money is some level of fiscal discipline,” adding that “you can’t spend more than you bring in every year.” “I don’t think it has to be gold,” he said, explaining that there needs to be “a disciplined monetary policy” in which “you can’t grow the money supply disproportionate to your economy.” HOUSE REPUBLICAN SUGGESTS SEN DARLINE GRAHAM IS AN ‘ALLY’ FOR THE ‘SWAMP’ “I think we should end this Fed,” Davidson said, adding that he believes there is “a case for a central bank,” while noting, “I don’t know that you could reform the current one without ending it.” Davidson said that he thinks “we should at least audit the Fed.” Asked about President Donald Trump’s proposal to dole out $5,000 to every American adult if the GOP wins both chambers of Congress during the midterms, Davidson indicated that he could get behind the policy if it is paired with spending cuts to cover the cost. GOP FISCAL HAWK SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘OUT OF CONTROL’ FEDERAL SPENDING, SAYING ‘BOTH PARTIES HAVE FAILED US’ Davidson said that “on its face” the proposal is concerning “because $5,000 per person going into the economy would fuel inflation,” but suggested that such a move could be combined with action such as gutting Obamacare, saying that among “the most promising ways to pay for it is a radical shift in healthcare.”
Lawsuit accuses Dearborn, Michigan, of being ‘hostile to Christians and Jews’ with Islamic displays
Margot Cleveland, senior legal correspondent at The Federalist, is suing the city of Dearborn, Michigan, and the city’s mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, for violating the First Amendment by displaying exclusively Muslim symbols in public displays, accusing the city of being “a hostile place for Christians and Jews.” Cleveland alleges the city put up banners celebrating the Islamic holiday of Ramadan and a display of crescent moons while refusing to showcase equivalent Christian or Jewish iconography. “I was picking up pizza in downtown Dearborn. When I went down the boulevard, up and down the street were ‘Ramadan Kareem’ (generous Ramadan) banners, which is the equivalent of a happy or blessed Ramadan,” Cleveland told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “This was the fourth week of Lent. We had Easter coming up in two weeks, and Passover was a week away. I was shocked, and then I saw the display all by itself — again, the crescent moon,” she said. Cleveland wrote to Dearborn’s city attorney, asking if the city planned to reciprocate the displays for the other Abrahamic faiths, but did not get a response, she told Fox News Digital. SUPREME COURT SHOWDOWN LOOMS OVER ST MICHAEL STATUE BLOCKED FROM PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING Cleveland submitted a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to find out the cost of the displays, which, according to her lawsuit and in an interview with Fox News Digital, is where she allegedly learned that the city had also integrated Islamic iconography in other official capacities. “The police department was selling — with the police department’s seal — Ramadan T-shirts. It had the police department seal and a crescent moon, and I believe it said Ramadan,” Cleveland said. CONNECTICUT BARS NATIVITY DISPLAY IN STATE CAPITOL BECAUSE IT’S ‘RELIGIOUS,’ LAWSUIT THREAT SAYS The Dearborn Police Department did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry regarding the alleged T-shirts. After repeated attempts to try and contact city officials, Cleveland still received no response, until one city councilor told her that the council had been instructed not to engage with her. TRUMP DOJ EXPANDS RELIGIOUS LIBERTY PROTECTIONS AFTER MAJOR SUPREME COURT RULINGS “I reached out to city council, every individual, both their public email and a secondary one. Received no response,” she shared. “But on LinkedIn, one of the council members responded and said, ‘Hey, we were told we can’t talk to you,’” Cleveland told Fox News Digital. Cleveland then attended an open city council meeting in May. She asked that the councilors, who she explained control the city’s purse strings, use an ongoing budget surplus to purchase banners celebrating Jewish and Christian holidays. GOP LAWMAKERS URGE SUPREME COURT TO STRENGTHEN FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS FOR STREET PREACHERS “I have not asked the city not to celebrate Ramadan,” she said. “What I’ve asked is that the city treat Christians and Jews equally. Put up Passover banners, Easter banners, put up a Star of David, put up a cross, do something. And throw in some patriotic symbols to show we are one Dearborn, one country where all faiths are represented equally. That has not been done,” she said. Contrary to acceding to her requests, Cleveland claims the city put up even more decorations celebrating Ramadan in the wake of her attempts to contact city officials. CALIFORNIA BILL RECOGNIZING 2 ISLAMIC HOLIDAYS NEARS NEWSOM’S DESK “After I was ignored, what happened? The mayor then went and bought more Ramadan displays. I complained about the banners. What does he go? He goes bigger and brighter with lighted Ramadan displays,” she said. The mayor’s office did not respond to a Fox News request for comment. WORKING-CLASS AMERICANS SAY THEIR TOWN IS THE NEXT DEARBORN — AND THEY’VE HAD ENOUGH “People who are not in Dearborn do not understand Dearborn,” Cleveland said. “My beef is with the mayor and the people running the city, who are discriminating against Christians and Jews. The average people who live in Dearborn get along great. It is a diverse city and people get along. The mayor is causing a problem.” The city rejected Cleveland’s accusations in a statement released shortly after Cleveland’s lawsuit. Dearborn “has a longstanding commitment to serving all residents fairly and equitably, regardless of faith or background,” the statement read. “Dearborn will continue to uphold the rights and dignity of every resident and remain a city where everyone is treated with fairness, respect, and equal protection under the law,” the statement continued. The American Freedom Law Center filed the civil complaint on behalf of Cleveland in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Sept. 17. Dearborn’s city attorney did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comments. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Biden-era FBI records reveal sprawling Wiles monitoring as buried contacts surface
Newly released documents reveal the extent of the FBI’s monitoring of President Donald Trump’s now-chief of staff Susie Wiles, showing investigators tracked phone metadata reflecting her contacts with attorneys, journalists, campaign officials, Trump Organization personnel and Secret Service contacts. Documents released Monday by the White House detail “Plasmic Echo,” the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and other presidential records that led to the FBI’s 2022 search of Mar-a Lago and later included possible obstruction of the investigation. The records show the FBI tracked Wiles’ phone activity from at least February through May 2023, cataloging who called her, whom she called, when the calls occurred and how long they lasted. The documents show Wiles was in contact with at least 21 attorneys, along with campaign personnel, Trump Organization contacts, Secret Service contacts and journalists, offering a fuller account of the reach of the bureau’s monitoring. TODD BLANCHE EXPOSES HOW AGGRESSIVE BIDEN DOJ TARGETED LOW-LEVEL MAR-A-LAGO EMPLOYEES Reuters first reported in February that FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had subpoenaed phone records belonging to him and Wiles while they were private citizens as part of federal investigations involving Trump. The newly released documents provide a more detailed picture of the scope and scale of the monitoring, revealing how investigators mapped Wiles’ phone contacts across Trump’s legal, political, business, media and security circles over several months. Some entries name the contacts swept into the FBI’s monitoring of Wiles, including journalists associated with CNN, The Washington Post and Politico, while dozens of others are identified only by labels such as “Lawyer,” “Campaign” and “USSS.” Monday’s document dump revealed the FBI’s monitoring also swept in Wiles’ contacts with two separate Secret Service officials, identified only as “USSS 1” and “USSS 2,” extending the bureau’s mapping of her phone activity into Trump’s protective orbit. The records do not reveal what investigators were seeking to establish through those contacts, what was discussed or provide reliable durations for the calls. A March 24 entry from that year shows investigators logged a 41-second call from “Lawyer 7” to Wiles and then examined earlier calls between the two, illustrating how investigators were not simply capturing isolated contacts but tracing patterns across her network. The documents do not explain what prompted that scrutiny or what investigators believed those contacts could reveal. In another example, a March 9 log shows investigators cataloging a series of Wiles’ calls with at least six contacts identified as campaign personnel, recording when the communications occurred and how long they lasted, but not the substance of the conversations. JACK SMITH’S TRUMP PROBE SWEPT UP FOX NEWS, OTHER MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS AS INVESTIGATION WENT BEYOND LAWMAKERS The probe was launched by the FBI and Justice Department in March 2022, with then-FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking authorization and Attorney General Merrick Garland approving the full investigation. The probe was later placed under special counsel Jack Smith, whom Garland appointed in November 2022 to oversee the ongoing investigation. Wiles was running Trump’s political operation and serving as a top campaign adviser at the time, and later became his White House chief of staff. “Jack Smith’s surveillance operation was a disgraceful abuse of government power. Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital. “Those responsible must be held accountable.” Heritage Foundation foreign policy expert Victoria Coates told Fox News Digital the tracking into Wiles is “unprecedented, dangerous and should be illegal.” “The Biden FBI was following the precedent of the Obama FBI in 2015, when they used their authorities to surveil then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign at Trump Tower as well as other candidates, notably my then-boss, Senator Ted Cruz. It’s the ultimate political dirty trick,” said Coates. Coates argued that the breadth of the FBI’s tracking raises concerns about investigative overreach, pointing to what she characterized as a stark contrast with the Justice Department’s handling of President Joe Biden’s classified-documents case. “No, particularly by the Justice Department’s own very low standards in dealing with President Biden’s classified-document violations from his time as vice president, which were far more egregious than anything retained at Mar-a-Lago,” Coates said. She also warned that tracking Wiles’ communications with attorneys and journalists carries broader implications for future presidential campaigns. “In our increasingly digital world, it raises the grim specter of future campaigns where an incumbent can weaponize the private communications of not only a candidate and his family, but also his staff,” Coates said. The declassified documents also show agents gathering details about the travel of Melania Trump and her son, Barron, as the FBI planned for a potential search of Mar-a-Lago. Operational planning emails included pre-raid checklists directing agents to “finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son’s travel,” including the type of aircraft and specific travel timeline, as investigators worked to determine when the warrant would be executed. The FBI executed the search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 8, 2022. Agents entered the property shortly before 9 a.m. and began searching around 10:30 a.m., according to records previously reported by Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
Daylight saving time fight isn’t over as House GOP presses Senate to end clock-turning forever
House GOP leadership is ratcheting up pressure on its Senate counterparts to pass legislation making daylight saving time permanent after President Donald Trump called on Congress to act. The House’s No. 2 leader, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital that “there’s no reason Americans should lose an hour of sunlight at the end of the day when more daylight means more time with our families, more activity for our businesses and safer communities.” “President Trump has been pushing to make daylight saving time permanent, and House Republicans delivered by overwhelmingly passing the Sunshine Protection Act. It’s a commonsense change and the Senate should take it up,” Scalise said. HOUSE PASSES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME REFORM AS TRUMP SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR ENDING CLOCK CHANGE The debate over the twice-annual changing of clocks has raged for decades in Washington. Former President Richard Nixon’s administration led the country through a temporary 16-month trial of year-round daylight saving, but mounting public frustration forced the experiment to end six months early. But the appetite for such a change appears to have returned. The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act in a bipartisan 308 to 117 vote in July, and Trump posted on Truth Social Friday, “A ridiculous Clock changing process that takes place twice a year, costs our Country a fortune, is bad for Crime, stress on people, Sports, and just about everything else you can imagine.” But the legislation is stalled in the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Politico there was “no clear path forward.” TRUMP URGES SENATE TO PASS BILL MAKING DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PERMANENT AFTER OVERWHELMING HOUSE VOTE It’s created yet another rift between Trump and the Senate GOP majority, which he has clashed with on multiple fronts so far this term. Trump’s frustration boiled over on the weekend when he targeted Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., one of the bill’s most prominent critics. BATTLE OVER DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ERUPTS AS PUSH TO STOP CHANGING CLOCKS HITS SENATE WALL “Almost everybody wants ‘The Sunshine Protection Act’ to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump said Saturday, sharing the senator’s cell phone number. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.” Cotton responded, noting that Congress has tackled daylight saving time before, only to roll back the change shortly after. SLEEP DOCTOR REVEALS THE BRUTAL HEALTH DOWNSIDE OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME “No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Saving Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” Cotton said on X. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.” It’s a unique issue that has divided lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. There are others who agree with Cotton, who argue that sending kids to school in their states in the dark is a no-go for making the change. But there are also those who support the option and believe that Trump’s added pressure could see the legislation resurface. But that will have to contend with an already stacked lame-duck schedule that will be heavily dictated by the outcome of the Nov. 3 election. “Look, obviously, Tom has very strong feelings, he’s made those known both publicly and within the conference, so I don’t expect that to change,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said. “You know, it’s something, obviously, the people of Alabama, for the most part, have said that they’re for.” “And so, we’ll look for a pathway to have dialogue about it … but I would anticipate, given the president’s energy around it, that we’ll have that dialogue and debate when we get back,” she continued.
Minnesota Senate hopeful warns threat level rising amid rash of Somali gang crime, terror plot
The Republican Senate nominee in Minnesota is sounding the alarm about crime levels in the state amid a wave of Somali gang violence and a foiled terror plot by an American born to Somali parents. “I hear a lot of concerns from Minnesotans on the campaign trail about crime, and no matter what form that crime takes, Minnesotans know that they feel under a level of threat that has increased lately here in Minnesota, and in the last week and just today,” Michele Tafoya, running as a Republican against Minnesota’s Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “We saw the arrest of an 18-year-old Somali American citizen to Somali parents arrested for a terrorist — planning a terrorist attack — at the Mall of America during a Hmong celebration.” The suspect in that alleged terror plot is 18-year-old Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, born in the United States to Somali nationals who are naturalized American citizens, law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital. Federal court documents said that Mohamud was arrested after purchasing an AK-47-style rifle, magazines and ammunition from an undercover FBI agent whom he believed to be a loyal ISIS member. MALL OF AMERICA TERROR PLOT THWARTED, SUSPECTED ISIS SYMPATHIZER ARRESTED, FBI ANNOUNCES The FBI alleges Mohamud had digital communications beginning in December 2024 with a confidential human source he believed was a member of al-Shabaab, a Somali Islamist terror group and offshoot of ISIS. “I can’t wait until I kill kuffar man. October 24 is the day insha Allah,” one of the messages said. “Kuffar” is a term used to refer to non-Muslims, and “insha Allah” means “God willing.” The Hmong people are indigenous to Southeast Asia and boast a relatively large population in the United States. “We have a large Hmong community here in Minnesota as well, and he basically stated that he wanted to take out anyone who was not a Muslim. He also noted that the Mall of America is owned by people who are Jewish,” Tafoya said. “And so this was his plan, and thank goodness for the FBI in Minneapolis here and local law enforcement for catching onto this plan and derailing it well in advance. This is a guy who has pledged his allegiance to ISIS. Again, he is of Somalian descent and terror is alive and well and thank God we averted this massive crisis.” TAFOYA MAKES ‘COMMON SENSE’ PITCH TO DISAFFECTED DEMOCRATS AS SHE VOWS TO FIGHT MINNESOTA’S ‘SOCIALIST LURCH’ The thwarted plot follows a rash of gang violence attributed to Somalis by law enforcement in the suburbs of Minneapolis. Police in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, said a shooting during the local high school’s homecoming celebration last week was carried out by rival Somali gangs. Similarly, a shooting at a Bloomington, Minnesota, gas station over the weekend was attributed to Somali gangs. In the latter incident, more than 100 rounds of ammunition were fired. “And we have had Somali-related — Somali gang-related — attacks here locally in our suburbs at a high school football game during homecoming, at a Catholic Church parking lot, at a gas station, and this is all just really started to peak here in the last couple of weeks. So it’s undeniable. Our law enforcement here are calling it out as the product of Somali gang violence, and we’ve got to identify it, and we have to find a way to deal with it.” Tafoya also mentioned the Somali fraud scandals have enveloped Minnesota this year. BILL MAHER RIPS IMMIGRANTS WHO REFUSE TO ADAPT, SAYS AMERICAN VALUES ARE ‘NOT NEGOTIABLE’ “I don’t know how you can legislate that assimilation, but we simply cannot tolerate the level of crime,” she said. “We’ve seen it with fraud here. It’s in the paperwork that the Feeding Our Future fraud was largely … in terms of percentage, probably 98%, Somali people involved in that fraud,” she said. “What I do think is any guests of this country who commits crime should be sent home with no pathway back,” she said. “If you’re coming here to be a guest of this country or to live in this country you cannot break our laws, and if you’re an American, you cannot break our laws, period.” Tafoya is not against immigration, noting that she’s the granddaughter of immigrants, and she has an adoptive Colombian daughter who is as patriotic as they come. But she’s not going to stop in her mission to battle crime, no matter the background of the criminals, she said. She plans to be an “equal opportunity pain in the a–” to all of them, specifically mentioning corrupt politicians. “I’m going to represent Minnesotans and Americans, and so there’s, there’s not going to be any limit on the way that I see crime. Crime is crime, and it’s going to be committed by a wide variety of people, and they all need to be held accountable and accountability has been in short supply here in Minnesota. Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Jordan emerges as potential next GOP leader if Dems seize House
One of President Donald Trump’s most prominent allies in Congress could soon become his highest-ranking defender against a barrage of Democrat-led investigations and impeachment threats. Several House Republicans told Fox News Digital they expect the chamber will slide out of their control come November — and with it, a major shakeup in their top leadership ranks. “I don’t see a scenario where everyone gets to keep their job,” one House GOP lawmaker bluntly told Fox News Digital. “I think [Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.] would be first out, and then [House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.] has got to decide if he’s going to run for leader and, can he beat [House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio]?” Jordan’s name was one that came up often in Fox News Digital’s discussions with various House Republicans, all of whom spoke under the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conference matters. HOUSE DEMS PLOT TRUMP INVESTIGATION BLITZ IF THEY SEIZE MAJORITY A second House Republican said Jordan is the “number one name” in talks of a GOP minority leader. HOUSE CONSERVATIVES UNLEASH MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR MIDTERM BLITZ AGAINST DEM ‘SOCIALIST’ INSURGENCY The Ohio Republican already enjoys high name recognition among the party base. As the first lawmaker put it, “His celebrity status is very helpful … when Jim Jordan comes to town for you, you put 300 butts in seats.” That status has been on full display so far this election cycle. Jordan has spent much of August and October traveling across the country campaigning for fellow House Republicans along the political spectrum, from vulnerable moderates to conservative MAGA acolytes. TOP REPUBLICAN UNLOADS ON RISE OF ‘ANTI-AMERICAN’ CANDIDATES HEADING INTO MIDTERMS: ‘YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING’ It’s a far cry from the Jordan who ran for speaker in October 2023, when former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster sparked a historic scramble to replace him. Jordan’s bid at the time was marked by fervent conservative support and fierce opposition from moderates, several of whom said they felt threatened by Jordan’s allies for their opposition. The first House Republican described his current persona as “Jim Jordan 2.0.” “He’s taken steps to, I think, build out way beyond the Freedom Caucus in terms of people that support him,” that person said. “Like, he’s just a great citizen of the conference.” But Jordan himself has not publicly pushed any leadership ambitions since the 2023 battle, when Johnson ended up speaker after several weeks of political chaos. The second House Republican said they’ve seen Jordan actively dismiss any such conversations. He told Punchbowl News earlier this week that he was “focused on winning” the House majority. The first person said, “I think [Jordan] quietly, without campaigning for it, has built up some infrastructure like that. But also, he could be throwing darts at leadership, and he’s not. He’s just trying to help us win.” A third House Republican pointed out that, if Democrats win the House in another blue wave, many of Jordan’s most vocal opponents from 2023 will have lost their seats. And unlike a speaker race, where a majority of the full House is needed, a minority leader would only need to win a majority of the GOP conference. “If we lose 20 or 30 of those guys and all you’re left are guys like me, I think Jim Jordan’s chances are much higher. Because the only people left in the conference are going to be conservative,” the third GOP lawmaker said, adding they would “1,000%” back Jordan. FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: FOR THE DEMOCRATS, WHERE COULD IT POSSIBLY GO WRONG? But a potential minority leader Jordan would not come without a fight. Most House Republicans are privately expecting Scalise, Johnson’s No. 2 and a member of House GOP leadership since 2014, to run for the job. “It’s very obvious they’re both jockeying for it,” a fourth House Republican told Fox News Digital. “Jordan’s a pretty big draw for a lot of folks. I think he might have a play there. But there’s a lot of people who are loyal to Steve, especially those that have been around a while.” A fifth GOP lawmaker said, “I would guess, at this point, that Scalise would be in the lead with Jordan running a close second.” “And I think it would just depend on, you know, who would people see as a better fighter against the Democrats?” the fifth person posed. A sixth House Republican allied with Scalise said a fight between the Louisiana Republican and Jordan seemed on the horizon if Republicans lost, and argued his decision would be based on who is best positioned to continue leading if that majority comes back. “In some respects, Jim Jordan, I think, would make a pretty good minority leader because he’s a bulldog … [but] I’ve never believed that Jim Jordan would be an effective speaker,” that sixth person said. “I think Steve Scalise probably is the best candidate that we have out there that has experience in dealing with the administration, that understands the must-pass portion of our agenda … and is our best negotiator.” It would likely be a bruising battle, given there’s no love lost between the two men after their competing bids for speaker after McCarthy’s ouster. Scalise had won a majority of Republicans in a head-to-head against Jordan behind closed doors but failed to clinch the necessary majority on the House floor. JOHNSON DELIVERS BIG FOR TRUMP, BUT FRUSTRATION GROWS ACROSS RAZOR-THIN GOP MAJORITY But it’s not clear if it may even come to that. “I think that if Johnson runs for minority leader, he would still get the votes,” the fifth person said. “He’s done everything you could ask of a leader. He’s raised the money, he’s been on the road. He’s cobbled together very difficult votes over the last two years that no one thought possible.” There is also a world where Republicans defy expectations to keep the House. And in that world, Johnson is all but guaranteed to remain in charge. “Speaker Mike Johnson