Trump drops Republican Senator’s phone number in social post over fury on stalled bill
President Donald Trump appeared to share the personal cell phone number of Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Truth Social amid his push to pass a bill which would end daylight savings time. Trump called out Cotton, who he describes as “a friend,” for stopping the “Sunshine Protection Act” from going to a vote last October. “For some reason, Tom is stopping the Bill and, in the Senate, it’s very easy to do, it only takes one! It should pass overwhelmingly, in a Bipartisan fashion,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “So, everyone in Arkansas, a State I love, and won 3 times, the last by 34 points, tell Tom to, GET IT DONE!” TRUMP URGES SENATE TO PASS BILL MAKING DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME PERMANENT AFTER OVERWHELMING HOUSE VOTE Trump doubled down on his pressure campaign Saturday while speaking with reporters at the White House before boarding Marine One for a trip to Ohio, arguing that Americans are fed up with changing their clocks twice a year. “We want to get away from this ridiculous way and custom of, every twice a year, turning your clocks back, turning your clocks forward, being late for dinner, being late for very important meetings,” Trump said. “It’s ridiculous.” Trump said Americans want more daylight in the evening and argued the twice-yearly time change is costly and disruptive. “People want to have light in the evening,” Trump said. “But really, what they want more than that, more than that by a lot, they don’t want to have to go around changing clocks.” HOUSE PASSES DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME REFORM AS TRUMP SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR ENDING CLOCK CHANGE At the end of his post, Trump prompted Arkansas voters to call Cotton’s number, which he included. Fox News Digital called the phone number associated with the Dardanelle, Arkansas, area code but did not reach Cotton. The Truth Social post from Trump comes as the Senate is out of session until Nov. 3 and unable to vote on the bill until after the midterm elections. The House passed its version of the bill in July by 308–117, garnering bipartisan support. The House bill was referred to a Senate committee, but it hasn’t been touched. Trump has been a leading advocate of ending the twice-yearly clock change, arguing that it would help “decrease Robbery and Murder Rates, Reduce Car Accidents (especially those involving Pedestrians!), Lower Risk for Cardiac Issues, Stroke, and Seasonal Depression,” among a laundry list of other benefits of having an extra hour of daylight in the evening. But the bill’s failure to pass despite bipartisan support marks another setback for Trump, who has made the SAVE America Act a priority but has been unable to get it signed into law. TRUMP FACES REPUBLICAN REBELLION OVER DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME AS SENATE BILL NEARS DEAD END After Trump called out Cotton for rejecting a bipartisan unanimous consent made by Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., to move the Senate bill last Fall, the Arkansas senator doubled down on his support for daylight savings time. “No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter,” Cotton psoted on X. “Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.” This isn’t the first time Trump has publicly disclosed a lawmaker’s cellphone number. In 2015, while campaigning for president, Trump shared the number of then-Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at a rally in South Carolina. The move came after Graham called Trump a “jackass” on CBS that morning. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Tennessee prison chief resigns after failed execution as former US attorney tapped to lead independent review
The head of Tennessee’s prison system is resigning after the state’s failed lethal injection of convicted murderer Christa Pike left her hospitalized and on a ventilator. Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will step down this month, Gov. Bill Lee said Saturday. In a statement distributed by the governor’s office, Strada said stepping aside was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” while an independent review examines what went wrong during the botched execution. “I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred,” Strada said. DEATH ROW INMATE UNCONSCIOUS ON VENTILATOR AFTER BOTCHED EXECUTION FOR TEEN’S KILLING: ATTORNEYS At Lee’s request, the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office has retained former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to conduct an independent review of the correction department’s actions in carrying out Pike’s court-ordered sentence, the state announced Saturday. The review will examine the state Department of Correction’s actions in carrying out Pike’s court-ordered sentence, including whether the state’s execution protocol was followed and whether additional recommendations are needed. Lee also called off the remaining execution scheduled in Tennessee this year pending completion of the review. Stanton previously conducted an independent review of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol in 2022. His work prompted the state and Attorney General’s Office to substantially rewrite the protocol before executions resumed. Lee said Strada served with integrity, adding that he appreciates his “willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment.” “I have accepted his decision to step down and am grateful for his commitment to ensuring a smooth leadership transition,” Lee said. CHRISTA PIKE’S BOTCHED LETHAL INJECTION TAKES FOCUS OFF VICTIM, JEOPARDIZES EXECUTION: FORMER POLICE CHIEF Pike, 50, was injected with two doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday night, and prison officials used at least seven needles while trying to find a vein. Pike was heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly during the execution, according to a Friday court filing from her lawyers. She was taken to the hospital, where she had to be intubated and put on a ventilator, her lawyers said. In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, Pike’s four-person legal team celebrated the departure of Strada but said it wasn’t enough. “What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person,” they said. “We hope the governor’s call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee’s entire death penalty system.” Her lawyers said in the court filing that the prison staff did not correctly place the IV lines. They also claimed staff failed to realize that one of Pike’s veins burst, leading to at least some of the pentobarbital entering her body. DEATH ROW INMATE TONY CARRUTHERS WON’T FACE EXECUTION FOR AT LEAST A YEAR AFTER IV LINE FAILURE IN TENNESSEE Strada became commissioner of Tennessee’s correction department in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. In late 2024, he announced that Tennessee would solely use pentobarbital as its execution drug. Four people have been executed in Tennessee since last year, according to the department. On the evening of Jan. 12, 1995, Christa Pike, then 18, lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into a wooded area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus. Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, then spent 30 minutes torturing Slemmer, while 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson served as a lookout. According to her confession to authorities, Pike killed Slemmer because she believed she was interested in her boyfriend romantically. Even though Shipp directly participated in the murder, he was ineligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time. He was sentenced to life in prison with parole, which he has not yet received. Peterson, who cooperated with investigators and testified against Pike and Shipp, was given 460 days in jail after pleading guilty to being an accessory. Pike was the only one in the case sentenced to death and became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row. She would have been the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Firebrand GOP rep: Democrats side with Iran ‘simply because they hate’ Trump
MAGA firebrand Congressman Randy Fine, R-Fla., warned the U.S. must stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons as he cautioned America is losing the battle against radical Islam. In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News Digital, he weighed in on the debate over whether Rep. Ilhan Omar D-Minn., should be deported after the recent announcement by Tom Homan that the Department of Homeland Security was investigating the congresswoman. “If she engaged in immigration fraud, she should be deported. And by the way, as should anyone who engaged in immigration fraud. And look, the woman is enmeshed. She’s bathed in fraud. I think the best example that we know is fraud is when she said she made 30 million dollars, which she either did and then lied about it and said she didn’t make it, or she made it up in the first place,” he claimed. FROM CAMPUS RADICALS TO BEIJING’S AI SABOTAGE: REP. RANDY FINE SAYS ‘US FIGHTING TO SAVE WESTERN CIVILIZATION’ “I mean, this is someone whose community that she comes from engages in wholesale welfare fraud. Some of her relatives had been involved in that as well, and if she engaged in immigration fraud she should be denaturalized. She should be deported back to her home country of Somalia.” A request sent to Omar’s office for reaction to Fine’s accusations was not returned by time of publication. Fine said that the battle against political correctness is directly tied to mainstream Islam. “Well, I don’t know that we’re winning. I think we’re losing. And you can see it in the unbelievable fear that people have about talking about mainstream Islam. I saw a video today about a mosque in Texas that [is] literally showing the erasing of a church and the building of a mosque. They are openly fundraising on the premise that they will eliminate Christianity in this country. “And people are absolutely petrified to speak the truth about it. That is a battle we are losing. And if we’re not willing to tell the truth about mainstream Islam, we’re done. You can see what has happened in the United Islamic Kingdom. That will happen to America if we are unwilling to deal with this problem,” he said. “I’m not surprised because when they stood up, the Iranians killed an estimated 100,000 of them. People are afraid. They don’t have weapons. They don’t have access to the internet to learn about what is going on.” MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD-LINKED NETWORKS EMBEDDED ACROSS CANADIAN INSTITUTIONS, NEW REPORT ALLEGES He continued, “And I think they’re hoping that the American pressure, both military and economic, will cause the regime to either restructure or collapse. I certainly would like to see them stand up for themselves and overthrow the mainstream Muslim religious leaders that are in charge there.” Following the IRGC’s recent call to the American electorate to oppose Donald Trump in the midterm elections, Fine said that the move has the potential to impact the ballot box. “Well, I hope it does. Look, it’s been clear to me, based on my time in Congress, that the Democrats are on the side of Iran, and it’s simply because they hate Donald Trump. “What’s extraordinary about it is the same Democrats who called for an overthrow of the mainstream Muslim religious leaders who run Iran all of a sudden got upset when Donald Trump did something about it. And I personally believe the conflict would have been over a long time ago if it wasn’t for Democrats supporting the enemy,” he said. “See, the mainstream Muslim religious leaders in Iran can see that Democrats aren’t on board. And they say, ‘hey, maybe we can wait out Donald Trump and the Republicans and get that nuclear weapon that we want to use in the United States.’ So, I’m not surprised.” He added, “I think we need to make sure people understand that Muslim terrorists in Iran have endorsed the Democratic Party. That’s who you’re voting for. You’re voting it for the people supported by Muslim terrorists if you vote Democrat.” Despite strong support for Trump’s military engagement in Iran, Fine does not believe that regime overthrow is an imperative. TURKEY’S NATO ROLE UNDER SCRUTINY AMID NEW REPORT ON HAMAS, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TIES “I don’t think it should be an explicit goal of American foreign policy. I think it probably happens as a result. But I’m an America First guy. And if crazy people want to run Iran, that’s not America’s problem unless they threaten America. And that’s what they have done.” He said, “For 47 years, the mainstream Muslim religious leaders who’ve run Iran have said ‘death to America.’ They’ve killed thousands of Americans. They’re trying to build missiles that can reach America. They’re trying to build a nuclear weapon that can reach America, so stopping that is in our interest.” He added, “But if they said, ‘look America’s our friend, we’re going to leave you alone’ well then it’s not an America First problem anymore. We’re not the world’s policeman, but we have to look out for America’s interests and making sure Iran can’t nuke us: that’s about as America First as it gets.” However, given the prospect of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, Fine’s answer modulates. “I mean, the answer is they can’t have a nuclear weapon. And by the way, we had explicit intelligence that they were getting close. And so we did something about it. And I absolutely support that.” Fine said,”The most important thing about the Iran conflict that I tell people, is Iran was spending tons of money to build a missile that could go thousands and thousands and thousands of miles. They already had missiles that could make it to Israel. They had all the missiles they wanted that could hit Israel, as we’ve seen. They had missiles that could hit Europe, as we’ve also seen.” He concluded,”You know where they didn’t have a missile that could hit? The United States of America, which is why they were focused
Springsteen, other stars share stage with hardcore leftist groups at music fest
As rapper Macklemore draws controversy for his activism against Israel, rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews headline a “Power To The People” music festival today that features a partisan network of nonprofits and activists mobilizing against President Donald Trump ahead of the midterms. Performers from a hip-hop band, The Neighborhood Kids, launched the festival with Macklemore’s anthem of protest, chanting “Free, free Palestine!” and continuing with a declaration about protesting from “the belly of the beast,” against the “funding of genocide” and the “terrorist organization” Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” It dedicated its performance to “the martyrs” railed against “Western imperialism.” The marketing language on the “Power To The People” festival’s official website speaks to activating “the power everyday human beings have” to “shape” the world “on, and beyond, Election Day.” The festival bears clear signs of alignment with the Democratic Party and spotlights the intersection of pop culture, nonprofit fundraising and partisan politics, revealing how celebrity drawing power translates into money, visibility and voters for organizations advancing a political agenda. In the chat, awaiting a livestream broadcast on the Democratic-aligned MS NOW, a user wrote: “BLUE WAVE,” symbolizing a anticipated Democratic Party victories in upcoming elections. Others peppered their comments with blue wave and blue heart emojis. By combining performances with voter registration, activist organizing and charitable donations, “Power To The People” offers participating groups a platform to turn fans’ enthusiasm for music into political engagement – and votes – ahead of the midterms. Festival organizers didn’t respond to a request for comment. With musical artists passionately urging festival goers to vote Democratic, the event raises questions about whether participating nonprofits cross the line from permissible voter engagement into partisan campaign intervention, which federal tax law prohibits for 501(c)(3) organizations. PARTY POOPERS’ FIGHT CARD: JANE FONDA, ‘NO KINGS,’ COMMUNISTS ROLL OUT RIVAL SPECTACLE TO TRUMP’S 250TH A “Freedom Village,” set up on the festival grounds of the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., outside the nation’s capital, features a roster of nonprofit organizations, including Indivisible, which is funded by billionaire George Soros, Third Act, the ACLU and other groups that have been at the heart of coordinating “No Kings,” “Tesla Takedown” and “Hands Off” protests against Trump over almost two years. Last year, Springsteen performed at a “No Kings” protest at the state capitol in St. Paul, Minn., organized by Indivisible and featuring anti-Trump activist Jane Fonda. He also headlined a “No Kings” event at the Target Center in Minneapolis. FIRST ON FOX: ‘NO KINGS’ PROTEST NETWORK BEHIND FIGHT AGAINST AI DATA CENTERS AND FLOCK CAMERAS Many of the festival’s performers and organizers bring a documented history of campaigning for Democrats and far-left activism. Festival organizer Tom Morello, guitarist of the band Rage Against the Machine, has called socialism a “necessity.” Opening the concert after the hip-hop group The Neighborhood Kids, Morello blasted the “fascists and the would-be dictators” and the “oligarchs,” symbolic references that protesters have used for almost two years of protests against Trump. According to an online fundraising form, the “Power To The People Festival Fund” is identified as a fiscally sponsored project of Catalyst Philanthropy Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit established in 2024 in Nashville with $6.5 million in annual revenue, according to its latest tax filing. Springsteen endorsed the Democratic presidential ticket in 2024, declaring: “I’m supporting Kamala Harris for president and Tim Walz for vice president.” He also called Trump “the most dangerous candidate for president in my lifetime.” Artist Dave Matthews participated in the 2020 “I Will Vote” concert, which his official website promoted as supporting Biden, Harris and Democrats down the ballot. Earlier, Matthews backed socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, writing: “When it comes down to it, Bernie Sanders represents what I want from my government.” Artist and festival DJ Shepard Fairey created the iconic Obama “Hope” poster and the “Forward” image supporting Harris in 2024. “I believe VP Kamala Harris and her VP pick Tim Walz are our best chance to move forward,” Fairey wrote on his website. He offered the image for grassroots activism and linked readers to Head Count Inc., a nonprofit receiving proceeds from the festival, to “help fans register to vote and learn more about how to participate in upcoming elections.” Based in New York City, Head Count Inc. has about $14 million in revenues, according to its latest IRS tax filing. The other nonprofit receiving proceeds from the festival is VoteRiders, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., with $7.8 million in revenues, based on its last tax filing. The festival’s “community partners” include Ben & Jerry’s, the ice cream company whose co-founder Ben Cohen, a far-left activist, was a guest at the wedding of communist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans, co-founder of CodePink, a fierce anti-Trump nonprofit that has received $1.33 million from Singham. Another community partner is Red Emma’s, a bookstore in Baltimore with a “Marxism, Socialism & Communism” tab on its website, selling t”Teachings of Karl Marx” by communist philosopher Vladimir Lenin, “Black Marxism” and “Flowers for Marx.” The political leanings extend to younger performers. Musician “Grandson,” whose real name is Jordan Benjamin, has described using his platform to advance climate advocacy, voter registration and youth empowerment through his XX Resistance Fund. In a September 2020 interview, he praised Biden’s policy platform and made his electoral preference explicit: “We should elect that dude.” At the festival, he blasted “the AI apocalypse” and sang from a trademark song celebrating the self-immolation of a U.S. service member, Aaron Bushnell, in 2024 at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., protesting Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. “Martyrdom is meditation, self-immolation!” the musician sang, bouncing on stage. At “Power to the People,” the concept of “solidarity” comes with a VIP upgrade. The festival pairs its message of collective action with a familiar concert-business model: tiered admission, exclusive viewing areas and premium hospitality. Fans can choose between “People’s Park” lawn admission, “People’s Pavilion” access and the “Solidarity Circle”
Newsom slaps 25% tax on private detention centers in sweeping pushback against key Trump policy
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill earlier this week that would impose a 25% tax on private detention centers, a policy that would apply to all the facilities that partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Golden State. “If we can’t kick out private facilities, we’ll go after their profits,” Newsom said in a press release. The move, which Newsom hailed as a way to push back against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and what he sees as the practice of privatizing federal enforcement, is raising concerns among immigration experts who believe the increased tax could force the government to explore alternative facilities less suited to housing detainees. It also poses questions about what would happen if all eight of ICE’s detention facilities chose to suspend their operations in California. CITIZENS BANK CUTS TIES WITH ICE PRISON CONTRACTORS AFTER MONTHS OF ACTIVIST PRESSURE That’s the view of Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow and an immigration expert with Advancing American Freedom, a conservative-leaning think tank. “It’s very clear that there’s only one purpose to this California gigantic tax increase, and that is to make sure that the federal government cannot find any private property owners, any private contractors in California that are willing to lease space to the federal government,” Spakovsky said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “The alternative for the federal government is to look at all the different federal properties that the government actually owns out there, over which neither Newsom or anybody else in California can impose any kind of tax, and see if any of those federal facilities can be converted to being a detention facility.” Spakovsky explained that could mean repurposing warehouses or office space. The newly minted law, AB 1633, is among 20 other bills that Newsom signed on Tuesday. In its current form, the 25% tax applies to the gross income of any private detention facility and applies to federal, state and local contract recipients. Revenue from the bill will go to a “Due Process for All Fund,” designated for immigration-related services, according to the bill’s language. Now that AB 1633 has been signed into law, it will go into effect on July 1, 2028. Alongside the bill, Newsom signed a handful of other restrictions. ICE EYES $20M PURCHASE OF ELECTRIC SHOCK GLOVES AS HOCHUL WARNS OF LEGAL CONSEQUENCES “We’re also banning the Orwellian practice of using shock gloves in enforcement activity as well as further protecting access to our court system,” Newsom said. “We may not be able to dictate federal immigration policy, but we can make clear that activities taking place in California will be subject to California law.” Despite Newsom’s framing, Spakovsky believes the governor will affect federal immigration law enforcement by limiting the overall space it has to operate. He pointed to reporting from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that details its detention needs. He explained that the government relies on private contractors, at least partially, to avoid the costs of building their own facilities. “If you look at that report, currently ICE has about enough detention space for about sixty-six thousand aliens. Okay, that’s the full size of the federal government’s detention capacity,” Spakovsky said. If an entire state’s private detention contractors decided the tax is too high, ICE’s overall capacity could shrink. California is home to eight ICE detention facilities, according to reporting from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). All of them are privately operated. The GEO Group, a corrections company, owns five facilities. Imperial Valley Gateway Center LLC, a local detention company, owns one more. Two more were purchased by DHS in July but are run by CoreCivic, a prison company, and have contracts through 2027 and 2029. Although the bill won’t go into effect until 2028, in Trump’s last year of his second term, Spakovsky believes that the government might begin evaluating where else it can find partnerships to meet its detention needs sooner rather than later. ICE MAKES NATIONWIDE ARRESTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, MURDERERS, PEDOPHILES IN HOLIDAY BLITZ “Look, if I was the federal government and I couldn’t find enough federal properties in California to do this, I would then go into neighboring friendlier states that I could quickly transport aliens I’ve detained and I would lease and rent facilities there.” “I’d go to Arizona. I’d potentially go to Nevada. I’d go to other states where they might be eager for federal government money and the increased employment from private contractors hiring people to work on these facilities.” The office of Gavin Newsom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
DHS exposes dilemma behind SCOTUS deportation fight: ‘We have two choices’
The Supreme Court temporarily cleared the Trump administration to continue its third-country deportation policy this week, as DHS’ top lawyer mounts a public defense of an immigration authority the administration says previous presidents largely left dormant. DHS has increasingly used so-called “third-country” removals when a removable alien cannot be returned to their home country or that country refuses to take them back — part of what agency General Counsel James Percival describes as a broader Trump strategy of reviving immigration authorities already on the books. “Imagine going to a country and saying, hey, we’ve got a guy, he’s not your guy, and he’s a rapist, but can he please live there?” Percival told Fox News Digital. “That’s not an easy ask. It requires significant diplomatic energy… Norway is not taking a rapist from Cuba.” TRUMP’S SPECIAL STRATEGY TO DEPORT ILLEGALS GIVES HIM ANOTHER TOOL FOR ENFORCEMENT The justices on Tuesday stayed a lower-court judgment restricting DHS’s policy, allowing the administration’s guidance to remain in effect while the Court considers the case on the merits. Arguments are set for December over whether agency procedures comply with federal immigration law, due process and safeguards against torture. The case does not squarely challenge DHS’s underlying authority to conduct third-country removals, but rather the procedures it must follow beforehand. “It’s in the statute expressly that we can do this,” he said. “If you go back and read most of the immigration laws, there’s a lot of really good tools in there that people just haven’t used.” The third-country provision was included in a major immigration reform package passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996: the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). “A lot of people in government sort of treat their authority like fine china,” Percival remarked. “They’re afraid if they ever actually use it, someone will take it away. And if you’ve ever owned fine china, it’s like you can find yourself at the end of your life and you were so afraid you would break it you never used it.” TRUMP’S FIGHT OVER RARELY USED 18TH-CENTURY DEPORTATION LAW LIVES ON IN LATEST COURT CLASH But Percival’s strategy has not come without blowback from human rights advocates, who pointed most recently to allegations that deportees were beaten by authorities in Equatorial Guinea, a tiny nation on Africa’s Atlantic coast that has been under the control of President Teodoro Obiang since 1979. Obiang’s government received $7.5 million from Washington as part of an agreement with Malabo to accept third-country deportations. “I’d rather live in the United States than Equatorial Guinea too, but I’m an American citizen and I haven’t killed anybody,” Percival said. The detention issue traces in part to the Supreme Court’s 2001 decision in a case involving a stateless legal resident whom the government ordered deported due to his criminal record. Kestutis Zadvydas was born to Lithuanian parents in a German displaced- persons camp, but neither Lithuania nor Germany would accept him. The court held that six months of post-removal detention is presumptively reasonable, after which continued detention can be challenged if removal is not reasonably foreseeable. Percival is making that case publicly through his “Daily Deportee” series on X, highlighting criminal deportees whose home countries will not accept them. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER “If the person is a child rapist and serves 20 years, we have two choices: Find a third country — or let the child rapist go live in an American community,” he said, adding that the effort is intended to shape public understanding of the issue and highlight its stakes. Percival cited Burmese national Kyaw Mya, whose home country won’t take him back. Percival said another case he plans to feature involves a migrant who committed a violent crime, was not removed by the Bush administration after serving time and then allegedly reoffended after his release: “[He] tried to kill somebody, the gun misfired, so he pistol-whipped them instead. He served time for that. He got out,” Percival explained. As DHS continues seeking to use underutilized tools in the IIRIRA and other laws, Percival pointed illegal immigrants and criminal resident aliens to another oft-repeated option that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin continues to keep on the table: “It’s not too late to get $3,000 and a flight home.”
MAGA mom’s dire warning over tech guardrails as Trump puts pedal to the metal on race with China
A conservative political activist who has been deeply entrenched in right-wing politics for decades is calling on the government to implement safety guardrails on artificial intelligence (AI), especially when it comes to protecting children and ensuring that the booming technology doesn’t displace American workers en masse. “If something happens with one of these companies, whether it’s a child taking their own life due to suicide by manipulation with a chatbot, these companies are not required to report it to the federal government,” Amy Kremer told Fox News Digital. Kremer is the chairwoman of Humans First, a gorup that advocates for government safeguards on the technology and says it gives the American people a voice in the AI conversation, rather than leaving all the power in the hands of what it calls “Big AI globalists” who have little concern for ordinary Americans. MIKE JOHNSON REJECTS AI MORATORIUM OVER CHINA THREAT AS CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST DEMANDS GUARDRAILS “We are a grassroots organization focused on putting guardrails and safety mechanisms in place around AI technology in order to protect the American people, our children, jobs and so forth, and also to put those guardrails in place to to make sure that the people have a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation about what goes into their community,” Kremer said. Kremer, who is known by the political right for her time as a Tea Party advocate and ferocious fighter for President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, mentioned the 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University, which claimed the lives of two people and injured six others, as an instance of AI gone wrong. Court documents in that case claim that the alleged shooter, Phoenix Ikner, used ChatGPT to plan aspects of the shooting. The company was sued by the wife of one of the deceased victims, and the state of Florida took the rare step of opening a criminal investigation into the company. “If a chatbot is used in planning a school shooting like what happened at Florida State University in April of 2025, they’re not required to report that to the federal government,” said Kremer. “The only reason we know about a number of these things that have happened is because of lawsuits that have been filed by the victims and/or their families.” She argued that as a former flight attendant, she had to report every issue on an airliner to the government. And just as hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and hordes of other industries are regulated under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Kremer believes that AI companies should face similar scrutiny. FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS QUESTION WHETHER AI’S PROMISE OUTWEIGHS ITS RISKS AI is a hotly-contested issue ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, with some Democrats looking to reign in the technology while the Trump administration hoping to keep competition and innovation flowing in the effort to win the AI race with China. But Kremer is far from a Democrat, and she wants also wants the United States to crush China in the race for technological dominance. “I want America to win this AI race, I absolutely I do. I’m America first, always have been, and we’ve led the world on innovation and ingenuity,” she said. “But again … I go back to, you don’t have to forego safety to have innovation and ingenuity.” “I’m not siding with the Democrats,” Kremer said. “I am not a tech person. I’m not anti-AI. I’m not anti-technology. I’m not anti-data center.” “I am a mom with common sense and I’m a conservative, and it only makes sense that guardrails are put in place,” she added. After all, Kremer said, AI companies aren’t partisan actors. TRUMP’S AI RACE WITH CHINA COULD BECOME THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF OUR TIME “They don’t care about Republicans, they don’t care about Democrats, they don’t care about Americans. At the end of the day, I think they care about their own companies and their technology, and that’s what, what drives them,” she said. “And so, everything with these guys I think is contractual, you know, it’s not, ‘these are my friends, these are the people, I have the same ideology.’ It’s contractual, it’s what benefits them and I think that’s why they’ve cozied up to President Trump and Republicans in this administration and Congress.” In a high-stakes summit in Washington, D.C., last week, AI was a hot topic of discussing between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump, though what exactly was discussed remains under wraps. “The Trump administration’s priority is to ensure there is a booming economy so that workers have many opportunities and experience limited volatility from any short-term disruptions,” a White House official told Fox News Digital. “The goal is for workers to continue to have access to high paying jobs and that workers can easily adapt to new technologies and processes.” OBAMA CRITICIZES TRUMP ON APPROACH TO AI, ESCALATES WARNING FOR STRONGER REGULATION As for children’s safety, the official pointed Fox News Digital to its National Policy Framework on Artificial Intelligence. That framework calls on Congress to implement a number of AI child safety measures, including empowering parents with tools to control their children’s content exposure, privacy settings, content exposure and account controls. It also asks the lawmaking body to “establish commercially reasonable, privacy protective, age assurance requirements (such as parental attestation) for AI platforms and services likely to be accessed by minors,” and ensure that AI platforms implement safeguards against child sexual exploitation and self-harm.
‘Activist judge’ rules Congress cannot bar noncitizens from voting in federal elections
A Biden-appointed judge is being labeled an “activist judge” by conservative critics after ruling that the federal government’s application of a law barring noncitizens from voting in elections violates the Constitution in a federal criminal case. In a 31-page ruling, U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz of the Southern District of Florida dismissed federal charges against Chelsea Cox, a woman originally from Jamaica who voted in the 2020 presidential election, despite not being a U.S. citizen. The ruling comes as the Trump administration has intensified efforts to prevent noncitizens from voting, including through federal prosecutions and attempts to verify citizenship on state voter rolls, sparking legal battles with Democratic-led states and voting-rights groups. President Donald Trump’s election integrity efforts have been driven in large part by his and his allies’ belief that the 2020 election was “stolen” — an unproven claim he continues to maintain. Leibowitz ruled that the Constitution gives states — not Congress — the authority to determine who qualifies to vote in elections, effectively ruling that a provision of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) criminalizing noncitizen voting in federal elections is unconstitutional as applied to Cox. “The Constitution commits to the States, and the States alone, the general power to set voter qualifications in federal elections,” Leibowitz wrote in his ruling. “This is clear from both the text of the document and the debates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.” WATCH: MIKE LEE EXPLODES ON VOTING ERROR THAT ‘KEEPS HAPPENING’ AS HUGE NUMBER OF NONCITIZENS FOUND ON ROLLS The ruling garnered sharp blowback from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who is co-author of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which is currently being stalled in the Senate and unlikely to be passed before the midterm elections. “This insane ruling will certainly be overturned,” Lee wrote on X. “But it gives the game away: Democrats pretend we don’t need the SAVE Act because non-citizen voting is already illegal… while activist judges try to destroy laws banning non-citizens from voting!” Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow with Advancing American Freedom, agreed that Leibowitz’s ruling will most likely be “squashed” by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. “Judge David Leibowitz’s opinion that the federal law barring aliens from voting is unconstitutional is patently wrong,” Spakovsky told Fox News Digital. “It is true that states have the constitutional authority to set the qualifications of citizens who are eligible as voters in federal elections. But he ignores the fact that in Article I, Section 8, Congress is given 100% authority over naturalization.” Spakovsky said the Constitution gives Congress authority to decide how noncitizens enter the country and what activities they may engage in once here. “That gives the federal government the authority to ban aliens from voting or otherwise in any way participating in the democratic process,” Spakovsky said. STATE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERS SHARING PASSPORT RECORDS FOR VOTER CITIZENSHIP CHECKS Spakovsky pointed to Bluman v. FEC , a 2011 decision written by then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh and later summarily affirmed by the Supreme Court, which upheld restrictions on foreign nationals’ campaign spending. The opinion said the government may exclude noncitizens from activities tied to democratic self-government. “The Supreme Court has long held that the government (federal, state, local) may exclude foreign citizens from activities that are part of the democratic self-regulation in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote. “For example, the Supreme Court has ruled that the government may bar aliens from voting, serving as jurors, working as police or probation officers, or teaching at public schools.” However, Bluman v. FEC involved campaign contributions and expenditures, not a federal criminal prosecution for voting. Anhishek Kambil, a partner at Holtzman Vogel Law Firm, said he’d be “surprised” if the federal government did not prevail in its appeal. Kambil pointed to Oregon v. Mitchell, in which the Supreme Court ruled the the government had the authority to set voting age in federal elections, which would be a voter qualifier. “So the Supreme Court has held, in an instance, that there is federal government authority to regulate in certain instances some types of qualifications of voters, but the way that this judge read it kind of made everything a mess,” Kambil told Fox News Digital. Leibowitz rejected the federal government’s argument that the Constitution grants Congress total authority over regulating immigration and noncitizens. DHS APPROVES PLAN TO VERIFY VOTER CITIZENSHIP, MONITOR MAIL BALLOTS AS TRUMP PUSH INTENSIFIES While he acknowledged that Congress has “broad, undoubted power” over immigration and noncitizens; he said those powers are not “a series of blank checks” and cannot override the Constitution’s “foundational constitutional constraints” assigning voter-qualification authority to the states. The judge also rejected the federal government’s reliance on the Elections Clause, which allows Congress to regulate how states conduct federal elections, including by passing laws to combat voter fraud. Leibowitz said the statute at issue was not designed to regulate election procedures or prevent fraud but instead created a federal voter qualification by determining who could vote. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER While Leibowitz ruled that the federal government cannot continue prosecuting Chelsea Cox, Florida would still have the authority to bring state charges. President Joe Biden nominated Leibowitz to the federal bench in 2024. The Senate confirmed him, 64-33, in a bipartisan vote, with then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., voting in favor. Thursday’s ruling is his most politically consequential decision from the bench to date.
Lawmaker’s stunned face and other viral moments cap rough week for political class
Politicians from both parties had a rough week as slip-ups and unpopular messaging sent floods of unwanted attention their way. Chief among this week’s gaffes was Republican Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt’s botched attempt to accuse former special counsel Jack Smith of perjury during Tuesday’s Senate testimony — a basketball mix-up that unraveled as cameras captured the stunned reaction of Republican Alabama Sen. Katie Britt seated beside him. Britt was seated beside Schmitt as he pressed Smith over whether he attended an Atlanta Hawks game on Feb. 3, 2024, pointing to text messages he said showed Smith had been there. When Smith denied attending the NBA game, Schmitt accused him of lying under oath. Schmitt had apparently mistaken references to the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Atlanta Hawks, overlooking that Smith had attended the Iowa-Maryland women’s college basketball game that night rather than the NBA game in Atlanta. As the situation unfolded, and Schmitt’s mistake became apparent, a pool camera zoomed in on Britt’s face, revealing her shocked expression. JACK SMITH’S TRUMP PROBE SWEPT UP FOX NEWS, OTHER MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS AS INVESTIGATION WENT BEYOND LAWMAKERS “Sen. Katie Britt — a former congressional staffer herself — knew she was watching a mythical staff f*ck up,” one MSNOW reporter wrote. “The type of f*ck up that interns will hear about as a cautionary tale on their first day of work on June 1, 2047.” “[Britt] opposes abortion and yet Schmitt just aborted his 2028 VP odds on live TV,” a liberal YouTuber quipped. Schmitt’s exchange quickly became one of the most viral moments of the Smith hearing, drowning out much of the rest of the day’s events. KLOBUCHAR’S NFL POST BACKFIRES WHEN INTERNET NOTICES GLARING PROBLEM WITH HER OUTFIT CHOICE: ‘FRAUD RUNS DEEP’ The Missouri senator attempted to defuse tensions with a tongue-in-cheek response to the controversy. “Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?” Schmitt posted to X shortly after the hearing wrapped, referencing the fact that Clark was playing for Iowa in the game Smith attended. His post drew another wave of negative responses. “Any person who had a modicum of decency would apologize, immediately, and then impose some basic accountability for some remarkably negligent staff work,” New York Times columnist David French wrote. “He was trying to set up a perjury trap with fake information. Pitiful.” “When I talk about how the quality of congressional staff used to be so much higher I feel 70 years old…but this is a good example,” one former congressional staffer posted. “No one who worked for any number of Republican senators in 2015 would have ever in a million years allowed this.” SCHMITT GOES IN-DEPTH ON DIVING CATCH & CHANGES TO COLLEGE ATHLETICS ON ‘RUTHLESS’ Schmitt wasn’t the only politico to draw the ire of the internet this week. Troy Jackson, the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, caught heat from figures on the left after posting a video of himself sipping boba tea and criticizing the wealthy interests backing his Republican opponent. JIM JORDAN SAYS HOUSE WEIGHING CRIMINAL REFERRAL OF JACK SMITH FOR ALLEGEDLY LYING TO CONGRESS “The same people that ran Mallory McMorrow’s campaign into the ground are telling you to do this goofy s—,” left-wing podcaster Kyle Kulinski posted on X. “Just get out there and tell the truth and speak from the heart for economic justice and against war and stop with all this bulls—. C’mon man. You’re smarter than this.” “Troy Jackson needs to win but videos like this are unhelpful and cringey,” liberal influencer Harry Sisson posted on X. “Please change it up! No boba tea!” In another gaffe earlier this week, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., accidentally referred to himself as a ‘lifelong Republican’ before immediately correcting himself. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, upset some conservatives with an ad portraying a fictional young White male Medicaid recipient named “Brad” as a gamer who chooses not to work. Some critics accused Sanders of choosing a White male character to avoid depicting demographic groups they said receive government assistance at higher rates.”
Top investigator in Biden-era election probe wanted to tear key constitutional right away from lawmakers
Newly uncovered documents reveal that one of former special counsel Jack Smith’s top deputies advocated for repealing a key constitutional protection for lawmakers. “I’m an advocate for repealing the clause but absent that, we’re stuck with it and the way it’s been interpreted,” JP Cooney, who served as Smith’s principal deputy prosecutor, wrote in a 2021 exchange first obtained by the Washington Examiner. He was speaking with Molly Gaston, another prosecutor who would go on to join Smith, about the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. The Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution protects members of Congress from civil or criminal prosecution stemming from their legislative actions or speech. In theory, it shields the legislative branch from being coerced by the executive branch under threat of prosecution. “Records provided to my office revealed that Jack Smith’s right-hand man, J.P. Cooney, flaunted his disdain for the Speech or Debate Clause, which protects the separation of powers. Later, Cooney and Smith violated this constitutional safeguard by secretly obtaining toll records and text messages from dozens of members of Congress,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital. JACK SMITH THRUST BACK INTO SPOTLIGHT AT BLANCHE HEARING OVER EXPOSED SENATORS’ MESSAGES “Jack Smith and his team disgracefully tore up the Constitution throughout his partisan investigation. That’s what happens when runaway Democrat government is in power,” Grassley added. Smith and his staff were responsible for investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Cooney’s position on the Speech or Debate Clause was a point of contention during Smith’s Tuesday hearing on Capitol Hill. “When you became Special Counsel, what direction did you give your staff to handle Speech or Debate and Attorney-Client material? Did you issue any directives? If so, to whom? Please explain,” Grassley asked Smith, citing Cooney’s support for repealing the clause. “So, with respect to the Speech or Debate Clause, first, we took our obligations seriously under the Speech or Debate Clause. It’s, in my view, an important part of the separation of powers,” Smith responded. “I had members of my staff who were very familiar with the clause, having worked in the public integrity section for years. We also, when it was appropriate or required, consulted with the public integrity section regarding application of that clause.” Grassley dismissed Smith’s defense by arguing that the behavior of his staff contradicted his statement. BIDEN SPECIAL COUNSEL’S ‘RUNAWAY TRAIN’ SCOOPED UP SENSITIVE LAWMAKER INFO: ‘ABUSE OF POWER’ Republicans have argued Cooney’s views foreshadowed Smith’s later use of subpoenas for lawmakers’ communication records. Smith’s team obtained and reviewed communications involving dozens of lawmakers, while separate subpoenas sought telephone records associated with a smaller group of members of Congress. Among the lawmakers whose messages with White House personnel were obtained and reviewed were Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and the late Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “In 2023, Cooney, Gaston, Windom and Ray Hulser were given warnings that subpoenaing congressional information could violate the Speech or Debate clause,” Grassley previously said. EXPLOSIVE NEW REPORT PUTS JACK SMITH BACK IN HOT SEAT AS JIM JORDAN ALLEGES HE TRIED TO ‘SWAY’ 2024 ELECTION Cooney complained about statutory restrictions surrounding efforts to obtain lawmakers’ telephone records during a separate 2021 investigation, at one point calling the language “ridiculous,” according to previously released messages. When asked about Cooney’s position on the Speech or Debate Clause, Democracy Forward – the advocacy organization where he now works – referred Fox News Digital to a press release announcing its hiring of both him and Gaston. Cooney and Gaston said in the release that they had spent years “holding the most powerful accountable for public corruption and civil rights abuses” and said they joined Democracy Forward amid what they characterized as the Trump administration’s “de-prioritization” of public corruption enforcement. While Republicans have characterized Smith’s investigation as a political witch hunt, he maintains that he acted impartially and in the best interests of the United States. Proponents argue that Smith’s investigation was necessary because the allegations involved conduct at the core of constitutional government, including efforts to overturn the 2020 election and obstruct the lawful transfer of power, as well as the retention and alleged concealment of highly classified documents on part of President Donald Trump. Fox News Digital reached Gaston & Cooney PLLC on Wednesday.