What would Trump’s use of the Insurrection Act look like in Minnesota?
President Donald Trump responded to unrest in Minnesota this week by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, which critics said would amount to federal overreach and unnecessarily militarize cities. Trump’s potential use of the Insurrection Act would be the latest in a list of several instances of presidents using it and would allow active-duty U.S. military troops to conduct law enforcement within the state. The statute authorizes the president to take the extraordinary step of deploying the military in the country under certain circumstances, including, according to the text of the law, when “unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it “impracticable to enforce the laws.” TRUMP THREATENS TO INVOKE INSURRECTION ACT IN MINNESOTA IF AGITATORS KEEP ATTACKING FEDERAL OFFICERS The powerful law allows the president to “take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress [an] insurrection” when state officials are unwilling or unable to. The law functions as an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, which says the military cannot be used as a domestic police force, and it allows the president to bypass Congress. Trump seeks to stop ‘professional agitators’ Trump framed the possible use of the Insurrection Act as a means of addressing what he said were failures by Minnesota’s Democratic leadership. “If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” he wrote. On Friday, he told reporters he did not plan to use it, for now, but that he has not ruled it out. “It has been used by 48% of the presidents as of this moment,” Trump said, adding, “If I needed it, I’d use it. I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it.” His remarks come as protests and instances of vandalism and violence continue to rock Minneapolis. Tensions skyrocketed this month after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen who had an altercation with ICE that the FBI is now investigating as a possible assault on the agent. DHS ARRESTS ARMED MAN WITH EXTRA AMMUNITION FOR ASSAULTING FEDERAL OFFICER AT LATE-NIGHT MINNEAPOLIS RIOT The shooting came as DHS has deployed thousands of ICE agents to Minnesota in recent weeks as part of what it dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” which has led to at least 2,000 arrests, according to court papers filed as part of a lawsuit Minnesota’s leaders brought against the administration over the crackdown. A federal judge recently denied Minnesota’s request for an emergency order that would have paused ICE’s work. Minnesota’s leaders, openly at odds with the administration, argued the Insurrection Act would improperly militarize a domestic conflict that should be handled by the state. “Minnesota needs ICE to leave, not an escalation that brings additional federal troops beyond the 3,000 [ICE agents] already here,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey wrote on X. “My priority is keeping local law enforcement focused on public safety, not diverted by federal overreach.” Gov. Tim Walz responded to Trump’s call by asking him to “turn the temperature down.” Asked about what would justify the use of the Insurrection Act, Chad Wolf, America First Policy Institute’s chair of Homeland Security and Immigration, told Fox News Digital the president could have “little choice” but to invoke the Insurrection Act. “If the situation on the ground in Minneapolis continues to grow violent, with ICE officers being targeted and injured as well as other violent acts, and Governor Walz and Mayor Frey continue to restrict local law enforcement from doing their job and encouraging their residents to resist ICE, President Trump will have little choice,” Wolf, former acting secretary of DHS, said. “Local leadership is currently taking all the wrong steps and making the situation worse. I hope commonsense will eventually prevail.” What could the military do in Minnesota? There are few restrictions on how Trump could use the military in Minnesota if he were to do so under the Insurrection Act, which legal experts say is lacking in specifics and gives the president wide latitude. The Trump administration would first draft an order outlining which military forces would be used and how. MIKE DAVIS: WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MINNESOTA IS WHY WE HAVE THE INSURRECTION ACT The president could then direct the troops to carry out numerous tasks, such as enforcing federal laws, breaking up protests, or otherwise suppressing what Trump deems to be rebellious activity. What else have presidents used it for? The Insurrection Act dates back to 1807, and although it has been used several times, Trump would be the first to invoke it since President George H.W. Bush used it to quell Los Angeles riots in 1992. President Abraham Lincoln used what amounted to Insurrection Act powers to respond to a rebellion within the Confederacy in the Civil War era. In the 1940s, President Franklin Roosevelt deployed 6,000 Army troops to Detroit in response to race riots under the Insurrection Act. President Dwight Eisenhower used the law to deploy the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, in the 1950s to enforce civil rights laws in the face of resistance from the state. President John F. Kennedy later used the military for similar purposes in Alabama. Would the Insurrection Act stand up in court? Trump federalized the National Guard under Title 10, a separate statute, to respond to anti-ICE activity in Illinois and Oregon, but the Supreme Court recently halted those deployments. Trump would be testing out an alternative by invoking the Insurrection Act, which has faced minimal scrutiny in the courts. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital he hoped the use of the Insurrection Act could be avoided but that Trump would have a solid legal argument if it were challenged in court. “The rhetoric of the mayor and the governor has only strengthened the case for the Administration in fueling
Minnesota Dept of Corrections dismisses DHS narrative about them not complying with ICE
The Trump administration accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of “actively organizing” anti-ICE resistance after officials from the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of lying about how the state is handling its illegal immigration problem. DHS called on Walz and Frey earlier this week to honor federal immigration detainers for the more than 1,300 illegal aliens that the federal agency said the state of Minnesota had in custody, accusing officials in the state of releasing nearly 470 criminal illegal immigrants onto Minneapolis’ streets. Walz’s office subsequently disputed DHS’s claim, calling it “categorically false” that the state does not honor federal immigration detainers, meant to hold criminal illegal aliens in custody after committing a crime until Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can come pick them up. In a press release Thursday, the Minnesota DOC echoed Walz’s verbiage that DHS’s claims were “categorically false,” adding that they are “unsupported by facts and deeply irresponsible” as well. The Minnesota DOC also claimed that they have “always” coordinated with ICE agents when individuals in custody have detainers. ICE RELEASES PHOTOS AFTER VIOLENT MINNEAPOLIS PROTESTS LEAVE MULTIPLE ALLEGED AGITATORS ARRESTED “The Minnesota Department of Corrections honors all federal and local detainers, including those issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” said the Minnesota DOC. “DHS’s assertion that 1,360 non-U.S. citizens are in Minnesota’s state custody is inexplicable. Minnesota’s total state prison population is approximately 8,000 individuals, and only 207 (less than 3 percent) are non-U.S. citizens. Further, in 2025, 84 individuals with ICE detainers were released. In each case, ICE was notified in advance and DOC staff coordinated with ICE officials to facilitate the custody transfer when requested.” According to the Minnesota DOC, DHS did not identify which “jurisdictions, systems, or timeframes” were relied upon by the agency to support their numbers, and said that they did not align “with DOC records or the reality of Minnesota’s prison system.” But the Trump administration stood behind their numbers and claims in a statement to Fox News Digital from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, arguing Walz and Frey were “actively encouraging an organized resistance to ICE and federal law enforcement officers.” “As DHS stated, across the state of Minnesota nearly 470 criminal illegal aliens including violent criminal illegal aliens have been RELEASED into communities. We have more than 1,360 active detainers on illegal aliens in the custody across all jurisdictions in Minnesota,” McLaughlin said. “We are once again calling on Governor Walz and his fellow sanctuary politicians to commit to honoring all ICE detainers.” REPUBLICANS URGE TRUMP NOT TO INVOKE INSURRECTION ACT IN MINNEAPOLIS AMID UNREST AFTER ICE-INVOLVED SHOOTING On the heels of a fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month involving federal ICE officers, Minneapolis Mayor Frey told Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to “get the f—- out” of his city, while Walz similarly told the Trump administration to “leave Minnesota alone.” Mayor Frey has also issued an executive order prohibiting federal agents from using city property to conduct operations, and a city separation ordinance was recently bolstered by local Minneapolis officials to protect illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, in February, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a formal opinion arguing state law prohibited state and local law enforcement from holding someone solely on an ICE civil detainer. The danger of not properly adhering to ICE detainers reared its head in December after an illegal immigrant with a detainer in Northern Virginia was released from custody and then subsequently killed someone a day later. On Friday, two sources familiar with the probe indicated that federal prosecutors were investigating both Walz and Frey for allegedly impeding law enforcement efforts in the blue state. Sources said the investigation is in early stages, and it is unclear if it will result in any criminal charges.
Jeb Bush heaps praise on Trump’s ‘unprecedented support’ for Iranians 10 years after heated primary
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush credited his former political foe President Donald Trump‘s “historic leadership” on pushing for a denuclearized and democratized Iran, saying that his current organization — United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) – stands ready to help Trump and the people of Iran against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. With Trump’s emergence into presidential politics in 2015, he found his top rival in the former Florida governor, notably dubbing him “Low Energy Jeb” — as the Republican scion hit back that the mogul could not “insult his way to the presidency.” This week, détente appeared to emerge between the two as Bush heaped praise on Trump’s position after the president urged Iranian “patriots [to] keep protesting.” EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE APPEALS TO TRUMP AS IRAN PROTESTS MARK ‘DEFINING’ MOMENT “Take over your institutions. Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “President Trump continues to demonstrate historic leadership on Iran, with unprecedented support for the Iranian people as they face bullets for freedom. We at UANI join him in standing with the brave people of Iran.” Bush leads UANI alongside former Ambassador Mark Wallace, the ex-husband of MS-NOW host Nicolle Wallace and a key diplomat in Bush’s brother’s White House. FREED IRANIAN PRISONER SAYS ‘IN TRUMP, THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC HAS MET ITS MATCH’ “UANI applauds President Trump’s unprecedented support of the people of Iran as they fight to reclaim their country,” Bush and Wallace said in a statement. “For far too long, the United States and the West have equivocated in expressing support for the people of Iran in the face of the Ayatollah’s violence and repression.” “President Trump’s post made clear that no longer will the United States and the West lack the moral clarity to support the people of Iran as they face bullets for freedom. That change is historic.” TRUMP CREDITS IRAN NUCLEAR STRIKES FOR KICKSTARTING ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL Trump has been praised for taking a harder line than recent presidents against Iran, cancelling talks with Tehran leaders after reports surfaced that they were shooting and killing protesters in the streets. “UANI joins with President Trump and stands with the brave people of Iran in their struggle against the Ayatollah,” Bush and Wallace added. Their group is a nonprofit, nonpartisan one, formed to combat threats posed by Iran. POMPEO SAYS IRANIAN REGIME HAS ARRIVED AT ‘NATURAL TERMINUS’: ‘LET’S NOT WASTE THIS HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY’ The tenor between the two Republican stalwarts is a marked change from the turbulent 2016 sweeps. At the time, Trump often mocked Bush for his family’s involvement in the race, reportedly saying, “Your mom can’t help you with ISIS” after former first lady Barbara Bush cut a campaign ad for her son. “Donald is great at the one-liners,” Bush quipped during a 2015 debate. “But he’s a chaos candidate.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the two leaders’ new common ground. On Iran, a senior administration official said the administration supports the people of Iran against the regime’s continued human rights abuses and authoritarian repression, and that the regime is one of the world’s worst violators of human rights; oppressing its people to maintain its grip on power.
‘LA DOGE’ delivers nearly $1 billion in savings for red state: ‘Unbelievably tremendous effort’
Though the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency has been largely disbanded, a Louisiana state version, dubbed “LA DOGE,” has pushed on and, according to an official report, is set to garner $1 billion in annual tax dollar savings. LA DOGE will achieve $999.5 million in annual cost savings of both federal and state tax dollars across 17 state departments, according to a report by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s office reviewed by Fox News Digital. The report posits that these savings will be achieved “without any reductions in service.” LA DOGE was established by an executive order signed by Landry in December 2024 as the Louisiana Fiscal Responsibility Program. Similar to Elon Musk’s vision for the federal DOGE, the Louisiana version was set up with the intent to eliminate wasteful spending, improve government efficiency and modernize government operations. Since being established, LA DOGE has been spearheaded by Louisiana Fiscal Responsibility Czar Steve Orlando, an oil and gas executive who had worked exclusively in the private sphere until being appointed to the role. The report said the department worked closely with Louisiana legislative leadership, the Louisiana legislative auditor, and the commissioner of administration to identify and implement the cuts. PRITZKER CHALLENGERS DEMAND AUDIT, PITCH ‘DOGE FOR ILLINOIS’ AND POINT TO WALZ-STYLE FAILURES Of the nearly $1 billion in savings, the report said that $367 million was from Louisiana’s state general fund, $601 million from federal tax dollars and $65 million from other funding sources. From the state fund, LA DOGE was able to cut $407.6 million in spending by improving the governmental workforce and service inefficiencies amongst state staff. An additional $206.4 million was cut through renegotiated and canceled contracts. Critically, Louisiana was able to cut $285.5 million through Medicaid cuts that included improved eligibility determination processes to remove ineligible recipients and the implementation of an optimized process of monthly checks of residency of Medicaid members by utilizing data from the Office of Motor Vehicles. An additional $14.9 million was cut in similar eligibility determination improvements for SNAP beneficiaries. An official in the governor’s office emphasized to Fox News Digital that the state has been able to do all these cuts while simultaneously improving the state’s services to citizens. TRUMP’S MAIN DOGE OFFICE SHUTTERS — BUT ITS WAR ON GOVERNMENT WASTE ISN’T OVER “We have been able to keep the budget down and not have a fiscal cliff, wean ourselves off of one time money used for recurring expenses, improve our roads and bridges, fund SNAP through these savings during the government shutdown, and give the largest tax cuts in state history,” she said. Meanwhile, the official said that this has allowed the governor’s office to “continue to push for no income tax.” Landry, who has been in office just two years, referred to LA DOGE as an “unbelievably tremendous effort” during a press conference touting its success. The governor told Fox News Digital that he was “shocked” by the “sheer amount of federal and state matching dollars that we were able to save in the welfare program by doing simple things like cross-checking IDs, license verifications, things that have been pointed out as best practices in order to control the abuses inside the welfare system and nobody would do them. And we just did them and we just immediately started seeing savings.” Landry compared some of the cuts the state made to a family going back and cancelling its unused subscriptions. “Sometimes it’s as just checking to find out about subscriptions,” he said. “In our households, we have a tendency to maybe go back and do that, especially when times get tight, inflation starts biting into people’s pockets. But in government, it’s really not their money, they don’t have to generate the revenue like you have to generate in businesses.” ‘MISSISSIPPI MUSK’: STATE AUDITOR’S MOGE REPORT FINDS $400M IN GOVERNMENT WASTE Though he said LA DOGE’s mission is complete, Landry noted that “our goal and efforts toward improving government and continuing to seek efficiencies are not complete.” “In fact, we are just getting started,” he said. The governor shared that he plans to reform the Office of the Inspector General to “take on a new, expansive role as a reformed office also focused on optimization and efficiency within state government.” “We haven’t stopped, and we won’t stop in finding efficiencies and actually improving the services we have provided through state government,” said Landry. In a word of advice to other states hoping to emulate LA DOGE’s success, Landry urged governors to “just go out and challenge your cabinet members to reach into the bureaucracy and take a look at where the spending is occurring.”
Philadelphia’s threat to prosecute ICE could trigger landmark court fight over authority, experts warn
The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and legal scholars laid out what could happen if Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner follows through on his promise to prosecute ICE for acts committed in the line of their duty, should operations in Pennsylvania reach a flashpoint. Last week, Krasner warned he would prosecute agents who “come to Philly to commit crimes” in an apparent reference to allegations an agent acted unlawfully in shooting a Minnesota woman who appeared to intentionally hit him with her car while disrupting an operation. Philadelphia County Sheriff Rochelle Bilal doubled down, calling ICE officers “fake, wannabe law enforcement” and warned them they “don’t want this smoke ‘cause we will bring it to you.” GOP, DEMOCRATS CLASH ON CAPITOL HILL AS REPUBLICANS TARGET CARTELS AND DEMS PUSH TO CURB ICE PARTNERSHIPS Krasner argued President Donald Trump could not pardon arrested agents because any cases would be brought at the state level, leading Fox News Digital to ask officials and experts to weigh in on what the true case may be. César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, the chair of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at Ohio State’s college of law, and an expert in immigration and criminal law that is at nexus in this case, said interfering with federal law enforcement carrying out their job duties is just as much of a crime as killing someone without legal justification. “Immigration agents are permitted to enforce federal immigration laws within any community in the United States, including Philadelphia, but local police officers there are equally authorized to investigate anyone who they suspect of having committed a violent crime.” TOP REPUBLICAN REBUKES NOTIONS TO ARREST DHS AGENTS WITH PLAN TO PULL FUNDING FROM PROBLEM CITIES While federal and local authorities often work in tandem in important operations to deconflict potential flash points, Hernandez said that dynamic has “clearly broken down in cities like Minneapolis” and that Krasner’s comments suggest it’s “frayed” in Philadelphia. If trust is broken between local and federal authorities, actions like Krasner’s pledge may lead to court battles to determine supremacy. Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano — a former professor of strategic studies at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle — predicted the feds would win any litigation due to the Supremacy Clause, which reads that “the supreme law of the land and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.” ICE HEAD SAYS AGENTS FACING ‘CONSTANT IMPEDIMENTS’ AFTER MIGRANT SEEN RAMMING CARS WHILE TRYING TO FLEE He added in recent comments to Fox News Digital that the “Constitution is not optional” and if Philadelphia officials think they can “bully” Washington, they will find out “that’s not how America works.” Hernandez said, “It is absolutely clear that no one — not even federal law enforcement officers — can do anything they like in the course of carrying out their job duties.” “The hard question is where the line is drawn. That is what courts are set up to do, but they can only play their part if law enforcement officials investigate what happened, then prosecutors dig in to see whether there is a legal basis for filing criminal charges.” When asked how they would treat such a case, a Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital the DOJ has a “zero-tolerance policy for violence against law enforcement and will hold offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” A top attorney at the Washington investigative nonprofit Oversight Project said that Philadelphia officials have to be “bluffing.” “Any local arrest of a federal law enforcement official for performing federal law enforcement functions would be blatantly unlawful. Any ICE agents would be immediately released and the local officials should face charges for obstructing federal law enforcement.” “This is hornbook constitutional law that every law student in America learns early in their schooling,” he said, adding that residents in cities where prosecutors believe they can pursue federal agents deserve officials with a “basic rudimentary understanding of law.” DHS also weighed in, saying that the city would have no legal leg to stand on if prosecutors were to decide to interfere in any Minneapolis-style operations on Broad Street. “Enforcing federal immigration laws is a clear federal responsibility under Article I, Article II and the Supremacy clause,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. It would be up to Congress then to give local officials any carveouts, she suggested. MINNESOTA AG SAYS ‘THERE IS NO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON MURDER’ AFTER FATAL ICE SHOOTING OF RENEE GOOD “Our law enforcement is enforcing federal law — if politicians and activists don’t like the law, they should try to change it instead of demonizing our brave men and women in uniform.” McLaughlin said Philadelphia is not alone in anti-enforcement rhetoric, and laid out the stakes of what kind of lawlessness could have continued in Pennsylvania if her agency hadn’t already begun taking criminal illegal immigrants off the streets. She pointed to DHS’ recent capture of Yehia Badawi, an Egyptian illegal immigrant convicted of aggravated assault and robbery in Philadelphia. McLaughlin also shared the names of a Cuban drug trafficker, a Cambodian methamphetamine dealer and several other illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes, including rape. Krasner’s office did not return a request for comment, and Bilal referred further questions to the DA after a spokesperson told Fox News Digital that lawmakers in Harrisburg do not decide who gets arrested in Philadelphia.
White House torches Newsom as ‘inauthentic slimeball’ after California governor walks back ICE rhetoric
The White House slammed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom as an “inauthentic slimeball” after he attempted to walk back his staff’s description of an ICE officer-involved shooting as “state-sponsored terrorism.” “Newscum is an inauthentic slimeball who has no principles — he simply says whatever he thinks he needs to, in the moment, to get attention,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox Digital on Friday. “He’s happy to smear ICE officers and incite violence against them when he thinks it will score points with his radical left base, but as soon as he’s pressed on his dangerous claims he throws his staffers under the bus and tries to distance himself from the content they put out under his name. Newscum will never be ready for primetime,” she added. Jackson was responding to Newsom’s comments on his podcast published Thursday, when he walked back his office’s message on X following an ICE-involved fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 was “STATE. SPONSORED. TERRORISM.” NEWSOM RETREATS AFTER SHAPIRO PUTS HIM ON THE SPOT OVER CHILLING ICE TERRORISM CLAIM Federal authorities and the administration said the ICE officer had opened fire on Good after she had allegedly used her vehicle as a weapon against the agent. Democrats have described the death as a “murder” and amplified criticisms of federal law enforcement officers in the days following. Newsom was joined on the podcast by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who pressed him about his office’s message linking ICE to terrorists. “And then your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism, which I mean, governor, I do have to ask you about that,” Shapiro said on the podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” “That sort of thing makes our politics worse. Yeah, I mean, it does. I mean, our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state-sponsored terrorism.” Newsom responded: “Yeah, I think that’s fair.” Newsom continued during their conversation that he has bucked Democrat colleagues’ calls to “defund ICE” while adding his state cooperates with federal immigration officers. DEMOCRATS WORRY ‘ABOLISH ICE’ SLOGAN WILL BACKFIRE POLITICALLY LIKE ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ DID “I disagreed when I think a candidate for president by the name of Harris said that in the last campaign. I remember being on [MSNBC show hosted by] Chris Hayes hours later saying, ‘I think that’s a mistake.’ So absolutely,” Newsom said. Former Vice President Kamala Harris called for “a complete overhaul of the agency, mission, culture, operations” of ICE back in 2018. President Donald Trump has for years slammed Newsom’s immigration policies, arguing the sanctuary state weakens border enforcement, protects illegal immigrants, and puts public safety at risk. The Democratic governor defended his state’s policies by saying that California allegedly cooperates with ICE, and that his state’s sanctuary policies would be “unnecessary” if the U.S. had “comprehensive immigration reform.” “We work very directly with ICE as it relates to [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] state prison,” Newsom said on the podcast. “California has cooperated with more ICE transfers probably than any other state in the country. And I vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that have come from my legislature to stop the ability for the state of California to do that.” TRUMP ADMIN WARNS OF ‘WIDESCALE DOXXING’ OF ICE IF HOUSE DEM’S NEW BILL PASSES “TRUMP IS TRYING TO CANCEL THE GOVERNOR – VERY WOKE!” Newsom spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo responded to Fox Digital in an email Friday when approached for comment. “EVERYDAY AMERICANS ARE EXPERIENCING STATE SPONSORED TERROR BY OUR INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!” Newsom’s office added on X that the governor supports removing “child molesters, rapists and violent criminals” from California but opposes what they called federal “masked agents” sweeping up innocent people, urging an immediate halt to such roundups and calling for federal reform to protect immigrants and U.S. citizens. In the wake of Good’s death, chaos has broken out in Minneapolis, including on Wednesday, as agitators clashed with law enforcement officials after the second ICE-involved shooting in the city. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pinned blame on Democrats and their rhetoric for heightened threats against federal immigration law enforcement officers. “The Democrat Party has demeaned these individuals,” Leavitt said Thursday of federal immigration officers. “They’ve even referred to them as ‘Nazis’ and as ‘the Gestapo.’ And that is absolutely leading to the violence we’re seeing in the streets. “If you look at some of the images out of Minneapolis last night, look at this vehicle, look at what it says,” Leavitt added. “It says, ‘F ICE.’ You have these individuals who are putting their middle finger, proudly so, at the camera, another ICE individual, a vehicle that was vandalized last night by these left-wing agitators.” The Department of Homeland Security reported in December that assaults and violent attacks against ICE law enforcement officers have surged more than 1,150% compared to attacks under the Biden administration. It found there were 238 assaults on ICE officers between Jan. 21, 2025 to Nov. 21, 2025, up from just 19 during the same timeframe in 2024. Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
Virginia Democrats move to seize redistricting power, opening door to 4 new left-leaning seats
The Virginia state Senate on Friday greenlit a constitutional amendment that would clear the way for the Democrat-controlled legislature to redraw the state’s U.S. House maps ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The move by state senators, following a similar vote on Wednesday in the state House, was the final step needed to send the amendment to Virginia voters. If the ballot measure is approved this spring, the legislature, rather than the current non-partisan commission, would redraw the state’s congressional maps through 2030. Virginia is the latest battleground in the ongoing high-stakes battle between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats to alter congressional maps ahead of November’s elections. And Virginia Democrats, who currently control six of the state’s 11 U.S. House districts, are aiming to draw up to four additional left-leaning seats. Republicans are defending their razor-thin House majority in the midterms, and Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win back control of the chamber. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) called Friday’s development “a critical step in giving Virginia voters the opportunity to ensure they have fair and equal representation in Congress.” THE NEXT BATTLEGROUNDS IN THE HIGH-STAKES MAP FIGHT And charging that “Donald Trump and Republicans are doing everything they can to rig the midterms in their favor through unprecedented mid-decade gerrymandering,” DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene argued that “Virginians — not politicians — will now have the chance to vote for a temporary, emergency exception that will restore fairness, level the playing field, and stand up to extremists seeking to silence their voices.” But the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus accused the state Senate Democrats of passing “a partisan gerrymandering amendment to entrench their party in power.” And the Republican National Committee (RNC) called it a “power grab.” “This is just the most recent example of Democrats’ multi-decade campaign to gerrymander in every state where they gain power,” RNC national press secretary Kiersten Pels argued in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This is exactly why red states are fighting back to level the playing field after years of states like Illinois, New York, and California drawing their districts to disenfranchise Republicans.” STUNNING SETBACK FOR TRUMP IN REDISTRICTING WARS Virginia Democratic lawmakers have indicated they will release a proposed map later this month. And on Thursday, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit titled “Virginians for Fair Elections” launched, to urge voters to vote in favor of the redistricting ballot measure. Aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterms, Trump last spring first floated the idea of rare, but not unheard of, mid-decade congressional redistricting. The mission was simple: redraw congressional district maps in red states to pad the GOP’s razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats. Trump’s first target was Texas. BIG WIN FOR TRUMP AS SUPREME COURT GREENLIGHTS TEXAS’ NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP When asked by reporters last summer about his plan to add Republican-leaning House seats across the country, the president said, “Texas will be the biggest one. And that’ll be five.” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas called a special session of the GOP-dominated state legislature to pass the new map. But Democratic state lawmakers, who broke quorum for two weeks as they fled Texas in a bid to delay the passage of the redistricting bill, energized Democrats across the country. Among those leading the fight against Trump’s redistricting was Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California. California voters in November overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that temporarily sidetracked the left-leaning state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and returned the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democratic-dominated legislature. That is expected to result in five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts in California, which aimed to counter the move by Texas to redraw their maps. The fight quickly spread beyond Texas and California. Republican-controlled Missouri and Ohio, and swing state North Carolina, where the GOP dominates the legislature, have drawn new maps as part of the president’s push. And Florida Republicans, in a move pushed by GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers are also hoping to pick up an additional three to five seats through a redistricting push during a special legislative session in April. In blows to Republicans, a Utah district judge late last year rejected a congressional district map drawn up by the state’s GOP-dominated legislature and instead approved an alternate that will create a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the midterms. And Republicans in Indiana’s Senate in December defied Trump, shooting down a redistricting bill that had passed the state House. But Trump scored a big victory when the conservative majority on the Supreme Court greenlit Texas’ new map. Other states that might step into the redistricting war are Democratic-dominated Illinois and Maryland and two red states with Democratic governors, Kentucky and Kansas. Hovering over the redistricting wars is the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule in Louisiana v. Callais, a crucial case that may lead to the overturning of a key provision in the Voting Rights Act. If the ruling goes the way of the conservatives on the high court, it could lead to the redrawing of a slew of majority-minority districts across the county, which would greatly favor Republicans. But it is very much up in the air — when the court will rule, and what it will actually do.
IRS confirms Trump-ordered $1,776 ‘Warrior Dividend’ for 1.45M troops is tax-free
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) delivered good news for America’s troops Friday, confirming that the one-time $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” paid to service members in December 2025 is completely tax-free, allowing troops to keep every dollar of the bonus. In a Friday release, the Treasury Department and the IRS said that “supplemental basic allowance for housing payments” made to members of the uniformed services in December 2025 “are not to be included in income by those who received the payments; they are not taxable.” The agency said federal tax law specifically excludes from gross income a “qualified military benefit,” adding that basic allowances for housing payments fall under that category and therefore are not subject to federal income taxes. The confirmation caps off President Donald Trump’s pre-Christmas announcement that nearly 1.5 million U.S. service members would receive a special “Warrior Dividend” in recognition of their service and to commemorate roughly 250 years since the nation’s founding. CONGRESS UNVEILS $900B DEFENSE BILL TARGETING CHINA WITH TECH BANS, INVESTMENT CRACKDOWN, US TROOP PAY RAISE “And the checks are already on the way,” Trump said during a Dec. 17, 2025, primetime address from the White House, crediting tariffs and recently passed GOP spending and tax legislation for funding the payments. “Nobody deserves it more than our military. And I say congratulations to everybody,” he added. According to the IRS, Congress appropriated $2.9 billion in legislation enacted last July to supplement the basic allowance for housing payable to members of the uniformed services, with the one-time $1,776 payments funded by that appropriation. The IRS said the supplemental payments were made primarily to active-duty service members in pay grades O-6 and below, along with eligible Reserve Component members as of Nov. 30, 2025, across the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Space Force. TRUMP SIGNS ‘MEDAL OF HONOR ACT’ TO RAISE PENSIONS FOR AMERICA’S MILITARY HEROES Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson welcomed the tax treatment in remarks carried by Pentagon News, saying the ruling ensures the money reaches military families directly. “The tax-free Warrior Dividend places $1,776 directly in the hands of our warfighters and their families,” Wilson said. “The department is proud to recognize their sacrifice.” During his December address, Trump also pointed to what he described as a turnaround for the armed forces under his leadership, citing record enlistment and contrasting it with what he called historically poor recruitment numbers under the previous administration. “What a difference a year makes,” Trump said. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the dividend reflects a broader push to improve quality of life for military families. “This Warrior Dividend serves as yet another example of how the War Department is working to improve the quality of life for our military personnel and their families,” Hegseth said. “All elements of what we’re doing are to rebuild our military. The Department of War and the Internal Revenue Service did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for additional comment. Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this reporting.
Michael Cohen says NY prosecutors ‘pressured and coerced’ him into anti-Trump testimony
President Donald Trump‘s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, said Friday that prosecutors in both the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York Attorney General’s Office “pressured and coerced” him into delivering testimony tailored to securing convictions against Trump. Cohen, who was a key prosecution witness in two New York cases against Trump, accused New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of pursuing evidence aimed at Trump, saying prosecutors were uninterested in testimony that didn’t fit their narrative. “I felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony that would satisfy the government’s desire to build the cases against and secure a judgment and convictions against President Trump,” Cohen wrote in a post on Substack. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Office of the New York State Attorney General and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for comment. APPEALS COURT HANDS TRUMP LEGAL WIN, ORDERS REVIEW OF HUSH MONEY CASE OVER PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY Cohen, who was Trump’s personal lawyer for many years, said he was writing as a federal appeals court considers the president’s request to move his hush money case to federal court for further review. The former Trump fixer testified in a civil case brought by James’ office in 2023, where Trump was found liable for fraudulently inflating his assets to obtain favorable loan terms. He also took the stand in Bragg’s case in 2024, where Trump was ultimately found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Cohen accused both James and Bragg of using their high-profile cases to elevate their careers, claiming they sought credit as officials who “took down Trump.” TRUMP FILES ‘POWERHOUSE’ APPEAL IN ‘POLITICALLY CHARGED’ MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY CASE “They blurred the line between justice and politics; and in that blur, the credibility of both suffered,” he wrote. Cohen said that both before and during the trials, prosecutors made it clear they were only interested in testimony from him that would convict Trump. “When my testimony was insufficient for a point the prosecution sought to make, prosecutors frequently asked inappropriate leading questions to elicit answers that supported their narrative,” he said. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to several crimes, including tax evasion, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. He described cooperating with authorities while incarcerated, saying he sought sentence relief and felt compelled to provide testimony fitting prosecutors’ narratives with the hope that his sentence would be reduced. “You may reasonably ask why I am speaking out now. The answer is simple. I have witnessed firsthand the damage done when prosecutors pick their target first and then seek evidence to fit a predetermined narrative,” Cohen said, while noting that he was not writing in defense of Trump.
Florida GOP candidate wants 50% ‘sin tax’ on OnlyFans creators to fight ‘cultural degeneracy’
A Republican candidate for governor in Florida recently proposed a hefty “sin tax” on OnlyFans content creators if he is elected. “Young women once aspired to be devoted mothers, doctors, lawyers, and nurses,” James Fishback told Fox News Digital in a statement on Friday. Fishback continued, “Today, young women are told by an online platform called OnlyFans that it’s morally right to sell nude photos of themselves to strangers on the internet. I will not tolerate this cultural degeneracy as Florida’s next Republican Governor.” He has estimated the income tax would raise around $200 million, according to FOX 35, which he said would be put into the state’s education system. ONLYFANS BOOM ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES SPARKS CONCERN AS MORE STUDENTS TURN TO PLATFORM FOR FAST CASH The money would also go toward crisis pregnancy centers and to fund the “first-of-its-kind mental health czar for men in particular because men have been told for far too long that they are guilty of masculinity,” he told podcaster Joel Webbon this week. “That they are guilty for all of society’s ills. I’m not going to stand for that slanderous lie.” He told Webbon: “As Florida’s governor, I don’t want young women who could otherwise be mothers raising families, rearing children, I don’t want them to be selling their bodies to sick men online. And I don’t want young, impressionable men who have strayed from Christ, who have strayed from our lord and savior to be told and drawn in to lust.” Fishback told FOX 35 he would be open to a possible tax on OnlyFans customers as well. ONLYFANS STAR PREACHES TO UNIVERSIY STUDENTS AS PROFESSOR SAYS ‘MANIFESTATION WORKED’ OnlyFans content creator Sophie Rain told People magazine she thought the proposal was the “dumbest thing” she had ever heard. “No one ever forced me to start an OnlyFans, it was MY decision, so I don’t need a 31-year-old man telling me I can’t sell my body online,” she explained to the magazine. “I am a Christian, God knows what I am doing, and I know he is happy with me, that’s the only validation I need.” Piper Fawn, another OnlyFans creator, told FOX 35 she felt Fishback was trying to push his religious beliefs with the proposal. “He’s saying, you know, it’s a sin, it’s wrong, that’s true, that’s fair,” she told the station. “But sin is a biblical term, it’s not a legal term. If he’s really trying to make the state a safer spot or making changes for the better, I feel like there are other things that can be worked on and putting our attention towards versus taxing creators.” Fox News Digital has reached out to OnlyFans for comment. “If you are a man or woman selling your body on the internet, you can either have two options: The first of which, you can pay the state of Florida 50% so we can raise teacher pay, or you can quit doing that and do something morally rigorous,” Fishback added to FOX 35.