‘Sick puppy’ Tim Walz should never have been on Dems’ 2024 ticket, Trump says
President Donald Trump called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a “sick puppy” who should not have landed on the Democrats’ 2024 presidential ticket. “He’s a sick puppy, that guy, that poor guy. I feel sorry for him,” Trump said Thursday from the Oval Office while meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “But, they made a bad choice with him.” Trump’s comments followed a reporter asking Trump about his relationship with Elon Musk after the former Department of Government Efficiency chief repeatedly assailed the “big beautiful bill,” the sweeping legislation that will fund the Trump administration’s agenda and touted by the president as key legislation that demands GOP unity for passage. Musk was a key ally of Trump’s during the campaign cycle, holding rallies in the top seven battleground states to rally support, including in Pennsylvania. WALZ REVEALS THE MISSTEPS HE SAW WITH HARRIS CAMPAIGN AMID POSTMORTEM MEDIA BLITZ Trump remarked that the Democrat Party should have tapped Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to join former Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate on the presidential ticket, but instead chose Walz. “Elon endorsed me very strongly. He actually went up and campaigned for me. I think I would have won. Susie would say I would have won Pennsylvania easily anyway, even if the governor had the real governor, not the governor, for a Minnesota,” Trump said before calling Walz a “sick puppy.” FAILED VP CANDIDATE TIM WALZ SKEWERED AFTER HINTING AT POTENTIAL 2028 PRESIDENTIAL RUN “But if you picked Shapiro or anybody else, I spoke to him recently about his, you know, his house being set on fire, which was terrible. But if they picked him, I would have won Pennsylvania,” he added, referring to how Shapiro’s home was targeted by arson while his family slept back in April. Walz joined Harris on the Democrat ticket in August 2024, just days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July 2024 amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity, giving way to Harris at the top of the ticket. The Harris campaign had just more than 100 days between Biden dropping out and rallying support for the Harris-Walz ticket before Election Day on Nov. 5. After the election, Walz revealed he would run for president in 2028 if the opportunity presented itself. “Well, I had a friend tell me, ‘Never turn down a job you haven’t been offered,’” Walz told the New Yorker in March when asked if he would run for president. TIM WALZ SAYS LOSING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS ‘PURE HELL,’ ADMITS DEMS ARE ‘FATIGUED’ IN MSNBC INTERVIEW “If I think I could offer something … I would certainly consider that,” he said. “I’m also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there’s a lot of people that can do this.” He said that under the correct circumstances and if he had the right “skill set” for the 2028 race, “I’ll do it.” “You might do it?” the New Yorker asked. “I’ll do whatever it takes,” Walz said. “I certainly wouldn’t be arrogant enough to think that it needs to be me.”
Federal judge orders Trump to restore funding to Clinton-era agency gutted by DOGE
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore millions of dollars in grant funding for AmeriCorps and to reemploy thousands of employees, ruling that the administration’s abrupt dismantling of the organization violated federal law. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman agreed to reinstate thousands of terminated AmeriCorps employees across 24 U.S. states and D.C., which sued the administration earlier this year over the steep cuts to the agency ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. She also ordered the Trump administration to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in congressionally approved funding for AmeriCorps programs, which were also slashed by DOGE earlier this year. Boardman sided with plaintiffs in ruling that the Trump administration likely violated administrative procedures by ordering the abrupt cancellations and terminations, without a proper notice or comment period. SUPREME COURT RULES WISCONSIN UNCONSTITUTIONALLY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST CHRISTIAN CHARITY While the decision does not require the Trump administration to keep the jobs in place indefinitely, it does require it to provide adequate notice before doing so. AmeriCorps, an agency created by Congress more than two decades ago, had an operating budget of roughly $1 billion prior to this year, when it found itself squarely in the crosshairs of DOGE, the agency previously headed up by Elon Musk and tasked with eliminating wasteful spending. In granting the preliminary injunction Thursday, Boardman said the 24 states have adequately demonstrated they are likely to suffer “irreparable harm” from the gutting of AmeriCorps, absent court intervention, and that the balance of equities “heavily favors” plaintiffs seeking injunctive relief. “Any harm the defendants might face if the agency actions are enjoined pales in comparison to the concrete harms that the States and the communities served by AmeriCorps programs have suffered and will continue to suffer,” she said in the ruling. 100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT The preliminary injunction comes after DOGE in April abruptly announced it would be putting roughly 85% of all AmeriCorps staffers on leave. It also announced mass Reduction of Force, or RIF, for AmeriCorps staff, and sent notice that they were planning to cut $400 million in grants and other funding from the agency. In their lawsuit, attorneys general from the 24 U.S. states and D.C. urged the court to reverse the cuts and terminations across AmeriCorps, citing the risk of irreparable harm, as well as the administration’s failure to properly notify employees of their terminations. Plaintiffs alleged that the Trump administration and DOGE had acted beyond the scope of their authority in gutting AmeriCorps, an agency created by Congress, without proper notice. They also asked the judge to halt the cuts to roughly $557 million in congressionally approved funding. Importantly, the judge said Thursday that the order only applies to the states that joined the lawsuit. The news was praised on social media by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who described it as a victory, noting: “Over 200,000 AmeriCorps staff and volunteers work hard every day to care for our communities.” “This ruling ensures their valuable work can continue,” she said. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the decision to halt the cuts to AmeriCorps will “help communities respond to natural disasters, support seniors and veterans, and keep our trails clean across Pennsylvania.”
Controversial airport watchlist program terminated by DHS amid weaponization concerns
EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is ending the Quiet Skies program, which left some Americans subject to additional screenings at airport security. The department says the agency was overly politicized to either benefit or hurt specific people and ran a bill of roughly $200 million annually. According to DHS, the program kept a watchlist as well as a list of people exempted. The department says Quiet Skies has not prevented any terrorist attacks but will continue to use other methods to assure safe air travel. “It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration—weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends. I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. GABBARD SLAMS ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’ SURVEILLANCE AS EFFORT TO ‘INTIMIDATE’ HER FOLLOWING CRITICISM OF HARRIS DHS says that the list of exemptions of people who avoid “security policies” included “foreign royal families, political elites, professional athletes, and favored journalists.” The program that started in 2010 was seen as a terror prevention method, and it faced escalating scrutiny from the left and right, including groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. “TSA’s critical aviation and security vetting functions will be maintained, and the Trump Administration will return TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of traveling public. This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans,” Noem continued. FEDERAL AIR MARSHALS SURVEILLED TRUMP CABINET MEMBER GABBARD IN 2024, RAND PAUL SAYS In 2018, the ACLU asked the Transportation Security Administration for more information about the program. “The TSA is engaging in covert surveillance of travelers and raising a host of disturbing questions in the process. While the program’s existence is now public, the TSA has kept nearly everything else about the program secret,” Hugh Handeyside, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a 2018 news release. “Travelers deserve to know how this surveillance is being implemented, what its consequences are for Americans, and for how long the TSA is retaining the information it gathers. What we’ve seen so far is troubling, which is why we’re demanding that the TSA hand over records it’s been hiding from the public. This is a much needed step towards transparency and accountability for an agency with a track record of using unreliable and unscientific techniques, such as ‘behavior detection,’ to screen and monitor travelers who have done nothing wrong,” he added. REPUBLICANS LOOK TO ABOLISH TSA IN FAVOR OF PRIVATE SECURITY AT AIRPORTS DHS pointed out a specific situation in which William Shaheen, the husband of New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, was removed from the list after reaching out to the former head of TSA during the Biden administration in 2023, according to CBS News. DHS said that he “traveled with a known or suspected terrorist” three times. The senator’s office confirmed to CBS News she had reached out to TSA after her husband dealt with intense security obstacles while flying, but was unaware of any specific lists her husband was or was not on. The outlet reported that he was flying with an attorney was subject of the terrorism flag. The department also cited Tulsi Gabbard’s past placement on the Silent Partner Quiet Skies list. Fox News Digital reached out to Shaheen’s office for comment.
Homeland Security says Boston’s mayor comparing ICE agents to neo-Nazis is ‘sickening’
The Department of Homeland Security says Boston’s Democrat mayor comparing ICE agents to neo-Nazis is “sickening.” The reaction Thursday came in response to a video posted by an account affiliated with the White House, during which Michelle Wu said, “I don’t know of any police department that routinely wears masks. “We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC-131 routinely wears masks,” Wu added, in reference to a New England-based neo-Nazi group. “Mayor Wu comparing ICE agents to neo-Nazis is SICKENING,” Homeland Security wrote on X. “When our heroic law enforcement officers conduct operations, they clearly identify themselves as law enforcement while wearing masks to protect themselves from being targeted by known and suspected gang members, murders, and rapists.” FALSE RUMORS OF MINNEAPOLIS ICE RAID SPARK PROTEST AS POLICE DECRY ‘IRREPONSIBLE’ INFORMATION FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS “Attacks and demonization of our brave law enforcement is WRONG. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults,” Homeland Security added. The Anti-Defamation League said members of NSC-131 “consider themselves soldiers at war with a hostile, Jewish-controlled system that is deliberately plotting the extinction of the White race.” Wu also recently said in an interview with WBUR that “People are terrified for their lives and for their neighbors” and “folks [are] getting snatched off the street by secret police who are wearing masks, who can offer no justification for why certain people are being taken and then detained.” DEMOCRATS VYING FOR NYC MAYOR SPAR OVER DEFUNDING POLICE, COMBATING ICE ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, in a message to Wu on Wednesday, said “these are real people with real families you’re hurting with your ridiculous rhetoric and inflammatory comments and it’s time to remember that.” Leah Foley, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, also released a video message saying “federal agents in marked jackets and vests are masking their faces because people like Mayor Wu have created false narratives about their mission. “Federal agents and their children are being threatened, doxxed and assaulted. That is why they must hide their faces,” she added.
Ex-Biden adviser calls Jean-Pierre ‘kinda dumb,’ deletes tweet, says she’s not a ‘genius-level Black woman’
As criticism mounts from within Biden’s world against former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and her new book, one ex-aide lambasted the now-Independent ombudswoman as “kinda dumb” — a tweet he deleted but later stood by. Timothy Wu, now a Columbia Law professor, was former President Joe Biden’s “architect” of antitrust policy whose faculty bio claims he also coined the progressive term “net neutrality” in 2002. In a now-deleted tweet, Wu wrote: “from a [White House] staff perspective, the real problem with Karine Jean-Pierre was that she was kinda dumb.” “[She had n]o interest in understanding harder topics. Just gave random incoherent answers on policy,” Wu added in the trashed tweet. FORMER BIDEN OFFICIALS RIDICULE KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S BOOK AS ‘BIZARRE CASH GRAB’ The X account “I work with my word” replied to the original tweet, calling it “pretty racist,” and the tweet was later deleted, but the reply remained. Below the reply, Wu added a new line of commentary, saying the Biden White House was “full of genius-level Black women. [Jean-Pierre] was not one of them.” In response to another X user asking Wu whether Trump White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt understands executive policy, the professor said a good ombudsperson will “meet with policy staff and try and understand what the administration is doing and why.” BIDEN-ERA WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS EXPRESS DISBELIEF ON KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S SUDDEN PARTY SWITCH Fox News Digital reached out to Wu via his Columbia faculty office, where he has taught since 2006. The former Biden adviser was also a Democratic primary candidate for New York’s lieutenant governorship in 2014, and also worked in the Obama administration and at the Federal Trade Commission. Jean-Pierre announced Wednesday that she left the Democratic Party and has become an Independent while revealing her upcoming book: “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.” She was mocked and criticized by several people in Biden’s orbit besides Wu, including one who said, “I wouldn’t ignore what Karine has to say, but it’s not an account in which much weight will be invested — just like her briefings.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “At noon on that day [that Biden left office], I became a private citizen who, like all Americans and many of our allies around the world, had to contend with what was to come next for our country. I determined that the danger we face as a country requires freeing ourselves of boxes. We need to be willing to exercise the ability to think creatively and plan strategically,” Jean-Pierre said of her new Independent streak. Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
‘Coming for us’: Expert sounds alarm on CCP’s mission to ‘kill Americans’ after FBI makes shocking arrests
Following news that two Chinese nationals were charged with allegedly smuggling a “dangerous biological pathogen” into the United States to study at a U.S. university, Fox News Digital spoke to an expert on China who said the arrests should be a wake-up call to the country. “I was entirely unsurprised, which is a sad commentary, but it speaks to the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP wants to kill Americans,” Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute focusing on U.S. and China relations, told Fox News Digital after FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrests of the two Chinese nationals. “Look at what they’ve done with smuggling fentanyl precursors into our country to kill Americans, look at the effects of them failing to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Sobolik said. “Dead Americans. The fact that they want to target Americans here within the United States with pathogens and with bioweapons. This is the Chinese Communist Party. This is what they do. They’re in a cold war with the United States. They want to become the most powerful nation in the world and they wanna make the world safe for their tyranny and unsafe for freedom. And they’re coming for us here at home.” The couple are accused of smuggling a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a “potential agroterrorism weapon,” according to the Justice Department. Federal prosecutors note that the noxious fungus causes “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and “is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.” TRUMP, CHINA’S XI INVITE EACH OTHER ON STATE VISITS AMID TRADE FIGHT, US PRESIDENT SAYS The Justice Department also says fusarium graminearum’s toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and “reproductive defects in humans and livestock.” According to the criminal complaint, one of the accused allegedly received Chinese government funding for her work on the pathogen in China. The couple are accused of bringing the pathogen into the U.S. to study at a University of Michigan laboratory, which raises more concerns about Chinese nationals infiltrating American universities. Last month, a bombshell report out of Stanford University shed light on the influence of spies from the Chinese Communist Party that the student newspaper says have likely infiltrated the prestigious institution and other universities nationwide to gather intelligence. BLUE STATE GOVERNOR TOUTS MEETING WITH CCP OFFICIAL COZYING UP TO DEMS: ‘GRATEFUL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY’ “American higher education is addicted to the Chinese Communist Party,” Sobolik told Fox News Digital. “It’s addicted to easy money that has come from Beijing for decades. It’s addicted to international students that pay full tuition, many of which are then coerced and pressured by the Chinese embassy and consulates and other networks to spy for the party and report back.” “American universities need to finally open their eyes and stop being willfully blind to the threat of the CCP. They’re vectors for intelligence gathering. They are vectors for these threats that target Americans on our own soil. That’s unacceptable. If sovereignty means anything, we need to be able to protect Americans within the borders of the United States. And universities cannot continue to be willing accomplices of the Chinese Communist Party.” A Chinese embassy official said Wednesday he was unaware of the case involving two Chinese nationals charged with smuggling a “dangerous biological pathogen” into the U.S. for university research. “I don’t know the specific situation, but I would like to emphasize that the Chinese government has always required overseas Chinese citizens to abide by local laws and regulations and will also resolutely safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” said Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Embassy in the U.S. Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and Charles Creitz contributed to this report
Climate lawfare in blue-state courts could hurt US energy consumers, expert says: ‘Huge effect’
Climate change advocates are using “tiny jurisdictions” across the country to push their priorities through civil lawsuits, in an effort that could have significant national-level impacts on domestic oil production and even other industries, a conservative consumer advocate warns. President Donald Trump has taken steps to unleash a sweeping domestic energy agenda, including through preemptive lawsuits in at least four states aimed at preventing them from suing fossil fuel companies over climate change damages. However, a wave of other mainly Democratic jurisdictions across the country, such as in Oregon, Colorado and Washington, are still attempting to go after fossil fuel companies, something consumer advocate O.H. Skinner warns could have “a huge effect” on not only the domestic oil industry, but also on other key economic sectors like car manufacturing. “You really have to understand that these suits matter a ton,” said Skinner, who is a fossil fuel industry advocate and executive director at nonprofit Alliance for Consumers. “If a court in Oregon declares climate change to be a public nuisance, and orders the nine biggest energy companies in America to stop the nuisance, they’re going to unlock billions of dollars for their green initiatives, and going to be asking the court to prevent these energy companies from opening a new oil field, drilling, producing, refining, everywhere.” NJ LAWSUIT CLAIMING OIL COMPANIES CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE DEALT MASSIVE BLOW IN COURT Skinner is referring to an ongoing case in Oregon – Multonomah County to be precise, which is seeking $52 billion in their suit against oil companies. He also pointed out that several other “public nuisance lawsuits” across the country “are asking for national fixes from courtrooms in little, tiny jurisdictions.” “One county gets 50 billion. Another county gets 50 billion. What’s their real goal? Bankrupting the energy industry across the whole country,” Skinner said. “If they were to get such a win, it would start to have a huge effect.” Trump signed an executive order in April targeting state and local lawsuits against domestic energy producers, which, in part, instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify and take action against state laws and civil actions that burden domestic energy producers. So far, his administration has filed lawsuits against at least four states, New York, Vermont, Michigan and Hawaii, to block them from suing fossil fuel companies for damages. WHITE HOUSE RIPS BLUE STATE DEMS USING ‘LAWFARE’ TO PROTECT WIND INDUSTRY Skinner said that as a consumer advocate, he “gets really nervous” about these lawsuits because they don’t just end with fossil fuels. “They are trying to direct national policy through the courtroom, because they’ve lost in so many other important venues, like Congress or at the ballot box for president,” Skinner said. “First they want to stop oil production, then they want it, then they’re going to go and try to say that the car companies all have to switch to zero emission vehicles. And it goes on and on and on.” Our Children’s Trust, an Oregon-based nonprofit that is currently litigating several state and federal-level lawsuits on behalf of youth plaintiffs over climate change-related matters, including one against the Trump administration over the implementation of his numerous executive directives on unleashing fossil fuels. CLIMATE LAWFARE IS RUNNING INTO A POWERFUL FORCE LIBERALS DIDN’T EXPECT “No president can act in ways that harm our kids or tell states they have to power their electricity grid with fossil fuels when wind and solar are the cleaner, cheaper, and healthier option,” a spokesperson for the group said in a statement to Fox News Digital. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “What’s important for Americans to know is that wind and solar energy are not only the most abundant source of energy we have, but because of American ingenuity, they are also the cheapest form of energy today. It’s why clean energy was the fastest-growing energy sector in Texas last year,” the spokesperson continued. “For families who pay the electricity bill, they will spend less for every fossil fuel we substitute with wind and solar energy. Even more importantly, medical doctors say we can prevent asthma in children, and create healthier communities for our kids. We all share the value of protecting life, especially our children’s.”
ICE official puts politicians on blast, demanding they ‘stop putting my people in danger’
Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons demands that politicians “stop putting my people in danger.” In a video, Lyons called out Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., suggesting that they are fomenting “outrage” about ICE’s work, accusing them of “hurting” people with “ridiculous rhetoric and inflammatory comments.” During remarks last week, Wu said, “People are terrified for their lives, and for their neighbors, folks getting snatched off the street by secret police, who are wearing masks … who can offer no justification for why certain people are being taken and then … detained.” LARGEST EVER ICE OPERATION RESULTS IN NEARLY 1,500 ILLEGALS ARRESTED IN BLUE STATE U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah Foley explained the mask issue in a video shared online this week. “Federal agents in marked jackets and vests are masking their faces because people like Mayor Wu have created false narratives about their mission. Federal agents and their children are being threatened, doxxed and assaulted — that it why they must hide their faces,” Foley declared. Wu has even earned a direct rebuke from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) X account. “I don’t know of any police department that routinely wears masks,” Wu said on Wednesday. “NSC-131 routinely wears masks.” When someone asked Wu whether she was comparing ICE to a neo-Nazi group, the mayor replied, “What I said is that Boston police, and no police department that I know of at the local level routinely wears masks.” DHS slammed Wu, declaring in a Thursday post, “Mayor Wu comparing ICE agents to neo-Nazis is SICKENING. When our heroic law enforcement officers conduct operations, they clearly identify themselves as law enforcement while wearing masks to protect themselves from being targeted by known and suspected gang members, murders, and rapists. Attacks and demonization of our brave law enforcement is WRONG. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults.” CHILD PREDATORS, GANG MEMBERS, HUMAN TRAFFICKERS DEPORTED IN MAJOR TEXAS CITY ICE ROUNDUP Jeffries declared on Tuesday that all ICE agents who perpetrate “aggressive overreach” and attempt to conceal “their identities from the American people, will be unsuccessful in doing that.” They will all be identified “no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes,” he asserted, saying that is what the law requires. The House minority leader made the comments when responding to a question about identifying authorities connected with two separate incidents related to Democratic lawmakers. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., said in a post on X last month that “ICE shoved” her. However, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba later declared in a post that her office had “charged Congresswoman McIver with violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a)(1) for assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement.” DEM REP. MCIVER MAKES FIRST COURT APPEARANCE AFTER NEWARK INCIDENT Separately, DHS agents “forcefully entered” an office and handcuffed one of Rep. Jerry Nadler’s, D-N.Y., staffers, the lawmaker said in a statement. DHS addressed the incident, stating in a post on X that “Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers responded to information that protesters were present inside U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler’s District Office in Manhattan, New York.” DHS said that “officers were granted entry and encountered four individuals. Officers identified themselves and explained their intent to conduct a security check, however, one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office. The officers then detained the individual in the hallway for the purpose of completing the security check. All were released without further incident.” Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Wu and Jeffries to request comments from the politicians on Thursday but did not receive responses by the time of publication.
Trump responds to Biden dismissal of autopen probe, says he didn’t know ‘what was going on’
President Donald Trump maintained his belief that former President Joe Biden didn’t have “much of an idea what was going on” when he served as president when asked Thursday to respond to Biden’s dismissal of an investigation into his administration’s use of an autopen. “He was never for open borders. He was never for transgender for everybody. He was never for men playing in women’s sports. I mean, he changed,” Trump said Thursday from the Oval Office during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “I mean, all of these things that that changed so radically. I don’t think he had any idea … I said it during the debate and I say it now, he didn’t have much of an idea what was going on.” “Essentially, whoever used the autopen was the president, and that is wrong,” he added. “It’s illegal. It’s so bad, and it’s so disrespectful to our country.” Trump sent a memo to the Department of Justice Wednesday directing Attorney General Pam Bondi’s department to investigate whether Biden administration aides conspired to deceive the public about his mental state, and simultaneously using an autopen to sign key presidential actions. BIDEN’S WOES CONVERGE: LAST-MINUTE PARDONS UNDER FIRE, CALLS FOR PROSECUTION MOUNT FOLLOWING HUR TAPE RELEASE “In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority,” Trump wrote. “This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history. The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden’s signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.” Biden responded to the memo Wednesday evening, brushing it off as “ridiculous” and a “distraction” put forth by the GOP. “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false,” Biden said. “This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.” Trump continued in his Thursday comments that the Biden administration’s use of an autopen is one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history, remarking that autopens are typically used to send mass amounts of letters — not for official presidential actions. CRITICISMS MOUNT THAT BIDEN IS A ‘SHADOW’ OF HIMSELF AFTER DISASTROUS DEBATE: ‘NOT THE SAME MAN’ FROM VP ERA “I sign important documents. Usually, when they put documents in front of you, they’re important. Even if you’re signing ambassadorships or — and I consider that important, I think it’s inappropriate,” Trump continued. “You have somebody that’s devoting four years of their life or more to being an ambassador. I think you really deserve that person deserves to get a real signature, not a not an autopen signature.” The president added that he can easily identify autopen signatures from genuine pen-to-paper signatures due to “two little pinholes from pulling the paper” that are found on documents. “I think it’s very disrespectful to people when they get an autopen signature,” Trump said. “Autopen to me are used when thousands of letters come in from young people all over the country, and you want to get them back and, you know, people use auto pens for that to send, a little signature at the bottom of a letter. We have thousands of them. We get thousands of letters a week, and it’s not possible to, you know, though I’d like to do it myself, but you can’t do it. That’s where autopens start and stop.” WHAT IS AN AUTOPEN? THE SIGNING DEVICE AT THE HEART OF TRUMP’S ATTACKS ON BIDEN PARDONS TRUMP CLAIMS BIDEN PARDONS ARE ‘VOID,’ ALLEGING THEY WERE SIGNED VIA AUTOPEN Autopen signatures are automatically produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature. The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project first investigated the Biden administration’s use of an autopen earlier in 2025 and found that the same signature was on a bevvy of executive orders and other official documents, while Biden’s signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The reports led to speculation that Biden aides had approved of executive orders and sweeping pardons, not the president.
DC restaurant groups blast Dems’ ‘baseless’ boycott threat reportedly backed by AOC, Sanders
“Dozens” of Democratic lawmakers are boycotting six high-dollar Washington, D.C., restaurants over labor disputes with two restaurant groups, according to Axios. One of those restaurant groups, STARR, told Fox News Digital the boycott push was “baseless.” “To the best of our knowledge, a majority of Le Diplomate employees have no interest in engaging in that process nor in being represented by a union,” a STARR representative said. “A boycott of any kind can result in lost hours, wages, and tips that our hardworking employees rely upon. It is unfortunate that an organization that claims to want to represent the employees of Le Diplomate would call for an action that would harm them.” DEMS FUME OVER ‘DUE PROCESS’ FOR ABREGO GARCIA DESPITE LONG HISTORY OF PARTY BUCKING THE LEGAL PRINCIPLE The owner of the second business, Knightsbridge Restaurant Group, took a shot at the lawmakers more directly. “How many of these congress members even know themselves that they’re signing?” he told Axios. STARR owns Osteria Mozza, The Occidental and Le Diplomate – the latter of which has been a mainstay among the Washington, D.C., elite for years, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Knightsbridge owns Rasika, Modena and Bombay Club. Knightsbridge did not respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital. Obama was spotted at Osteria Mozza with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos earlier this year, CBS News reported. The boycott is being run by Local 25, a hospitality workers’ union. “Hundreds of workers at some of D.C.’s most prominent and lucrative restaurants – including Le Diplomate and Rasika – have been organizing to join UNITE HERE Local 25. These workers have endured months of union busting from their employers – STARR Restaurants and Knightsbridge Restaurant Group,” a flyer on the boycott obtained by Axios read. MIKE JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP GET ‘BIG, ‘BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE “D.C. Restaurant workers have been holding informational picket lines outside STARR and Knightsbridge Restaurants, including STARR’s Osteria Mozza, The Occidental and Le Diplomate, and Knightsbridge’s Rasika, Modena and Bombay Club. Now, workers are calling for D.C. customers to boycott these restaurants, asking the public not to eat, meet or drink at these locations.” Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are reportedly among the signatories. Fox News Digital reached out for comment.