Dem AG candidate Jay Jones grilled over reckless driving conviction by GOP opponent
Democratic Party candidate for Virginia attorney general Jay Jones was pressed on accountability and asked why voters should trust his judgment following revelations of politically violent rhetoric he made in 2022 about wanting to kill his GOP rival and a reckless driving conviction that he has been accused of trying to skirt his community service requirements for. His GOP opponent, incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, accused Jones of going 116 miles per hour on Interstate 64 in Virginia in his opening remarks of a debate Thursday night at the University of Richmond. Miyares claimed that the day Jones went to court after getting caught for reckless driving, there were four people, including Jones, who had all been caught driving roughly the same speed. But, Miyares claimed, Jones was the only person not to receive a jail or suspended jail sentence. Miyares also claimed Jones sought to undermine his 1,000-hour community service requirement that was part of his conviction, alleging he completed the service for a political action committee he controlled. JOE SCARBOROUGH TELLS DEM CANDIDATE JAY JONES TO LEAVE RACE OVER VIOLENT COMMENTS AGAINST GOP LAWMAKER “I was held accountable. And, several years ago, I made very grave mistakes, but I was held accountable not just by the people in my party, but the Virginia State Police,” Jones said when asked why Virginia voters should trust his judgment. The reckless driving criticism coincides with criticism about text messages Jones sent to someone about his Republican political rival in 2022. Jones fantasized in the text exchange about putting “two bullets” in the head of then-GOP Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. Jones also fantasized about violence against Gilbert’s children in the text exchange, which has earned him a lot of heat amid the campaign for attorney general. “I’ve taken accountability for my mistakes, and I know that people in Virginia right now demand and deserve leaders who accept when they make mistakes and can acknowledge that and ever been held accountable. This job right now demands someone who will hold Donald Trump accountable,” Jones said when pressed by the debate moderator for a clear answer on why voters should trust his judgment. “For the last nine months, Jason’s had 50 chances to sue the administration, to protect us, to protect our workers, to protect our health care, to protect our K-12 funding, funding for law enforcement. And his office hasn’t done a thing because he’s too weak and too scared to stand up to the president.” WATCH: KAINE DEFENDS JONES AMID AG CANDIDATE’S TEXTS ENVISIONING MURDER OF GOP LEADER: ‘STILL A SUPPORTER’ Miyares pushed back, however. He argued he has “sued both administrations,” meaning the Biden and Trump administrations. Miyares touted his record supporting veterans and their GI benefits in the courts and circled back to comments about how he has been tough on crime to “protect all Virginians.” “Every day I work to make Virginians more safe, more prosperous. That’s been our mission,” Miyares said. “This office is an executive office. If Jay Jones wants to fight the fights in Washington, then he should run for Congress.” Miyares frequently called Jones a “politician” and not a prosecutor throughout the debate. Miyares added that Jones was hurting Virginiains with his soft-on-crime stances, such as voting in favor of an early-release program for felons. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP While lambasting Jones over his policies Thursday night, Miyares noted how one of Jones’ public safety agenda items is to protect children. He used it as an opportunity to drill down on the “two bullets” scandal that has gotten national attention. “How can anybody who’s ever worked in any of the crimes against children — all of the areas of federal and state local law department — how can they ever take you seriously, be the top prosecutor knowing that you view the children should die to advance a political agenda?” Miyares asked. “How can you ever say you want to represent people to think differently than you politically? Now that we know that you want to see violence against those because they have the wrong ideas.”
Shutdown standstill: No headway until there’s ‘incentive,’ politicos lament
We’re two weeks into the government shutdown. There’s no movement by either side. Is President Trump seemingly relishing it? “The Democrats are getting killed on the shutdown because we’re closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we were opposed to,” the president boasted. “They’re never going to come back in many cases. So, we’re being able to do things that we were unable to do before. So, we’re closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we wanted to close up or that we never wanted to happen.” He added that his administration would simultaneously preserve “Republican programs.” As a result, fired feds are fuming. NO. 2 HOUSE DEMOCRAT SAYS HEALTHCARE DRIVES PARTY’S STRATEGY AS SHUTDOWN HEADS INTO NEXT WEEK “Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!” chanted a group of RIF’d federal workers, egged on by Virginia and Maryland Democrats during a protest at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Trump administration’s scythe slashed the job of Christopher Pumford at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in February. “It’s very hard to find a job in this economy,” said Pumford. “It’s very hard for me to find my next step, especially since I invested a lot of time and money into being specialized in international relations.” Pumford said he thought he might spend his “career serving the American people.” But he’s out of work now. “I would love to be there for you and to be able to serve. But unfortunately the administration has other ideas,” said Pumford. The FDA just canned Jessica Weinberg. Weinberg says even her 6-year-old son realized the financial distress now facing the family. “He knows that mommy is out of work, and we’re worried about paying our bills,” said Weinberg. So, her son offered to print 3D Minecraft Legos to sell. “He didn’t want to make money so he could buy himself more toys, which he’s always asking for, but so he can help us pay our mortgage,” said Weinberg. “It was the sweetest and most heartbreaking thing he’s ever said.” JOHNSON RAISES STAKES ON SCHUMER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BARRELS INTO WEEK 3 OMB warned people on social media to “batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence.” Republicans are doubling down. That’s why nothing has evolved during the shutdown in weeks. “There is nothing to negotiate,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., refuses to recall the House until Senate Democrats cave to the GOP demand to fund the government — without any add-ons — through Nov. 21. That means no House hearings. In fact, the House last conducted a hearing — in Charlotte, N.C., on crime — on Sept. 29. As a result, the House only convenes for a few seconds every three days for what’s called a “pro forma” session. The House gavels in, conducts some quick ministerial business like the Pledge of Allegiance and an opening prayer and then gavels out without legislative business, debate or votes. House Democrats are taking note of the GOP’s conspicuous absence. “They need to get their butts back working,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md. DEMOCRATS ROLL OUT NEW CAMPAIGN ADS TARGETING REPUBLICANS OVER ONGOING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN During the 2013 government shutdown, Congress traded competing spending proposals. In fact, the House passed one measure and sent it to the Senate. But the Senate immediately flushed it, sending the measure back to the House. It was a 45-minute round-trip from the House to the Senate for that spending package. The House also conducted hearings on Obamacare and veterans issues during the 2013 shutdown. Both bodies handled some business on the floor during the record 34-day shutdown that stretched from late 2018 into early 2019. Congress has even postponed a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for 90-year-old Willie O’Ree, the first Black player in the National Hockey League. Despite the paucity of congressional action during this shutdown, Johnson concedes the House is handling some tasks — behind the scenes. “The attorneys for the House Oversight Committee during the shutdown are still doing work. They were in New York City combing through the Epstein estate files,” said Johnson. Really. DEMOCRAT SUCCEEDS HER LATE FATHER IN CONGRESS AS GOP HOUSE MAJORITY SHRINKS Johnson still refuses to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz. She’s the daughter of late Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., who died of cancer in March after serving in Congress for more than two decades. The younger Grijalva won the special election to succeed her father more than three weeks ago. The congresswoman-elect would provide the pivotal, 218th signature on a petition to go over the head of the speaker and force a vote on the House floor to release the Epstein files. Johnson has long said his refusal to swear-in Grijalva has nothing to do with the Epstein files. He even said the House would swear her in “whenever” she wanted. But then Johnson said he couldn’t do so since the House wasn’t meeting in regular session. He added that Grijalva deserved the “pomp and circumstance” of a full House session to become a member. “Doesn’t your resistance to (swearing her in) add fuel to the fire that this is about the Epstein files?” yours truly asked. “No,” replied Johnson, saying the House wanted to release the files in an orderly way and not expose names of some of the women victimized by Epstein. “We have a duty and responsibility. You can’t just wave a wand and just, you know, open the floodgates.” Democrats aren’t buying Johnson’s reasoning. “She is not concerned about the pomp and circumstance. She wants to get about the business of doing the job that she was elected to do,” said Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz. “By the way, the speaker did forego the pomp and circumstance with the two Republican members from Florida when they were sworn in the day after their elections in a pro forma. I mean, the hypocrisy is blatant, and it’s unacceptable.” That’s a reference to Johnson swearing in Reps. Randy Fine,
Soros-backed prosecutor downplays Dem AG nominee’s violent rhetoric as ‘false outrage’
An elected Virginia prosecutor whose campaigns received big sums from groups tied to Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros downplayed violent rhetoric from Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones as “fake outrage.” Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti – whose office was previously embroiled in controversy over how it prosecuted a shopkeeper for shooting at burglars – slammed the media’s coverage of Jones’ texts envisioning the murder of a former top Republican official. Dehghani-Tafti criticized Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, arguing he should act independently of the governor’s office and voicing her support for Jones instead. Her message came in response to a post on the social media platform Bluesky by the left-leaning Virginia politics blog Blue Virginia. DEM SENATOR’S HEFTY DONATION TO DISGRACED AG CANDIDATE’S CAMPAIGN COMES BACK TO HAUNT HIM Referring to Hampton Roads’ paper-of-record, Blue Virginia had written that the Virginian-Pilot’s lead story and top op-ed were wrongly centered on Jones. “Nothing on the government shutdown or decimation of CDC or a million other important stories,” she wrote, before adding, “Your [quotes sic] ‘liberal media’ at work.” Dehghani-Tafti wrote that re-electing Miyares would place him “in the position to obstruct and block [Abigail] Spanberger’s agenda” – further suggesting Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ loss is fait accompli. “If we fall for the false outrage and get frightened into abandoning Jay, Miyares as AG will remain Trump’s right hand in Richmond,” she warned. Dehghani-Tafti’s campaigns since 2019 have received $325,000 from Soros-funded political action committee Democracy PAC II and $190,000 from another related organization called Justice and Public Safety PAC. The next-highest donor over that period was Alexandria attorney Christopher R.K. Leibig, who gave $10,900, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Soros Fund Management and Democracy PAC (separate from Democracy PAC II) are top multi-million-dollar donors to Justice and Public Safety PAC, according to OpenSecrets. JAY JONES TEXT SCANDAL SPARKS DONATION SURGE AS GOP GROUP POURS MILLIONS MORE INTO VA RACE While Arlington County has won praise for choosing to prosecute serial sex offender Richard Kenneth Cox – a key figure in the election-centric transgender bathroom and crime wave controversies – versus how Fairfax County’s liberal leadership has reacted – Dehghani-Tafti had her own controversies boil up over the years as well. WATCH: KAINE DEFENDS JONES AMID AG CANDIDATE’S TEXTS ENVISIONING MURDER OF GOP LEADER: ‘STILL A SUPPORTER’ In 2020, Dehghani-Tafti faced backlash for prosecuting a Shirlington smoke shop employee who fired at burglars after being awakened in the store’s back room. Hamzeh Abushariah shot one intruder in the back as several young people broke in around 4:50 a.m., according to reports. Shop owner Jowan Zuber defended Abushariah, telling WMAL Radio that CCTV footage showed a suspect “lunged toward Hamzeh when he opened the door… what would you do?” Prosecutors argued the “castle doctrine” didn’t apply because the store wasn’t his home and charged Abushariah with malicious wounding and a gun offense. The prosecution argued Abushariah had other options, such as running away or barricading himself, according to reports. A judge initially denied bond at prosecutors’ request, but a jury later acquitted him. Dehghani-Tafti told ABC’s Washington affiliate she “cannot ethically discuss an ongoing investigation,” adding there was evidence supporting the charges and urging the public “not to rush to judgment.” Arlington County police later charged two juveniles in the burglary. Democracy PAC and Democracy PAC II collectively poured more than $42 million into the 2022 races alone, according to FactCheck.org.
Senate Democrats block GOP plan for 10th time, ensuring shutdown lasts into next week
Senate Democrats for a 10th time blocked Republicans’ attempts to reopen the government and have ensured that the shutdown goes into next week. That’s because after one final vote series later on Thursday, lawmakers will leave Washington, D.C., for another long weekend after just three short days on the Hill. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are ready to flinch in their deeply entrenched positions, and talks between both sides, though largely informal exercises, have begun to fade. REPUBLICANS PUSH TO PAY TROOPS, REOPEN GOVERNMENT AS DEMOCRATS BALK Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is determined to continue on the same course of action to keep bringing the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), which would reopen the government until Nov. 21, up for a vote again and again. Though some in the GOP are mulling a new end date for the CR, that would require the House, which has been out of session for nearly a month, to come back and pass a new one. While Thune and Republicans are adamant that their plan is the only pathway to ending the shutdown, now on Day 16, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Senate Democratic caucus still want to hammer out a deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies — and they want President Donald Trump to get directly involved in negotiations. “We’re willing to have, as I said, conversations about all the other issues that they want to talk about,” Thune said. “But that can’t happen while they are holding the federal government and all these federal employees and our troops and our air traffic controllers and our TSA agents and our border Patrol officials hostage. Open up the government.” REPUBLICANS FUME AS DEMOCRATS BLOCK 9TH GOP BID TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT “Every day that this goes on, the problems are compounded for federal workers and for ordinary Americans,” he continued. “Chuck Schumer may think that every day gets better for them politically, but I can tell you that is not the experience of the American people.” When asked if he would compromise on the Democrats’ demands as the shutdown dragged on, Schumer dodged and countered that he wouldn’t negotiate in the public eye. “The bottom line is [Republicans] won’t even negotiate with us,” Schumer said. “So that’s a premature question. But of course, I’m not going to negotiate in public. We need to address the crisis that is afflicted, and that’s the right word, the American people.” However, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said that Republicans weren’t working on a subsidy proposal to show Democrats, and he noted that talks between the parties were “not really” happening anymore. When asked if it was possible to get an extension of the credits before the Nov. 1 open enrollment date, he said, “I don’t think there’s a way to do that.” “And I think if you don’t have it done by Christmas, it becomes a political issue,” Mullin said. “But you could maybe push it to January, to February, if you wanted to, but we get bumped up against, you know, everybody’s primaries, from the Democrat primaries and Republican primaries, and it becomes a political issue, because, unfortunately, healthcare is political.” REPUBLICANS EYE FRESH FUNDING FIGHT AS SHUTDOWN STANDOFF DRAGS ON Republicans are also trying to reignite the appropriations process in the Senate as the shutdown continues on. Thune teed up a procedural vote later Thursday on the Senate’s defense spending bill, which, among other things, would fund paychecks for the military. Whether Democrats support the spending bill after spending months demanding a bipartisan government funding process remains an open question — many argued after their closed-door meeting on Wednesday that they didn’t know exactly what Republicans were going to put on the floor and considered a vote on it moot. As with most of the past 10 attempts to send the House-passed CR to Trump’s desk, the same trio of Democratic caucus members, Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine, voted with Senate Republicans. Fetterman, who has consistently voted with the GOP every time, echoed his counterparts across the aisle and said that any outside issues aside from reopening the government could be dealt with after the lights were turned back on in Washington. “It was wrong to shut it down in March,” he said. “I’m in the same position. It’s not going to change. Everything else we’re talking about, open up the government first, and then we can figure out the rest.”
Grenell praises Trump’s ‘common sense’ foreign policy, slams Biden for avoiding Putin
EXCLUSIVE: Kennedy Center President and Ambassador Richard Grenell slammed former President Joe Biden for avoiding Russian President Vladimir Putin as war raged between Russia and Ukraine, while praising President Donald Trump’s “common sense” foreign policies. “You have a president who is really watching the situation, unlike the last president, Joe Biden, who literally didn’t talk to Vladimir Putin for three and a half years,” he said. “President Trump doesn’t believe in that strategy. He wants to confront the issues. He wants to figure out ways to fix them.” Trump plans to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday — just hours after Russian missiles and drones attacked Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy already had been scheduled to head to Washington to meet with Trump Friday, to discuss the war and strengthening his country’s defenses. Trump vowed from the campaign trail that he would facilitate negotiations for a peace deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has raged since 2022, but ongoing talks have yet to yield an agreement. RUBIO HAILS TRUMP AS ‘ONLY LEADER IN THE WORLD’ WHO CAN BROKER UKRAINE PEACE DEAL AFTER TALKS In addition to Russia and Ukraine, Trump also has been active in efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. Trump secured a historic peace declaration as of Monday, when he traveled to Israel and Egypt to meet with foreign leaders stretching from the Middle East to Europe. BACK FROM ALASKA, TRUMP STARTS WEEK WITH CRUCIAL FOREIGN POLICY TALKS OVER UKRAINE WAR Grenell discussed Trump’s strategy for international conflicts during his second term in office while attending “The Sound of Music” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. “Well, first of all, I’ve worked with President Trump for a long time, and the one thing about President Trump is that he’s filled with common sense, and he evaluates his decisions constantly,” Grenell told Fox News Digital. Grenell said Trump can make America stronger on the world stage with his ability and willingness to adapt to different international conflicts. “You see him adjust the policy,” he said. “Something isn’t working, he’s not afraid to replace somebody or change the policy.” HAMAS ACCEPTS TRUMP PEACE PLAN ENDING 2 YEARS OF WAR IN GAZA, RETURNING HOSTAGES Grenell described Trump as an “active president” who is ready to make moves and advance U.S. interests. “I think that what we’re seeing on the global stage is someone who is an activist president, watching the situation, adjusting the policy so that it’s making America stronger, more prosperous, and solving problems around the world,” Grenell said.
Here’s everything you missed from Zohran Mamdani’s first Fox News interview
New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani made his Fox News debut on Wednesday in a wide-ranging interview with “The Story” host Martha MacCallum. On the eve of the first general election mayoral debate, MacCallum pressed Mamdani, during the nearly 30-minute interview, on the self-identified democratic socialist’s affordability agenda, public safety and war in the Middle East. Before New Yorkers turn their attention to Thursday night’s debate between Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, here are the top five takeaways from Mamdani’s first Fox News interview. MAMDANI SPEAKS DIRECTLY TO TRUMP, STOPS SHORT OF GIVING HIM CREDIT IN MIDEAST PEACE DEAL During the interview, MacCallum asked Mamdani if he would apologize for calling the New York City Police Department “racist, anti‑queer & a major threat to public safety” in 2020 on social media, among other insults. Mamdani said he has apologized to rank-and-file members of the NYPD behind closed doors, but MacCallum said the officers she spoke to want a broad, public apology. “Will you do that right now?” the Fox News host asked. “Absolutely,” Mamdani said, turning to face the camera directly. “I’ll apologize to police officers right here, because this is the apology that I’ve been sharing with many rank-and-file officers. And I apologize because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers, and I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day. And I will be a mayor.” ZOHRAN MAMDANI FIRES BACK AT WHITE HOUSE MISPRONOUNCING HIS NAME: ‘M-A-M-D-A-N-I’ President Donald Trump this week said Mamdani “practically hasn’t worked a day in his life.” Quoting Trump, MacCallum asked Mamdani what qualifies him to run the largest city in the country. Mamdani seized the opportunity to address Trump directly. “I will not be a mayor like Mayor Adams, who will call you to figure out how to stay out of jail,” Mamdani said, again breaking the fourth wall and looking directly into the camera. “I won’t be a disgraced governor like Andrew Cuomo, who will call you to ask how to win this election,” he continued. “I can do those things on my own. I will, however, be a mayor who is ready to speak at any time to lower the cost of living.” While knocking Mayor Eric Adams, who suspended his re-election bid, and his closest competitor, Cuomo, Mamdani said he is willing to build a partnership with “anyone across this country” to create a more affordable New York City. If elected mayor, Mamdani on Wednesday maintained his commitment to arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York City. “I’ve said that this is a city that believes in international law, and this is a city that wants to uplift and uphold those beliefs,” Mamdani said. But MacCallum pointed out that the U.S. doesn’t abide by the International Criminal Court, which has a warrant out for Netanyahu’s arrest for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” for the war in Gaza. “I believe that we should uphold arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani confirmed, while explaining he would not “make a new law to ensure that we can.” Mamdani dodged MacCallum’s questions when she asked if he believes Hamas should lay down their weapons and leave leadership in Gaza. “I believe that any future here in New York City is one that we have to make sure that’s affordable for all,” Mamdani said. “And as it pertains to Israel and Palestine, that we have to ensure that there is peace and that is the future that we have to fight for.” “But you won’t say that Hamas should lay down their arms and give up leadership in Gaza?” MacCallum asked again. “I don’t really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel beyond the question of justice and safety,” Mamdani said, reiterating that both Hamas and the Israeli military should abide by international law. MacCallum began the interview by asking Mamdani if he would give credit to Trump for striking a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, including the return of the hostages. Mamdani said he continues to have concerns, which gives him “pause about issuing any kind of praise or celebration at a moment when it is still so in its infancy.” When pressed again about whether Mamdani would give Trump credit for the ceasefire, Mamdani maintained that it’s “too early to do so, too early to say.” “But if it proves to be something that is lasting, something that is durable, then I think that that’s where you give credit,” Mamdani said.
GOP lawmaker seeks ‘permanent’ federal presence in Memphis after Trump crime order
EXCLUSIVE: A Memphis-area House Republican is eyeing a permanent federal law enforcement presence in the southwest Tennessee city after President Donald Trump’s order cracking down on crime. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., whose district includes suburbs in the Memphis metropolitan area and rural areas outside of it, spent the day with Trump’s new Memphis Safe Task Force on Thursday. He told Fox News Digital that the task force should serve as a blueprint for other U.S. cities dealing with high crime, while suggesting there should be some continuity plan in Memphis whenever its work is done. “Because of the local law enforcement numbers being down, it makes sense to have a stronger federal law enforcement presence,” Kustoff said. LONGTIME BIDEN AIDE SAYS HE STOOD TO EARN UP TO $8M HAD PRESIDENT WON RE-ELECTION He vowed to work with other Tennessee officials and the Trump administration “to make sure that, on a permanent basis, we have extra federal law enforcement once this task force sees its completion.” Trump authorized the Memphis Safe Task Force on Sept. 15 as part of a growing nationwide crackdown on violent crime, which began with the president federalizing Washington, D.C., police on a temporary basis earlier this year. Memphis had the highest rate of crime of any big city in 2024, according to FBI data, though the Memphis Police Department reported a significant drop in the first eight months of 2025. The Memphis Police Department recorded 250 murders, 753 cases of rape and over 12,800 aggravated assaults in 2024 alone, according to state crime data. 58 HOUSE DEMS VOTE AGAINST RESOLUTION HONORING ‘LIFE AND LEGACY’ OF CHARLIE KIRK “I’ve lived here my entire life. I’m talking to you right now from Memphis, within the city limits. It’s a good community,” Kustoff said. “There are really good people, but there have been high rates of crime and high rates of violent crime, and we saw that really exacerbated during the [Biden administration].” There was notably a nationwide spike in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first part of former President Joe Biden’s term. And while Trump’s move to send federal forces into major cities to deal with remnants of that crime has been met with resistance by his critics, Kustoff said Memphis residents were relieved. “I know by talking to people here that they do appreciate the presence of the law enforcement and the National Guard. We heard that before they were deployed here, and we really hear it now,” Kustoff said. “These agents and the guard who are here … tell me that all different types of people are coming up, thanking them, hugging them. Of course, that’s the Memphis way, that’s the Southern way, that’s the Tennessee way. But they are appreciative.” Since its creation, the task force recovered 45 missing children and made over 900 arrests, Kustoff told Fox News Digital. He said its work should serve as a model for other cities. “This is a blueprint, what is being done in Memphis, for other big cities across the country,” Kustoff argued. “And I would think that any mayor and any governor who has a problem with crime in their communities would welcome such an effort.”
Trump’s Iran gamble pays off as WWIII doomsayers now praise Israel-Hamas ceasefire
When U.S. forces launched strikes against Iranian military targets in June, critics warned it could ignite a regional inferno — even the start of World War III. Four months later, the Middle East is quieter than at any point in years. Iranian proxies have scaled back attacks, Gulf tensions have cooled, and Washington has shifted attention toward the Western Hemisphere. The unexpected calm is raising a new question: Did decisive U.S. action restore deterrence — or has Washington simply been lucky? Those who favor a more forceful U.S. foreign policy counted Iran’s lack of a response as a win for their frame of mind — and a loss for restrainers. They now credit the strikes with bringing about a period of relative peace that culminated in a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas this week. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., publicly broke from her longtime support of President Donald Trump after the strikes. ISRAEL’S STRIKE IN QATAR TRIGGERS RARE US REBUKE, TESTS TRUMP’S GULF DIPLOMACY “Six months in and here we are turning back on the campaign promises, and we bombed Iran on behalf of Israel,” she said on Newsmax at the time. “We’re entering a nuclear war, World War Three, because the entire world is going to erupt. And you know what, the people that are cheering it on right now, their tune is going to drastically change the minute we start seeing flag-draped coffins on the nightly news.” On Monday, she praised Trump for brokering the peace deal between Israel and Hamas. “Blessed are the peacemakers! May healing begin for all.” “You’ve put every U.S. troop and embassy in the region at risk and squandered America’s diplomatic leverage — though you’ll likely think you’ve strengthened it,” said Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East Program at the Quincy Institute, at the time. IRAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES US OF ‘GRAVE BETRAYAL’ WITH NUCLEAR STRIKES IN UNGA SPEECH Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., claimed the strike “put the United States on a path to a war in the Middle East that the country does not want, the law does not allow, and our security does not demand.” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was even more blunt. “It was a good week for the neocons in the military-industrial complex who want war all the time,” he said on CBS’ Face the Nation. Four months later, those who once warned of a spiral toward World War III are facing an uncomfortable reality: the region is largely quiet. “Those who warned of World War III before the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran fundamentally misunderstood both the nature of deterrence and the regime in Tehran,” said Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Strength and resolve don’t invite escalation — they prevent it. What we’ve seen in recent months is a return to deterrence through escalation dominance: Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other American enemies are recalibrating precisely because the United States finally imposed real costs on the Islamic Republic.” Dubowitz said years of Western restraint emboldened Iran. “For years, Western policymakers indulged in a fantasy that restraint would produce stability,” he said. “It did the opposite. Tehran read our de-escalation as weakness and kept pushing.” “Everybody who said that a strike on Iran would be a disaster was wrong,” said Matthew Kroenig, vice president of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center and a former Pentagon strategist. “These fears about Iranian retaliation and region-wide war were exaggerated. Iran doesn’t want a major war with the United States, the greatest superpower on earth that could end its regime. Instead, Iran engaged in some kind of token retaliation, and the whole thing died down.” Trump’s authorization of the strikes was not a departure from his “America First” principles, as Greene suggested, but a continuation of them. “When it comes to hitting an adversary hard, Trump has always been open to that kind of short, sharp, decisive use of force to achieve a clear objective,” Kroenig said. TRUMP’S IRAN ULTIMATUM STARTED A 60-DAY CLOCK TICKING FOR DECISIVE JUNE STRIKES, BOMBER COMMANDER REVEALS Those in the restraint camp say they don’t count Trump’s decision as a total loss for their viewpoint. They argue that predictions of a wider war were based on a different scenario — one that Trump ultimately avoided. “The prediction that this could lead to a wider war was for the scenario in which the U.S. would join Israel in a larger military campaign against Iran with the intent of regime change,” said Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Quincy Institute. “This is not what Trump opted for. He clearly signaled to Tehran before the strikes where he would strike to ensure that the locations would be vacated and that there would be no casualties. He also signaled his intent to only strike these sites and be done with it. This significantly reduced the risk of a larger escalation.” Rosemary Kelanic of Defense Priorities acknowledged that the strikes were “not a win for restraint” in principle, and though the U.S. felt few repercussions, it was still a gamble. “I think it’s really easy to learn the wrong lesson from this, which is, all we have to do is go in and bomb for 45 minutes and then everyone will back down,” she said. “Most of the time, U.S. military force doesn’t actually produce the outcomes that we want.” Adam Weinstein said the operation came at the cost of diplomacy, noting that the strikes took place in the midst of ongoing negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program. “The strikes were a setback on diplomacy with Iran,” he said. “They negatively affected the world’s ability to ensure that Iran doesn’t develop a nuclear capability. It essentially destroyed trust between Iran and the international community.”
Ramaswamy: 2025 GOP wins in New Jersey, Virginia, would ‘set the table for…more decisive victories’ in 2026
EXCLUSIVE – SADDLE BROOK, N.J. – GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio was a long way from home on Wednesday night, as he briefly left his own race to help another Republican running for governor. But Ramaswamy’s campaign trail stop in New Jersey’s competitive and combustible gubernatorial election, where he teamed up with GOP nominee Jack Ciattarelli at a packed diner full of supporters, could pay dividends next year in his own race back home. New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial showdowns in the year after a presidential election, and the contests traditionally grab outsized attention and are viewed as political barometers ahead of the following year’s midterm elections. And this year, they’re being viewed to a large degree as ballot box referendums on President Donald Trump’s unprecedented second-term agenda. CIATTARELLI WELCOMES TRUMP’S HELP IN BATTLE FOR NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR Pointing to New Jersey and Virginia, Ramaswamy said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital that GOP victories in both elections would “set the table for even bigger and more decisive victories, hopefully in places like Ohio next year.” Ramaswamy arrived in New Jersey hours after the latest poll in the governor’s race indicated Ciattarelli narrowing the gap with Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic Party nominee in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. The MAGA world rock star’s stop in New Jersey could help Ciattarelli energize many in the party’s base – low propensity voters who often skip casting ballots in non-presidential election years. NATION’S ONLY TWO 2025 RACES FOR GOVERNOR ROCKED WITH THREE WEEKS UNTIL ELECTION DAY “If you want to bring down costs in this state, back Jack,” Ramaswamy told the boisterous crowd. “If you want to make New Jersey great again, back Jack. We are ready, Jack, for change. This state is hungry for it.” And Ramaswamy, the multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and conservative commentator who pushed an “America First 2.0” platform as he ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before ending his bid and becoming one of Trump’s top supporters and surrogates, told Ciattarelli, “We’re going in Ohio next year, but you’ve got to pave the path this year. We’re counting on you.” Ramaswamy, who’s been endorsed by Trump, is the only major Republican candidate right now in the 2026 race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine. Former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, who spent two decades representing a large swath of northeastern Ohio, including Akron and Youngstown, is likely to launch a gubernatorial campaign in the coming days. Ryan, his party’s Senate nominee in Ohio’s 2022 election, would become the second major Democrat in the 2026 gubernatorial race, joining former state Health Director Amy Acton. FINAL FACEOFF: CIATTARELLI, SHERRILL, CLASH ON DEBATE STAGE “It doesn’t matter who we’re running against,” Ramaswamy said when asked what a Ryan candidacy would mean to him. “The beauty of our side of this election in Ohio is we’re more united than we’ve ever been as a Republican Party. I’m running unopposed in the Republican primary. But even more importantly, we have widespread labor support in Ohio. This is unprecedented.” Ramaswamy, as he spoke at the Ciattarelli event in New Jersey, which included an overflow crowd of a couple of hundred people outside the diner, received encouragement to make another White House run down the road. “I’m 100% focused on Ohio,” Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital. “You can’t make long-run plans. Life never goes according to your plan.” But he added, “We’re gonna do our part in Ohio, and that’s my next step for how we save the country.” HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE 2025 ELECTIONS Ramaswamy’s stop in New Jersey, with less than three weeks until Election Day, came hours after multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump will hold tele-rallies with Ciattarelli. In what’s expected to be a low-turnout election, Trump’s backing could prove crucial for Ciattarelli, who’s making his third run for governor after narrowly losing to Murphy four years ago. “There’s obviously a whole lot of people across the state of New Jersey that are pleased with the job the president’s doing,” Ciattarelli said earlier Wednesday in an exclusive Fox News Digital interview. Pointing to the president’s push to temporarily halt wind farms off the Jersey Shore, his vow to kill New York’s congestion pricing, tax cuts, deductions, and credits in the GOP’s massive domestic policy measure, and his efforts to secure the nation’s southern border, Ciattarelli said that people “are very pleased with the president, what he’s done for New Jersey.” Trump endorsed Ciattarelli earlier this year in the GOP gubernatorial nomination race. And the president headlined a tele-rally for Ciattarelli ahead of the June primary. While Trump isn’t on the ballot, he’s loomed large over the New Jersey gubernatorial election. At last week’s second and final debate, Sherrill charged that her GOP rival had “shown zero signs of standing up to this president. In fact, the president himself called Jack 100% MAGA, and he’s shown every sign of being that.” Asked whether he considered himself part of the MAGA movement, Ciattarelli said he was “part of a New Jersey movement.” When asked to grade the president’s performance so far during his second term, Ciattarelli said, “I’d certainly give the president an A. I think he’s right about everything that he’s doing.” “I think that tells us all we need to know about who Jack Ciattarelli’s supporting. I give him an F right now,” Sherrill responded, as she pointed to New Jersey’s high cost of living. While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past 10 elections. And Trump made major gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, losing the state by only six percentage points, a major improvement over his 16-point deficit four years earlier. Ciattarelli said in a Fox News Digital interview last month that
Republicans push to pay troops, reopen government as Democrats balk
Senate Democrats wanted an equal say in crafting spending bills before the shutdown and are about to get a chance to do so, but they’re unlikely to support Republicans’ latest effort to jump-start the government funding process. The Senate on Thursday is set to move through a procedural hurdle on the annual defense spending bill, which, among other things, would ensure that military service members would get their paychecks. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up the bill earlier this week as the shutdown raged on to pressure Senate Democrats to make good on their desire to fund the government in a bipartisan manner, and in the hopes of getting the appropriations process moving again. TRUMP MOVE SPARES TROOPS’ PAY, BUT REPUBLICANS WARN SHUTDOWN RISKS REMAIN “We can actually get the appropriations process going forward,” Thune said. “So that’s in the works.” And in the Senate, given the 60-vote filibuster threshold, spending bills are prime examples of the many pieces of legislation that have to be bipartisan to pass. But Senate Democrats seemed unwilling to go all in on supporting the defense bill, and like the Republicans’ plan to reopen the government, appear ready to block Thune’s effort. They want to know exactly what Republicans plan to put on the floor later on, despite the vote on Thursday afternoon being designed to give lawmakers the chance to move forward with at least one of several spending bills that must be passed to fund the government. “We have to see what they’re going to put on the floor,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “They haven’t told us yet.” Republicans are also eyeing at least three other spending bills to attach to the defense appropriations bill, including legislation that would fund the departments of Labor, Commerce, Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development. REPUBLICANS FUME AS DEMOCRATS BLOCK 9TH GOP BID TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and appears ready for the reality that Democrats would block the defense bill and broader spending package. “You have to start with the defense, and then you can add the other ones to it, but once again, it takes agreement by our Dem colleagues that want to move that forward,” he said. “I’m not sure that we’ve got the votes to do that yet.” There is a trust deficit between Senate Democrats and Republicans from earlier this year when the GOP passed President Donald Trump’s request to claw back billions in funding for foreign aid and NPR and PBS, in addition to continued actions by Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought to withhold or cancel funding for Democratic priorities. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., told Fox News Digital after Senate Democrats met behind closed doors on Wednesday that there had been no indication from Republicans there would be “bipartisan cooperation or any willingness to put any guardrails around what they plan to do.” “I think the stage we’re at is that we’ve been shown nothing,” he said. “So there’s no reason to vote for it yet.” “I think what was needed is a larger agreement about how the appropriations process is moving forward, so it’s clear that our priorities are respected,” he continued. However, pairing the defense bill could grease the wheels for some in the Democratic caucus. “No, not unless it’s paired with [the Labor and HHS bill],” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said. REPUBLICANS EYE FRESH FUNDING FIGHT AS SHUTDOWN STANDOFF DRAGS ON Thune’s move to reignite the appropriations process, an exercise that played out in the Senate in early August when lawmakers advanced a trio of funding bills ahead of the shutdown deadline, is part of Republicans’ broader desire to fund the government the old-fashioned way, rather than through a colossal omnibus spending package. It’s an exercise, however, that hasn’t been fully completed since the 1990s. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., noted to Fox News Digital that a major part of selecting a new leader for the Senate GOP was returning to what’s known as regular order, or passing spending to fund the government. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He argued that when Schumer ran the Senate as majority leader, the upper chamber was often resigned to passing “these omnibus bills that were developed in the, you know, middle of the night with four people.” “We’re not interested in that. So we want to get bills on the floor, and they’ve got to move in a bipartisan way, right? So I think this is something that I would hope Democrats would support, too,” he said. “But if their mentality is at this point, you know, just oppose everything Republicans want to do, it’s pathological, and I don’t have any advice for them except seek help.” Republicans are still trying to reopen the government and plan to put the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) on the floor again Thursday for a 10th time. And just like many times before, it is expected to fail. When asked if he believed that the shutdown could transform into lawmakers passing spending bills one-by-one to reopen the government, Thune said, “I certainly hope not.”