Trump reveals who was behind Signal text chain leak
President Donald Trump revealed that a staffer with national security advisor Mike Waltz’s office included the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic in a Signal group chat with senior Trump officials who were discussing plans for an upcoming strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen. “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there,” Trump told NBC in a phone interview when asked how Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, was added to the high-profile chat. The president added that Goldberg’s inclusion in the group chat had “no impact at all” on the strike in Yemen. Goldberg published an article on Monday detailing how he was added to a Signal group chat on March 11, reportedly dubbed “Houthi PC Small Group,” which included high-profile government officials, including Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and others. TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH Signal is an encrypted messaging app that operates similarly to texting or making phone calls, but with additional security measures that help ensure communications are kept private to those included in the correspondence. Those in the group reportedly discussed targeting the Iran-backed terrorist group, the Houthis, in Yemen, including timing. WILL CAIN SHARES HIS TAKEAWAY ON THE ATLANTIC’S STORY ON THE TRUMP ADMIN’S ‘WAR PLANS’ TEXT “According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 p.m. eastern time,” Goldberg wrote in his first-hand account of the chat. “So I waited in my car in a supermarket parking lot. If this Signal chat was real, I reasoned, Houthi targets would soon be bombed. At about 1:55, I checked X and searched Yemen. Explosions were then being heard across Sanaa, the capital city.” IRAN’S LEADER WARNS US COULD RECEIVE ‘SEVERE SLAPS’ FOLLOWING TRUMP’S THREATS TO HOUTHIS The inclusion of a journalist in the group chat has sparked outrage from Democrats, with some calling on Hegseth and Waltz to resign from their security roles, and others demanding they testify before Congress on the matter. Trump defended Waltz during his interview with NBC on Tuesday. “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said in the phone interview. Trump separately defended Waltz in comment to Fox News on Tuesday, saying the national security advisor will not be fired over the incident. “He’s not getting fired,” Trump told Fox News. The president said the incident was a “mistake,” though there was “nothing important” in the Signal text thread. TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added in a social media post on Tuesday that “No ‘war plans’ were discussed” in the group chat, and that “no classified material was sent to the thread.” “Jeffrey Goldberg is well-known for his sensationalist spin. Here are the facts about his latest story,” she posted to X. “The White House Counsel’s Office has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.” “As the National Security Council stated, the White House is looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread. Thanks to the strong and decisive leadership of President Trump, and everyone in the group, the Houthi strikes were successful and effective. Terrorists were killed and that’s what matters most to President Trump,” she added. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for additional comment on the matter, but did not immediately receive a reply. Fox News’ David Rutz, Danielle Wallace and Peter Doocy contributed to this report.
‘Futile exercise’: House GOP push to impeach judges blocking Trump fizzles out
There appears to be little appetite within the House GOP to pursue the impeachment of judges who have blocked President Donald Trump’s agenda. Republican lawmakers are instead coalescing around a bill led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to limit the ability of U.S. district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions, which is due for a House floor vote next week. One House GOP lawmaker at Tuesday morning’s closed-door Republican conference meeting said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signaled that Issa’s bill would be a more effective message against who they view as “activist” judges. “There was some innuendo there that, you know, impeachment has been reserved for judges with high crimes and misdemeanors, not because you disagree with his decisions,” the lawmaker said of Johnson’s message. WHO IS JAMES BOASBERG, THE US JUDGE AT THE CENTER OF TRUMP’S DEPORTATION EFFORTS? House GOP Policy Conference Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., said, “I don’t think so,” when asked if impeachment was a realistic effort. “I think it’s probably a mixed bag out there right now,” he said, adding that Issa’s bill was the best option he could see. Johnson himself did not directly comment on impeachment when asked during his weekly press conference on Tuesday, but he said the House Judiciary Committee was “looking at alternatives.” “One of the bills that I really like, that’s already been through committee, was authored by Representative Darrell Issa. And that would limit the scope of federal injunctions,” Johnson said. “It would be, in my view, a dramatic improvement on that.” Several conservatives have introduced resolutions to impeach various judges who have blocked Trump’s agenda. One such effort that has garnered significant attention is a resolution by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, to impeach U.S. District Judge James Boasberg. Boasberg is currently locked in a legal showdown with the Department of Justice over the Trump administration’s deportation of suspected Tren De Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act. Trump previously called for Boasberg’s impeachment but has said little on the specific issue since then. He has been adamant that Republicans should take on activist judges, however, and Fox News Digital was told last week that he was in favor of Issa’s bill. Conservatives could attempt to force House GOP leaders to act by classifying their impeachment legislation as a “privileged resolution,” meaning the House must hold at least a chamber-wide procedural vote on the measure within two legislative days. Gill told Fox News Digital on Tuesday morning that he had no current plans to make his resolution privileged, and he was supportive of Johnson and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in handling the matter. “I don’t think we should take anything off the table. But right now, we’re working with leadership. Johnson’s doing a great job, and so is [Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas] and Jim Jordan on the Judiciary Committee,” Gill said. Support for his resolution has continued to grow, however. Three Republicans signed on to formally support Gill’s push on Monday. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., who has introduced his own impeachment resolution, told Fox News Digital, “I think we should hold impeachment regardless of what the Senate does or doesn’t do…we should do the people’s work, which is impeach those bastards.” ‘WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT’: US JUDGE REAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR DAYS-LATE DEPORTATION INFO However, even people who said they would back impeachment are skeptical it will pass. “It’s kind of a futile exercise, because we don’t have the votes in the Senate [to remove a judge],” a conservative House GOP lawmaker said Monday night. “It’s more of a ‘Hey, stay in your lane, you’re not the president.’ And I think if anything, let’s put some pressure on the Supreme Court to take up one of these injunctions.” That conservative added that they would “absolutely” vote for impeachment if it came to the floor. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., who co-signed Gill’s resolution, told Fox News Digital on Monday night that he would support both impeachment and Issa’s bill moving to the House floor, but he was skeptical of the former succeeding. “I think impeachment obviously is unlikely because of the Senate…but it signals that, you know, these judges are out of control and not following the law,” Hamadeh explained. “I think it’s the smart approach to do both right now, but it seems like the solution, [the No Rogue Rulings Act], that’s likely to get broad support.” Additionally, with House Republicans’ razor-thin majority, it is not clear that an impeachment resolution would even succeed. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “We shouldn’t lower the standard for impeachment, but we should – ‘we’ meaning Congress – should provide a remedy for district court judges who totally overreach,” Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said. Another House Republican who declined to be named said they were “totally opposed” to impeachment. “That’s what the appeals process is for,” they said. The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing early next week on activist judges, and that’s expected to be followed by a House-wide vote on Issa’s bill.
A second judge rules against Trump’s removal of transgender troops
A federal judge from New Jersey temporarily blocked the Trump administration from separating two transgender service members from the Air Force. The ruling is the second instance when a federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration as it seeks to implement its ban against transgender people from serving in the military. U.S. District Judge Christine O’Hearn, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, issued a temporary, 14-day restraining order on Monday to prevent the Trump administration from executing its order and from ousting Master Sgt. Logan Ireland and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bear Bade from the service. Specifically, O’Hearn said Ireland and Bade demonstrated that their separation from service would negatively impact their careers, as well as their reputations. O’Hearn also said that their “involuntary loss of decorated military status, military healthcare, and the ability to serve their country under a policy they have faithfully abided by for years cannot be repaired by monetary damages.” “The loss of military service under the stigma of a policy that targets gender identity is not merely a loss of employment; it is a profound disruption of personal dignity, medical continuity, and public service,” O’Hearn said in the ruling Monday. FEDERAL JUDGE RIPS DOJ LAWYERS, DEMANDS WRITTEN RETRACTION FROM HEGSETH OVER TRANSGENDER MILITARY POLICY POST The Pentagon referred Fox News Digital to the Justice Department for comment. The Justice Department told Fox News Digital that it has “vigorously defended” Trump’s executive orders, including the Defending Women Executive order that stipulates there are only two sexes: male and female. “This is the latest example of an activist judge attempting to seize power at the expense of the American people, who overwhelmingly voted to elect President Trump,” a Justice Department spokesperson said. In January, Trump signed an executive order barring transgender individuals from serving in the military, prompting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to follow up in February with orders directing each service branch to begin separating transgender troops within 30 days. DOJ ISSUES COMPLAINT ABOUT FEDERAL JUDGE’S ‘MISCONDUCT’ WHILE PRESIDING OVER MILITARY TRANS BAN COURT CASE O’Hearn’s ruling comes after U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of Washington, D.C., blocked the Trump administration from implementing its ban on March 19. Reyes said in her opinion that the Trump administration’s order was “soaked in animus” and discriminated based on a person’s transgender status. DOJ ISSUES COMPLAINT ABOUT FEDERAL JUDGE’S ‘MISCONDUCT’ WHILE PRESIDING OVER MILITARY TRANS BAN COURT CASE “Indeed, the cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed — some risking their lives – to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them,” Reyes wrote in the decision. Trump has signed more than 90 executive orders since returning to the White House in January, spurring more than 125 lawsuits against his administration. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Dems who railed against domestic terrorism silent as Trump floats 20-year jail sentence for Tesla vandals
President Donald Trump said Tesla vandals and their financiers should face up to 20 years in prison. Fox News Digital asked 13 Democrats who sponsored legislation to combat domestic terrorism if they agreed the government should target the people vandalizing Tesla. None of the lawmakers responded. Amid the ongoing attacks on Tesla showrooms, charging stations and vehicles, the FBI on Monday launched a task force to crack down on the violent attacks. Attorney General Pam Bondi last week labeled the attacks “domestic terrorism” and the Justice Department announced charges against three suspects in Tesla arson cases. As the Trump administration investigates the Tesla attacks, Democrats have been noticeably silent on an issue they have railed against for years. Last week, Fox News Digital asked the same 13 Democratic lawmakers if they agreed with Bondi’s “domestic terrorism” distinction. Once again, none of the lawmakers responded. “People that get caught sabotaging Teslas will stand a very good chance of going to jail for up to twenty years, and that includes the funders. WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOU!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social on Thursday. DEMS WHO HAVE SPOKEN PASSIONATELY AGAINST DOMESTIC TERRORISM GO SILENT AS TESLA TORCHERS ARE CHARGED While Trump is leading the charge against “domestic terrorism” targeting Tesla drivers and employees, Democrats initially proposed legislative action to combat domestic terrorism. Former President Joe Biden’s administration launched the first National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism in 2021 to identify domestic terrorism as a major national security threat, particularly in the aftermath of the U.S. Capitol attacks on Jan. 6. FBI LAUNCHES TASK FORCE TO CRACK DOWN ON VIOLENT TESLA ATTACKS, MITIGATE THREATS Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and 10 Senate Democrats introduced the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2023. The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 focused on combating “white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration.” Both were proposed during the Biden administration. Bondi warned Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, to “tread very carefully” on Sunday after the Democrat suggested Musk should be “taken down” – a call to action she said was “not about violence.” “She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk, and we are going to fight to protect all the Tesla owners throughout this country,” Bondi said on “Sunday Morning Futures.” Crockett delivered her remarks during a nationwide call with the “Tesla Takedown” movement, a group advocating for Tesla owners to sell their vehicles and divest their Tesla stocks. “On March 29, it’s my birthday,” Crockett said. “All I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down. I have learned, as I serve on the DOGE Oversight committee, that there is only one language that the people that are in charge understand right now, and that language is money.” Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., has taken a unique Democratic approach to the string of Tesla attacks, by urging his colleagues to condemn Tesla vandalism. “There is zero tolerance for acts of vandalism against Tesla. Spraying the words “nazi cars” or lighting fire to dealership and chargers is wrong. Period. All Democrats should condemn it,” he said in an X post earlier this month. When asked by Fox News Digital last week if the Tesla attacks are domestic terrorism, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said everyone has a right to protest but no one has the right to violence. “Well, I don’t know what domestic terrorism? It’s outrageous. It’s absurd. People have a right to protest. Musk, they have a right to protest, you know, in front of Tesla, nobody has the right to engage in any form of violence, period. But that’s all. No one has the right to engage in violence,” Sanders said. As Fox News Digital reported last week, Democrats who have been radio silent on the Tesla attacks during the Trump administration railed against domestic terrorism before and during the Biden administration. “As I have said on many occasions, I condemn all violence, regardless of ideology,” Durbin said in 2023 while urging colleagues to support the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act. “We have to act decisively to address the poison of White supremacy and domestic terrorism in America. It’s a poison, it’s a cancer, it’s destroying our society. It shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It’s not a Democratic issue or Republican issue, dealing with the crisis of violent White supremacy. It is an American issue,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in 2022. “We are deeply concerned about the financing of domestic violent extremist activities in the U.S.,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; and former Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said in 2022 while calling for a review into how domestic extremists are funded. Waters has yet to call for an investigation into how Tesla protests are being funded as many conservatives are pointing the finger at liberal activist groups. Musk recently blamed left-wing billionaire George Soros, billionaire Democratic mega-donor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and others, claiming they are bankrolling the destructive “protests.” In 2021, then-Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a Facebook post, “Domestic terrorism is one of the gravest threats to America.” “When violence fueled by homegrown, hateful ideology poses a more immediate threat to the safety and security of Americans on American soil than an international terrorist organization, it’s time for our laws to catch up,” Schiff said in 2019. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., applauded her Democratic colleagues in 2018 for “refusing to accept the House GOP’s continued failure to investigate domestic terrorism.” Pelosi has yet to condemn the House Democrats for failing to condemn domestic terrorism against Tesla. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said last summer following the first assassination attempt on Trump that “all political violence” should be condemned, adding she was the victim of political violence herself. Following the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on X: “We must do more to fight terrorism at home and abroad.” Rep. Alexandria
Teachers union sues Trump administration over $400M cuts to Columbia University
President Donald Trump’s administration is facing a new lawsuit that argues that the administration’s threat to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding from Columbia University is illegal. The American Federation of Teachers filed the lawsuit alongside the American Association of University Professors on Tuesday, arguing that the Trump administration is seeking to “consolidate power over higher education.” “This action challenges the Trump administration’s unlawful and unprecedented effort to overpower a university’s academic autonomy and control the thought, association, scholarship, and expression of its faculty and students,” the lawsuit reads. “The Trump administration is coercing Columbia University to do its bidding and regulate speech and expression on campus by holding hostage billions of dollars in congressionally authorized federal funding—funding that is responsible for positioning the American university system as a global leader in scientific, medical, and technological research and is crucial to ensuring it remains so,” it continues. VIDEO SHOWS ARREST OF COLUMBIA ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL The lawsuit comes after Columbia’s administrators agreed to enact sweeping changes to its policies regarding student protests and conduct a review of its Middle Eastern studies department. The Trump administration threatened to withhold some $400 million if changes were not made. PRO-ISRAEL INFLUENCER SAYS BIBAS MEMORIAL IN NYC ‘BROUGHT OUT THE WORST’ IN ANTISEMITES The Ivy League school agreed to ban masks for the purpose of concealing identity, empower 36 campus police officers with new powers to arrest students and appoint a senior vice provost with broad authority to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies, as well as the Center for Palestine Studies. Sources familiar with the negotiations told Fox News that meeting the demands doesn’t mean that Columbia will get their $400 million in funding back, but that it’s just a precondition to opening talks. Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, calls on the court to require the Trump administration to reinstate “all grants and contracts to Columbia University.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP It also urges the court to prohibit the Trump administration from making further funding cuts, as well as award damages to the plaintiffs. Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
Maxine Waters floats deporting Melania Trump in anti-DOGE diatribe
Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters suggested President Donald Trump should investigate and potentially deport first lady Melania Trump during an anti-DOGE protest in Los Angeles over the weekend. “When he [Trump] talks about birthright, and he’s going to undo the fact that the Constitution allows those who are born here, even if the parents are undocumented, they have a right to stay in America. If he wants to start looking so closely to find those who were born here and their parents were undocumented, maybe he ought to first look at Melania,” Waters was seen saying from the stage of a rally in Los Angeles, various videos posted to social media show. “We don’t know whether or not her parents were documented. And maybe we better just take a look,” she added. Melania Trump was born in the former Yugoslavia and became a U.S. citizen in 2006, according to official government biographies of the first lady. She is the first U.S. first lady to become a naturalized citizen, and the second first lady to be born outside of the U.S. – following President John Quincy Adams’ wife Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, who was born in London in 1775. MELANIA TRUMP SPEAKS ON CAPITOL HILL FOR FIRST TIME IN ROUNDTABLE FOCUSED ON PUNISHING REVENGE PORN The first lady sponsored her parents, who were also from current-day Slovenia, for green cards and then citizenship after securing her own citizenship, the New York Times reported in 2018. Viktor and Amalija Knavs, the first lady’s parents, officially became U.S. citizens in 2018. Amalija Knavs died in 2024, while her father Viktor Knavs has been spotted with the Trump family during public events in recent months, including sitting next to first son Barron Trump during the inauguration. HAKEEM JEFFRIES’ CALL TO FIGHT TRUMP AGENDA ‘IN THE STREETS’ SPARKS BACKLASH AS A ‘MAXINE WATERS MOMENT’ Waters was referring to President Donald Trump signing an executive order on his first day in office that bans birthright citizenship. The executive order works to clarify the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” MAXINE WATERS, HOUSE DEMS RIPPED FOR ‘UNHINGED’ CLASH WITH SECURITY GUARD AT EDUCATION DEPT The Trump EO seeks to narrow the scope of birthright citizenship to ban individuals who were born to illegal immigrant parents, or those who were here legally but on temporary non-immigrant visas. MELANIA TRUMP ANNOUNCES RETURN OF WHITE HOUSE EASTER EGG ROLL The executive order is currently tied up in court, with Trump taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court last week. Waters joined the protest in Los Angeles on Saturday, where hundreds gathered in protest of the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to slim down the size of the federal government, including auditing federal agencies in search of overspending, fraud and corruption. Protesters marched to the VA hospital on Los Angeles’ Wilshire Boulevard as part of the rally, the Los Angeles Times reported. MELANIA TRUMP’S LIFE WITH PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: SEE THE PHOTOS “We are here because we are not going to let Trump, we’re not going to let Elon Musk, his co-president, or anybody else take the United States Constitution down,” Waters added in her address to the crowd on Saturday. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AND MELANIA TRUMP’S 20TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY: SEE THE PHOTOS Clips of Waters’ comments on the first lady are spreading like wildfire on social media, including on TikTok and X, as conservative critics slam the left-wing California lawmaker. Fox News Digital reached out to Waters’ office for additional comment on the matter Tuesday morning, but did not immediately receive a reply.
Dem senator calls for Waltz, Hegseth to resign as Gabbard says no classified material shared in Signal
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for national security advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to resign Tuesday following an apparent national security breach. The demand came after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard vowed during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing that there was “no classified material” shared in a Signal text chat that an editor from The Atlantic said he had access to. The U.S. operation against the Houthis in Yemen was reportedly discussed in the chat between senior Cabinet officials. “Obviously, my colleagues and I feel very strongly about the war planning meeting over unclassified phones. Obviously reckless, obviously dangerous, both the mishandling of classified information and the deliberate destruction of federal records or potential crimes that ought to be investigated immediately,” Wyden said. “And I want to make clear that I’m of the view that there ought to be resignation starting with the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of Defense.” Earlier, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., grilled Gabbard over the nature of the texts. TRUMP NOT PLANNING TO FIRE WALTZ AFTER NATIONAL SECURITY TEXT CHAIN LEAK “Director Gabbard, did you participate in the group chat with Secretary of Defense and other Trump senior officials discussing the Yemen war plans?” the committee vice chairman asked her. “I don’t want to get into the specifics,” she responded, noting that the matter is “currently under review by the National Security Council.” “There was no classified material that was shared in that,” Gabbard also said. “So then if there [was] no classified material, share it with the committee,” Warner shot back. “You can’t have it both ways. These are important jobs. This is our national security. Bobbing and weaving and trying to, you know, filibuster your answer. So please answer the question. Director Gabbard, if this was a rank-and-file intelligence officer who did this kind of careless behavior, what would you do with them?” “Senator, I’ll reiterate that there was no classified material that was shared in that,” she said. TRUMP OFFICIALS ACCIDENTALLY TEXT ATLANTIC JOURNALIST ABOUT MILITARY STRIKES IN APPARENT SECURITY BREACH Earlier, Warner said “If this was the case of a military officer, or an intelligence officer, and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel appeared alongside Gabbard on Tuesday. Ratcliffe confirmed he was the person bearing his name in the group chat. “To be clear, the use of Signal message, and end to end encryption applications is permissible and was in this case, used permissibly, at least to my understanding, and in [a] lawful manner,” he told Wyden. Patel, when asked by Warner if the FBI has launched an investigation into the chat, said he was briefed on the matter “late last night” and “this morning, I don’t have an update.” Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
‘Sanctuary city’ raid rounds up over 200 migrant criminals: ICE
The U.S. Customs and Enforcement agency (ICE) announced that a massive operation in Massachusetts resulted in nearly 400 arrests, including over 200 apprehensions of illegal immigrants who had serious criminal convictions or charges. “The Commonwealth is a safer place for our residents to live and work because ICE and our federal law enforcement partners arrested hundreds of alien offenders and removed them from the streets of Massachusetts,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde said in a press release. The operation, which took place between March 18 and March 23, netted the arrests of 370 illegal immigrants in the Boston area. Among those, 205 of the migrants arrested had “significant criminal convictions or charges,” the release noted, including six who were “currently facing charges or convictions for murder, drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering.” BOSTON MAYOR FACES HEAT OVER SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES AS PATRIOTS OWNER’S SON GOES ON OFFENSIVE The six-day operation targeted “egregious criminal alien offenders,” the release notes, including members of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua who were operating “in and around Boston.” The raids came despite Boston’s status as one of several so-called “sanctuary” cities across the country, jurisdictions that restrict local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Boston’s Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu has doubled down on those policies in recent days, vowing to continue protecting illegal immigrants in the city during her State of the City address last week. “No one tells Boston how to take care of our own, not kings, and not presidents who think they are kings. Boston was born facing down bullies,” she said. “You belong here,” she told immigrants. FOUR ‘SANCTUARY CITY’ MAYORS PREP FOR GRILLING IN CONGRESS THIS WEEK: ‘HELD ACCOUNTABLE’ ICE agents were joined by personnel from several other federal agencies, including the FBI, DEA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service and DSS. “Safeguarding the integrity of the immigration and citizenship process is critical. We simply can’t permit violent and dangerous criminals to enter or remain in the United States under false pretenses, with unknown allegiances and intentions. It’s a direct threat to public safety and our national security,” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division Jodi Cohen said in the release. Those arrested in the operation included a Dominican migrant who illegally re-entered the U.S. after previously being charged with trafficking fentanyl, a Chilean migrant convicted on four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, and a Honduran migrant convicted of rape of a child. Federal authorities also seized roughly 44 kilograms of methamphetamines, five kilograms of fentanyl and 1.2 kilograms of cocaine during the raid. “ICE and our federal law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the homeland through the eradication of transnational criminal organizations, dismantling dangerous criminal gangs preying on the American public, locating and arresting criminal alien offenders, and making our communities a safer place to live,” Hyde said. Wu’s office did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
Senate committee to vote on Dr. Oz’s nomination to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
The Senate Committee on Finance is set to vote later Tuesday afternoon on whether to advance President Donald Trump‘s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, to a full Senate confirmation vote. The vote follows two hearings by the committee that probed Oz over his plans for the federal healthcare programs, his views on abortion, potential conflicts of interest in the healthcare industry and more. If confirmed, Oz would be in charge of nearly $1.5 trillion in federal healthcare spending. Medicare, a federal healthcare program for seniors aged 65 and up, currently provides coverage for about 65 million Americans, according to the Center for Medicare Advocacy. Medicaid, which assists people with low incomes, covers roughly 72 million Americans, according to Medicaid.gov. HAWLEY SKEPTICAL OF TRUMP PICK OZ: ‘I HOPE HE’S CHANGED HIS VIEWS’ A former heart surgeon who saw his fame rise through his appearances on daytime TV and 13 seasons of “The Dr Oz Show,” Oz later transitioned into politics, launching an unsuccessful bid for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat in 2022. He ultimately lost to John Fetterman, then the state’s lieutenant governor. Oz graduated from Harvard and received medical and business degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. As the administrator of CMS, Oz would make decisions related to how the government covers procedures, hospital stays and medication within the federal healthcare programs, as well as the reimbursement rates at which healthcare providers get paid for their services. DR. OZ BATS BACK DEMOCRATIC ATTEMPTS TO PAINT HIM AS A ‘SNAKE OIL’ SALESMAN IN SENATE HEARING Earlier this month, Trump’s pick to lead the NIH and FDA, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and Dr. Marty Makary, respectively, were also approved in committee and are awaiting full confirmation votes in the Senate. Around the same time that Bhattacharya and Makary won committee approval, Trump withdrew his nomination of former Florida Rep. David Weldon to run the CDC, over fears he did not have the GOP support to clear full confirmation. On Monday, the Trump administration named Susan Monarez, acting director of the CDC, as its new nominee.
CT ballot fraud saga leads GOP to alert Bondi after 150 charges lodged, Dem reforms ‘miss the mark,’ they say
Ballot fraud concerns stretching back to a judicially-overturned 2023 election in Connecticut’s largest city have led state lawmakers to spar over how to reform the system after dozens of criminal charges were lodged in the latest cases there. On Monday, Republican leaders told Fox News Digital they have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to probe whether “election crimes in Bridgeport” that led to the indictments are “part of a larger, coordinated effort to defraud voters statewide” – adding that Democrats’ two new election reform bills drafted in response to the latest case “miss the mark.” “Connecticut has made embarrassing international news for absentee ballot fraud caught on viral video,” state Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said in joint comments to Fox News Digital. Sampson is currently the ranking Republican on the bicameral Government Administration and Elections Committee considering the bills. 4 CT DEM OPERATIVES CHARGED IN ABSENTEE BALLOT MISUSE PROBE “Everyone saw it,” the Republicans said of various CCTV tapes from Bridgeport showing city Democratic Party official Wanda Geter-Pataky allegedly engaging in ballot-stuffing, inserting large numbers of ballots into a drop box outside city hall. Reports at the time characterized the effort as one seeking to benefit Mayor Joe Ganim against challenger John Gomes, and the controversy ultimately spilled into the 2024 court-ordered “redo” between the two men. Sampson and Harding said legislative Republicans wrote to Bondi to formally request a federal investigation into whether “election crimes in Bridgeport are part of a larger, coordinated effort to defraud voters statewide.” They added the two bills presented in committee on Friday – SB 1515 and SB 1516 – are woefully inadequate and do not meet the moment. SB 1515 would establish a Municipal Election Accountability Board, which would provide oversight of towns and cities’ elections and related referenda. SB 1516 would “expand certain post-election procedures” relating to the correction of ballot returns, and better regulate “curbside voting” – including prohibiting a worker from sitting in a voter’s vehicle while they fill out their ballot – and how soon certain criminal convicts could circulate nominating petitions. It also would install an election monitor for larger cities effective for the 2025 off-year elections and prohibit commercial use of certain voter registration information. “We have Democrats from Bridgeport traveling to the capitol to push for the state and individual campaigns to be removed from the absentee ballot process. Empowering the state government in this area is not the solution,” the GOP leaders said. “Connecticut Democrats have shown no appetite for adopting our commonsense reforms.” WATTERS: VOTER FRAUD NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED A representative for House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, directed Fox News Digital to the Senate, where Senate President Pro-Tem Martin Looney of New Haven did not respond. Much of SB 1516’s recommendations mirror those of Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas, according to a Senate representative. In the lower chamber, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora called election fraud a “serious problem” in the state, in comments to Fox News Digital. “Residents know it and so does this nation,” said Candelora, R-East Haven. Candelora said bad actors must be told they will face jail time if they commit electoral hijinks. “Until the legislature sends that message, those intent on cheating will always find a way,” he said. Earlier this month, five Democratic officials – including Geter-Pataky, who was repeatedly covered on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” – were charged with about 150 election-related offenses all-told, according to the Connecticut Post. In an exposé last year, Watters reported Geter-Pataky had participated in several “get out the vote efforts” over the years and was subject to at least two different election-related probes at the time. “Is Wanda a bug in the system or is Wanda the system? We need cameras everywhere. We need cameras on the drop boxes, in the election centers and in the countingrooms. They make police wear body cameras: We should strap body cameras to election officials,” the host suggested. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In September, a “Jesse Watters Primetime” correspondent confronted Pataky, who did not offer comment. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, previously dismissed claims the “potential corruption” was tied to early voting and absentee balloting. “I think it’s people who do the corrupting,” Lamont said. According to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s “Voter Fraud Report,” Geter-Pataky made “10 drops either directly or indirectly” and another woman made five separate ballot drops during Bridgeport’s 2023 mayoral primary. Meanwhile, the judge who overturned the election ruled the “volume of ballots so mishandled is such that it calls the result of the primary election into serious doubt and leaves the court unable to determine the legitimate result of the primary,” and called videos of the situation “shocking.” A Connecticut Post report on the slew of charges from earlier this month said the “vast majority” are lodged against Geter-Pataky, while other defendants include council members Alfredo Castillo and Maria Pereira. Gomes appeared to disagree with Republicans’ aversion to the bills, telling the Hartford Courant the municipal accountability board outlined in SB 1515 is needed. He pointed to the criminal complaint, which reportedly outlined an allegation Geter-Pataky was permitted by town clerks to insert a ballot into a tote being used to empty a drop box. Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department for comment on the request for Bondi’s help.