Top Biden officials summoned to testify about alleged cover-up of former president’s mental fitness
The House Oversight Committee is hearing from two top former Biden administration aides this week as Republicans continue to probe allegations that ex-President Joe Biden‘s top lieutenants covered up the former leader’s mental decline while in office. Former Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden will meet with the committee on Tuesday, and former Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the First Lady Anthony Bernthal will meet with the committee on Thursday. TRUMP NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE OVER IRAN-ISRAEL CEASEFIRE DEAL The committee also has interviews scheduled with former administration officials Annie Tomasini and Ashley Williams, while seeking interviews with several officials in the Biden inner circle, including former Chief of Staff Ron Klain and former Senior Advisor to the President for Communications Anita Dunn. Biden’s former doctor, Kevin O’Connor, will sit down with House investigators in July. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is probing whether those closest to Biden in his White House knowingly colluded to hide the former president’s declining mental acuity and used methods to circumvent the former president when it came to the issuance of important orders. HOUSE GOP SECURES FOUR KEY WITNESSES IN BIDEN MENTAL-DECLINE PROBE AS FORMER AIDES AGREE TO TALK President Donald Trump also ordered the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the matter. The president directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House counsel David Warrington to handle the investigation. In response to the Trump administration’s call for an investigation, Biden declared he was the only one who “made the decisions” during his presidency and called Trump’s efforts a “distraction.” Among the questions House investigators are expected to have is whether any Biden officials used the autopen to authorize executive actions without the president’s permission. The sit-downs are behind closed doors, as opposed to public congressional hearings. The interviews will be transcribed and likely released at a later date. Comer previously told Fox News Digital that the more muted setting of a closed-door interview would allow House lawmakers to get more key information, as opposed to the public spectacle of a hearing. “I’ve studied history, there’s never been a committee hearing that did what it’s supposed to do,” Comer said. “But these depositions and interviews, do. You’ve got one hour, you’re not interrupted, you don’t have to go five minutes back and forth. So to extract information, we’re going to go with the interviews. We could have a hearing later on, but right now, I think we can get more done quicker with interviews.”
Republican senator calls caucusing with Democrats an ‘interesting hypothetical’
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called the prospect of caucusing with Democrats an “interesting hypothetical,” but she fell short of fully committing to doing so if the Democrats pick up three seats in the 2027 midterms. “It’s an interesting hypothetical,” Murkowski said on the “GD Politics” podcast with Galen Druke. “You started off with the right hook here, is if this would help Alaskans.” The senator is promoting her new book, a memoir titled, “Far From Home.” She was repeatedly asked if she would caucus with Democrats if the party divide in the upper chamber of Congress becomes 50-50 after the next election. “That’s why this book is kind of scary, because now people know what motivates me, and it’s this love for Alaska and what I can do,” she said. “So, that’s my primary goal. I have to figure out how I can be most effective for the people that I serve.” SENATE GOP AIMS TO APPROVE MAJOR LEGISLATION NEXT WEEK AS TRUMP TOUTS PARTY UNITY Murkowski said the “problem” she had with Druke’s hypothetical was that “as challenged as we may be on the Republican side, I don’t see the Democrats being much better.” She said the Democrats also have policies that she inherently disagrees with. “I can’t be somebody that I’m not,” Murkowski said, describing how she received pressure to run as a Libertarian after narrowly losing the GOP Senate primary in 2010. She went on to win as a write-in candidate in a historic victory, launching her Senate career. “I can’t now say that I want this job so much that I’m going to pretend to be somebody that I’m not. That’s not who I am.” Druke, arguing that Murkowski would not have to become a Democrat to caucus with them, asked, “Is there world in which by becoming unaligned or an independent that you could help Alaskans, you’d consider it?” “There may be that possibility,” she said, noting that the Alaska legislature currently features a coalition with members of both parties. “This is one of the things that I think is good and healthy for us, and this is one of the reasons people are not surprised that I don’t neatly toe the line with party initiatives, because we’ve kind of embraced a governing style that says if you’ve got good ideas, and you can work with her over there, it doesn’t make any difference if you’re a Republican or Democrat,” Murkowski said. “We can govern together for the good of the state.” “If Democrats won three seats in the next election and offered you a way to pass bills that benefit Alaskans if you caucused with them, you’d consider it?” Druke pressed. REPUBLICAN SEN MURKOWSKI PREPARED TO ‘TAKE THE CRITICISM’ OVER DOGE PUSHBACK Murkowski said in response that a coalition is “not foreign to Alaskans,” but it is at the federal level in the U.S. Senate. “I’m evading your answer, of course, because it is so, extremely hypothetical, but you can tell that the construct that we’re working with right now, I don’t think is the best construct,” Murkowski said, adding: “Is it something that’s worthy of exploration?” Murkowski joked that Druke was trying to “make news” and said the rank-choice voting system in Alaska means candidates are more likely to get elected if they are not viewed as wholly partisan. “It is a different way of looking at addressing our problems rather than just saying it’s red and it’s blue,” she added. Druke hammered the senator again, saying, “Was that a yes? There’s some openness to it?” “There’s some openness to exploring something different than the status quo,” she said. Murkowski, one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 riot, recently called the July 4 deadline that GOP leadership wants to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” by “arbitrary.” “I don’t want us to be able to say we met the date, but our policies are less than we would want,” Murkowski told Axios. “Why are we afraid of a conference? Oh my gosh.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are hesitant about going to conference with the upcoming debt ceiling “X date” approaching and the party lines so tight. Murkowski, a critic of Trump’s foreign policy, particularly on Ukraine, told the Washington Post that she was in a “lonely position” in the Senate, and sometimes feels “afraid” to speak up among Republican colleagues out of fear of retaliation. “We used to be called the world’s greatest deliberative body,” she told the Post in a recent interview promoting her book. “I think we’re still called it, but now I wonder if it’s in air quotes.”
Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize over Iran-Israel ceasefire deal
FIRST ON FOX: A House lawmaker is nominating President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he brokered a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., wrote to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee declaring Trump had an “extraordinary and historic role” in having ended “the armed conflict between Israel and Iran and preventing the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet.” Trump declared the “12 Day War” was ending late on Monday afternoon, with a ceasefire that was meant to go into effect overnight Tuesday. It ends just over a week after Israel first launched a preemptive strike against Iran, arguing Tehran was dangerously close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. A FULL BREAKDOWN OF OPERATION MIDNIGHT HAMMER, THE ‘LARGEST B-2 OPERATIONAL STRIKE IN US HISTORY’ The two countries subsequently traded rocket fire over the following days, and over the weekend – the U.S. launched its own airstrikes on three of Iran’s key nuclear facilities. Iran responded by shooting rockets at a U.S. air base in Qatar on Monday, but not without giving advance notice to U.S. and Qatari officials. No injuries were reported in that attack. “President Trump’s influence was instrumental in forging a swift agreement that many believed to be impossible. President Trump also took bold, decisive actions to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions and ensure that the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism remains incapable of acquiring a nuclear weapon,” Carter wrote in his letter. He said Trump’s leadership through the crisis “exemplifies the very ideals that the Nobel Peace Prize seeks to recognize: the pursuit of peace, the prevention of war, and the advancement of international harmony. In a region plagued by historical animosity and political volatility, such a breakthrough demands both courage and clarity.” WHY DID TRUMP LEAVE G7 EARLY? ‘MUCH BIGGER’ THAN IRAN CEASE-FIRE, HE SAYS “President Trump demonstrated both, offering the world a rare glimpse ofhope. For these reasons, I respectfully submit this nomination for Donald J. Trump, 47th President of the United States, to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Carter finished. It’s not the first time Trump has been nominated for the prize, though he has not won so far. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., tapped Trump for the prize just earlier this year, arguing his 2024 electoral victory had an “astonishingly effective impact” on peace in the world. According to the Nobel Prize website, there have been 338 candidates nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize so far. Carter, who is also running for Senate in Georgia, has introduced several notable bills this year backing Trump, though many have been seen as largely symbolic. The Georgia Republican introduced legislation to rename Greenland “Red, White, and Blueland” after Trump expressed interest in taking the territory. He also authored a bill aimed at letting Trump sell off a federal building in California named after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. But as for the conflict in the Middle East, it appears the tenuous peace is in danger of fraying as of Tuesday morning. Carter’s nomination for Trump comes shortly after Israel accused Iran of breaking their ceasefire agreement, which Tehran has denied.
Trump lashes out at Israel and Iran with profanity for breaking ceasefire
President Donald Trump expressed deep frustration with both Israel and Iran on Tuesday, saying the two countries “don’t know what the **** they’re doing.” Trump made the comments while departing from the White House for a NATO summit Tuesday morning. Both Israel and Iran fired missiles at one another following the imposition of a ceasefire on Monday night. “I’m not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either, but I’m really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning,” Trump said. He continued, “We basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the **** they’re doing.” “I’m gonna see if I can stop it,” he added. TRUMP ANNOUNCES HISTORIC IRAN AND ISRAEL CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT TO END ’12 DAY WAR’ “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after boarding Marine One. TRUMP HAILS ‘MONUMENTAL’ DAMAGE AS EXPERTS AWAIT VERDICT ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran on Monday night, dubbing the conflict a “12-day war.”
Trump heads to NATO summit as Europe agrees to heed his defense spending demands
President Donald Trump, fresh off announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, is off to The Hague, Netherlands for the yearly summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a conference where he’s hoping to drum up another foreign policy win by pushing European leaders to increase defense spending. The president is expected to land in the Netherlands on Tuesday and return to the White House on Wednesday. It’s Trump’s first NATO summit since becoming president for a second term. In the past, he’s railed against NATO members for “freeloading” off U.S. military protection. This time, European allies are eager to prove him wrong. NATO reached an agreement for all nations to boost their defense spending to five percent of their gross domestic product, except Spain. Trump initially made the demand, which is expected to be finalized at the summit. “This summit is really about NATO’s credibility, and we are urging all of our Allies to step up to the plate and pay their fair share for transatlantic security,” U.S. NATO Ambassador Matthew Whitaker said. Spain complicated the consensus when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez demanded an exemption from the new spending target – which would be a sharp increase from the 2 percent target Spain has had trouble meeting. TRUMP’S WEEK AHEAD WILL INCLUDE A TRIP TO THE HAGUE TO MEET WITH NATO LEADERS AS IRAN CRISIS GROWS LARGER “We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defence investment, but we are not going to do it,” Sanchez said. Trump is expected to meet with Rutte and other world leaders and hold a press conference. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also expected to attend, continuing his push for Ukraine’s admission into the alliance and its collective defense pact. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte boasted that allies were “stepping up to equal sharing of responsibility for our shared security.” Trump has said he does not think the U.S. needs to hit the 5% target. “I don’t think we should, but I think they should,” he told reporters last week. WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE UPCOMING NATO SUMMIT: TRUMP, SPENDING, UKRAINE, IRAN The President’s time at the summit will be brief, spending approximately 24 hours on the ground. His meetings “will focus on issues of shared concern and reaffirm the United States strong ties with our allies and partners,” according to an administration official. But they come after Trump can boast of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. “It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Rutte has suggested NATO would stand behind the U.S. after Iran launched a counterstrike on its air base in Qatar, following American attacks on three Iranian nuclear sites. “My biggest fear would be for Iran to own and be able to use a nuclear weapon,” Rutte told reporters ahead of the summit. He defended the U.S. strikes on Iran after being asked about parallels between the U.S. and Russia when it invaded Ukraine in 2022. “This is a consistent position of NATO: Iran should not have its hands on a nuclear weapon,” he said. “I would not agree that this is against international law — what the U.S. did.” Rutte had wanted the summit to be a show of NATO unity to Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. But conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran makes the conference less predictable. The Iraq War in 2003 deeply divided NATO: France and Germany were opposed to the invasion while Britain and Spain joined the coalition forces.
Trump front-and-center as nation’s biggest city holds primary election for mayor
He’s not on the ballot, but President Donald Trump is front-and-center in the city where he was born and made his fame, as heavily blue New York City holds its Democratic Party primary for mayor. And in the nation’s most populous city, where Democrats for generations have dominated the political landscape, Trump has been the boogeyman on the mayoral campaign trail. “LA’s in chaos. Imagine it’s Times Square. Trump’s coming for New York. Who do you think can stop him?” said the narrator in an ad earlier this month by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. “Trump’s at the city gates,” the narrator in Cuomo’s ad warned. “We need someone experienced to slam them shut.” NEW YORK CITY ON HIGH ALERT AHEAD OF DEMOCRATIC MAYORAL PRIMARY AFTER U.S. STRIKES IRAN Cuomo was spotlighting the recent protests in Los Angeles, sparked by immigration raids carried out by ICE at the Trump administration’s direction, to raise warnings about Trump and showcase his own experience. The former three-term governor of New York, who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals and is now working to pull off a political comeback, was arguing that the president had “declared war” on the Big Apple and other cities across the country and suggested Trump may eventually send troops into New York City. Cuomo, who said recently that, as mayor, he’d mount a national campaign to try and thwart Trump’s agenda, vows to protect New York City from what he suggests is a possible future federal crackdown against immigration protests. And on the eve of the primary, Cuomo told a large crowd of supporters at a union hall that Democrats need to “stand strong, stand united, stand tall” against Trump. THIS FORMER PRESIDENT BACKS ANDREW CUOMO IN NEW YORK CITY’S DEMOCRATIC MAYORAL PRIMARY It’s not just Cuomo. Most of the other candidates in the 11-candidate Democratic mayoral field have also taken aim at Trump and showcased the steps they’d take to push back against the president. And Trump was a top topic at the final primary debate earlier this month. And that was before Trump further dominated headlines this past weekend by launching military strikes against Iran. ‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA’ PHRASE STIRS TENSIONS ON NYC CAMPAIGN TRAIL AS MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT RAGES While national and at times even international events and figures often impact the campaign trail in New York City, Marist University Institute for Public Opinion director Lee M. Miringoff noted that “the fact that Trump is so front-and-center is so unusual.” Cuomo’s commercial, part of what his campaign said was major ad buy, came as progressive Zohran Mamdani was surging in the latest public opinion polls, closing the gap with the more moderate former governor. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assembly member from Queens, is a democratic socialist originally from Uganda. His primary bid was boosted earlier this month after he landed an endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive rock star and New York City’s most prominent leader on the left, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up. With multiple candidates on the left running in the primary, the endorsements by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders aimed to consolidate the support of progressive voters behind Mamdani. AOC BACKS RISING PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATE IN NYC DEM PRIMARY IN PUSH TO DEFEAT FRONTRUNNER CUOMO The 67-year-old Cuomo, for weeks, has been questioning Mamdani’s experience leading New York City. Cuomo’s campaign has criticized Mamdani as a “dangerously inexperienced legislator” while touting that the former governor “managed a state and managed crises, from COVID to Trump.” Mamdani is also spotlighting the president, as he aims to tie Cuomo to Trump by pointing out that many of the former governor’s donors had backed Trump in last year’s presidential election. “Oligarchy is on the ballot. Andrew Cuomo is the candidate of a billionaire class that is suffocating our democracy and forcing the working class out of our city,” Mamdani’s campaign argued in an email to supporters. Trump and his administration were also in the New York City mayoral campaign spotlight last week when New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is in a distant third place in the most recent polls, was arrested in Manhattan by Department of Homeland Security agents. Lander was detained for allegedly assaulting a federal officer as he tried to escort a defendant out of an immigration court. Temperatures are forecast to reach 100 degrees in New York on Tuesday as the city holds its primary. The dangerously high temperatures may keep some older voters from heading to the polls. Because of that possibility, the heatwave could affect turnout in a race that may come down to Cuomo’s union support and campaign structure versus Mandani’s volunteer forces. New York City election officials said that more than 384,000 Democrats cast ballots in early voting, which ended on Sunday. The election is being conducted using a ranked-choice voting system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest vote-getter is dropped, with that candidate’s votes reallocated to voters’ next-highest choices. The process is repeated until one candidate cracks 50%. Mamdani is hoping that the ranked-choice process boosts his chances against Cuomo. New York City’s primary comes as the Democratic Party works to escape from the political wilderness, following last year’s elections, when the party lost control of the White House, the Senate majority and failed to win back control of the House from the GOP. And it comes as the party works to resist Trump’s sweeping and controversial second-term agenda. Miringoff said the results of the primary will be seen as a barometer of which way the Democratic Party is headed, towards the center if Cuomo wins and towards the left if Mamdani is victorious. “Because it’s New York and it’s a very blue city and everything that happens is magnified, I think we’re going to be hearing a lot about the future of the Democratic
Exclusive: Red state updating education standards to address rise in antisemitism in schools
EXCLUSIVE: In light of the surge in conflicts in the Middle East and rising tension within the U.S., the Oklahoma Department of Education has sent a memo to all public schools within the state guiding them to “safeguard students from woke, radicalized, terrorist-sympathizing rhetoric pushed by leftist educators.” In the memo, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said, “Oklahoma kids will be taught facts, not indoctrination.” The memo issues new guidance to Oklahoma public schools to ensure that social studies courses present instruction on Israel that is “historically grounded and balanced,” requiring instruction using primary sources, historical evidence and “guarding against antisemitic or politicized narratives.” Its new guidance instructs Oklahoma public educators to present the history of Israel and its “fight to rightly exist in the world, including the atrocities of the Holocaust and the current struggle with Iran, in a way that is historically grounded, intellectually honest, and free from antisemitic bias.” THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF HAMAS’ WAR ON ISRAEL FOR THE US AND GLOBAL SECURITY “These standards provide essential context for understanding modern threats to Jewish communities and democratic nations and require students to think critically while ensuring the instruction of Israel is historically grounded and balanced,” the memo states. This comes as antisemitic incidents have risen across the country since 2020. Tensions have risen even further following Israel’s launch of strikes against Iran and the U.S. joining in by launching strikes on three Iranian nuclear development sites on Saturday. Fox News Digital obtained a copy of the memo being sent to schools. In the memo, the Oklahoma State Department of Education points to the recent controversy in New York in which they said a state standardized exam study guide “described Zionism as a ‘colonial’ movement and included misleading references to terrorism.” The memo said that New York “serves as a staunch reminder that there exists ideology and educational materials not only distort historical fact but risk promoting ideologies that are inconsistent with Oklahoma values.” EXPERT CALLS CONTROVERSIAL UN REPORT ‘A FRIGHTENING INDICATION OF ANTISEMITISM’ “Oklahoma’s standards are designed to prevent this by setting clear expectations for content accuracy and instructional integrity,” says the memo. “The tragic events of October 7, 2023 — when Hamas militants launched a brutal surprise attack on Israeli civilians, killing over 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage — marked a turning point in modern Middle Eastern history,” the memo states. “These developments are not just headlines, they are history in the making and highlight the urgent need for educators to present global conflicts with clarity, accuracy, and moral responsibility.” In a statement emailed to Fox News Digital, Walters touted Oklahoma’s history standards, saying they are “the best in the country” because “they are based on facts and safeguard students from woke, radicalized, terrorist-sympathizing rhetoric pushed by Leftist educators.” IRAN STRIKE ‘WORTHY’ OF NOBEL PRIZE IF SUCCESSFUL, FORMER DEMOCRATIC COUNSEL SAYS This comes amid heightened tensions in the U.S. due to the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel and President Donald Trump’s decision to launch U.S. military strikes on three Iranian nuclear development sites. Iran has vowed to retaliate and on Monday launched missiles at the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
Republicans congratulate Trump amid Iran ceasefire as Dems hold back applause
Following news that Iran and Israel have reached a ceasefire less than two days after the United States struck the Muslim country’s nuclear enrichment sites, Republican lawmakers came out in droves to congratulate the president on Monday evening. Democrats, meanwhile, appear to be withholding their congratulations, at least initially. “CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!” President Donald Trump said on Truth Social Monday evening. TRUMP ANNOUNCES HISTORIC IRAN AND ISRAEL CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT TO END ’12 DAY WAR’ Following Trump’s announcement, which was later verified with Iranian officials, Republicans immediately took to social media and the airwaves to congratulate the president, with many extolling his negotiating prowess. “[Trump] is the greatest foreign policy mastermind in American history. Give him the Nobel Peace Prize—NOW,” Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles wrote on X. “Peace through STRENGTH!,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson exclaimed on the platform. “President Trump just did what no other president could do. All it took was the American people electing Donald J. Trump and the world is safer for it. CEASEFIRE!” South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace also added on X. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE EXPLAINS TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF ‘COMPLETE AND TOTAL CEASEFIRE’ AGREEMENT BETWEEN IRAN, ISRAEL “It’s huge if this sticks, which I don’t know why it wouldn’t,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., told Fox News. “Once Iran saw and heard what we’re capable of doing with our B-2 bombers and our bunker busters, it not only sends a message to them, but it sends a message to the greater part of the world that, this president, he will negotiate with you, he wants to find a way to do this, but, if you’re not going to negotiate, there’s going to be consequences.” “I think the president really hit the re-set button and said, ‘Look, let’s actually produce long-term peace for the region.’ That’s always been his goal,” Vice President J.D. Vance said on Fox News’s “Special Report” with Brett Baier. “I actually think when we look back we will say the 12-day war was an important reset for the entire region.” Meanwhile, Democrats appear to be withholding their congratulations. A Fox News Digital analysis of Democrat congressional leadership’s accounts on X, shows no congratulatory messages as of Monday evening. However, Fox News was able to catch up with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to ask her about her take. The congresswoman’s response was not congratulatory, however. DETAILS REVEALED BEHIND TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT OF IRAN-ISRAEL CEASEFIRE “He also said that it was a war,” Ocasio-Cortez told Fox News when asked about the ceasefire. “I think that the president of United States, admitting that he unilaterally brought the United States into a war without congressional approval, is a very grave public admission. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. And, and so for me, while the president is posting something about a ceasefire, I think what he also posted was an official acknowledgment that this was war. And I think that is something that should be taken into very serious consideration.” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who was pushing to pass a resolution alongside Democrats ahead of this weekend’s attacks seeking to require Trump to gain congressional approval before attacking Iran, said that he would not seek to advance the measure any further on account of the ceasefire. “I talked to the speaker on the floor just now and told him we wouldn’t push it if the cease-fire holds, so it’s really in their court,” Massie said, according to Politico. Massie added that he would “wait and see” before making a final decision.
DOJ on ‘high alert’ for Iranian nationals living illegally in US, Bondi says
Attorney General Pam Bondi was questioned Monday during a House budget hearing about Iranian nationals who entered the country illegally during the Biden administration after the Trump administration warned the conflict with Iran raised threat levels in the United States. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, asked if the attorney general knew how many Iranian nationals in the United States have been convicted of crimes. Bondi said she was unsure, but that more than 1,000 entered the country during the last administration. “And I can tell you, we are on high alert, and everyone is looking at that very closely,” Bondi said. TRUMP CALLS IRAN RESPONSE TO STRIKE ON NUCLEAR FACILITIES ‘WEAK,’ SUGGESTS RETURN TO DIPLOMACY U.S. Border Patrol arrested 1,504 Iranians at the southern border during President Joe Biden’s term, and nearly half of them, or 729, were released into the United States, according to a senior Customs and Border Protection source. Bondi’s remarks echo those of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which issued a notice one day prior saying that the Iran conflict “is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States.” The DHS cited the possibility of extremists in the United States “independently mobilizing to violence” if Iranian leaders were to call for it. The department also said cyberattacks and incidents of antisemitism could increase. Gonzales asked Bondi about the threat of Iranian “sleeper cells,” to which the attorney general said she could “not talk about that in this setting.” The line of questioning during a hearing about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year came amid a rapidly evolving conflict in the Middle East that Trump chose to intervene in over the weekend. OVER 700 IRANIAN NATIONALS RELEASED INTO THE US DEPSITE TERRORISM CONCERNS The Trump administration carried out airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, leading to Iran launching a missile attack on a U.S. military base near Doha, Qatar, on Monday. Trump said the Iranians gave “early notice” of the offensive and that no casualties occurred as a result of the attack. Later Monday, Trump announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran would take effect in a matter of hours, though ceasefire deals have fallen through in the past, and it remains unclear if the agreement will hold. The DOJ brought an indictment against three men last year in connection to a murder-for-hire scheme that allegedly originated in Iran that involved assassinating Trump before the 2024 election, as well as killing a journalist. One of the men remains at large. He is an Afghan national but was allegedly being paid by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iran-based militant group. “The charges announced today expose Iran’s continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens, including President-elect Donald Trump, other government leaders and dissidents who criticize the regime in Tehran,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said at the time of the indictment. Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
ICE arrests alleged gang member hiding from Mexican authorities in sanctuary city: ‘Heinous murderer’
EXCLUSIVE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an illegal immigrant in New Haven, Connecticut, who is wanted for allegedly killing a Mexican law enforcement officer. Orlando Diaz-Cebada, known as “El Leches,” was taken into ICE custody on June 12, 2025, in Connecticut. He is allegedly a member of the Los Pochos gang that works with the Sinaloa Cartel, according to DHS. “Thanks to our brave ICE law enforcement and federal partners, this criminal illegal alien fugitive wanted for murdering a law enforcement official in Mexico is off America’s streets. This heinous murderer attempted to evade justice by hiding out in Connecticut,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. FEDERAL AGENTS CAPTURE ALIEN ACCUSED OF RAPE, ASSAULT WHILE LA POLITICIANS CONDEMN ICE OPERATIONS “These are the types of barbaric criminal illegal aliens our brave ICE law enforcement risks their lives every day to arrest. America is no longer a safe haven for violent criminals. If you are a criminal illegal alien considering entering America illegally, don’t even think about it. If you come here and break our laws, we will hunt you down. Criminals are not welcome in the United. States,” McLaughlin added. Diaz-Cebda entered the United States illegally in May 2024, and was deported twice by U.S. Border Patrol, as he tried to enter again two days after the first try. According to DHS, the circumstances of when he returned to the U.S. are unclear, as the department said he was not “inspected, admitted, or paroled” by federal authorities. A document reviewed by Fox News Digital from the attorney general’s office in Tlaxcala, a state in Mexico, showed that he is wanted in the country for aggravated homicide. ILLEGAL ALIEN CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR THROWING MOLOTOV COCKTAIL AT OFFICERS IN LA RIOTS: DHS The arrest warrant was filed on April 23, 2024, a month before he came to the U.S. New Haven is considered a sanctuary city, according to WSHU. In April, Mayor Justin Elicker touted a legal win as the Trump administration attempted to scrap federal funding for cities that do not comply with federal immigration enforcement. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “New Haven is a welcoming city and we’re committed to ensuring all our residents feel safe calling the police, seeking medical care, sending their children to school, and accessing critical public services. It’s not only the right policy, it’s the practical policy,” Elicker said in a statement in April. TWO ILLEGAL VENEZUELAN IMMIGRANTS, SUSPECTED TDA GANG MEMBERS CHARGED IN DEADLY CHICAGO MASS SHOOTING “We need to make sure our police department is working to fight crime and not commandeered to do the work of the federal government. We are very pleased with this ruling and that New Haven will be able to use lawfully obligated federal funds to further strengthen public safety in our city,” the Democrat added. Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor’s office. “We fully support the efforts of our federal partners in apprehending this individual, who stands accused of a heinous crime, the killing of a fellow officer. While everyone is entitled to due process, we stand firmly behind actions that protect our communities,” a spokesperson for the New Haven Police Department stated.