Clinton, Obama-era Democratic heavyweights Penn and Emanuel rip NYC’s Mamdani over taxes, Israel, blast DSA
Two prominent Democratic figures with deep ties to the Clinton and Obama administrations publicly criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani this week, with former Clinton adviser Mark Penn attacking the mayor’s proposed property tax plan while former Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel recounted what he described as a private conversation in which he challenged Mamdani’s rhetoric on Israel. The criticism is notable because it comes from longtime Democrat insiders rather than Republican opponents and focuses on two of the issues that have defined Mamdani’s rise political rise: his far-left economic agenda and his positions on Israel. Fox News Digital reached out to Penn, Emanuel and Mamdani’s office for comment. NYC MAYOR MAMDANI CALLS THREAT OF RICH PEOPLE LEAVING NYC OVER TAXES ‘IMAGINED’ Penn, a longtime Democrat strategist and former pollster and adviser to President Bill Clinton, accused Mamdani of dramatically understating the scope of his proposed pied-à-terre tax after the mayor released a public database identifying property owners who could be subject to it. In a lengthy post on X, Penn argued the city’s valuation system had swept in nearly one million property owners rather than the roughly 30,000 luxury homeowners Penn said had previously been described as the intended targets. “The $5 million figure was a fake,” Penn wrote, arguing the city’s valuation system had improperly classified properties and would force homeowners to prove they should not be taxed. RAHM EMANUEL WARNS NEW GENERATION OF DEM SOCIALISTS DON’T LIKE AMERICA Penn also argued the proposal could depress property values, discourage investment in New York City and potentially raise constitutional questions. Meanwhile, Emanuel said during an appearance on the Unholy Podcast that he met privately with Mamdani for roughly 90 minutes and challenged the self-described democratic socialist mayor over his views on Israel. Emanuel said he praised portions of Mamdani’s domestic agenda, including childcare, but criticized Mamdani’s past use of the phrase “from the river to the sea.” MAMDANI DODGES ON ‘POLITICAL THEATER’ OF EMPTY NETANYAHU ARREST THREAT, CALLS FOR US ACTION AND NYC PROTESTS “I know where there’s a line. You don’t,” Emanuel recalled telling Mamdani. Emanuel said both calls for a “Greater Israel” and the slogan “from the river to the sea” would lead to “perpetual conflict.” After clips of Emanuel’s remarks circulated online, Mamdani communications director Anna Bahr publicly disputed the account. “can confirm this …. did not happen,” Bahr wrote on X in response to a post summarizing Emanuel’s remarks. It was not immediately clear from Bahr’s post whether she was disputing that the meeting occurred or Emanuel’s characterization of the conversation. Emanuel has also recently criticized the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) more broadly. In a post on X this week, he argued Democrats should focus on winning competitive elections rather than what he characterized as ideological distractions. “You can be focused on winning tough races, flipping red seats blue. Or you can be focused on abolishing prisons and… the Senate and Supreme Court? You can’t do both,” Emanuel wrote. “I’m for winning this November and ending Trump’s corruption — and I’m also for putting an end to all the distractions from the DSA.” Penn, Emanuel and Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for additional comment before publication.
Trump AG pick Blanche stalled as key Republicans refuse to budge
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s chances of confirmation were derailed Wednesday, less than 24 hours before a pivotal vote in the Senate. It’s another chapter in the troubled saga that has followed Blanche since he was tapped to replace former Attorney General Pam Bondi and one that boils down to issues among Blanche, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and two key Republicans who control his fate in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senators John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., are demanding that the DOJ provide explicit, written proposals to modify the settlement deal reached between the IRS and President Donald Trump and his family earlier this year. TRUMP AG PICK TODD BLANCHE FACES SENATE TEST IN FIRST MAJOR CONFIRMATION FIGHT SINCE GRAHAM’S DEATH Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had hoped a deal could be struck and allow for the confirmation to move forward, eying next week as the major floor vote to formally confirm Blanche as Bondi’s replacement. “I think that that’s an issue between, right now, the White House and Senators Cornyn and Tillis,” Thune said. “But, yeah, I would encourage them to sit down, which I think they are, and try to come to a resolution there so that the markup can continue tomorrow, and we can get Todd Blanche ready for the floor.” The DOJ had until 4 p.m. Wednesday to get the lawmakers what they wanted, but the agency fell short, and Blanche’s bumpy carriage ride to confirmation turned into a pumpkin. Without a guarantee that Cornyn or Tillis would vote to confirm Blanche, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, opted to postpone the hearing until a later date. Their targets are the now-defunct, nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund and the president’s audit immunity. Republicans and Democrats alike railed against the fund, particularly over concerns that the funding would go to people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on Capitol Hill. Trump’s audit immunity has similarly ruffled feathers. Blanche, in his announcement of the settlement deal earlier this year, outlined that, as part of the agreement, the IRS would not be allowed to audit Trump, his family or affiliated companies. DEMS REJECT TRUMP’S TOP SPY PICK AFTER DEMANDING REPLACEMENT, LEAVING COUNTER-TERROR TOOL IN AIR Cornyn has proven the most resistant until his demands are met. He’s used his newfound freedom to extract concessions from the Trump administration in recent weeks. His push for an explicit end to the audit language in the settlement agreement is another such example. The longtime lawmaker, who will exit the Senate at the end of this year after being ousted by the Trump-backed Ken Paxton, was set to meet Blanche Wednesday morning. But the confab was called off, and Blanche continued making the rounds in the Senate throughout the day, capping off his visit to the Capitol with Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. He declined to comment to reporters on his way out. Cornyn said it was “made clear from the outset that we expected some written proposals to modify the release that was signed in the tax dispute with President Trump and his organization.” “We need to conform the actual document to what Todd Blanche testified under oath as the president’s acting attorney general,” Cornyn said. “We’ve had two meetings scheduled that have now been canceled because they have not been responsive in providing those written documents.” TRUMP AG PICK HANGS BY A THREAD AS KEY GOP SENATORS REFUSE TO COMMIT Trump, when asked about the holdup in the Senate for Blanche, portrayed himself as a president at an arm’s length from the situation and said he heard his attorney general pick was “going through quite nicely.” “Well, all I can say is Todd Blanche is outstanding. And I thought he’s — I thought it was pretty routine because he’s so good,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “You just wouldn’t find a better person. So, I don’t know, maybe John Cornyn is upset with me because I didn’t endorse him. I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem.” Tillis made clear he doesn’t “have a beef with DOJ or with Blanche.” “They’re trying to get it done, but still gotta get it done,” Tillis said. He also noted that the number of hurdles that getting those kinds of written proposals through was more extensive than meets the eye. For example, Tillis said the actual settlement likely was signed by the president’s lawyer and not Trump himself. “So there’s, you know, there’s a circle of people that have to go through the loop,” he said. “And I get that, but, you know, if we can get it done or possibly get him reported out on Tuesday, if they schedule a markup, I would support that if we get the language.”
Ted Cruz demands Fauci face jail time, labels him America’s ‘most damaging bureaucrat’
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is calling for Anthony Fauci to be held in contempt, prosecuted for perjury and sent to jail after the former White House COVID-19 advisor pleaded his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during a Senate hearing Wednesday. “Years from now, they’ll look back and say, ‘What collective madness overtook this country?’” Cruz told Fox News Digital. “I think Anthony Fauci has had contempt for Congress and contempt for the American people for decades,” he said. “His diary shows that he deliberately lied to the American people over and over and over again.” FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH ‘ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION’ AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGES Cruz made the comments after Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul announced he will seek contempt charges against Fauci after Fauci dodged self-incrimination by refusing to answer any questions throughout the entirety of the hearing. “Dr. Fauci ought to think about what it says about the end of his career, that what he will be remembered for the most is pleading the Fifth more than 100 times,” Cruz said. “He’s been the most damaging bureaucrat in the history of America.” RAND PAUL SEEKS CONTEMPT CHARGES AFTER FAUCI INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT MORE THAN 100 TIMES Cruz and Fauci have had a longstanding feud, similar to his relationships with other GOP senators like Paul, over Fauci’s handling of the outbreak and claims he was dishonest about the origins of COVID-19 to both Congress and the American people. “In his diary, he wrote early on that it was clear that the COVID virus did not come from the wet market in Wuhan, and then he turned around and said exactly the opposite thing on national television,” Cruz said. The released private diaries expose that Fauci considered possibilities about how the virus originated that he later downplayed to the public. He wrote that scientists considered the possibility of a deliberately inserted laboratory origin worthy of further expert review, while his later statements suggested the opposite to the public. LEGACY MEDIA IGNORES MASSIVE ANTHONY FAUCI DOCUMENT RELEASE ALLEGING HE MISLED CONGRESS ON COVID ORIGINS The Texas senator also accused Fauci of pushing for the lockdown of schools. Fauci wrote in his diary that he convinced both New York and California government officials to lock down their state’s school systems. This was, again, contradictory to what he said publicly, when he claimed multiple times in interviews and testified to the House Oversight Committee that he “did not close the schools.” “In his diary, he brags about convincing Democrats in New York and California to shut schools down, and yet he goes on TV and says, ‘Oh, I wasn’t for shutdowns,’” Cruz said. “The school shutdowns, which Fauci bragged that he was responsible for, may well be the single most destructive public policy step we’ve seen in decades. That learning loss will stick with those kids the rest of their lives when they’re 90 years old. “They will still be suffering the consequences of Anthony Fauci’s corrupt and dishonest shutdowns. “The fact that he knew he was lying to the American people — he should be held in contempt, he should be prosecuted for perjury, and he should go to jail.”
El-Sayed in the hot seat for another foreign rental property, nearly $300K in additional income
Moments ahead of a primary debate Monday night, Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed released a new financial disclosure, revealing new details about he and his wife’s assets worth up to $2.1 million. The disclosures, which come a week ahead of a heated primary election between El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., shed new light on El-Sayed’s finances, but questions still remain about the specifics of his wealth. While, broadly, much of the information was already known through reporting he did last year, the 2026 filing adds three key additions. El Sayed and his wife listed a rental property in Dubai worth up to $250,000, a liability to a company in Dubai worth up to $100,000 and a tweak to El-Sayed’s employment status in Michigan. SOCIALIST-BACKED DEM WHO RIPPED THE WEALTHY CRACKS STATE’S TOP 1%, TAX RETURNS SHOW Past reporting had already shown that El-Sayed’s wife owned a rental property in Ann Harbor, Michigan, and another in Bangalore, India. The Dubai property is a third real estate holding. The debt, worth between $50,000 and $100,000, is a liability owed to Majid Al Futtaim Tilal, a real estate development company that specializes in luxury residential projects. And, finally, the filing adds that El-Sayed worked as a consultant for Wayne County, Michigan, with an income of $72,000. At the same time, the filing lists a salary of $82,750, also for Wayne County. The consulting is a change from a salaried position listed at $278,900 the year before. “Know many people who own rental properties in three countries?” prominent gun-control activist Shannon Watts posted on X. “Why are all the socialists rich????” Democratic analyst Rachel Bitecofer posted on X. The 2025 and 2026 filings put El-Sayed’s net worth between $870,000 and $2.1 million. The Michigan race has drawn national attention as Stevens, a more establishment candidate with the backing of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., squares off against El-Sayed’s progressive promises to challenge the U.S.-Israel relationship, abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and provide universal healthcare. His platform has drawn support from fellow progressives such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. WATCH: SURFACED VIDEOS OF DEM SENATE CANDIDATE BACKING ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ CONTRADICT RECENT DENIALS With a groundswell of support among progressives, Stevens has sought to paint El-Sayed as a far cry from the middle-class working-family base he claims to champion, needling El-Sayed over his net worth in a debate last month. “Look, I am the only one running for United States Senate in Michigan who is not a millionaire,” Stevens said at the time. At the debate Monday, Stevens mentioned the filings and what she characterized as a lack of transparency. “You have not released your tax returns,” Stevens reminded him. “You talk about getting money out of politics and putting money in people’s pockets, but still no one knows who’s putting the money in your pocket.” El-Sayed, who filed the Senate report right before the debate, said he had made the necessary disclosures, sidestepping the comment about his tax returns. DEM PRIMARY ERUPTS AS ESTABLISHMENT FAVORITE DISMISSES RIVAL AS ‘CELEBRITY CANDIDATE’ “This is a distraction from the issues in your life,” he said at Monday’s debate. El-Sayed’s most recent disclosures follow an application for an extension that allowed him an extra 90 days to finalize his 2026 paperwork. That extension would have allowed him to submit his disclosures on Aug. 13, a week after the primary. When confronted about the timeline, El-Sayed pledged on a podcast earlier this month to submit his disclosures before the election. El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the disclosures or the timing of its submission.
Trump taps veterans to fix illegal alien trucking problem plaguing US roadways
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump will launch the White House’s new Freedom Haulers initiative Thursday, Fox News Digital has exclusively learned, opening new pathways for military veterans to become commercial truck drivers while intensifying the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrant and non-English-speaking truckers. “President Trump’s administration has made our roads safer by taking illegal alien, non-English-speaking truck drivers off America’s highways. Now, through the Freedom Haulers initiative, the president is expanding opportunities for our veterans by making it easier to obtain commercial driver’s licenses once they conclude their service,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital. The Trump administration is pairing its crackdown on illegal immigrants and non-English-speaking commercial drivers with a new effort to recruit military veterans into the trucking industry. Trump, along with Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, will welcome a truck on West Executive Avenue to announce the initiative. JOE BIDEN MANDATED ALL NEW VEHICLES COME INSTALLED WITH A ‘KILL SWITCH.’ THIS REPUBLICAN WANTS TO REPEAL IT “By leading a multi-agency process spanning the departments of Transportation, Labor, Veterans Affairs and War, President Trump is bolstering America’s trucking industry, which is crucial to strong supply chains, while helping our nation’s heroes transition to civilian life with quality, good-paying jobs,” Kelly added. The Department of Transportation will expand eligibility for veterans to receive expedited commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), extending the waiver period from 12 months to 24 months after active-duty service. For veterans who have never driven a heavy commercial vehicle during their military service, CDL training will be offered. ILLEGAL TRUCKER CASES FUEL GOP PUSH TO CRACK DOWN ON CDL MILLS AS DEMS LARGELY SILENT Indiana and Wyoming will also join the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Even Exchange program, allowing military truck drivers to more easily transition into civilian CDLs. Werner Enterprises, an Omaha, Nebraska-based trucking company attending Thursday’s event, will announce plans to hire 1,400 new veteran drivers. The administration is also highlighting its ongoing crackdown on commercial drivers who fail to meet English-language proficiency requirements or are improperly licensed. VIRGINIA BUS CRASH THAT KILLED FIVE INVOLVED DRIVER WHO DOESN’T SPEAK ENGLISH, SEAN DUFFY SAYS The Department of Transportation says it has removed more than 24,000 commercial driver’s licenses from the nation’s highways under stricter English-language proficiency enforcement. More than 28,000 CDLs were also canceled after officials determined they had been improperly issued to noncitizen truck drivers. The White House says the initiative is aimed at improving highway safety while strengthening the nation’s trucking workforce. The announcement comes after a series of fatal crashes involving illegal immigrant truck drivers in states including Florida, California, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania State Police trooper was killed during a roadside inspection when a semitruck driven by a Haitian national struck him. Authorities say the driver had obtained a non-domiciled CDL before the administration’s rule changes. Truck drivers have seen a 7.42% increase in real wages during the Trump administration, compared to a 3% decline in real wages under President Biden, according to DOT. DOT also says veteran truck drivers experience 42% fewer accidents and cover 98% more miles than non-veteran drivers, arguing the initiative will both improve highway safety and help strengthen America’s supply chains.
Trump family profits from blockbuster deal in Central Asia despite backlash due to ‘proof problem’: expert
The Trump Organization, led by President Donald Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, made a controversial investment in a construction company that now stands to profit from a rare earth minerals deal funded by the U.S. government. While the deal raises suspicions, one securities attorney says evidence of wrongdoing is likely impossible to find and acknowledged that critics have a “proof problem.” “Well, the question is whether President Trump would have known about his sons’ investments in this company, and I think the answer would be ‘no’ unless the sons told them,” Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based securities and investment fraud attorney, told Fox News Digital. “Look, they are private investors,” he continued. “They are not government employees. So, to the extent they make a passive investment in a company or an entity, there are no real duties to disclose this information.” RESOURCE-RICH NATION PRAISES US TIES AMID WASHINGTON-BEIJING CRITICAL MINERALS RACE The controversy stems from a tungsten mining deal in Kazakhstan, which primarily involves U.S.-based investment company Cove Capital and the company’s mining affiliate, Cove Kaz Capital Group. Between 2023 and 2024, Cove Capital negotiated with the Kazakh government to take a 70% share in the country’s state-owned tungsten mining deposits. Tungsten is a rare earth mineral that is critical to building military equipment, including missiles and fighter jets. The lion’s share of the earth’s supply of the mineral is owned by China and Russia. Trump, since returning to office, has made it a strategic national security priority to secure a long-term supply of the resource. In August 2025, through an investment vehicle created by Dominari Securities, which is housed in Trump Tower in New York, the Trump brothers purchased a minority interest in a construction company, Skyline Builders, which at the time was publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker SKBL. HOWARD LUTNICK SHUTS DOWN DEM QUESTIONS OVER JEFFREY EPSTEIN AT BUDGET HEARING In June of that year, Cantor Fitzgerald, founded by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, underwrote a $46.8 million loan to a company called ASP Isotopes. ASP Isotopes is owned by businessman Paul Mann. Lutnick’s company is now controlled by his sons, Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, who took over when their father became a government official. At about the time of underwriting, the Trump brothers were investing in Skyline Builders, a wholly-owned ASP Isotopes subsidiary that acquired voting control of Skyline Builders. On Nov. 6, 2025, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, met with Trump and announced that the Central Asian country had awarded a tungsten mining contract to the United States. The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which provide government financing for international projects, penned letters of interest totaling up to $1.6 billion in financing for the deal. Cove Kaz Capital was selected as the firm to do the majority of the mining. The deal has not officially been inked and is under a standard review process by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Earlier this spring, Skyline Builders completed a reverse merger with Cove Kaz Capital, creating a company called Kaz Resources, which is now listed on the NASDAQ as KAZR. Skyline Builders owns 20% of Kaz Resources after a $20 million investment. ERIC TRUMP PLANS TO SUE JEN PSAKI, MS NOW FOR ALLEGED ‘BLATANT LIES’ ABOUT HIM JOINING FATHER’S CHINA TRIP Critics have suggested — albeit without evidence — that the Trump brothers schemed to invest in Skyline Builders with advance knowledge that Kazakhstan would opt to award the billion-and-a-half-dollar tungsten deal to the United States instead of other countries, and, in turn, Kaz Resources would secure the contract. The Trump organization vehemently denies that characterization and says the investment made by the brothers through Dominari Securities in Skyline Builders was passive, made before the tungsten deal was done and made without the knowledge that Kazakhstan would award the mining contract to the United States in the first place. Even without wrongdoing, Stoltmann said the appearance of impropriety could cause headaches. “The $64,000 question is pretty much what Trump knew and when he knew it — and, look, the optics are bad,” he said. “You have the president’s sons investing in a company that is eventually awarded a very large contract, and so it certainly raises eyebrows, it raises suspicions. “And it’s certainly clear why this has caused an uproar. But a lot of times, this is more thunder, this is more noise — a tempest in a teapot, as I like to say.” In discussing potential ramifications, Stoltmann said members of the political left who are frenzied over the deal will have trouble finding proof of wrongdoing, as Trump would have no way of knowing about his sons’ investment unless they told him about it. “But this is where the proof problem comes in,” said Stoltmann. “It’s fun to have conjecture. It’s fun to theorize, and it’s fun to discuss this, but I don’t think there’s any duty of disclosure when you are a passive investor in a company, and that’s where President Trump would most certainly say, ‘I don’t know all the things my sons do.’” As for the Lutnick brothers, Stoltmann noted that Cantor Fitzgerald stood to financially benefit from underwriting and advisory fees when it helped finance the loan for Mann, whose company now owns a majority voting stake in Kaz Resources. “You most certainly need a Wall Street brokerage firm or bank to help finance some of this, but, more importantly, to do the underwriting,” Stoltmann said. “We have reverse mergers, we have mergers and we have multiple shell companies coming into the equation. When you do that, you need a bank, you need a brokerage firm. And that’s where Cantor Fitzgerald comes in.” In the way of political ramifications, Stoltmann warned that if Democrats regain control of the House and Senate in November, the Trump brothers will likely face heat from the president’s political opponents for any business deals that they think can come under scrutiny. “You’re
Graham’s final mission advances as Senate moves to crush Putin’s war machine with Russia, Iran sanctions
The Senate took another small step toward levying sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin and Iran in another massive, bipartisan vote. Though not the final vote to pass the long-stalled effort, the latest successful bid to move a bone-crushing sanctions package once championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham is no less significant. The upper chamber hopes to complete work on the package, renamed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, by next week. If successful, the long-awaited legislation will again be put on the shelf, albeit temporarily, until the House returns from its August recess. ‘A BIG EFFING DEAL’: GRAHAM’S FINAL MISSION MOVES FORWARD AFTER HIS DEATH Still, lawmakers are confident they can get the bill through the next few hurdles and believe that it’s the best way to honor Graham, who made his final trip home to South Carolina on Wednesday for his funeral. “This may turn out to be Lindsey Graham’s greatest legislative achievement in a stellar 32-year career,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said. The bill, which has gone through several iterations, still focuses on kneecapping Putin’s war machine in its ongoing fight with Ukraine. However, it reinserts sanctions targeting Iran’s weapons and energy sectors in the hopes of incentivizing a lasting peace deal as the war in the Middle East marches on. PUTIN, RUSSIA PUT ON NOTICE AS SENATE TAKES CRUCIAL STEP TO GRIND DOWN THE KREMLIN’S WAR MACHINE Key components of the legislation allow for up to 500% tariffs on Russian imports; tariffs of up to 100% on countries buying Russian energy, like China and India; and provides President Donald Trump flexibility for when to turn off some aspects of the sanctions. Some Democrats have acknowledged that giving Trump tariff authority could give their colleagues heartburn, particularly after raging against his usage of duties during his second term. Proponents of the bill brought in heavy artillery to convince Democratic skeptics in the form of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a close ally of Graham’s, to win some key votes for the package. LINDSEY GRAHAM’S FINAL MISSION NEARS FINISH LINE AS WORLD LEADERS GATHER TO HONOR HIM Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said on the Senate floor that she was aware that some had raised concerns about the tariff authorities. “They say that President Trump has used tariffs indiscriminately to target our closest allies. Well, I agree,” Shaheen said. “But, in the case of this bill, Congress is explicitly directing these tariffs for one unambiguous purpose: to increase the pressure on Vladimir Putin and end his unprovoked war against Ukraine,” she continued. “That’s why this bill is narrowly targeted at the worst actors supporting Russia.” And at its core, the legislation is still meant to send Putin and the Kremlin a strong message as the war in Ukraine rages on. “This bill says to Vladimir Putin, ‘Your days of war are numbered. You are on the losing side. Better to come to the table now than sacrifice more lives, waste more money, crater your economy, destroy your standing in the world,’” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said.
Fox News Poll: Democratic enthusiasm shapes North Carolina Senate race
In North Carolina, more Democrats than Republicans say they are extremely interested in the midterm elections (51% vs. 42%), and more Democrats also say they are extremely motivated to vote (58% vs. 50%). This enthusiasm advantage creates an edge in the Senate matchup. Democrat Roy Cooper leads Republican Michael Whatley by 53% to 44% in the race to fill the state’s open Senate seat, according to a Fox News poll of North Carolina voters. Cooper’s gap widens to 15 points among those saying they’re extremely interested in the election (57% vs. 42%) and 13 points among those extremely motivated to vote (55% vs. 42%). The race is unchanged among those saying they’re “certain” to vote (53% to 44%). FOX NEWS POLL: COOL YOUR SERVERS! VOTERS REJECT DATA CENTERS Whatley is the former chair of the Republican National Committee, while Cooper served as North Carolina’s governor from 2017-2025. The candidates are vying to fill the seat held by retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis. Cooper receives high support from moderates, voters under age 30, independents, voters with a college degree, and women. He also captures support from about one in five non-MAGA Republicans and conservatives. Whatley performs best among very conservative voters, White evangelical Christians, White voters without a college degree, and rural voters. There’s also an enthusiasm gap when voters are asked why they back their candidate. Some 52% of Whatley’s supporters say they’re voting for him, while 46% say it’s mainly against Cooper. By contrast, 84% of Cooper supporters say they’re voting for him rather than against Whatley (13%). FOX NEWS POLL: SIGNIFICANT SUPPORT FOR BOTH VOTER ID LAWS AND MAIL-IN BALLOTS Most voters are committed to their choice: 81% of Cooper’s backers say they’re certain to vote for him and it’s 77% among Whatley supporters. Overall, one in five voters say they could switch their pick. President Trump complicates the contest for Whatley. Forty percent of North Carolina voters view the president favorably and 58% unfavorable. That’s net negative by 18 points, while his ratings were underwater by just 6 points two years ago (47-53%). And Whatley’s ties to Trump concern 48% of voters, with worry extending across the spectrum, including more than half of moderates, more than 4 in 10 independents, and about 3 in 10 non-MAGA Republicans. Meanwhile, concern about Cooper’s ties to the Democratic establishment is more partisan. Overall, 42% are concerned, including 7 in 10 Republicans, but just 3 in 10 independents and moderates. “Recent data put the average Republican advantage in North Carolina statewide races at about 3 points,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the survey with Democrat Chris Anderson. “Cooper’s edge rests on almost unanimous Democratic support and commanding numbers among independents. To win, Whatley must stop the bleeding with non-MAGA Republicans and improve his standing with disaffected, less partisan Carolinians.” Personal popularity also sets the candidates apart. Cooper’s 54% favorable rating is significantly higher than Whatley’s at 40%. In addition, Cooper is more popular than the Democratic Party by a 12-point margin, while Whatley trails the GOP by 4. Whatley is less well known overall, as 14% of voters say they’re unable to rate him or have never heard of him, including about 1 in 10 Republicans. Tar Heel voters share equally negative views of the Republican Party (44% favorable vs. 54% unfavorable) and the Democratic Party (42% vs. 56%). Negative partisanship is strong, as more Democrats view the GOP negatively (94%) than view their own party positively (83%). The reverse is also true: more Republicans (92%) hold an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party than view the GOP positively (85%). Among the small subgroup viewing both parties negatively, Cooper draws twice as much support as Whatley (64% to 32%). Inflation is the top issue for North Carolina voters, with 36% saying it will be most important to their vote for Senate. Next, it’s political divisions within the country at 14%, followed closely by healthcare and immigration at 13% each. CLICK HERE FOR CROSSTABS AND TOPLINE Half describe their financial situation as stable, 12% say they’re getting ahead, and 38% say they’re falling behind, which is 6 points lower than it was two years ago. North Carolina’s recent voting history points in different directions. Cooper won reelection in 2020 by almost 5 percentage points. In fact, Democrats have won 8 of the state’s last 10 gubernatorial elections. The last Republican to win was Pat McCrory, by about 11 points in 2012. At the same time, Republicans have won the state in 11 of the last 12 presidential elections. The last Democrat to carry the state was former President Obama, who won by 0.3% in 2008. In the 2024 presidential election, Trump won North Carolina by 3 percentage points. Conducted July 23-27, 2026, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with a sample of 1,005 North Carolina registered voters randomly selected from a statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (115) and cellphones (654) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (236). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ± 3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Sources used to develop weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population. Results among subgroups are only shown when the sample size is at least N=100. Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.
Fetterman brands new socialist favorite ‘Pontiac Platner’ after ‘ogre’ dig
Senator John Fetterman, D-Pa., branded Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdulrahman El-Sayed “Pontiac Platner” after the left-wing upstart called for the “ogre” to be put on a “pike” at a campaign event in comments widely understood to reference the Pennsylvania lawmaker. A recording from a Zoom call with donors obtained by Politico appeared to depict El-Sayed railing against those who have criticized his far-left policy platform, while singling out Fetterman and allegedly envisioning his head on a stake. Fetterman later responded to CNBC’s Joe Kernen by blessing El-Sayed with a new nickname. “I never worked out in male modeling. You know, you could call me ‘Senator Shrek’ — whatever — but this guy is really the Pontiac Platner, and now he’s really running to be, be the head of our emerging pro-Hamas wing here in the party,” Fetterman said of El-Sayed. DEM SENATE HOPEFUL UNDER FIRE FOR RESURFACED COMMENTS CALLING COPS ‘OPPORTUNISTIC COWARDS’ Pontiac is a well-known name in Michigan, stemming from the 18th century Odawa chief to his namesake city and the now-defunct General Motors brand that was discontinued following the 2008 financial crisis. El-Sayed has routinely criticized the Israeli government, and some of his policy positions overlap with those of Maine oyster farmer Graham Platner, who dropped his Senate bid after a series of allegations of sexual misconduct involving women. “Politically, some of the things that he said or done are unacceptable to me. I’m not really sure what I’ve really done or voted for that that has offended the little guy so much,” Fetterman added. BERNIE SANDERS, DSA REVEAL DEMANDS FOR DEM PARTY AFTER SOCIALISTS SWEEP NEW YORK ELECTIONS He added that Democrats are engaging in a “serious game” by allowing people in the “Bernie Sanders” wing of the party who “created the Platner disaster” some policy oxygen. During El-Sayed’s Zoom call, the millennial left-winger spoke out specifically against Fetterman. “In the interim need to be organizing downward and outward. So, a big pickup for us could be that John Fetterman seat [in Pennsylvania]. I’m like a lot of folks — they’re going to ‘F’ around and give me carte blanche to go take them out,” El-Sayed said. “Y’all came at me, so now I get to come at you and primary people like John Fetterman, and I have no problem with that. I’m looking forward to it.” El-Sayed dismissed the longstanding custom against primarying sitting senators, a norm recently broken in the GOP when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in their primary. “Then, what happens is, ideally, you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different,” El-Sayed said. The 6-foot-9 Fetterman took the insult in stride in his interview with Kernen, alluding to El-Sayed’s barb being his latest comparison to Mike Myers’ beloved green ogre that has cropped up in memes and elsewhere over the years. “It’s incumbent on us, Republican and Democrat [alike], to police your own ranks. So, that’s what I’m willing to do,” Fetterman said, adding he is warning fellow lawmakers against eliminating the filibuster in one example. El-Sayed and Platner also share several policy positions, including support for a single-payer, government-run Medicare-for-all system, anti-corporate housing policies, higher taxes on wealthy Americans and alignment with Sanders, a Vermont socialist. While El-Sayed says he is neither a Democratic Socialists of America member nor a democratic socialist, he has a history of speaking at DSA events. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Between 2017 and 2020, El-Sayed attended and spoke at six events held by the DSA, including a 2019 fundraiser he headlined. Despite the longstanding relationship, El-Sayed has distanced himself from the DSA when interviewed by the press and outright rejected being labeled a “socialist.” “I’m not technically or practically DSA,” El-Sayed told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. In an interview with CNN, he similarly stated, “I am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism. I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.” Fox News Digital reached out to Fetterman and El-Sayed for comment. Fox News Digital’s Robert Schmad contributed to this report.
DHS eviscerates media for ‘absolute absurdity’ over concern about ‘worst of the worst’ activist judges list
A high-ranking Trump Department of Homeland Security official called out the “liberal media” for what he referred to as the “absolute absurdity” of its response to his series criticizing activist judges. James Percival, general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, posted a series on X last week, “Worst of the Worst, District Judge Edition.” In his posts, Percival pointed to the risks that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents face while enforcing the law, saying some judges are working to “sabotage” those operations and put officers “at risk.” GOP SENATOR UNVEILS BOASBERG ACT TO STOP ‘ROGUE’ JUDGES FROM HANDPICKING TRUMP CASES After his posts, Percival said DHS was contacted by a Chicago Sun-Times reporter about whether “a social media post like this risk[s] additional threats” in the context of “ongoing threats to federal judges.” In response, Percival blasted the outlet in an X post in which he told followers, “Witness the absolute absurdity of the liberal media response to my new series, Worst of the Worst, District Judges.” Percival emphasized that “legitimate fact based critiques of judges and their rulings is fair game in a free society.” He also noted that “the media has no issue with it if the judge is conservative.” Notably, conservative judges, including Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, have been the target of intense criticism from the left and, in some cases, violence. In 2022, Kavanaugh was the target of an assassination plot after an armed California man traveled to his home with a pistol, ammunition, zip ties, pepper spray, duct tape and burglary tools. Further, Barrett testified in a recent congressional hearing that she has had to wear a bulletproof vest in response to threats. In his Worst of the Worst activist judges series, Percival called out district judges in the sanctuary jurisdictions of Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland and California. JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH BREAKS SILENCE ON VIOLENT THREATS AGAINST JUDICIARY, SUPREME COURT LEAKS Percival said that, earlier this month, Northern District of Illinois Judge Matthew Kennelly, a Clinton appointee, ordered a nationwide pause on the termination of temporary protected status for migrants from Burma. Percival wrote that Kennelly ordered the stay “even though these decisions are not subject to judicial review, even though we have been vindicated by the Supreme Court on TPS four times, and even though the Seventh Circuit summarily reversed him on the same issue only days before. “This is judicial sabotage.” Percival wrote that Central District of California Judge Hernán Vera, a Biden appointee, recently “entered an order micromanaging DHS’s use of force policy with respect to violent anti-ICE agitators in Los Angeles.” Percival noted that the judge “described the agitators as ‘protesters’ and ‘legal observers,’ while describing DHS’s actions defending its personnel and property as ‘violent.’” SUPREME COURT WEIGHS TRUMP EFFORT TO TERMINATE TEMPORARY PROTECTIONS FOR HAITIAN, SYRIAN MIGRANTS Percival noted, “Agitators in Los Angeles have assaulted DHS employees, thrown objects at them, engaged in arson, and even tried to breech [sic] a federal facility. “Judicial micromanagement of use of force in these contexts puts our officers at risk.” SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER In response, Sean Lewis, a spokesperson for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, told Fox News Digital that “the Code of Conduct calls on federal judges not to comment publicly on pending cases. It also requires them to decide each matter independently, based on the law and the facts — not political pressure, public reaction, partisan interests or fear of criticism.” Lewis added that “when someone disagrees with a ruling, the appropriate way to challenge it is through the appellate process.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Chicago Sun-Times and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for comment.