Democrats end 30-year losing streak in Miami as Trump-backed candidate falls short
It took nearly 30 years, but Democrats finally broke their decades-long ballot box losing streak in Miami, Florida, the city known as the nation’s “Gateway to Latin America.” Democrat Eileen Higgins, a former county commissioner, defeated Republican Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, in Tuesday’s Miami’s mayoral runoff election, according to the Associated Press. While the election was technically nonpartisan, the ballot box face-off became the latest showdown this year between Democrats and Republicans, with both parties pouring in resources and the race grabbing plenty of national attention. President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzalez, who served on Trump’s Homeland Security Department transition team, and this past weekend took to social media to emphasize that Miami’s mayoral election “is a big and important race!!! Vote for Republican Gonzalez.” WHY MIAMI, FLORIDA IS IN THE NATION’S POLITICAL SPOTLIGHT Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Florida poured in resources to boost Gonzalez. But Democrats, energized by last month’s decisive 2025 election victories and by last week’s double-digit overperformance in a special election in a red-leaning congressional district in Tennessee, aimed for a victory in Miami. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and allied groups invested in the race. DNC Chair Ken Martin told Fox News Digital that, following last week’s “historic overperformance in Tennessee and the record Democratic momentum across the country this year,” the DNC is now “laser focused” on Miami’s mayoral runoff. Higgins made history as the first woman elected Miami mayor. And her victory is another boost for Democrats. “Tonight’s result is yet another warning sign to Republicans that voters are fed up with their out-of-touch agenda that is raising costs for working families across the country,” the DNC’s Martin said in a statement Tuesday night. Florida was once the largest of the general election battleground states but has shifted dramatically to the right over the past decade. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won re-election by nearly 20 points in 2022, and Trump carried the state by 13 points in last year’s presidential election victory. But Miami remains a rare blue oasis in the Sunshine State. Trump narrowly lost the city in last year’s presidential election, although the president won the wider Miami-Dade County by 11 points. Trump made major gains last year with Hispanic and Latino voters in his re-election victory, but Higgins’ win in Tuesday’s runoff election is the latest signal that Hispanic and Latino voters may be souring on the president and his party. KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS Higgins, a mechanical engineer and former Peace Corps director in Belize, focused on the issue of affordability and of making local government work better and faster during her campaign. González, a veteran and senior advisor at an asset management firm, spotlighted the fight against overdevelopment and called for the elimination of property taxes for primary homes as he bid for mayor. Higgins captured 36% of the vote in the Nov. 4 election, with González coming in second at 19%, in the multi-candidate field. With no candidate topping 50%, the contest headed to Tuesday’s runoff. Higgins will succeed term-limited Republican Mayor Francis Suarez, who grabbed national attention two years ago as he briefly and unsuccessfully ran for the GOP presidential nomination.
Federal appeals court lets Pentagon reinstate transgender service ban, says judge overstepped military leaders
A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday allowed the Pentagon to temporarily enforce its revived ban on transgender military service, ruling that a lower court improperly blocked the Trump administration’s 2025 policy. The decision marks a major development in one of the most closely watched military policy cases in the country. The 2–1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stays a district court’s preliminary injunction and permits the Trump administration to continue enforcing the restrictions while litigation continues. “Today’s victory is a great win for the security of the American people,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital. “As commander in chief, President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that our Department of War prioritizes military readiness over woke gender ideology.” FEDERAL JUDGE RULES AGAINST TRUMP ORDER HALTING SEX CHANGE PROCEDURES IN PRISONS Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, writing for the majority, said the district court wrongly substituted its own judgment for that of Pentagon leadership. “The United States military enforces strict medical standards to ensure that only physically and mentally fit individuals join its ranks. For decades, these requirements barred service by individuals with gender dysphoria, a medical condition associated with clinically significant distress,” the majority wrote. “The district court nonetheless preliminarily enjoined the 2025 policy based on its own contrary assessment of the evidence. In our view, the court afforded insufficient deference to the Secretary’s [Hegseth] considered judgment. Accordingly, we stay the preliminary injunction pending the government’s appeal.” FEDERAL JUDGE UNDERCUTS TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON ‘RADICAL GENDER IDEOLOGY’ The 2025 policy, enacted under President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, “generally bars individuals with gender dysphoria from serving in the Armed Forces,” the court noted. According to the majority opinion, the Pentagon concluded the policy would advance “important military interests of combat readiness, unit cohesion, and cost control.” Judge Patricia Millett Pillard issued a sharp dissent, accusing the Trump administration of failing to justify the renewed ban and arguing that the motives behind it were impermissible. SUPREME COURT HANDS TRUMP VICTORY ON TRANSGENDER PASSPORT POLICY CHANGE “There may well be valid reasons to reexamine and alter military service policies set by previous administrations. But on this record, one cannot tell,” Pillard wrote. “Defendants provide no evidence that they based their new policy on any assessment of costs, benefits, or any other factor legitimately bearing on military necessity. Indeed, there is ‘no evidence that [President Trump or Secretary Hegseth] consulted with uniformed military leaders’ before imposing their unprecedented ban on transgender servicemembers.” Pillard said the administration’s approach reflected “animus from the start,” pointing to President Trump’s Jan. 27 Executive Order 14183, or Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness, issued in February. In that order, Trump declared it “the policy of the United States” that “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” The order also claimed that openly identifying as transgender is “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member” and directed Hegseth to develop policies within 60 days. The policy on transgender service has shifted repeatedly over the past decade. Restrictions were relaxed in 2016, tightened in 2018, relaxed again in 2021 and reinstated in 2025, the court noted. The district court halted the latest version earlier this year, prompting the Pentagon’s successful appeal for a stay. The case now returns to the district court for full consideration and is expected to continue moving toward what could ultimately be a Supreme Court review. The Department of War did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Expert reveals key factor that led to massive Minnesota fraud scheme
An ongoing decline in American assimilation and a deep fear of being accused of racism were key factors in the massive fraud scheme in Minnesota that is now coming to light, according to an expert. Minnesota is facing one of the largest social-services fraud scandals in U.S. history after federal prosecutors uncovered what they describe as “schemes stacked upon schemes” by Somali-run non-profits that siphoned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from child-nutrition and Medicaid housing programs. Prosecutors have since charged more than 70 defendants, a large percentage of whom are members of Minnesota’s Somali community, securing dozens of convictions as new waves of indictments continue. The scandal has triggered state and federal investigations, congressional scrutiny, and calls for accountability over why warnings were missed and how the fraud was allowed to reach this scale. Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said that the decline in immigrant assimilation in America was key during an interview with Fox News Digital. INSIDE ‘LITTLE MOGADISHU’: MINNESOTA’S BELEAGUERED SOMALI COMMUNITY UNDER A CLOUD OF FRAUD AND TRUMP ATTACKS “Assimilation is a two-sided coin. The pressure comes from inside, from you wanting to assimilate so you can make it in the new society, but it also comes from outside, where the society says, ‘Hey, we expect you to do this. We expect you, if you want a driver’s license, to be able to speak and read English at a basic level.’ We don’t do that anymore in America. We don’t we don’t really expect anything of our immigrants,” explained Hankinson. “There are a lot of people who are American-born,” he went on, “who really don’t like this country and what it stands for. And so, they don’t think anyone else ought to accept it and adapt to it either.” Hankinson noted that in no way can the fraud scheme be blamed writ large on the Minnesota-Somali community, which is estimated to have around 80,000 people. He said that those involved in the scam are a minority. However, the fact that the tight-knit community has by and large not assimilated into the broader American society and customs meant that many of the factors that could have exposed the scheme earlier were not there, according to Hankinson. “When you come from a culture that provides you with nothing from the center, everything is family, everything is clan, everything is local, then it’s almost impossible for you to understand how a federal system would work. And if your neighbor came to you and said, ‘Hey, we got this cool thing going, if you just say your kid’s autistic, I’ll give you a thousand dollars a month.’ I mean, that’s a no-brainer for an awful lot of people,” he explained. “Even if they thought that maybe it was wrong on some level, they might think, ‘Well, hang on, in my new country, maybe that’s frowned upon,’ they’re not going to rat out the clan member, the family member,” he added. TIM WALZ CALLED OUT BY WASHINGTON POST FOR REFUSING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL That, combined with the existence of generous taxpayer-funded welfare programs and Minnesota being what Hankinson called a “high trust state,” made the state “ill-equipped to handle fraud.” “In Minnesota, these programs were low-hanging fruit. They were so easy to fleece, it’s almost farcical,” said Hankinson. “So, the carrot is there to commit fraud, and there’s no stick.” He pointed to one aspect of the scheme in which prosecutors say Minnesota’s Medicaid autism program was exploited by companies recruiting families, securing fraudulent diagnoses, and billing for therapy that never happened, draining millions from the program. “That is outrageous. Somebody should have noticed at some point that, ‘Hang on a minute, why have the autism rates in Somali kids gone from one in a hundred to like one in three or whatever it was?’” he said. “There should have been some oversight, and there again you get into the whole American racial guilt, which is a particular issue that we have, where if you’re an unscrupulous scammer, you can always play the race card, and that will often get you away with it because people are terrified.” “Nobody likes to be called a racist. It’s about one of the worst things you could be called,” he went on. “But I do think liberal Americans, in particular white liberal Americans, are more afraid of that label than anything else. So, some of these scammers, they threatened to make a fuss about being targeted on account of race or immigrant status or religion. And that probably contributed to state authorities being a little slower.” ILHAN OMAR SAYS SHE’S FRUSTRATED SINCE SOMALIS ARE ALSO VICTIMS IN ‘FEEDING OUR FUTURE’ SCAM This dynamic has also played out on the national level. Following the Trump administration’s announcement of its crackdown on illegal immigrant Somalis in Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has accused it of “demonizing an entire group of people just by their race and their ethnicity.” “I can’t take Tim Walz seriously, honestly, because he was the governor who was in charge while all this was happening. Where was he?” said Hankinson. “He was asleep at the switch.” “It’s not a question of scapegoating,” he said. “It’s a good thing to send a message, not to the Somali community per se, but to all of Minnesota and the rest of the 49 states that this is America, we have laws, we have rules. When you break those rules, you are going to get punished.” Hankinson added that ultimately, he hopes to see many Somalis joining in the effort to crack down on the minority involved in fraud so that they can “give their community the reputation that it deserves.”
Top parental rights group targets key policy that could quickly score Trump administration a victory
FIRST ON FOX: A top parental rights group is urging President Donald Trump to take more steps to improve healthcare pricing transparency, an issue the Trump administration says Joe Biden’s administration failed to adequately address. The American Parents Coalition, which previously made headlines for its advocacy on behalf of parents regarding gender identity issues, sent a letter to President Trump, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Treasury and the Department of Labor on Tuesday thanking them for the work they have done so far on improving healthcare pricing transparency and urging them to do more. “There is still much work to be done on this front,” the letter to Trump insisted. “Healthcare shouldn’t be a gamble for parents, and we shouldn’t have to fight for transparency when our full focus should be on our children’s health. “With clear, detailed, and accurate price breakdowns before care, informed parents can do what they have always wanted: make the best decisions for their children’s wellbeing, without sacrificing financial stability.” HOUSE GOP SEEKS OFF-RAMP TO SKY-HIGH HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS FOR MILLIONS OF AMERICANS One of the president’s first moves on this issue during his second term was a February executive order aimed at ramping up implementation and enforcement of existing transparency regulations for hospitals and health plans ushered in during his first term. According to the order, progress on price transparency “stalled” during the Biden administration, pointing out that price transparency data that was supposed to be posted was often incomplete or not even posted at all. “After President Trump’s landmark price transparency regulations from his first term were left to languish by the inept Joe Biden, the second Trump administration is in full gear developing the most aggressive price transparency enforcement possible,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News Digital. After the February executive directive, HHS and the Labor and Treasury departments jointly announced a package of actions to “strengthen healthcare price transparency.” Among those actions was a request for public input on how to better increase price transparency and updated federal guidance aimed at eliminating meaningless or redundant data while making cost information easier for people to understand and utilize. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also released independent agency guidance directing hospitals and health plans to post “the actual prices of items and services, not estimates.” REPUBLICANS DIVIDED OVER WHETHER TO SALVAGE OBAMACARE — OR REPLACE IT — AHEAD OF SUBSIDY DEADLINE Since these actions early in Trump’s first term, the entire administration has continued to take steps to carry out the orders from Trump’s February executive order on price transparency, which built on similar initiatives from his first administration. One example is updating its federally operated repository with new resources to help hospitals comply with changes to hospital price transparency requirements. “President Trump already signed another price transparency executive order just over a month into his second term to fine noncompliant hospitals, and additional actions to advance this presidential priority are actively under review,” the White House noted. According to the American Parents Coalition, which argued in its letter to President Trump that the financial uncertainty regarding healthcare costs “is crippling American families,” there is one policy prescription that could be a quick, yet monumental, win for families and parents. In its letter to Trump, the American Parents Coalition said that a new policy directed at insurance providers, requiring them to tell patients “exactly” what they will cover, what they will not and transparently sharing how much patients will have to pay out-of-pocket “could be quickly implemented to deliver another win for American families.” “Parents deserve to know the price of healthcare, just like when we shop for groceries or plan activities for our kids. Hidden healthcare costs make financial planning impossible and decisions difficult,” said American Parents Coalition Executive Director Alleigh Marré. “Given the uncertainty of pricing when going to the doctor, parents may forgo medical care or opt out of appointments for themselves or their children, putting their health at risk. Thanks to President Trump and his Make America Healthy Again agenda, he is paving the way for families to have access to prices through healthcare price transparency, but there is more work to be done and we are urging the Trump Administration to continue implementing these transparency policies that will have huge impacts on parents.” As part of the coalition’s effort to continue pushing for greater price transparency within the healthcare system, it launched a new television advertisement that began airing Tuesday and a new website, ParentsNeedPrices.com.
Mamdani’s new safety advisor confessed serious pill addiction, turned to ex-NBA star for help
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s pick for his community safety transition team battled a spiraling pill addiction that she claims at one point hit as many as 20-30 pills a day. Activist Tamika Mallory, who will help shape public safety policy for the incoming mayor, revealed earlier this year that she struggled with a serious dependency on prescription drugs before entering rehab. She recounted her addiction while promoting her memoir, “I Lived to Tell the Story,” describing how she relied on the pills while holding a leadership position at the helm of national protest movements. Mallory also turned for help to former NBA All-Star Jayson Williams, who now works in recovery and trauma services. MAMDANI-APPOINTED NYC PROFESSOR WHO WROTE BOOK ON ENDING POLICING NOW TASKED WITH SHAPING COMMUNITY SAFETY In one interview on “The Breakfast Club,” she recalled calling Williams while pretending she was seeking guidance for a friend before he confronted her and urged her to get real help. “When I first contacted Jayson Williams, the NBA All-Star, you know, he is in the healing space after all the things we know he went through,” she said. “My first contact with him, I was kind of like, ‘Hey, my friend is going through something, what can you tell me?’ “He let me do that two times — two, three calls. By the third call, he was like, ‘Sis, I already know what it is. It’s all good’.” In another February appearance on “The Angie Martinez Show,” Mallory traced the beginnings of her addiction to stress, public pressure and a friend’s offer of Xanax. MAMDANI APPOINTS CONVICTED ARMED ROBBER TO PUBLIC SAFETY TRANSITION TEAM “I cut them in half and started taking them. And then, the next thing you know, I learned that Percocets were even better, and I started taking those,” Mallory described. “And then I was up to 20 to 30 pills a day. I was sitting at dinner with a group of girls one night, and this young lady, had she been through it. She was like, ‘You know, it’s a dark hole, and it doesn’t get lighter, it just gets worse. So, you should stop.’ “But, at that time, I was kind of like, Woo, I’m sleeping. I’m feeling a little better. And she’s like, ‘Actually, you’re not doing well at all.’” According to Mallory, the ability to function normally while using pills made the addiction especially dangerous. MAMDANI’S TOP INCOMING AIDE WAS ‘CHIEF ARCHITECT’ OF RADICAL PROPOSAL OVERHAULING NYPD “Pill addiction is real because it’s silent,” she told “The Breakfast Club,” noting that people can appear stable while “taking pills to numb themselves.” Mallory, a single mother whose son’s father was murdered in 2001, eventually entered rehab and told her story. “When I started to see how many people have the same experience, I knew it was time to release this story,” she said. Mallory’s new role with Mamdani comes through Until Freedom, the activist group she co-founded. MAMDANI REVEALS WHY HE APPOINTED CONVICTED ARMED ROBBER TO NYC TRANSITION TEAM The organization announced that Mallory, human rights lawyer Angelo Pinto and rapper-turned-activist Mysonne Linen will serve on the mayor-elect’s public safety and criminal justice transition teams. “This is a testament to our decades of work advocating on behalf of Black and brown communities and our expertise in gun violence prevention, legislative advocacy and criminal justice reform,” the group said on Instagram. “We are building something different.” Mallory, a Harlem native, has been a major figure in left-wing activism, often aligning with police abolition movements and once expressing hope that society could “one day abolish police.” She has also drawn scrutiny for her ties to Louis Farrakhan, the Women’s March antisemitism controversy, criticisms of the ADL and her anti-Israel remarks. Mallory has further faced criticism for comments about White women in politics and a social media post praising Fidel Castro. She rose to national prominence as a co-chair of the Women’s March, but after Mallory repeatedly praised Farrakhan, she left the role. Fox News Digital has reached out to Zohran Mamdani and Until Freedom for comment.
DOJ sues Virginia school board over Christian students’ rights
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit accusing a school board in Virginia of violating the constitutional rights of two Christian students by enforcing a gender-identity policy that officials say punished them for their religious beliefs. According to the DOJ, the Loudoun County School Board suspended two Stone Bridge High School boys for 10 days after they reported an incident in the boys’ locker room. A female student had allegedly entered the locker room and recorded audio and video of the boys inside. Several boys reported the incident, including the two Christian students whose religious beliefs require them to use biologically accurate pronouns and sex-segregated facilities, the lawsuit says. Loudoun County allegedly applied its Policy 8040 — a gender-identity rule that the DOJ says requires students and staff to “accept and promote gender ideology” regardless of religious beliefs. BOYS BRANDED SEXUAL HARASSERS FOR COMPLAINTS ABOUT TRANS CLASSMATE USING THEIR LOCKER ROOM GO TO FEDERAL COURT “Plaintiffs faced a choice: violate their consciences or stay true to their beliefs,” the lawsuit argues. School officials determined the two boys committed “sex-based discrimination” and “sexual harassment,” according to the suit. As punishment, the DOJ says the district suspended them for 10 days and ordered them to undergo a “Comprehensive Student Support Plan.” BOYS SUSPENDED IN TRANSGENDER LOCKER ROOM CONTROVERSY SPARK GOP BACKLASH IN VIRGINIA The Justice Department claims the school board violated the boys’ rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. “Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality.” The Loudoun County School Board did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
HUD chief blames ‘unchecked illegal immigration’ pricing-out families amid new housing report
EXCLUSIVE: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner slammed the Biden administration for what he called an illegal immigration and refugee crisis that rattled the housing market – particularly for low-income renters – though some analysts dispute the findings. Every two years, HUD releases its “Worst Case Housing Needs Report” – considered the agency’s flagship assessment of the state of the housing market for low-income Americans – and how many lack affordable and adequate housing. The report serves as a nationwide barometer of housing stress and shows whether the availability of affordable housing is improving or worsening, and who may be being hurt by the current conditions, which Congress can then use to craft policy. Policymakers use it to gauge gaps in the supply of low-cost rentals, target federal housing programs, and understand trends in who is being left behind. In short, it’s HUD’s way of tracking the renters in the greatest need — and how the U.S. housing system is failing to meet them. TRUMP’S HOUSING CHIEF RIPS POWELL FOR BLOWING MILLIONS ON FED FACELIFT DURING HOUSING CRISIS HE PERPETUATES Turner told Fox News Digital there are damning findings in this year’s assessment that he places right on the policies of former President Joe Biden’s immigration crisis. “The unchecked illegal immigration and open borders policies allowed by the Biden administration continue to put significant strain on housing, pricing out American families,” Turner said. “These policies have plagued America’s housing market, but in President Trump, Americans finally have a leader fighting to restore sanity to American immigration policy.” TRUMP’S DHS TOUTS MASSIVE NUMBER OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DEPORTED AS DEMS LASH OUT AT ICE But Jenna Stauffer, Global Real Estate Advisor at Sotheby’s International Realty of Key West, told Fox News Digital she didn’t think immigration was the primary driver of the “housing mess we are in.” “Housing affordability has been unraveling for years, and the problems we’re dealing with go way beyond any one factor,” she said. “We’ve really been under building for almost two decades. After the Great Recession, construction basically stalled, and it took years to recover. By some estimates, the U.S. is short four to seven million homes, and that long-term shortage is the core issue behind today’s affordability challenges.” HUD’s 2025 report found that increased immigration has driven up housing prices, and that the “unrestricted” nature of the influx has both strained the housing market and priced-out many American families. The report found that an estimated 15 million illegal immigrants constitute 30% of all foreign-born residents. Turner added in separate comments to Fox Business that HUD took away Federal Housing Authority-backed mortgages from illegal immigrants offered during the Biden administration, saying the former president “turned a blind eye” to the issue. In California and New York, immigrants have accounted for 100% of all rental growth and over one-half of all growth in owner-occupied housing in recent years, the report found – while nationally, the foreign-born population accounted for more than 60% of the growth in rental demand. KRISTI NOEM SAYS BIDEN USED DHS ‘TO INVADE THE COUNTRY WITH TERRORISTS’ Nationwide, the foreign-born population accounted for two-thirds of rental demand growth. HUD’s report contrasted that figure with the 13% growth attributed to noncitizens in 2019 and 2023’s lookbacks. “This further demonstrates that non-citizen households are playing an increasing role in the household growth that is straining the affordable housing supply,” the 109-page report said. NEW GOP BILL WOULD CUT OFF HOUSING FUNDS TO SANCTUARY CITIES DEFYING TRUMP DHS The agency found that without the migrant surge, housing inventory pressures would have been far lower and prices would not have climbed as sharply, noting roughly 784,000 fewer households would have formed over that period. Net additions to the housing market from 2015 onward have not kept up with “household formation among citizens” and non-citizen population growth has also inordinately affected rental markets. Worst-case housing reports have been released regularly since 1991, but the 2025 findings mark a sharper warning about the illegal immigration crisis’ impact on the numbers. BIPARTISAN PLAN AIMS TO MAKE THE AMERICAN DREAM AFFORDABLE AGAIN FOR MILLIONS OF FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS In August, Turner ordered an audit of every public housing authority, seeking data on verifiable citizenship of those living in subsidized housing. “No longer will illegal aliens be able to leave citizenship boxes blank or take advantage of HUD-funded housing, riding the coattails of hardworking American citizens,” Turner said. “Currently, HUD only serves one out of four eligible families due, in part, to the lack of enforcement of prohibition against federally funded assistance to illegal aliens,” he continued. TRUMP’S BORDER MIRACLE: FROM BIDEN’S CHAOTIC IMMIGRATION CRISIS TO ‘ALL QUIET’ IN RECORD TIME Vice President JD Vance highlighted a recent comment from Turner – who had been responding to a CNBC report that rents have dropped for four straight months. “Six months of zero illegals released into our country. Two million illegals removed. Rents dropped for the fourth straight month. Coincidence? I think not,” Turner said. Vance echoed what the agency ultimately would find in its report, remarking that the “connection between illegal immigration and skyrocketing housing costs is as clear as day.” SEC SCOTT TURNER: BLAME DRUGS AND MENTAL ILLNESS, NOT PRESIDENT TRUMP, FOR THE CHAOS GRIPPING OUR STREETS HUD’s findings, as expressed by Turner and others prior to the official report, also had other critics. Harvard Joint Center For Housing Studies senior research analyst Riordan Frost previously wrote that while the “surge in immigration” has affected the market, other factors like the coronavirus pandemic contributed to increases in housing costs during that time in history. “Immigrants play a role in household growth, sometimes to a substantial degree, but housing demand during the pandemic has been primarily shaped by native-born household growth in a time of constrained housing supply,” Frost said. BOMBSHELL REPORT ALLEGES BIDEN TEAM FORCED AIRPORTS TO HOUSE MIGRANTS, RISKING SAFETY Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman, D-N.J., also lit into Turner at a recent hearing, saying “you (Turner) are worsening the housing crisis with
‘Prices are coming down’: Trump hails his economy, blames Biden as voters say costs still sting
President Donald Trump declared the U.S. economy is strong and holds an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus” grade under his leadership despite inheriting a “mess” from the Biden administration. “The word affordability… I inherited a mess,” Trump told Politico in a sit-down interview published Tuesday. “I inherited a total mess. Prices were at an all-time high when I came in. Prices are coming down substantially. Look at energy. You and I discussed before the interview, energy… energy has come down incredibly. When energy comes down, everything… ’cause it’s so much bigger than any other subject. But energy has come down incredibly. Prices are all coming down. It’s been 10 months. It’s amazing what we’ve done.” The Trump White House is facing a crisis over its economic messaging after Democrats swept a series of elections in November while campaigning on platforms focused on “affordability,” lowering the current cost-of-living prices skyrocketing from grocery store shelves to rent, while touting a vote for Democrats was a vote against Trump and his policies. The Democratic election wins earlier in 2025 — which included the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia and the mayoral race in New York City — are viewed as a bellwether ahead of the 2026 midterms, lighting a spark among Republicans to fine-tune their messaging on the economy. JEN PSAKI MOCKS TRUMP, GOP OVER ‘AFFORDABILITY’ MESSAGE DURING COLBERT APPEARANCE The White House and Trump increasingly have amplified blame for the current affordability woes on former President Joe Biden’s leadership as voters’ financial anxiety grows at peak holiday shopping season. “Putting an end to Joe Biden’s inflation and affordability crisis has been a Day One priority for President Trump,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital Monday morning when asked about the White House’s message on affordability. “Every Trump administration official has been playing their part over the past year to deliver on this priority, from slashing costly regulations to securing historic drug pricing deals — efforts that have cooled inflation and raised real wages,” he continued. “Much work remains, but President Trump is highlighting the meaningful progress that his Administration has made and will continue to make to turn Joe Biden’s economic disaster around.” VANCE ACKNOWLEDGES VOTERS ‘IMPATIENT’ ON AFFORDABILITY, REJECTS ‘TOTALLY BULLS— NARRATIVE’ Voters have reported they are spooked by the current state of costs in the U.S. Some 76% of voters, however, reported that they view the economy negatively, up from the 67% who reported the same in July, and the 70% who said the same at the end of Biden’s term, a November Fox News national survey found. The survey found that voters overwhelmingly blamed Trump over Biden. About twice as many voters polled reported that Trump, rather than Biden, is responsible for the current economy, with three times as many voters reporting that Trump’s economic policies have hurt them, which is on par with their feelings during Biden’s final year in office. Andrew Bates, who served as the Biden White House’s deputy press secretary, pointed to the voter survey when asked for response to the Trump administration’s heightened comments, pinning blame for economic concerns on policies held over from the Biden White House. “Democrats and the Biden-Harris Administration warned Trump against making the biggest health care cuts in history so billionaires could get tax breaks; just like they warned against the tariffs that are a record-level tax hike on working people,” Bates said in an emailed comment to Fox News Digital. “Maybe Donald Trump can’t remember prices were lower last year. That’s what I wondered when he started building himself an assisted living ballroom.” The White House on Tuesday told Fox News Digital: “The fact of the matter is that Joe Biden inflicted a generational economic crisis on the American people. “Turning this crisis around has been a Day One priority for the Trump administration, which has already delivered cooled inflation, multi-year low gas prices, trillions in investments, and historic drug pricing deals to dramatically cut costs for American patients,” White House spokesman Desai said. “Biden flacks who insisted Biden was in absolute peak health and wasn’t dropping out of the 2024 presidential race just days before Biden did just that need to get a grip on reality.” Trump continued in his Politico interview that he grades the current economy as “A-plus.” “I do want to talk about the economy, sir, here at home. And… and I wonder what grade you would give your economy,” Politico asked Trump. Trump: “A-plus.” Politico: “A-plus?” Trump responded: “Yeah, A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.” The Biden administration oversaw the highest inflation to rock the nation in 40 years, 30-year mortgage rates that rocketed to roughly 8%, up from under 3%, and the sharpest rise in interest rates in decades. REPUBLICAN POPULISM CRATERS AS TRUMP STUMBLES, DEMOCRATS SURGE Trump hammered again in the interview that Democrats created the current affordability woes while stressing that they are the party that would bring prices down. “You talk about affordability, the Democrats love to say affordability, afford… but then they never talk about it,” he said. “They’re the ones that gave us the high prices. I’m the one that’s bringing them down.” Trump is set to travel to Pennsylvania Tuesday, a key battleground state that helped deliver him his 2024 victory, to promote his administration’s economic policies and growth amid voters reporting financial anxiety. TRUMP TORCHES DEMS’ ‘FAKE AFFORDABILITY’ PITCH – BUT GOP PANIC IN DEEP RED STATE HINTS VOTERS AREN’T BUYING IT White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previewed Trump’s speech during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Tuesday, which included taking shots at the Biden administration’s economic record. “We greatly look forward to going to northeast Pennsylvania tonight,” Leavitt said. “And President Trump is going to give a positive, economic focused speech where he talks about all that he and his team has done to provide bigger paychecks and lower prices for the American people.” She added: “And don’t forget, a year ago, President Trump inherited the worst inflation crisis in modern American history from the Biden administration.
Zelenskyy ready to present new peace proposals to US and Russia after working with European talks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that his country is ready to propose details for a new peace deal with Russia to the U.S. on Tuesday. Zelenskyy made the announcement on social media, saying Ukrainian and European negotiators had come to a more solid agreement on a proposal. Ukraine had previously ruled out any peace proposal that involved ceding land to Russia. “We are working very actively on all components of potential steps toward ending the war. The Ukrainian and European components are now more developed, and we are ready to present them to our partners in the U.S. Together with the American side, we expect to swiftly make the potential steps as doable as possible,” Zelenskyy wrote. “We are committed to a real peace and remain in constant contact with the United States. And, as our partners in the negotiating teams rightly note, everything depends on whether Russia is ready to take effective steps to stop the bloodshed and prevent the war from reigniting. In the near future, we will be ready to send the refined documents to the United States. Glory to Ukraine,” he added. US ENVOY GAVE RUSSIAN AIDE TIPS ON HOW TO SELL UKRAINE DEAL TO TRUMP: REPORT President Donald Trump had expressed frustration with Zelenskyy earlier this week, arguing he had been sluggish in responding to a proposal from the Russian side this weekend. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for five hours last week. EX-CIA STATION CHIEF WARNS PUTIN USING TALKS TO GAIN LEVERAGE AS UKRAINE DELEGATION MEETS TOP TRUMP OFFICIALS After the meeting, Putin traveled to India for a state visit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and gave an interview to the India Today news channel, where he said the negotiations with the Americans were long but productive. The Russian leader stuck to his maximalist demands in the interview, arguing his war will only end when his country takes Ukraine’s eastern Donbas or Ukrainian troops withdraw.
New Jersey twins charged in threats to kill DHS official, ‘shoot ICE on sight’
EXCLUSIVE: Two New Jersey brothers were arrested on charges tied to terroristic threats against DHS chief Kristi Noem’s top public-facing deputy, including alleged vows to “shoot ICE agents on sight.” One brother also faces unlawful weapons-possession charges. The harrowing allegations come amid a reported 8,000% increase in death threats against Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel. The alleged targeting of Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin presented a new danger for those working to realize President Donald Trump’s mass deportation of the “worst of the worst” illegal immigrant criminals. Ricardo Antonio Roman-Flores and Emilio Roman-Flores, twins from Absecon, New Jersey, next to Atlantic City; were arrested after allegedly posting to X that they wanted to torture and kill McLaughlin in a medieval fashion. “[The Second] Amendment is in place for moments like this. Shoot ICE on sight,” one of the brothers allegedly tweeted in a partially redacted response to a McLaughlin message: MEXICAN GANGS OFFERING UP TO $50K BOUNTIES FOR ICE AGENT ASSASSINATIONS IN US, DHS SAYS “We Americans should find you, tar you, feather you, and hang you as we did to anyone serving tyrants before the Revolutionary War.” A second partially redacted tweet, reportedly from the other brother, read: “Shoot ICE on sight.” McLaughlin has been front-and-center on broadcast media throughout DHS’ immigration enforcement missions. DHS BRASS SLAM VIRGINIA BEACH PRINCIPAL ACCUSED IN ‘CHILLING’ PLOT TO LURE, AMBUSH ICE AGENTS Seen as Noem’s top representative in the press, McLaughlin has not been shy about defending her agency, recently lambasting those like the Absecon brothers who allegedly threaten ICE agents as “despicable” and repeating that attacks on federal officers are a direct result of violent rhetoric from Democrats and the political left. She has also criticized far-left city leaders like Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has stood up against DHS operations. ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox News Digital the swift arrests — within three days of the alleged threats — serve as a warning: ICE PROTESTER WHO IDENTIFIED AS ‘BIN LADEN’ FACES CHARGES OVER ALLEGED SEXUALLY EXPLICIT THREATS TO AGENTS “We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. We are not afraid of you.” Lyons added, as McLaughlin previously said, that “extreme rhetoric” from the press, sanctuary-city politicians and left-wing activists are the direct precursor to these situations. “If you threaten our law enforcement or DHS officials, we will hunt you down, and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” The two suspects are American citizens. Emilio was charged with unlawful possession of an assault weapon, possession of prohibited weapons, conspiracy, terroristic threats, criminal coercion and cyber harassment. His brother, Ricardo, was charged with one count of conspiracy-terroristic threats. DHS credited the Absecon Police Department and its SWAT team for successfully taking the brothers into custody after they executed a search-and-arrest warrant in the Atlantic County community.